One of these units is on display at my local Radio Shack. It is fairly tiny and quite plastic. Obviously defective, there was no reception at all. Not even the tiniest analog peep AM or FM. I was really disappointed and will try to get the manager to open up another one this weekend. Karl Zuk N2KZ
>From: "Stewart, Joseph R" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of >America<[email protected]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[email protected]> >Subject: [IRCA] Boston Acoustics Receptor HD >Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:14:00 -0500 > >We got in a shipment of these little guys at KSMU yesterday, and I took >one home to try it out a bit last night... I actually spent most of the >evening sitting around Springfield-Branson National Airport waiting for >my wife to get back from a conference in D.C., but I did do an AM >bandscan between 6 and 6:30pm Central time. > >As it only has a pair of little spring-clip terminals for an external >mediumwave antenna, and my Quantum QX Pro is strictly SO-239/PL-259, I >ended up just hanging the Boston's little plastic AM loop over the end >of the Quantum's loopstick housing like a Christmas-tree ornament and >going the inductive-coupling route. Managed to get pretty decent signal >strength that way, but this little radio suffers from beaucoups >internally-generated birdies, not to mention local images (KLFJ-1550 >shows up on 650, KGMY-1400 shows up on 1700 etc.). Of course, without >being able to arrange for a proper external-antenna hookup it's hard to >tell for sure, but I get the feeling no one could ever mistake it for a >sensitive DX machine. (Also, its tuning is channelized in 10 kHz >steps.) > >Tuning around after local sunset, of course, automatically limited my >choices for seeking out IBOC signals--none of my locals AMs are running >IBOC yet--but I did note the "HD" icon on the digital display flashing >on and off on a few frequencies like 890... and KFAB-1110 Omaha was >still running their day pattern and HD signal, and as they're very >strong here I thought it would be a good test to see how well the HD >signal gets out. Based on everything I've read so far, I didn't expect >much... and the radio didn't deliver much. > > >From what I observed, it would take about an S9+60 city-grade signal to >consistently (and continually) activate the digital-audio circuitry! >KFAB was strong enough for the "HD" icon to stay lit pretty much all the >time... and to display the KFAB call letters. But it was never strong >enough for the standard analog to switch over to digital, except for >about 2 seconds' worth. And it was quite obvious when it did, as the >sound definitely became more "FM-like". (Actually the analog-AM sound >isn't bad, albeit limited to about 5kHz on the top end. But the unit's >little port-loaded speakers produce an amazing amount of real bass.) > >So--the ID feature is one cool thing that might attract a DXer, but I'm >afraid you need a pretty strong signal for that to activate. And you >need a stronger signal than THAT to get the digital audio to trigger. > >The adjacent-channel hash produced by IBOC is a totally separate issue, >of course--I was merely trying to determine how well the radio worked >receiving skywave signals. And the answer is: not particularly well. > >FM sensitivity seemed better, at least with the 7-foot-long wire dipole >supplied with the radio. > >Randy Stewart >Battlefield MO > > > > >_______________________________________________ >IRCA mailing list >[email protected] >http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/irca > >Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the >original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the >IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers > >For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org > >To Post a message: [email protected] > _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with old friends and meet new ones with Windows Live Spaces http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mkt=en-us _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
