Steve, usually the CBS and Clear channel stations have good CD quality audio
on HD 1 and 2 here in Pittsburgh. On KDKA HD 3 you get the CBs Radio Sports
programming which doesn't sound any better than FM programming. I would
guess that WCCO probably has the same setup.
There is another local broadcast company called Steel City Media that
broadcast on all 4 hd channels in Stereo. all of them sound like hd quality
but the fourth channel is much weaker on both stations, so if we have windy
days you have a lot of drop outs.
I concur with you, A M HD isn't good at all. during the day KDKA A M was
decent, but at night, the signal wasn't strong enough to hold it locked in.
WTAE was weak enough that it is impossible to listen to it in the day time
too.
Since the a m uses the ajacent channels you can forget night time DX
listening.
I think you have a Coby from what you are describing, and I was tempted to
buy one but never did. Try looking for a Sony HD-100 tuner. that should have
a 75 ohm F connector that you want. I guess you will have to find it on
EBay.
I have a couple of Radiosoppy tabletop hd radios that you take the whip
antenna off the back of the radio and there is the F connector for a rooftop
antenna. they don't make the sets any more, so EBay might be the place to
find them too.
any more you have to get hd tuners incorporated in to stereo receivers like
Pioneer, Demon or something like that.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Jacobson" <[email protected]>
To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: A Favour
Dane,
I do have an inexpensive HD Tuner and a couple of HD radios and could
provide an example. However, I am not sure what such a
sample will tell you. HD Radio in the United States is so variable in its
quality. For example, on FM, the HD programming can be
divided into multiple programs and the bandwidth that is allocated to each
program can vary. One of the Christian stations here
in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, has four HD channels. One of our
public stations has three HD channels but one is the BBC and
they allocate very little bandwidth to it so it sounds a little like a
lower bit-rate MP3. Some radio stations seem pretty good
about not compressing the HD program while others seem to feed pretty much
the same signal to the HD program as to the main analog
program so the difference is just less noise. . From what I have read,
DAB is clearly a superior system, but it uses an
additional frequency band that broadcasters here did not want to risk.
In my opinion, HD on AM radio here is not very good. A good HD signal on
AM sounds very nice, almost as good as an analog FM
signal, but the AM signal has to be so good that the analog signal would
sound pretty good if it was not restricted in bandwidth
because of the HD signal. I bought a Carver tuner that was capable of
receiving AM Stereo back in the 1980's here, and the sound
quality was pretty good. HD AM radio sounds better, but it takes so
little to disrupt it that it doesn't seem all that practicle.
Another frustration of mine is that I can't find a good HD Tuner any more.
I bought one from Amazon that listed for $99 but is
now sold for $35 and it isn't bad, but it has a permanently connected wire
antenna for FM with no obvious place to connect a
ground. My system is in a basement and I have an outdoor FM antenna, but
there is no simple way to connect a 75-ohm coxial cable
to it. The HD table radios I have all have coxial cable connections so I
never thought to check if the tuner had a 75-ohm
connection. The wire antenna would be adequate above ground level. I
have some electronic knowledge so I've experimented with
making a connection to the 75-ohm cable available in the basement, but the
connection is not very efficient. I saw a Sony tuner
available used but it was at three or four times the original price, and
there were some bad reviews associated with the seller.
Finally, here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, apparently HD is not a part
of many of our stations' backup transmitters. A number
of our bigger stations are on a couple of tall transmission towers, and
when they do maintenance on the towers, the analog signal
is transmitted from a backup site but no HD. This has been a somewhat
common occurrence this summer for some reason.
Even with all this, I like HD because the sound can be good, and it opens
up the potential for additional programming on our FM
bands.
After reading all of this, let me know what sort of samples you might like
or if you would simply like a good and a poor example.
Best regards,
Steve Jacobson
On Wed, 24 Jul 2013 11:48:52 +1000, Dane Trethowan wrote:
Hi!
Does anyone out there have a HD Tuner? I'm looking for some samples of HD
radio so if someone could provide then I'd be most
appreciative.
I can return the favour perhaps by providing some samples of DAB+.
**********
Dane Trethowan
Skype: grtdane12
Phone US (213) 438-9741
Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598
Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589
Mobile: +61400494862
Fax +61397437954
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