Lizzie (et al) talk to us about digital radio!

[dhermann1]

I just read this in The Telegraph (UK). Now we have HD radio coming in here, which doesn't really mean High Definition, it means . . . . uhhh . . . err . . . I don't know what "HD" stands for. But it's coming whether we like it or not, and whether we understand it or not.
Anybody out there able to shed a little more light on the subject? This guy in the UK thinks digital radio is "rubbish". I was tempted about a year ago to get an HD radio for the bedroom, but instead fell back on a very high quality Boston Acoustics AM/FM model.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7564439/Theyll-turn-our-radios-into-useless-junk.html

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zzAPf2Jgosg/learn/learningcenter/car/hdradio.html

 

[LizzieMaine]

HD Radio is just a trade name for a proprietary format of digital radio transmission -- it was authorized by the FCC several years ago as an adjunct to regular analog radio, but there is no legislated changeover from analog to digital radio, and there are no laws requiring analog broadcasters to go off the air. The wavelengths used by ordinary AM broadcasts are of little use to cellular/broadband companies because those signals don't propagate well at those frequencies, so there's been no interest in forcing broadcasters to convert.

I've never heard digital/HD radio, but I don't think I'd care one way or another about it -- I don't need to hear every wheeze in the voice of some talk-radio blowhard, thanks, and I don't listen to modern music, so the "improvements" wouldn't make much difference to me.

 

[ChadHahn]

A second hand shop (thrift store) has their radio set to a channel that advertises that they are on HD. They play "at work" music, the greatest hits of the 80's, 90's and today. I can barely stand to listen to music while I'm in the store I wouldn't want to spend money to listen to it.

Chad

 

[Paisley]

It allows you to hear commercials and the same 30 or so bands better.

 

[dhermann1]

I really meant HD radio.

 

[vitanola]

Well, the so-called "HD" radio known here in the 'States as IBOC (In Band On Channel) radio has seriously bollixed the AM Broadcast band for DX-ing, which is, I'm afraid, its only real use these days, as the quality of programming is so universally awful, unless perhaps the listener is not terribly discriminating and their political position is somewhat to the right of Attilla the Hun.

 

[W4ASZ]

No HD for me !

It is so easy to make AM radio sound good that it makes one feel that this partnership between government and a monopoly corporate interest is pure dirt evil. It makes for bad engineering, and more.

I have some experience, though, listening to DRM digital radio on shortwave, and it isn't at all bad if you can maintain a signal-to-noise margin of at least, say, 17 decibels. If you can't, it goes "boink, boink" and drops out until the receiver can re-lock when the signal comes back up. DRM is the international standard and thus could never have been seriously considered by the FCC.

I have a good-sounding local AM station and always make a point of telling the owner that digital is disaster. He tells me that it will ultimately be forced on everyone.

Perhaps not. Over the years I've heard a few bootleg stations with rich audio !

 

[JimWagner]

Around my local area there are only HD stations in FM/HD2/HD3. There are only a couple of AM HD stations in the whole state.

That said, I've found that the local HD stations are playing exactly the same programmed crap as on their original FM channels, it doesn't sound any better to my ears than regular FM and is just more of the same. If I'd had a chance to listen around to what was on the air before I bought the HD tuner I wouldn't have wasted my money.

If you want variety in what you're listening to and programming you can't hear on regular broadcast then XM/Sirius is still where to find it. But it isn't free.

 

[Paisley]

I used to have Sirius satellite radio but dropped it for a few reasons. First, the receiver went dead, and it took a long time for them to replace it. Their customer service stinks. Even then, I had to buy a new docking kit for the receiver.

Then they changed the format of the standards station to all Frank Sinatra all the time. I don't understand why these "exclusives" are a good thing: don't fans of Sinatra or The Who (another entire station) already have a collection of their music? And why would people want less variety? You can hear a small selection of music on radio that's free.

 

[W4ASZ]

It should not be ...

I am obsolete because I believe in free, over-the-air radio and television. I also believe we were better served by the old seven-license rule. Up until the 1970's there was abundant competition and variety on AM radio. Now ?

I get nostalgic for antitrust laws.