[BC] AM IBOC In The Dallas / Fort Worth Market

[Paul Smith W4KNX]

Dont music formatted AM stations have the ability to go to 6 khz audio or
even slightly higher with some loss of redundency?
I know recently, I rented a new Lincoln Town Car and the AM section didnt
sound much better than telephone quality as far as the audio is concerned.
Really really bad.  No excuse for it in my opinion.  I wonder what the real
analog bandwidth of some of those IBOC receivers are?  Maybe really
restricted, which of course would make the digital sound much better.  If
they are blending back and forth between digital and analog, that sounds a
lot like early AM stereo with it's problems.  The consumer will never
tolerate it.  Had I bought a new 40K car and the radio sounded that bad, I
would return the car.

Paul Smith
Sarasota, FL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Danny Ray Boyer" <drboyer at centralcom.com>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 10:11 PM
Subject: [BC] AM IBOC In The Dallas / Fort Worth Market


>
>
> I have pondered for the past couple of weeks about what I was going to
> write about this subject and after much contemplation. . . here is my
> personal observations about AM IBOC in Dallas/Fort Worth. . . .
>
> About a month ago, I stopped by Best Buy to see if they had any IBOC
> radios for sale. The Best Buy sales guy actually knew what an IBOC radio
> was - but he said to date, that they had not received any from their
> suppliers.  He also mentioned that "Best Buy Corporate" had been telling
> them for the past 6 to 8 months that they should be seeing some IBOC
> radios soon.  He said that he was still looking, but hadn't seen any.
>
> Later in the day, I called Car Toys and a couple of other major
> retailers to see if they might have any IBOC radios in stock.  The
> result -  no IBOC's auto radios for sale in Dallas/Fort Worth.
>
> So much for that. . . .
>
> I pulled up Crutchfield on the web and looked to see what they carried.
> After I absorbed the information, I called and talked to one of their
> sales guys.  The guy was knowledgeable about what IBOC products that
> they carried.
>
> Before I got off of the phone, I ordered a JVC IBOC auto radio from
> him.  While I was at it, I went ahead and ordered the IPOD interface box
> (and cable) to allow me to plug in my wife's IPOD when we are traveling
> out of town.
>
> As expected, the radio and IPOD interface came a couple of days later
> and I installed in my Dodge Ram Diesel pickup the following day.
>
> I spent some time playing with the radio and reading the JVC manual.
>
> Now for my report of how and what AM IBOC has to offer in the
> Dallas/Fort area. . . .
>
> There are currently three AM stations in the area broadcasting in IBOC.
> Here they are, with my observations of how well they work.
>
> Radio Disney - 620 Khz - Kiddo Music - - Blends Well, Sounds good in IBOC
> KAAM - 770 Khz - Music Of Your Life - - Blends Well, Sounds good in IBOC
> KRLD - 1080 Khz - News / Talk - - Blends Well, Has noticeable artifacts
> in the upper end of the audio spectrum.
>
> The biggest problem?  While driving around Dallas, Fort Worth and the
> Mid-Cities areas - all three AM IBOC signals drop out.
>
> Drive under a bridge, the IBOC signal drops out.  Pull up next to a
> truck and trailer at a red light and the AM IBOC drops out.  Under a
> power line, the AM IBOC drops out.
>
> Not good.