[BC] Sangean HD component tuner & HDradio

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/20/2006 6:59:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
jsomich at gmail.com writes:

>  I don't go in for these little
>  table radios with the micro speakers. The Sangean lets me hear 
"everything."
>  And I don't hear a lot of digital artifacts on anybody's station.

Does this mean that you are, in fact, hearing *some* digital artifacts... 
just not "a lot"? Please be a little more specific.

>  But why does WTAM drop the analog delay during a football game without
>  turning off the HD? This pleases no one!  The HD listener in a car is
>  annoyed during the blends and the HD listener at home, watching tv is out 
of
>  sync.

It seems that this out-of-sync problem exists with or without HD, and not 
just with football.

>  Just came back from Detroit area today. WJR (Disney) STILL sounds horrible
>  in analog with the HD on. They have super major problems. The HD actually
>  puts a loud whine behind all programming. This is absolutely unlistenable,
>  even in the car at 70mph!

They're not the only ones. Any AM receiver with an NRSC-compatible receive 
bandwidth is going to present an unlistenable analog signal in the presence of 
HD, regardless. That high-pitched noise is because the HD signal, itself, is 
within the receivers' bandpass. Thus, the station is generating 
self-interference... let alone what it's doing to its neighbors' frequencies.

>  Hey, the world is NOT going to rush out and buy an HD radio...especially at
>  today's prices. The lack of portables or pocket radios is another negative.

We have strong agreement on all of the above. :)

>  But read Chris Scherer's editorial in BE Radio this month about the 
adoption
>  of HD. I think it makes a lot of sense.

Hmmm... I'll have to look for that.

>  HD is relatively cheap to implement

'scuse me, while I get up from the floor... "relatively cheap"?! Perhaps to 
large corporations with very deep pockets! When you're talking high 5-digit to 
low 6-digit figues *per station* to implement this thing, that is *not* 
"relatively cheap" for the significant majority of medium-to-small broadcasters out 
there. (Add-in the additional ongoing licensing fees Ibiquity demands...) 

Now, by contrast, FMeXtra is "relatively cheap"... a $9,000 box and a few 
minutes of Engineering time to set it up... *that* is relatively cheap.

>  and the public will gradually be buying
>  radios that have HD capability. I don't think it is going away, but it's 
not
>  going to be a revolution either.

Based on what I'm reading here, and in conversations with "average folks", 
these radios are barely moving. It seems that 90% of those sales are to 
broadcasters or those with some kind of broadcast-connections.

>  
>  It has some warts, but it really isn't a bad system. And I was a skeptic.

Some warts?? While I do admit that the FM system has some potential, the AM 
system is an absolute nightmare. I started-off being optimistic about this 
thing... back when it was all on paper. Once reality set-in, I changed my outlook 
from "partly sunny" to "Hurricane warning", where I remain to this day.

That's my 3c worth.

Willie...
(Just an Engineer)