[BC] Nighttime AM HD Status

[Barry McLarnon]

On Saturday 13 October 2007 16:23, Richard Fry wrote:
> When AM HD first was authorized for nighttime service, the AM band was full
> of digital noise around many of the Class A skywave signals.  At my
> location in Quincy, IL I could no longer hear anything I could listen to
> long on the adjacents of many of them, although pre-HD I got solid,
> listenable signals here from WSB and WABC (then buzzed out by WJR), and
> similar situations.
>
> Lately the band is a lot quieter.  WJR has turned off their nighttime HD,
> and WSB/WABC are fine here again.  Likewise KDKA and WBZ.  The big ones
> remaining that affect this area yet are WLW and WGN.

WBZ still has it on at night (I just checked).  They could be playing with the 
digital power levels, though.  The band is a little quieter here now that 
WABC, WJR and WLS have turned it off, but there are still quite a few big 
IBOC signals being heard here.  Citadel/ABC have bailed, but CBS and Clear 
Channel have dug in their heels.  BTW, I've yet to hear IBOC from KDKA - I 
think the installation is still a work in progress there.  WSCR-670 is an 
interesting case - they delayed running at night until last week, then ran it 
for a few nights, and now seem to have shut it off again.  Too much 
interference to co-owned WFAN-660, perhaps?

> Ibiquity must be a bit concerned, no doubt.

No doubt.  Or did they know it would come to this all along?  AM nighttime 
operation was delayed for 5 years with good reason - if it had been allowed 
back in 2002, the negative publicity could have torpedoed the whole HD 
rollout.  This way, they were able to get the FM system well entrenched 
before the fatal flaws in the AM system became apparent.

Barry

-- 
Barry McLarnon  VE3JF  Ottawa, ON