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I have a Sangean HDR-1 that is on most of the time.
I listen to the HD Channels a lot and wonder if I am the only listener. There is close to zero conversation about this interesting technology.I had been listening the the “All Live” HD-2 channel on KGON for ages. I noticed earlier this week that the format had changed to what they appear to be calling “The Metal Channel” and it is playing an interesting selection of Active Metal such as Disturbed, Motorhead, Dio, Type O Negative, and Pantera.
I loved hearing Cradle of Filth’s Nymphetamine featuring Liv Kristine which had escaped me. My son was amused that I had never heard of Rebel Meets Rebel either as he had already put them in his digital library.
So, am I the only person listing to HD Radio?
Raises hand. I have enjoyed HD for years… nice not having multipath problems on All Classical 89.9! My wife sometimes uses 99.5 HD-2 when interference on 1080 is bad.
On FM, I prefer HD. It sounds better, there’s no interference and I haven’t heard a dropout in the Portland area in over a decade. I was listening occasionally to KLTH-HD2(Real Oldies)which switched to “My 60s”. About a week later, KISN came on and I’ve barely been back. I’ve touched on some of the other channels but nothing really stuck. There used to be a Classic Hits(old definition)channel but it went away. I thought I might get into Smooth Jazz but that was about the time I rediscovered pop music. Then there’s the dance channel on 97.1 but there’s too much variance and I couldn’t get into “Too Wild” either. On AM, I can no longer get a lock on the only remaining station but I never really liked what I heard although during Christmas, when KEX played an older song, it sounded pretty good but only on an older song.
Out here on the Northern Oregon Coast, I was surprised to get any FM HD, after being told I probably would not get any by several station engineers. I do not get any HD from Portland/Valley stations. The mountains block the signals too much as they are just not strong enough. However, I do get KOQC-88.1 from Newport in HD and the one sub, plus generally KUBE 93.3 and 95.7 KJR FM, both Seattle. Also a couple from the Aberdeen WA area come and go. But the FM HD is kind of cool to listen to. One nice thing, being so far from the IBOC signals here, I do not hear as hash.
I used to listen to HD channels in my truck, until I got a smart phone and started streaming through an fm converter. Lots more to choose from on the internet than locally on FM HD channels.
I like radio in the regard that it is on nearly all the time. Internet Streaming requires constant re-setting, hooking up and synching. We use the Bluetooth in my ride to stream music when we are not worried about data.
The footprint of HD signals has surprised me as we travel.
I suspect those of us still listening to radio broadcasts are a small band of 1. die-hards, 2. harried moms, or 3. those not quite tech savvy enough to build an digital music library.
The broadcasters are missing an opportunity by not filling the HD Channels with compelling content. Local news weather and traffic with a lot of financial content comes to mind as on selling point. Even if all it is doing is a simulcast of North West News Center. Filling those channels now may hold the shrinking crowd left.
I like local radio. I listen to KRVM HD1 all the time, and occasionally HD2 now that it’s not stuttering constantly. Their HD1 sounds great. Bench analysis shows it has audio content above 15KHz (even if I can’t hear it any more).
I also listen to KRVM AM-HD now that the audio quality has been greatly improved (no more annoying buzz saw).
It’s a shame that iBiquity and the FCC screwed the pooch on the digital radio thing. When it works it’s great. The problem for broadcasters is the when it works part. NPR and listener supported stations backed it heavily and lots of grant money was spread around for HD deployment. Then they found out how much attention it takes to keep it going, or their gen-1 IBOC hardware was unstable, or was quickly made obsolete by newer better stuff. After 5 years your HD exporter dies and it’s not fixable and you need $20K to upgrade everything.
Meanwhile listeners are like HD? High Definition, cool! Wait, what? Not high def? Not even hybrid digital? HD is just a couple of letters iBiquity chose purely at random? Ok.
In cars with HD receivers you pretty much have to know HD2/HD3 exist in order to find them. They aren’t readily apparent. Again, a fail by iBiquity.
I’m a “Too Wild” junkie when I’m not listening to podcasts on my commute. I’ll usually turn it on anyhow for the traffic report on the quarter-hour.
I was at a service station when another fellow pulled in listening to “Two Wild”. I caught it on an ID.
I listen to sports on KWJJ-HD2 and KINK-HD2. Also Real Oldies on KLTH-HD2.
I just wish there were more available in the Portland market.Lastday’s observation that you have to know the HD stations are there is possibly one of the most frustrating elements in the HD Tuner use. Wait for The HD signal to be recognized, then tune up to the channel. The tuners are a user nightmare on both my Sangean first gen which fails back to the analog base channel all to frequently. The updated OS in my later Sangean holds much better.
The Sherwood has been relegated to the garage for poor sound quality, but it will at least hold the signal and stay silent until the digital is decoded again.
My wife’s car has HD in it, and I do not get to drive it frequently enough to evaluate the performance.
I wonder how much longer iBiquity has funds to run the experiment with.
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