Tuesday, February 28, 2006
HD Radio-More is less!-Digital destruction.
Dear Mr. Klein,
Digital HD Radio uses the adjacent channels for all digital signals thus jamming 2 or more channels for each FM station transmitting HD. As more Philly stations start transmitting digital HD Radio the interference to popular nearby Trenton and Wilmington stations will increase drastically, particularly in the Roxborough area, where most Philly FM stations are located, and the HD digital signal is greatest.
On AM, the situation is even worse. The adjacent channel digital noise transmitted from WDAS 1480 AM creates hissing, jamming, noise on the primary 1 millivolt per meter signal of nearby suburban WBCB 1490 AM Levittown here in Northeast Philadelphia. This noise is so pernicious that the FCC has not allowed AM HD Digital Radio to be transmitted past sunset or before local sunrise. In order to transmit AM HD Radio on the adjacent channels where it resides, the host station of the parasite digital signal must cut it's analog AM frequency response in half from 10,000 hertz to 5,000 hertz resulting in a much muddier sound.
Here is a link to a public site that describes the digital damage being done to the AM and FM broadcasting bands by HD Radio:
http://worldsupercaster.blogspot.com
Please check with other sources beside the dealer's car salesman before you advocate everyone should run out and buy a Yugo. There are two sides to this story. Remember, in science and particularly physics you don't get something for nothing. There are no free rides.
Internet streaming can be better quality then HD Radio depending on the streaming bitrate.
HD Radio is not CD quality and, is often not as good as the analog stereo FM signal it is supposed to replace. This is even more true of the HD2 signal as it is broadcast at an even lower bitrate.
FM HD Radio degrades the main station's analog stereo FM signal it surrounds, resulting in noisier, lower quality audio for the existing analog listeners.
HD Radio on both AM and FM has a shorter range then the analog signal of the host station, resulting in HD reception problems for suburban commuters and when traveling between cities.
Please take a tip from veteran broadcaster and journalist Paul Harvey, and report the "rest of the story".
HD Digital Radio offers little to consumers and listeners, except more interference, and fewer stations.
HD Radio only has "interim approval" and NOT final approval from the FCC and any HD Radio bought now might be obsolete if the FCC or RIAA insists the standards be changed. Today's expensive HD Radio might be tomorrow's doorstop, or pet rock.
Comments responding to this article:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/13951844.htm
Digital HD Radio uses the adjacent channels for all digital signals thus jamming 2 or more channels for each FM station transmitting HD. As more Philly stations start transmitting digital HD Radio the interference to popular nearby Trenton and Wilmington stations will increase drastically, particularly in the Roxborough area, where most Philly FM stations are located, and the HD digital signal is greatest.
On AM, the situation is even worse. The adjacent channel digital noise transmitted from WDAS 1480 AM creates hissing, jamming, noise on the primary 1 millivolt per meter signal of nearby suburban WBCB 1490 AM Levittown here in Northeast Philadelphia. This noise is so pernicious that the FCC has not allowed AM HD Digital Radio to be transmitted past sunset or before local sunrise. In order to transmit AM HD Radio on the adjacent channels where it resides, the host station of the parasite digital signal must cut it's analog AM frequency response in half from 10,000 hertz to 5,000 hertz resulting in a much muddier sound.
Here is a link to a public site that describes the digital damage being done to the AM and FM broadcasting bands by HD Radio:
http://worldsupercaster.blogspot.com
Please check with other sources beside the dealer's car salesman before you advocate everyone should run out and buy a Yugo. There are two sides to this story. Remember, in science and particularly physics you don't get something for nothing. There are no free rides.
Internet streaming can be better quality then HD Radio depending on the streaming bitrate.
HD Radio is not CD quality and, is often not as good as the analog stereo FM signal it is supposed to replace. This is even more true of the HD2 signal as it is broadcast at an even lower bitrate.
FM HD Radio degrades the main station's analog stereo FM signal it surrounds, resulting in noisier, lower quality audio for the existing analog listeners.
HD Radio on both AM and FM has a shorter range then the analog signal of the host station, resulting in HD reception problems for suburban commuters and when traveling between cities.
Please take a tip from veteran broadcaster and journalist Paul Harvey, and report the "rest of the story".
HD Digital Radio offers little to consumers and listeners, except more interference, and fewer stations.
HD Radio only has "interim approval" and NOT final approval from the FCC and any HD Radio bought now might be obsolete if the FCC or RIAA insists the standards be changed. Today's expensive HD Radio might be tomorrow's doorstop, or pet rock.
Comments responding to this article:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/13951844.htm
