Re: Outside antenna for HD radio?

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Digital Radio is fairly new to N. America (it's in wider use in Europe) so I
haven't seen much on it. I don't know but would expect that it has reception
sensitivity that is more or less the same as standard AM & FM. The manual
for the radio you cite indicates there is an internal AM antenna which, if
necessary, can be replaced with a supplied external antenna (the one Bobby
Green cited). The manual also indicates it comes with an FM antenna
connected to the 75-ohm F connector.

I doubt you will need an external AM antenna but if you do, the one provided
is small and unobtrusive. Quarter-wavelength AM antennas are of the size of
the WLW tower. You probably won't need that.

Any of the Yagi or Turnstile FM antennas shown on the cite I referenced will
work. They probably have 75-ohm F connectors. If not, there are 50-ohm to
75-ohm (or 300-ohm to 75-ohm) adapters readily available. The radio's manual
has complete instructions, including pictures.

Whether you need an omnidirectional or unidirectional antenna depends on the
station(s) you wish to receive. Unless you are in an area of fringe
reception, the omnidirectional turnstile is likely to be adequate.

I wonder whether digital radio will make any significant penetration. The
receivers are expensive, few stations broadcast digital signals and since
most of the standard AM band has been taken over by wing-nut talk while much
of the lower end of the FM band has been taken over by religious
broadcasters, it would appear that there is a lack of content to fill the
additional channels that digital radio makes available. With XM, Sirius,
cell phones and iPods to compete with, they have a lot of work ahead of
them.

Like with HDTV they can either improve fidelity or squeeze more channels
into the same bandwidth. Cable TV has by and large chosen the latter route
and I suspect the radio conglomerates will do the same. I think this will be
another case where "more is less".

Most public TV and public radio programming has become an endless begathon.
I don't see how adding more channels helps that.

For those who haven't heard about digital radio...

     http://www.ibiquity.com/hdradio/index.htm

It's been a year or so since I last visited the site and I see only a few
additional digital stations. At least now there are a couple of receiver
suppliers. Last time I looked there were none.

Don Wiss <donwiss@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>On Sun, 7 May 2006, Robert Green <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Their website has a PDF manual
>>
>>http://www.bostonacoustics.com/manuals/RRHDMAN.pdf
>>
>>that shows (diagram on page 5) a small plastic loop antenna of the type
>>often supplied with stereo receivers connected to the two AM radio inputs.
>>I assume at the price they're charging, they include it.
>
>But I don't want a wire on the wall of my room. I want one outside.
>
>Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).