Re: Outside antenna for HD radio?

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

The "drifting in and out of multicast" may be a problem at the radio station
rather than being a problem in the receiver.

If an outdoor antenna is used, it needs to have lightning protection. The
manual shows how to do this for an FM antenna but how you do it for an AM
antenna will depend on the antenna design.

Are there any "gentlemen" left in the radio industry? One local NPR station
affiliated with Xavier University that managed a small network of 5 NPR
stations in the upper midwest sold out lock stock and barrel to the NPR
station affiliated with the University of Cincinnati a couple of weeks after
their semi-annual fundraising drive, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of
their donors and causing a game of musical chairs among the on air
personalities at the remaing NPR affiliates in the area. Geez, if you can't
trust a bunch of Jesuits to do the right thing...

$300 strikes me as rather rich for a glorified boombox. But it's a bargain
compared to the only other HD receiver available which goes for $1800. Oh
well, about the only thing getting cheaper these days are congressmen.

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>"Dave Houston" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:445f2610.250466906@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> 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.
>
>I didn't know much about it, but in my reading last nite the Boston unit got
>slammed for having no equalization controls and for drifting in and out of
>multicast the way stereo FM radios can drift in and out of stereo lock.  The
>only problem is there's no way to force the Boston radio into the non-HD
>mode or the other.  The first units were supplied with a very small FM wire
>aerial that proved to be pretty useless.  It was quickly supplanted by the
>7' dipole now included.  Various users reports on the "Recepter" HD radio
>indicate that plain ol' rabbit ears pull in most stations quite nicely.
>
>> 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.
>
>The HD receivers are alleged to make the new AM sound like the old FM and
>the new FM sound like DVD surround sound.  It's unclear which stations Mr.
>Wiss would be listening to, so I suspect he needs to concern himself with
>both types of aerials, AM and FM.   Reviews of the AM capabilities of the
>radio suggest that the unless the radio is placed near a window, the
>additional external antenna will be required.  I haven't been able to
>determine if HD AM is more hum-resistant than its analog counterpart, but my
>guess is that it is.  Maybe that would make a long, shortwave aerial
>practical.  IIRC, some people were using a COTS Radio Shack shortwave
>antenna kit that included wire, connectors and standoffs for the AM side of
>the equation.
>
>> 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.
>
>There seems to be some sort of "gentlemen's agreement" among HD radio
>broadcasters that they will broadcast commercial-free on the subchannels for
>at least 18 months.  The HD radio folks are very hard at work trying to make
>deals with auto manufacturers because they believe that they will live or
>die based on whether new cars can receive the signals.  They know they're
>going head to head with satellite radio and they also know that people hate
>paying monthly fees.
>
>For my $, the greatest benefit will be not having to listen and pray that
>the DJ will announce the name of a song that just plaued.  You can read it
>right off the radio display.  How long will it be before some advertiser
>figures out how to walk over that information with a popup ad of some sort?
>
>> 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".
>
>The infamous "I have 500 channels on my cable so why isn't there anything to
>watch other than B movies, LawnOrder reruns or shark documentaries?
>
>> 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.
>
>For those interested in the Boston Audio unit just search on the terms
>"Recepter" and "HD" or "Boston" - lots and lots of information.