Observations/questions about HD Radio
 

I've recently picked up a Sangean HDT-1 for a song ($70 bucks
shipped), and have hooked it up to my stereo. I have noticed several
stations here in the Twin Cities that do not utilize the display
features of HD Radio, and was wondering if it was due to a)
incompetent engineers, b) incompetent listener (me!), or c)
incompetent corporations (Ibiquity or Clear Channel?). Here's a list
of most of the stations I received during the day on Jan. 26, 2010;

88.5 KBEM RDS only

89.3 KCMP HDx2

90.3 KFAI HDx1 (not 24/7)

91.1 KNOW HDx3

92.5 KQRS HDx2 ###

93.7 KXXR HDx2 ###

94.5 KSTP RDS only

97.1 KCTZ HDx2 ***

98.5 KTIS HDx3

99.5 KSJN HDx2

100.3 KTLK HDx3 ***

101.3 KDWB HDx2 ***

102.1 KEEY HDx2 ***

102.9 WLTE HDx2

104.1 KZJK HDx2

105.7 WGVZ nothing detected

106.7 K294AM (KFAI translator)

107.1 WFMP RDS only

107.9 KQQL HDx2 ***


Observations - using an RCA VHF/UHF amplified antenna works extremely
well here near Little Canada, with the caveat that the amplification
level needs to be at the absolute minimum, or else the front end gets
swamped.
I've also noticed that there are varying degrees of info passed on via
the display; for example, the stations marked with (###) only show the
station name and HD channel (KQRS-1), with absolutely no song/artist
data to speak of (yet it is showing up via RDS on my Grundig Ocean Boy
510); and the stations marked with (***), upon HD lock, only show the
following repeating text; "hd radio...www.HD-Radio.com"; what's
interesting about that is my Sony XDR-S3HD *does* show artist/track
info on those (***) channels... incidentally, most, if not all, of the
latter group are Clear Channel stations, so maybe they have decided to
save some money by eliminating engineers? Then again, for as much as
they have tried pushing this on the public, no one really seems to
care, so their engineers must not care too much either.

My questions would be this - is it possible that the Clear Stations
are just not implementing their display data correctly, or have there
been changes to the data stream that my rig isn't capable of decoding?
I've read several accounts of radio staff using this model as their
off-air monitor equipment, since they are built so well. I am quite
impressed with it so far. If anyone is interested, the firmware on
this rig is Ver. 1.3f 061227.

Does anyone know why the display error is happening? Thanks for any
info you might have.

Observations/questions about HD Radio
 

Intolerant ******* wrote:
I've recently picked up a Sangean HDT-1 for a song ($70 bucks
shipped), and have hooked it up to my stereo. I have noticed several
stations here in the Twin Cities that do not utilize the display
features of HD Radio, and was wondering if it was due to a)
incompetent engineers, b) incompetent listener (me!), or c)
incompetent corporations (Ibiquity or Clear Channel?).

If you have an automation system playing your music, it's no problem
to put the song titles on RDS and in the HD radio stream.

If you have an automation system switching feeds from remote sources,
you can't really do that because the automation system doesn't know
anything about what is playing other than what the source is. At best
you can display the show title.

If you have an actual human being playing records, you're totally out
of luck with the display. But hopefully with an actual human being
he's going to announce what he's playing (and at worst you can call up
the studio and ask him what he just played... and he might even play a
request).

I've also noticed that there are varying degrees of info passed on via
the display; for example, the stations marked with (###) only show the
station name and HD channel (KQRS-1), with absolutely no song/artist
data to speak of (yet it is showing up via RDS on my Grundig Ocean Boy
510); and the stations marked with (***), upon HD lock, only show the
following repeating text; "hd radio...www.HD-Radio.com"; what's
interesting about that is my Sony XDR-S3HD *does* show artist/track
info on those (***) channels... incidentally, most, if not all, of the
latter group are Clear Channel stations, so maybe they have decided to
save some money by eliminating engineers? Then again, for as much as
they have tried pushing this on the public, no one really seems to
care, so their engineers must not care too much either.

Odds are the Clear Channel folks are just repeating programming that comes
to them over the bird, and the local automation system doesn't know anything
other than it's coming off of source input such-and-so.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Observations/questions about HD Radio
 

On Jan 27, 11:24 am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
Odds are the Clear Channel folks are just repeating programming that come
s
to them over the bird, and the local automation system doesn't know anyth
ing
other than it's coming off of source input such-and-so.
--scott


My main question is *why* it works properly on the Sony, and not the
Sangean... There is some discrepancy between what fields get passed to
the display on the HDT-1, and on the Sony, and I'm wondering what it
is, and, more importantly, how to get it corrected - whether via
firmware, or outright replacement. I think I'll call Sangean.

Observations/questions about HD Radio
 

First off, I should have thanked Scott for his answer - that was rude
of me; you helped shed some light on parts of my query; thank you!

Now, I have noticed that some stations have corrected their displays
since my initial posting - to the engineers, I also say thank you!


Here's what the dial looks like now; (all tests done on a Sangean
HDT-1 tuner)

.................................................. .

88.5 KBEM ---No RDS detected now

89.3 KCMP HDx2 (still works correctly)

90.3 KFAI HDx1 (not 24/7)

91.1 KNOW HDx3 (still works correctly)

92.5 KQRS HDx2 ### (STILL NOT WORKING)

93.7 KXXR HDx2 ### (STILL NOT WORKING)

94.5 KSTP RDS only

96.3 KHTC RDS only (new addition - stronger signal)

97.1 KCTZ HDx2 *** (STILL NOT WORKING)

98.5 KTIS HDx3 (still works correctly)

99.5 KSJN HDx2 (still works correctly)

100.3 KTLK HDx3 *** (WORKING CORRECTLY NOW!)

101.3 KDWB HDx2 *** (WORKING CORRECTLY NOW!)

102.1 KEEY HDx2 *** (WORKING CORRECTLY NOW!)

102.9 WLTE HDx2 (still works correctly)

103.5 K279AZ (KFAN translator)

104.1 KZJK HDx2 (still works correctly)

105.7 WGVZ nothing detected

106.7 K294AM (KFAI translator)

107.1 WFMP RDS only

107.9 KQQL HDx2 *** (STILL NOT WORKING)

.................................................. ........................
...


Thanks to the stations that got it right - and what the hell is up
with the ones that haven't? It's pretty bad that the bible-thumper
station, KTIS, can figure it out, even while being scientifically
challenged as they are... simply amazing.

The people are only trying to escape their countries where they are being oppressed or may just rather come here for a better life. Do you blame them? I agree that it takes it out of us tax payers but what can you do.