The Sunday, June 27, 2004, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/
carried a 1/4-th page story on IBOC. It is on page F7 of the business
section, written by Rob Pegoraro. You'll have to register to read it
online.

Pegoraro was lent a car by iBiquity with both AM and FM IBOC [Panasonic].
He drove it for three days, both in the extended Washington area listening
to FM-IBOC and to Philadelphia to try the AM since there are no nearer
AM-IBOC stations.

To make this very short, he reported "MP3" quality audio and coverage
problems on both FM and AM.

Regarding FM-IBOC, "In general it functions only where analog broadcasts
already work fine."

Regarding AM-IBOC: "But digital AM's reception was even shakier than digital
FM's. Driving underneath a cluster of electrical wires or a sufficiently
long overpass - or simply going through some intersections in the center of
Philadelphia - routinely cut out the crisp stereo sound and dumped me back
into scratchy old AM." [Note - he was listening to WPEN 950, which has the
equivalent of over 200 kW toward central Phily.]

He also reported that WETA-FM's analog and digital were a few seconds out of
sync, but that is certainly not inherent.

I imagine that iBiquity isn't too happy with the story.

Bob Carpenter

CORRECTION?

I've been told that WPEN's 50 kW upgrade has never been built.

Sorry.

B.

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message
...
The Sunday, June 27, 2004, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/
carried a 1/4-th page story on IBOC. It is on page F7 of the business
section, written by Rob Pegoraro. You'll have to register to read it
online.

Pegoraro was lent a car by iBiquity with both AM and FM IBOC [Panasonic].
He drove it for three days, both in the extended Washington area listening
to FM-IBOC and to Philadelphia to try the AM since there are no nearer
AM-IBOC stations.

To make this very short, he reported "MP3" quality audio and coverage
problems on both FM and AM.

Regarding FM-IBOC, "In general it functions only where analog broadcasts
already work fine."

Regarding AM-IBOC: "But digital AM's reception was even shakier than
digital
FM's. Driving underneath a cluster of electrical wires or a sufficiently
long overpass - or simply going through some intersections in the center
of
Philadelphia - routinely cut out the crisp stereo sound and dumped me back
into scratchy old AM." [Note - he was listening to WPEN 950, which has
the
equivalent of over 200 kW toward central Phily.]

He also reported that WETA-FM's analog and digital were a few seconds out
of
sync, but that is certainly not inherent.

I imagine that iBiquity isn't too happy with the story.

Bob Carpenter


The "NAB" is really pushing IBOC ever since the satellite radio providers
started up with weather and local traffic.
I say ******* THEM** and the lame horse they rode in on. IBOC will not hold
a candle to XM or Siruis. I have listened to Siruis, I own several XM
receivers and they both sound better than the AM IBOC and equal to (and
better) than the FM version. Coverage on both systems beats the socks out of
the test stations running IBOC.
Lets see what people have to say at the next "CES" show in Las Vegas.

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message
...
The Sunday, June 27, 2004, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/
carried a 1/4-th page story on IBOC. It is on page F7 of the business
section, written by Rob Pegoraro. You'll have to register to read it
online.

Regarding FM-IBOC, "In general it functions only where analog broadcasts
already work fine."

He also reported that WETA-FM's analog and digital were a few seconds out of
sync, but that is certainly not inherent.

I imagine that iBiquity isn't too happy with the story.

Two things come to mind from this article....the idea that I'd have to accept (when
stations go to non-compatible digital mode) a less-than-acceptable audio signal (as I
just can't stand MP3 quality, even at higher codecs raths), just so the station can
claim it's "High Definition" is unacceptable. When I travel, I expect that I should
be able to listen for at least a half-hour from city's center to where I'm going, and
this system pretty clearly won't measure up.

The second issue (although this goes away when stations go full-dgital) is why a
station wouldn't do an analog delay to match the delay for the encode process on
digital. Of course, this means station monitors couldn't be used by on-air
talent....yet another obstacle to being able to monitor quality, particularly in
combo operations.

I'm glad I did a lifetime subscription to Sirius. It looks more and more like I'll
be listening to this more as the days of traditional broadcasting comes to an
end.....
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There must always be the appearance of lawfulness....especially when the law's being
broken.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For direct replies, take out the contents between the hyphens. -Really!-

Bob Haberkost had written:
|
|
| The second issue (although this goes away when stations go
| full-dgital) is why a station wouldn't do an analog delay
| to match the delay for the encode process on
| digital.
|
In the San Francisco Bay Area, KFOG(FM) is apparently implementing
a delay for its analog signal. You can tell by comparing what's
on KFOG to what's on its Los Altos repeater, KFFG. Both are
fairly easily received in much of the Peninsula and bayside
East Bay.

I don't know if KFOG's boosters are running IBOC, though.
Apparently, KFFG isn't.


--
Mark Roberts | "We're living in times of gangster capitalism, in which
Oakland, Cal.| labor relations appear to be guided by the law of the jungle."
NO HTML MAIL | -- Constantin Costa Gavras, in El País, 2004-06-18

"Bob Haberkost" wrote in message
...

The second issue (although this goes away when stations go full-dgital) is
why a
station wouldn't do an analog delay to match the delay for the encode
process on
digital. Of course, this means station monitors couldn't be used by
on-air
talent....yet another obstacle to being able to monitor quality,
particularly in
combo operations.

Very odd for WETA-FM to not match delay, since I'd guess they do very little
combo operation. A lot of their schedule is from NPR (or originated for
NPR). They used to have a first-rate chief engineer. He went to XM, IIRC.
RDS went away when he did. I don't know anything about their current chief.

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message
...
CORRECTION?

I've been told that WPEN's 50 kW upgrade has never been built.

I think you're right, but I suspect the writer was saying that WPEN's main lobe is
effectively 200kW. Sounds a bit high to me, though....this would mean, what, 16dB
over isotropic? Nah, that's not right. Here's WPHT's coverage
(http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin...atus=L&hours=U) and
here's WPEN's nighttime coverage
(http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin...atus=L&hours=N).
WPEN's got a nice lobe over Philadelphia and points east, but it still doesn't match
WPHT's 50kW-U coverage.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there's nothing that offends you in your community, then you know you're not
living in a free society.
Kim Campbell - ex-Canadian Prime Minister - 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For direct replies, take out the contents between the hyphens. -Really!-

"Bob Haberkost" wrote in message
...
"R J Carpenter" wrote in message
...
CORRECTION?

I've been told that WPEN's 50 kW upgrade has never been built.

I think you're right, but I suspect the writer was saying that WPEN's main
lobe is
effectively 200kW. Sounds a bit high to me, though....this would mean,
what, 16dB
over isotropic? Nah, that's not right.

I computed the 200 kW based on the 50 kW RMS field.... clearly not
applicable to the 5 kW power level.

R J C

I've been told that WPEN's 50 kW upgrade has never been built.


The liklihood of finding a site to erect six 200 degree towers (575 feet on
950) is exceedingly small.