On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:14:38 -0700, RHF wrote:
Which is the Better "HD" FM Radio ?
-and- Is and External FM Antenna 'critical'
for "HD" FM Radio Reception ?

More importantly which is the Better "HD" AM/MW Radio ?
-and- Is and External AM/MW Antenna 'critical'
for "HD" AM/MW Radio Reception ?

I have only the Boston Acoustics.

FM: at my location, 25 miles from the nearest HD station, an external
antenna is critical for HD reception. Right now, I have a set of TV
rabbit ears connected, and can reliably receive three HD stations. Five
more local stations are known to be HD but don't come in on the "bunny
ears" - I need the rooftop TV antenna for those. I'm near Nashville -
which is Class C territory, so if you're in the Northeast where stations
are limited to 50,000 watts a better antenna will be even more important.

AM: An external antenna is even more critical for AM. We have two local
HD AM stations, WPLN-1430 (15,000 watts) and WLAC-1510 (50,000 watts).
Neither can be received for more than a few seconds with the antenna
provided with the radio. Both can be received reliably with my 160-meter
ham antenna. I don't have anything between the two - I suspect you don't
need anything nearly as big as the ham antenna but have no way of knowing.

The BA is to a considerable degree subject to self-interference. (the
radio emits spurious signals that interfere with its own reception...) It
may not be as much that the external antennas are necessary to increase
the signal strength of the HD signals, as that the external antennas are
necessary to reduce the amount of the radio's own spurious RF interfering
with the stations...

On Apr 1, 2:23 am, Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:14:38 -0700, RHF wrote:
Which is the Better "HD" FM Radio ?
-and- Is and External FM Antenna 'critical'
for "HD" FM Radio Reception ?

More importantly which is the Better "HD" AM/MW Radio ?
-and- Is and External AM/MW Antenna 'critical'
for "HD" AM/MW Radio Reception ?

I have only the Boston Acoustics.

FM: at my location, 25 miles from the nearest HD station, an external
antenna is critical for HD reception. Right now, I have a set of TV
rabbit ears connected, and can reliably receive three HD stations. Five
more local stations are known to be HD but don't come in on the "bunny
ears" - I need the rooftop TV antenna for those. I'm near Nashville -
which is Class C territory, so if you're in the Northeast where stations
are limited to 50,000 watts a better antenna will be even more important.

AM: An external antenna is even more critical for AM. We have two local
HD AM stations, WPLN-1430 (15,000 watts) and WLAC-1510 (50,000 watts).
Neither can be received for more than a few seconds with the antenna
provided with the radio. Both can be received reliably with my 160-meter
ham antenna. I don't have anything between the two - I suspect you don't
need anything nearly as big as the ham antenna but have no way of knowing.

Wonder if any one is using a simply 14"-24" AM/MW "Box"
Loop Antenna with with one of these "HD" Radios and -if-
They are good enough to acquire a reliable "HD" Signal ?
-But- That requires Tuning the Radio and the Antenna every
time you change an AM/MW Radio Station.

The BA is to a considerable degree subject to self-interference. (the
radio emits spurious signals that interfere with its own reception...) It
may not be as much that the external antennas are necessary to increase
the signal strength of the HD signals, as that the external antennas are
necessary to reduce the amount of the radio's own spurious RF interfering
with the stations...

Sounds like the same problem that I have with the Analog
version of the BA Receptor up here In-them-there-Hills.
Needs both an AM and FM Antenna to be able to receive
any signals reliabily -except- for KXSR which is up the
Hill about a Mile on 91.7 with 4 KW ERP.
KXSR = http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=8328

DS [W9WI] - Thank Your for Your Reply ~ RHF

On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 03:10:44 -0700, RHF wrote:
Wonder if any one is using a simply 14"-24" AM/MW "Box"
Loop Antenna with with one of these "HD" Radios and -if-
They are good enough to acquire a reliable "HD" Signal ?
-But- That requires Tuning the Radio and the Antenna every
time you change an AM/MW Radio Station.

That would be a decent option and would probably work. At least you
wouldn't have to rotate the loop, since you know where the main source of
interference is coming from regardless of frequency!

But as the other post says, nobody except us DXers is going to bother.

It's unfortunate for HD promoters that the BA was the first home HD
receiver generally available. (it was preceded by a number of car radios,
but most people aren't going to go to the trouble of having an aftermarket
car radio installed if they aren't sure they're going to like the results.
It's harder to undo than replacing a table radio!)

A lot of us "early adopters" based our opinions of HD on this set. I'm
coming to the belief that HD works a LOT better than I first believed.
From what I'm hearing the Sangean tuner works pretty well; if it had
beat the BA to market I think the early word on HD could have been quite a
bit better.

(which does NOT mean I think it was a good idea to adopt HD instead of
Eureka, nor that I've changed my mind about the interference issues HD
presents)

Sounds like the same problem that I have with the Analog version of the
BA Receptor up here In-them-there-Hills. Needs both an AM and FM Antenna
to be able to receive any signals reliabily -except- for KXSR which is
up the Hill about a Mile on 91.7 with 4 KW ERP. KXSR =
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=8328

Interesting. I wonder how long the analog version has been available?
I'd figured the self-interference problem was the result of inadequate
shielding/filtering of the HD chipset - maybe it's actually from the
radio's general CPU?

On Apr 1, 8:23 am, Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:14:38 -0700, RHF wrote:
Which is the Better "HD" FM Radio ?
-and- Is and External FM Antenna 'critical'
for "HD" FM Radio Reception ?

More importantly which is the Better "HD" AM/MW Radio ?
-and- Is and External AM/MW Antenna 'critical'
for "HD" AM/MW Radio Reception ?

I have only the Boston Acoustics.

FM: at my location, 25 miles from the nearest HD station, an external
antenna is critical for HD reception. Right now, I have a set of TV
rabbit ears connected, and can reliably receive three HD stations. Five
more local stations are known to be HD but don't come in on the "bunny
ears" - I need the rooftop TV antenna for those. I'm near Nashville -
which is Class C territory, so if you're in the Northeast where stations
are limited to 50,000 watts a better antenna will be even more important.

AM: An external antenna is even more critical for AM. We have two local
HD AM stations, WPLN-1430 (15,000 watts) and WLAC-1510 (50,000 watts).
Neither can be received for more than a few seconds with the antenna
provided with the radio. Both can be received reliably with my 160-meter
ham antenna. I don't have anything between the two - I suspect you don't
need anything nearly as big as the ham antenna but have no way of knowing.

The BA is to a considerable degree subject to self-interference. (the
radio emits spurious signals that interfere with its own reception...) It
may not be as much that the external antennas are necessary to increase
the signal strength of the HD signals, as that the external antennas are
necessary to reduce the amount of the radio's own spurious RF interfering
with the stations...

Yea, just like this article stated, consumers are not going to the
trouble of mounting external antennas - no wonder, few HD radios have
sold, and many returned:

"HD Radio Effort Undermined by Weak Tuners in Expensive Radios"

"External Antennas

"As I pointed out earlier, the HD radios all came with simple external
antennas, essentially 9' pieces of wire.The AM band utilized a
straight length of copper while the FM band employed a T-shaped
stretch. Attaching these radios to a outdoor aerial such as an old TV
antenna will make a dramatic improvement in reception. Unfortunately,
in the cable TV era not a lot of homes have outdoor aerials anymore.
This means additional cost and effort. Most consumers who purchase one
of these radios will never bother do that and, to be perfectly frank,
they shouldn't have to."

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/7002/hd-radio2.html

Eduardo will be along, shortly.