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AM in HD?

AMRocks

AMRocks

I bought a new car (yeah, me!) and it has an HD radio. There are no HD AMs by me, but I'll be visiting NYC next week and wonder if there are any AM's in the market who are in HD. I really want to test this out!

Thanks!
 
I live in Philly, the only HD I can receive from the apple is WCBS 880 and you will be able to also receive WPHT 1210 from Philly, I do not think there are any others, sad to say.
 
There is not a lot of AM HD out there. But the few AM HD that I have listened to, seem to show there may be a future for AM. And that future is full HD. Decent fidelity and NO noise.
 
Ahh you mean full digital...."Full HD" is an oxymoron and impossibility. Like only a little bit pregnant..
MA3 digital will likely be voluntary...but is it worth it??
 
I wish the NYC area had more AM HD stations. There were more in the past but many shut down their HD broadcasts and moved to FM HD subchannels. It is a shame because both stations sound really good when you get their signals in full HD sound. At times the HD signals blend more into a mono sound when they fade (just before reverting back to analog). Does anyone know of other AM stations in the area that might turn up HD?
 
WTIC 1080 Hartford is HD but it teases my car
Radio. I see the HD logo but I do not get a strong enough signal to trigger HD. The same holds for 1210 WPHT (I see an HD teaser, but the signal is not enough to trigger HD). I live in Southeast Nassau County so Philadelphia and Hartford are outside my AM HD coverage area.
 
djl said:
I wish the NYC area had more AM HD stations. There were more in the past but many shut down their HD broadcasts and moved to FM HD subchannels.
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Two big issues: One was the interference to other stations caused by AM HD. The other was the noise added to the main channel due to the encoding. CBS was one of the companies involved in the development of HD radio in the 90s, so its no surprise they're the lone holdouts in NY.
 
BarryATL said:
Also, the FCC is about to start the process of allowing all AM stations to go to a full digital signal.
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The way you phrase that sentence is overly optimistic when you read the article. Even if the FCC approves full digital, then you have a situation where all AM radios would be obsolete and would have to be replaced for users to receive digital AM. The other un-reported story is that if AM goes full digital, radio operators would be charged the same music royalty rates as other digital platforms, such as satellite and streaming. That would be more expensive.
 
TheBigA said:
The way you phrase that sentence is overly optimistic when you read the article. Even if the FCC approves full digital, then you have a situation where all AM radios would be obsolete and would have to be replaced for users to receive digital AM. The other un-reported story is that if AM goes full digital, radio operators would be charged the same music royalty rates as other digital platforms, such as satellite and streaming. That would be more expensive.
Click to expand...

Streaming royalty rates for radio? That will probably kill any attempt to go all digital.
 
The list on HD Radio's own web site is years out of date. Here is a more up-to-date list of AM IBOC (HD Radio) stations:

http://www.topazdesigns.com/iboc/station-list.html

Over in Chicago, both 670 WSCR and 780 WBBM turned off their HD when they started diplexing a few months ago (and WBBM reduced their power from 50 kW full-time to 35 kW day / 42 kW night).

From what I've heard, no one is making new AM IBOC exciters anymore, so when the existing 10-15 year old ones fail (mostly due to the old Linux PC hardware they're based on), they're not being replaced.
 
TheBigA said:
The way you phrase that sentence is overly optimistic when you read the article. Even if the FCC approves full digital, then you have a situation where all AM radios would be obsolete and would have to be replaced for users to receive digital AM. The other un-reported story is that if AM goes full digital, radio operators would be charged the same music royalty rates as other digital platforms, such as satellite and streaming. That would be more expensive.
Click to expand...

On your second point, I agree.

On your first point,even if the FCC allows for individual stations to choose to go full-HD, there will always be analog AM stations on the AM band until the AM band is dead. AM radios won't be obsolete or made useless. There won't ever be all that many all-HD AM stations.
 


I recently got a car with HD Radio too. Both AM and FM. WCBS and WINS are in HD on the AM band. It does make a significant difference. At first, I didn't realize there were HD signals on the AM band. I was amazed when I got the car how good WCBS and WINS sounded. Then I realized.

You can also get both All-News stations in HD on FM radio. WCBS is on WCBS-FM-HD2 at 101.1. And WINS is on WNEW-FM-HD3 at 102.7.

The FM HD signals are a bit better than the AM, but not by too much. However, you can lose the FM HD signals when you are 15 miles or more from Midtown. You also lose the AM HD signals when you get too far away but then the conventional AM signal kicks in, so there's no total loss of the signal as you find with HD subchannels on FM radio.

 
You should be able to get FM HD more than 15 miles from Midtown. My Mazda CX-5 with its Shark Fin antenna gets relatively solid FM HD up to the Nassau/Suffolk border (approximately 40 miles from Midtown). Check with your dealer to see if they can improve your reception.
 
djl said:
You should be able to get FM HD more than 15 miles from Midtown. My Mazda CX-5 with its Shark Fin antenna gets relatively solid FM HD up to the Nassau/Suffolk border (approximately 40 miles from Midtown). Check with your dealer to see if they can improve your reception.
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I have the same car (love that CX-5!) and I pick up LA FM HD mostly from Mt Wilson in SoCal about 40-50 miles, driving southward to home, the signal is spotty
 
I shouldn't have said I don't get HD signals 15 miles from Manhattan. I should have said I get a drop out. Maybe it happens under a bridge or behind a hill.

Most of my life is spent within a few miles of Midtown. But I noticed the other day approaching the Tappan Zee Bridge that WCBS-FM-HD2 dropped out briefly. So I figured I'd switch to WCBS 880 HD. With that signal, if it drops out, the analog signal replaces it. And that one did drop out occasionally as well, even though the AM tower is in the Bronx, closer to the Tappan Zee than the FM tower on the Empire State Building is.
 
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