HD Radio Indeed Causes AM Interference

Bill writes:

I wrote a couple of articles in 2009 and 2010 on Ibiquity's HD radio, focusing on the AM band.

I have never heard of a $50 fee per radio for the listener. They have a hard enough time encouraging new listeners now, particularly in the AM band.

In 2009, the FCC showed 289 licensed IBOC stations on the AM band. Today, more than 3 years later, the total is 298. They have gained 9 stations in 3+ years.

At some point I hope they give up on AM IBOC. First of all, it is nothing less than a monopoly sanctioned and fueled by the government. Second, it causes an interference mess across the AM band at night.

http://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/2009/08/iboc-mess-in-north-america.html

http://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/2010/07/digital-radio-update.html

Bill

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Comments

[owl]

New meloson M8/S8 is on its way.

http://bbs.tecsun.com.cn/0002.asp?open=493249

It's said this revised version of M7 has the following improvements:

Larger LCD
Sleep function
"intelligent" backlit
Mono/Stereo switch
Stereo through headphone
Low battery warning

Also, Tecsun has released a new stereo media player A9.

There are some photos in this post from Tecsun user forum:

http://bbs.tecsun.com.cn/0002.asp?open=493099

A few interesting features include:

MP3 resume (very userful for audiobook listening)
DSP FM with ETM function
Dual Li-on battery support (BCL-5 or 18650)
Remote control

owl

[Greg Smith]

The number of AM-HD stations has dropped to 204:

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

In 2007, the iBiquity royalty was indeed $50:

http://www.markramseymedia.com/2007/10/the-ongoing-tragedy-of-hd-radio/

[RADIO-TIMETRAVELLER]

Just to be correct about this.

*The number of AM-HD stations has dropped to 204

(presumably actual stations on the air)

Currently licensed to transmit IBOC: 298 per 01-05-2013 FCC records. Many have dropped actually transmitting IBOC due to lack of listener interest or interference problems.

Interesting about the $50 fee per chip. Thanks for the update.

Bill

[Gary]

At least one of the Los Angeles stations listed on the Topaz Designs web site as running IBOC is in fact not doing so: KLAC 570.

One of the LA stations listed as not running IBOC seems to be doing so today: KABC 790.

Hopefully they will all stop running IBOC on AM at some point.