Now your hear it, now you don't

It was brought to may attention recently that HD FM has one  issue. 

HD FM has less background noise and much less interference than analog FM because it's digital and the receiver "locks in" on the station's digital signal. 

That's the good news. 

The bad news is that it's like a digital TV.  In simple terms, the signal is either good or bad, on or off. This means that digital HD radio signals can be more difficult to receive than their analog counterparts. In fact, many HD listeners complain that they can receive their favorite FM station, but can't "lock in" on the digital signal.

I'm living proof of this problem as my HD radio sometimes has a problem locking in on my favorite HD2 blues channel . Sometimes the channel is there and sometimes it just goes away.

So, if you have a problem with intermittenta HD signals, now you know the rest of the story.

The HD Radio Alliance changes its tune

The HD Radio Alliance has come up with a new battle cry, "HD Radio - It's Time To Upgrade."

What's behind this new tagline is  recent research which showed that better than 70% of Americans have heard of HD Radio, but sales continue to be slow. So what this new campaign represents is a turn away from building awareness ("crystal clear HD Radio") to something that might help stir sales.

The Alliance will be running commercials built around this tagline in 100 markets. It has also said that is has something new coming called HD3.

It will be interesting to see whether HD3 is just more music channels or if it will be something really new in digital delivery.

Do the Math

Here's interesting information that appeared on the web recently about the future price of HD digital radios. 

"The HD Radio 'Alliance' has the Money and Commitment for a 5-10 Year Program to Transition the USA to HD AM/FM Radio; plus the Political resources to Make-It-Happen by an Act-of-Congress and/or Rulling by the FCC; which I suspect is coming in the next 3 Years to require that all 'new' Radios being Built or Imported in to the USA will be All Digital-Mode AM/FM/DS "HD" Radios with Dual Mode IBOC and a Built-in Direct-Satellite Interface.

"NOTE - The Price Point of these All Digital-Mode AM/FM/DS "HD" Radios will Drop Annually over a Period of several Years :
"Using a 1/3 (-33%) Price Reduction per Year ...

"$500 for Year #1
$335 for Year # 2
$225 for Year # 3
$150 for Year # 4
$100 for Year # 5"

"So, at the End of Five (5) Years the Price of the 'new' All Digital-Mode AM/FM/DS "HD" Radios will be back at the present day Price to US Consumers for the old Analog "Only' AM/FM Radio that has been around for 40 Years."

The XDR-S10HDiP is the first of its kind from Sony with both HD radio and the ability to dock and charge an iPod. The XDR-F1HD tuner comes with a wireless remote and has a nice-sized display that shows whatever the station to which you're listening cares to send along -- usually station call letters, frequency and artist's name and title of song being played.

Sony says both units should be in stores sometime this summer.

Interesting hints about the future of HD Radio

The quotes

"Commercial radio's audience will continue to shrink as younger listeners find music on other technology, and listeners of all ages (especially women) go to public radio and other media for information.
"People are still tuning in to commercial radio at about the same rate as 10 years ago, but they're not listening as long. Time spent listening has dropped overall by 15 percent (three hours and 15 minutes per week), even more among younger listeners and women. High turnover is a sign listeners aren't finding what they want ... and they're going elsewhere to get it."
Bryan Lowe, program director, KING-FM/98.1: "KING-FM will continue to expand its presence online and on HD radio, allowing us to present even more of this great classical music.

"The new mantra is 'what you want, when you want it,' and our HD and online channels will deliver. Listeners will be able to tune in and listen to operas on demand or devote their weekend to the great symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms or Tchaikovsky."

HD radio technology does for radio what high definition does for TV – it makes it just one heck of a lot better, crystal-clear, bright, clean and interference-free. In fact, HD AM radio sounds as good as today's FM radio – with no annoying crackle, hiss or static of any sort. And HD FM sounds almost as good as if you were listening to a CD.

Commercial-free  HD2 Channels

Crystal-clear, static-free radio is only part of what makes this technology  so great. The other part is HD Radio technology makes it possible for stations to multicast or broadcast more than one signal on the same frequency. This is a fancy way of saying that a single station can become three or four stations with each broadcasting something different. For example, one station here broadcasts an easy listening format on one channel and all blues on a second channel. It could even have hip-hop on yet another channel.

You may have already heard of these subchannels without knowing about it as they are usually called HD2 channels.

Best of all, the nation's HD Radio broadcasters have pledged to keep these HD2 channels commercial-free for at least throughout 2007.

Is that my station sending me a text message?

How many times have you heard a song you liked and wondered what it was or who recorded it?

Wonder no more.

HD Radio technology also allows stations to broadcast text messages such as a song's title and artist. Or selected stations may choose to use this technology to broadcast traffic alerts and weather bulletins. Wow, is that cool or
what?

If you're interested in learning more about HD technology, be sure to click on the menu button "HD2 Channels," "Texting," "Signal Coverage," and if you're a real techie, "The Technology." Signal Coverage," and "Articles."

The introduction of new HD car radios has not exactly kept pace with that of their tabletop cousins, but there has been some activity over the past few months.

For example, there are at least four new in-dash units currently available. They are the JVC KDHDR1 50-watt CD Deck with built-in HD tuner at $149.99; the Sony CDX-GT320 HD-ready CD deck for $99.99; and two Dual radios. The Dual units are an XHD6425 50W x 4 In-Dash CD Deck with HD Radio Tuner and Detachable Faceplate at $149.99 and the XHD6420 50W x 4 In-Dash CD Deck with HD Radio Tuner and Detachable Faceplate. Finally, Directed Electronics has a Directed Car Connect Radio

Dice Electronics has an external HD Radio receiver called the HD Dice HD Radio which it says will integrate to your factory car radio. There are also HD tuners available that can be connected to existing in-dash units for HD Radio reception. In this area, Alpine has a TUA-T500HD Radio Tuner Module that is compatible with all new 2007 Alpine head units. The T500HD has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $250. Kenwood offers a KTC-HR100TR tuner for around $179 that can be connected to compatible Kenwood in-dash units. And Sony has a tuner, XT-100HD, with a suggested retail price of $99.95. Keep in mind that this article was written in November and that there may be even more HD radios forthcoming in time for the Christmas selling season. So be sure to check back from time to time to see what new HD Radios have been introduced.

Over the course of the past several months, electronics manufacturers have released a fair number of new HD radios. There are new tabletop radios, car radios, and even a new category – bookshelf systems. 

Tabletop HD radios 

The new tabletop radios are from AGT, Directed Electronics, Dice Electronics, Polk Audio and Sony. In addition, Visteon has introduced an HD Jump transportable receiver which the company says easily goes from car to home and back. 
 
Polk Audio has two new units. One is called the Executive HDX3™ HD Radio and is priced at $299. This is about $300 less than Polk’s original HD offering, the iSonic Entertainment System that checked in at a hefty $599.99, and roughly $200 less than Polk’s new iSonic 2 system. The AGT HD Pulse HDT200 Radio comes in a handsome, natural, cherry wood cabinet and has a six line graphic display, backlit LCD display, manual and seek tuning capabilities, 10 memory presets and an analog and digital clock. AGT’s suggested price of the HD Pulse is $199.95 

The Directed Electronics tabletop HD radio has a large backlit multi-line display that shows station, artist, and song title, as well as other broadcast information. Directed Electronics says this radio’s normal MSRP is $199.95 but it’s currently available for $149.95. 

The ITR-100 from Dice Electronics, with a MSRP of $199, features HD station seek, an alarm clock, an RCA auxiliary input, and an optional, add-on speaker. 
The XDR-S3HD HD radio from Sony comes in an attractive wood cabinet, and has a backlit LCD display, 20 AM and FM presets, and a number of other good features. Sony’s suggested price for the XDR53HD is $199.95. 

The hybrid of the group is the HD Jump transportable receiver. According to Visteon, the HD Jump radio allows you to enjoy the superior sound and diverse programming of HD Radio in your car or in your home. Docked in the car cradle, HD Jump uses your car’s existing radio and antenna to play the HD Radio transmissions. Dock HD Jump in-home with the optional home cradle kit and listen to HD Radio unique content through your home stereo. The unit is priced at $177 with a car kit.

Bookshelf systems 

A new entry in the HD Radio market is the Insignia Shelf System which retails at Best Buy for $149.99. It is described as a complete component system with progressive-scan DVD/CD/MP3 player, 2 speakers and digital AM/FM/HD radio tuner. In addition it Plays DVD, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, DVD-RW DL, DVD+RW, DVD+RW DL, CD-R/RW, CD, VCD/SVCD, JPEG, MP3 and WMA formats.

The Insignia system comes with a remote and has two audio inputs, and outputs for composite video, S-video, component video and digital optical output.