Radio geeks - does an HD signal travel as far?

[mcdonaat]

Our local HD radio station, KQID (Q93), broadcasts love songs on HD2 (formerly Radio Qupid, now Magic FM) and oldies on HD3. They say you can get both stations as far north as Monroe and south as Opelousas, which would fit right in with their normal signal at 100kW. However, picking up 101.5 WYNK clearly, it never switched to digital, which I caught only by tropospheric propogation. It should have kicked into digital with HD2 being offered as their "Downtown Radio."

Any help on the situation? I don't wanna drive to Monroe only to have my HD3 kick out of KQID.

[briantroutman]

No, unfortunately–the HD signal has nowhere near the range of the standard analog signal. In my own experience, an HD signal is only remotely reliable within the immediate environs of an urban area, becomes intrusively flaky around the 10-15 mile range and is basically unusable beyond 20.

I found this discussion on an AV-related forum, and the consensus seems to be that HD range is roughly 1/3 to 1/2 that of the analogue signal.

[Dr Frankenstein]

My understanding is that a HD signal theoretically goes as far as the regular one, but becomes inaudible much quicker due to the digital encoding's much lower tolerance to corruption when compared to the standard analog signal.

In other words, a small amount of interference will be either unnoticeable or slightly annoying on a standard signal, but will render a HD signal unusable, so the radio would need a much more powerful antenna to reach the same range.

[bandit957]

It's sort of like how digital TV ruined TV signals.

[Rothman]

It's sort of like how digital TV ruined TV signals.

Yep!

[02 Park Ave]

On the AM (medium wave) band, the HD signal is sent from a transmitter separate from that used for the radio station's analogue signal.  The signal power emitted from that HD transmitter is usually less than that from the main transmitter.  So the HD coverage area would accordingly be smaller.

[doorknob60]

It's sort of like how digital TV ruined TV signals.

Except when you have a good signal. Then it's fantastic, usually better quality than cable (less compression). The problem is it can be finicky. It can go from perfect crystal clear, to absolutely not working, just by walking around (there was a spot in my last apartment where if someone stood there, the signal on FOX would drop), or moving the antenna a couple inches. I know in Nampa (I'm assuming the TV station transmitters are closer to Boise), I can get all the major channels here, but it requires a lot of trial and error with antenna position to get them all coming in clearly, and still sometimes it doesn't work. I wasn't here before the DTV switch, but I'm assuming it wasn't as much as an issue then. But again, crystal clear 1080i/720p is so much better than fuzzy 480i. Radio, on the other hand, sounds just fine by my ears over analog FM with a decent signal (though I don't have "HD Radio", but I've of course listened to CDs and FLACs and such).

[NJRoadfan]

The furthest I've gotten an IBOC signal is about 40-50 miles out. The station in question is WRAL 101.5, but they run a TON of power. Incidentally WRAL is the first station to ever run IBOC service. AM IBOC is a joke in comparison, the MW band has way too much interference for it to work reliably at such low bandwidth. C-QUAM AM Stereo works much better in that regard.

[02 Park Ave]

Are there any C-QUAM AM stereo staions still broadcasting in North America?

[briantroutman]

Are there any C-QUAM AM stereo staions still broadcasting in North America?

According to this article from 2011, WQUN 1220 AM in Hamden, CT was still broadcasting in C-QUAM AM stereo at that time. I don't know if that's still accurate.

My one and only experience with AM stereo was on a trip to New York in the '90s in my family's 1991 Plymouth Voyager. I was listening to Imus on WFAN when the STEREO LED next to AM lit up–it was kind of a surreal experience to see that and listen to the station in stereo.

[TravelingBethelite]

Where I live- right, maybe sorta -smack dab-possibly  in the NYC metro area, I don't get many HD FM signals, even though I use a top-of-the-line outdoor-mounted antenna. My theory is that, which seems to be the consensus, the HD signal dies 25-30 miles from the transmitter, assuming a 50,000 watt station (max power in the NE). I get no NYC station in HD, maybe an occ. flash from WCBS/WFUV/WNSH, and my farthest is either WMRQ/WKCI, which flicker in-&-out of HD. On that note, is anyone else using the Sony XDR-F1HD receiver?  My favorite!