There is a classical station I discovered one day in Sacramento, which is NW of me while the Bay Area is South. It is KPXM, and is an excellent NPR station at 88.9 MHz. I really enjoyed listening to FM because they are of the old school where the announcer gives insight to the music, never is obtrusive, and just plain makes listening to FM fun again.

Well, I happened to be in the living Room where my HDT-1 is located and decided to listen to FM there. I turned the antenna in that direction, and a few seconds after tuning the station in, the HD light popped on.

I then proceeded to spend 4 of the most enjoyable hours I've had in years listening to the radio. They are using full 96Kb audio, no second channel. Minimal amplitude correction, and engineering that is beyond anything I've heard in years.

They had a concert from Avery Fisher Hall (ironic, isn't it, Avery Fisher built some of the best FM tuners) of the New York Philharmonic performing. I couldn't believe how good it was. There was a little amplitude compression because between passages I could hear the musicians shuffling their music around and the other little noises orchestras make when preparing for the next piece.

The audio was impeccable. I tried and tried to pick it apart, but could find absolutely nothing wrong. I turned the lights out and just sat there with my headphones on. It was like Mike said, as exciting as when he first heard FM stereo through headphones many years ago.

After the performance, the regular announcer came back on and played selections from CD. You could actually hear the noise level go to zero when the CD finished and he faded it out. Imagine, hearing master tape noise on broadcast radio!!! This is a first! I finally woke up laying on the couch with my headphones on. I went to bed, then got up at 5 AM and started listening again. Again, it was amazing. I got on the phone and pledged $100. That's the first time I've sent NPR any money since they converted to talk radio.

If anyone is within range of KPXR, 88.9 MHz in Sacramento and likes classsical music, I'll say that the $200 they spend for an HDT-1 radio will give them more pleasure than anything else they can spend that kind of money on.

Sorry Scowl and Mike for badmouthing HD radio before I listened to it seriously.

IT's GREAT!

Bob Smith

First impressions are hard to shake, Bob. I'm glad I've got WDAV in my area (the classical station in Davidson NC, with full 96kbps). THAT was my first HD catch. If I'd heard some of the others first, and there was no WDAV, I'm sure I would have been much less favorably impressed.

For quality-oriented formats such as classical and acoustic jazz, HD is a revelation! I'm actually salivating at the thought of a live jazz concert from a smoky little club. You could hear the ice cubes rattling in the glasses, the snickering of musicians between numbers, and even the rude guy in the back of the room who didn't turn off his cell phone (ok, so I'm imagining all this!) Not to mention every detail as the bass-man's fingers run up and down the fretboard, all the sheen of brush on cymball, and the airy sparkle of muted trumpet. AHHHH! It's the kind of experience that got me interested in audio as a hobby nearly 40 years ago!

Well Mike, funny you should mention that. There is a station in San Mateo, KCSM that is exactly the station you are looking for. Same operating procedure as KXPR, but playing jazz only. Engineering is excellent, AND they have what appears to be a 96 Kb IBOC carrier up as well. Trouble is, it is adjacent to a local non-profit within a mile of my house. That makes the HD switch back and forth constantly, something that can't be defeated on my HDT-1. Isn't that ironic, an FM station ruining my HD reception? What's even funnier is the fact that when I turn the antenna to attenuate KCSM a little, it stays in analog FM, and the IF filter in my HDT-1 brings in the analog FM flawlessly, with the exception of a little background noise. That's something my High Class McIntosh MR-78 with a super narrow filter position was never able to do.

I have been able to get KCSM HD using the directional antenna I have outside my office/lab, but haven't had a chance to put on the 'cans' and listen carefully.

I am so impressed with the station that I sent them $100 pledge as well. We've got to support these stations that are trying to do the right thing. Makes more sense than supporting the NPR stations that have converted to 'talk radio'

Bob

Amen. Public radio deserves our support! Especially in these days of corporate-sameness. I bet if I did an audio sample of my FM dial from one end to the other here in Northwest NC, it wouldn't sound THAT different than yours in Northern California. That sure as hell wouldn't have been true 20 (or more) years ago. What a shame!

Local flavor is all but dead (the exception being public stations like WNCW Spindale NC which plays a rich mix of bluegrass, folk, indie rock, and God knows what else. You can sample them online at wncw.org) THAT station sounds like the NC mountains. But very few others do (any more!)

You know what would have been cool? If the FCC had allowed independent non profit broadcasters to have the frequency slots that were given to the mainstream broadcasters for IBOC. It would have been like the left side of the dial is for non-commercial radio. That would have made IBOC evolve like FM did. Only the people interested in quality would have gone to the additional trouble of buying an IBOC tuner just to have the variety and quality. The main stream stations would have had to compete with them to keep their listening audience.

As it is, the only way a broadcaster can use the whole 96K bit stream is to simulcast what is already on their FM carrier. If these additional spots on the dial were given to more creative program originators, we would really have something new on the bands.

Bob Smith

Couldn't agree more. Enough with the REQUIREMENT that HD1 be a simulcast! Let all flowers bloom!

The reason I bought a Recepter was because my analog FM reception at work is so dreadful so I like the simulcast. It completely solved my reception problems. Yes, my bad reception is an exceptional case but I'm still happy about it.

Looking at the presets right now, I've programmed the HD2 channels of three stations that I would never listen to their regular stations so I like the idea of HD2 channels. However there are already a lot of HD2 channels here that are mediocre or redundant so I don't know if giving stations the option to broadcast another channel will give me more programming I like.

I'm not saying that having the same programming on HD1 as your analog channel is a bad idea. Just that the government shouldn't be in the business of requiring it. Stations should be able to program all of their "channels", analog and digital, as they see fit. Then let the public decide.

However...with switching from analog to digital automatic, and non-defeatable in most (all?) HD radios now, one would be kind of silly not to (have HD1 duplicate the analog channel) at this point!

Another revelation:

I am still thrilled with the station in Sacramento I found playing classical music. Woke up late last night (happens a lot at this age!) and started listening to the station again. After about a half hour, I decided to go back to my old Classical standard, KDFC in San Francisco just to compare things. The music sure didn't sound as good as KXPR, but even worse, they had terrible distortion. Solo piano was playing and when the pianist really plowed into the keyboard, I would get a serious breakup on the transients created. I've been trying to get rid of this distortion on the FM portion for years, figuring it was multipath or some flaw in my tuners. All these years I thought it was just difficult to receive KDFC due to their transmitter location, now I find out it's just been shoddy engineering!

It's amazing that it took IBOC to show me where the real problems are.

Bob Smith

BTW, when I first got my HDT-1, KDFC is what I listened to to try it out. Message is, don't let the first station you listen to convince you HD is bad, you've got to look around to find the real gems.

Bob, I had the same experience of having to revise my judgment of HD based on the sound of just one or two stations. When I really started to tune around, I realized that each station had a different HD level and each had a different frequency response on HD compared to analog. I believe the HD audio goes through a different processing chain at the transmitter so I can see how the digital and analog signals might easily come to differ in several ways. I've only found one or two stations whose overall tonal balance sounds close between their HD and analog.

Incidentally, I heard another case last night of drumstick ticks (against a cymbal edge?) being completely suppressed in analog but clearly audible in HD. They weren't just weak in analog, they were completely inaudible. Only when the cut faded at the end was I able to hear these percussive sounds on analog, presumably because their level had become low enough that the HF limiter no longer gobbled them up. This is your 75-us preemphasis dollars at work.

Brian

I'm not saying that having the same programming on HD1 as your analog channel is a bad idea. Just that the government shouldn't be in the business of requiring it.
I think the reason they did this is to make the introduction of HD Radio consistant so people will know what to expect when they tune into an HD Radio station.

Consumers are freaked by the smallest details when they try out new technology. For example some HD stations aren't sending the PAD data for songs and station ID since it's optional. Some people think this means HD Radio isn't working on these stations.