Atlanta HD stations

Based on 5 days of monitoring in Gwinnett County using Sangean tuner:
90.1 WABE-1,2,3
92.9 WZGC
94.1 WSTR-1,2,3
94.9 WUBL-1,2
95.5 WBTS-1,2
96.1 WKLS-1,2
97.1 WSRV-1,2
98.5 WSB-1,2
99.7 WNNX-1,2
100.5 WWWQ
101.5 WKHX-1,2
103.3 WVEE-1,2
104.1 WALR-1,2
105.7 WWVA-1,2
106.7 WYAY-1,2
107.5 WJZZ
107.9 WHTA

Contrary to Ibiquity's list, I receive no AM stations in HD (listening during daylight hours, of course). WCLK, 91.9, is not broadcasting in HD. WZGC, 92.9, is not putting out an HD-2 signal. WBZY, 105.3, is not in HD.

The good news is that WABE is already broadcasting three streams and sounding fine. This NPR station is licensed to the Atlanta Board of Education and totally listener-supported. Their HD-1 program is a simulcast of their analogue program, and the shift to HD is seamless. HD-2 is classical music, and HD-3 is syndicated news and opinion programming (BBC?). Many of their programs are locally produced, which is more than Clear Channel can claim these days. Kudos to WABE. Ibiquity's list does not yet acknowledge their HD-2 and HD-3 signals.

Zyg, I can get WAEC and WWWE, the two Beasley AM stations listed as having HD licenses, but never in HD. I must say I'm disappointed with the AM reception of the Sangean tuner, even after adding a long wire antenna. Only a few local powerhouse stations come through strong enough to be listenable. I can barely pick up WFOM (1230, sports talk), WPBC (1310, Korean?), WALR (1340, Spanish), WAOK (1380, news/talk), WYZE (1480, Gospel), and WAOS (1600, "La Favorita). You must have caught a lucky skip across the river there, because I think DXing is out of the question with this tuner.

My previously reported inability to pick up WCLK (91.9) was purely due to antenna location. Using the supplied twinlead dipole or a Terk indoor gadget, that station comes in strong, although not in HD.

Zyg, I take back what I said about no DX with the Sangean tuner. Last night I pulled in WHO (1040) from Des Moines.

WSTR (94.1) seems to have quit multicasting. WBTS (95.5) is playing dead air on its HD-2 stream. WKHX (101.5) is using its HD-2 stream to simulcast its HD-1 program with about a 3 sec. delay. What a waste of bandwidth.

I previously reported not receiving WBZY in HD. Tonight, WBZY (105.3), "El Patron" is coming in strong with both HD-1 and HD-2 programs. Don't know if I changed antenna orientation or if they made some change at the station.

I got a reply to my inquiry from WCLK. They are broadcasting HD, but my Sangean HDT-1 doesn't detect it, about 15 miles from their transmitter, right at the 60dBu contour. WBTS fixed whatever was wrong with their HD-2 signal and resumed modulating. WSTR (94.1) is not multicasting at present and didn't respond to my inquiry.

WKHX (101.5) HD-2, "The Wolf", is playing dead air. Nobody at the station answers the phone, and e-mail to the address posted on their website just bounces. This is an ABC Radio station, and I guess ABC can't afford to keep the station staffed or buy them an HD radio to monitor their signal.

I am informed that Star94 will resume broadcasting in HD as soon as they repair their HD exciter.

WZGC (92.9) and WKHX (101.5) have resumed modulating programs on their HD-2 channels.

Z-93 HD-2 format is "deep classic hits," whatever that means. I recognized a couple of Simon & Garfunkel tracks, but most of what they were playing last night was nothing I recognized. WKHX HD-2 is country/southern rock, sort of a Dixie slant on their pop country format on HD-1. You might say that on HD-1 she left me in a taxi, and on HD-2 she left in her pickup truck. Same three chords.

Today, 3/25/08, WREK 91.1 started broadcasting in HD. Not multicasting yet, but planning that for the fall. I still can't get WCLK in HD, but they are trying to raise funds to move to a taller stick. After the flip from country to oldies, WYAY 106.7 is in HD again, after a brief interruption, but the HD-2 signal is unmodulated.

WSB-AM was one of the first stations to experiment with HD, but they turned it off a couple of years ago. Now, a couple of gospel stations in the south metro area are the only AM stations listed as being in HD, and I'm too far from them to pick them up even in analog. The controversy over interference makes it unlikely they will ever approve an increase in digital power on the AM band, even if the majority of listeners had HD receivers. Some industry critics want digital broadcasting on medium wave moved to another frequency band altogether.