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Anybody know much about this 'HD Radio' thing I keep hearing advertised on our local FM radio stations ... something about 'channels between the stations'?

It is supposed to be better quality than normal radio, without the satellite subscription fees.

HD Radio

Hi,

It IS much better quality than standard analog FM and AM radio but unfortunately it took many years for the industry to select and standardize a system that didn't cause interference to the analog AM and FM signals broadcast on the same channel.

The system chosen carries the digital signal on a sub-carrier frequency, which is extracted and decoded for playback. It works, and so far I have not come across reports of interference between the digital and analog signals.

When I lived in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (and some commercial broadcasters as well) experimented with a digital terrestrial radio system based on a European standard called Musicam. I later did listening tests with this system and it was excellent, but it never materialized because the broadcast frequencies conflicted with some military frequencies in use by the Pentagon. . .

I have not done in-home tests of HD radio, but you might find some reviews by critics I know if you Google HD radio or check on CNet.

Regards,

It is nothing more than an attempt by the industry to try to keep up with satellite radio. I have not personally experienced HD radio, but the sound quality is supposed to be very, very good, offer a full readout of the name/artist info, and also allow subchannels. My local NPR station talked about it during their last fundraiser, and from what they describe; the analog signal will remain, but there are (in their case) 3 sub-channels that a digital receiver can tune to. One will be 24/7 classical music,one will be an NPR news feed, and the other will be play a mix of the two as the old analog station does. Or something like that. The point being that they can increase the content without needing new stations.

Personally I'm not too excited about it. I enjoy NPR, so that would be nice, but I'm usually not that critical of the sound quality when listening to 'A Prarie Home Companion', or 'Car Talk', or 'Marketplace', nor do I need to know who the artist is. As far as commercial FM goes, I'm not sure I care to hear commercials and annoying DJ's in hi-def sound, since that seems to be all the local FM stations broadcast anyway.

Disclaimer: I really love my satellite radio. I've had XM for about 4 years now. I listen to XM for 8-9 hours a day at my job, very frequently on road trips and sometimes Sirius (piped in via DishNetwork) around the house at night. I can't imagine functioning without it. Just as cable/satellite TV is worth the price over 'rabbit-ears', satellite radio is totally worth it over FM/AM.

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Anybody know much about this 'HD Radio' thing I keep hearing advertised on our local FM radio stations ... something about 'channels between the stations'?

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And on the other side, we had a 3 month free trial of XM and decided it wasn't worth it. I'd rather spend the $12 a month or whatever it goes for now on a new CD every month than a satellite subscription.

I can see the value for you though if you do that much listening. 8-9 hours a day is a lot.