HD Radio in Canada

[CamDAB]

Yeah, like WGR has been there since man had hair.... :-) :-)

That's what cought my attention too...

Cameron

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Blackburst

With all these HD sub-channels on the FM stations, the AM band might one day be vacant, and they can auction off that as well for other uses.

This has been discussed in the What could become of the AM Band? thread, but I feel it is important to have at least one AM radio station per market to provide emergent information. This could be a commercial station that is simulcast on an HD Radio stream, or it could be public radio service that provides community information (possibly a tape loop).

With there being so few local AM radio stations, the DXing opportunities these days are amazing!

[rob50312]

Ya see WGR 550 Sportsradio.Dont see the purpose of having duplicate of AM550

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by rob50312

Dont see the purpose of having duplicate of AM550

Are you serious? How many people people have HD radios? Maybe 10%. How many people have AM radios? I would say close to 100%. Dropping AM would be a massive drop in market.

That would be like a shopping mall saying that because they now have a helicopter pad, they no longer need a parking lot. Ya, that is a bit extreme, but you get the point.

[alebowgm]

Also don't forget that there is a chunk of WGR listerns in Ontario, as their signal hits Toronto pretty well (I have had reliable reception in my car up to Newmarket). They would lose that Canadian demographic.

[CamDAB]

If you follow the CRTC approvals, where stations are granted the move from AM to FM, there will be a simulcast period of usually 3-6 months allowed, sometimes extended longer, so I'm not surprised. It could also be a trial approved by the FCC stateside to gauge how this kind of transition goes. Obviously coverage and HD Radio penetration will have a bearing on how this transpires.

And DAB has been broadcast simultaneously in Toronto for a number of years, so to me, parallel broadcasting on other bands isn't new.

We'll have to watch this one closely as I see this as a necessary step to accommodate the sheer number of requests in the GTA and Niagara region for spots on the dial.

If WKSE picks up tonight with a bit of tropo enhancement, I'll have a good listen to the HD2 feed and gauge the audio.... :-)

Cameron

[rob50312]

My point was why duplicate WGR 550 on 98.5 HD2.Better to have something different on HD2.Yes it sounds great for sportstalk but sound quality not important for any talking.

[CamDAB]

I wonder if the rights to the comedy source ran out (that was on HD2) or they didn't want to pay a new fee structure...

Or WGR is an experiment...

I dunno...

Cameron

[Blackburst]

Ref post #197

Here is something interesting I ran across about FEMA, NPR, and HD Radio.

http://www.radioworld.com/article/117746

[CamDAB]

Don't know how long term this is, but I got a good signal on them yesterday morning (early) and had good listen. Audio sounded acceptable, not like something patched together in a hurry (like a lot of the DAB in Toronto was).

Now what we need is a good t-storm to roll through and if they've used any other method of capturing the audio of WGR as opposed to off-air, then someone's gonna notice the lack of static crashes on their radio.... :-)

Cameron

[bentoronto]

Greetings from half-way between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Taped the twin-lead FM antenna that comes with the Sony XDR-F1HD to a second floor wall and am getting PBS, 11 miles away, HD FM 24/7. And a bunch of other HD stations.

Listening on computer external speakers so can't relish the sound but the reception seems super.

Wish I could say the same for Toronto reception. It sure would be nice if Toronto stations went for iBiquity. I wonder..... 96.3 has been sounding like they record their stuff on old cassette tapes... would going to iBiquity oblige them to broadast to a decent standard of quality? I suppoese there's no way to make a station have clean source material whatever their broadcast method.

(Granted that is a realy good twin-lead antenna.)

[CamDAB]

Hey Ben,

Yeah, 96.3 sure doesn't sound like it used to. Was dialing around and came across The Blue Danube, one of my favourite classical pieces and man, was it brutal, muddy and highly compressed. CBC Radio 2 still sounds great.

The Toronto / Hamilton stations that to me would really benefit from HD Radio would be:

91.1 Jazz FM
94.1 CBC R2
94.7 CIWV
96.3 Classical 96 (and their 103.1 in Colburg, which I can get here from time to time
102.9 CKLH (FM audio is well engineered for pop music)


Now... If I was making some band optimizations....

88.1 for Radio 1 and a Radio 2 feed for Hamilton (CBC's been talking of a Hamilton specific Radio 1 for Hamilton / Niagara region) and this can be set up as a "SFN" (single frequency network) from Brantford-Hamilton-St. Catharines area. The vacating of 88.1 by CKLN Toronto is covered in the thread on CKLN.

94.1 carrying both CBC R1 and R2 freeing up 99.1 (or the other way around)
96.3 made as a "SFN" out to Colburg eliminating the need for 103.1
Amalgamate 93.3 CFMU (McMaster University) and 101.5 CIOI (Mohawk College) on either of those frequencies freeing up an allocation.

I'm sure many other possibilities exist. Spectrum is in high demand. So not just improve audio, but conserve space as well.

Cameron

[rob50312]

Hey CBC already has FM radio 1 in Niagara region on 90.5.Also no one has an HD radio tuner so CBC not about to use HD radio to carry both on 1 frequency

[rob50312]

CBC radio 1 should have been forced to stay on AM band to conserve FM space and not to have an advantage over the other talk stations.Imagine all the other AM talk and sport stations could claim the same reception problems near street cars and want the same treatment and fairness as radio 1 got and want into the FM band too.A dozen repeaters to replace 1 AM station what a joke.They should have stayed on AM and use HD radio on 94.1 to carry radio 1 as an HD2.

[CamDAB]

Originally Posted by rob50312

Hey CBC already has FM radio 1 in Niagara region on 90.5

I saw that on the CBC site. Nothing on that channel from here with my trusty Grundig G8. Must be really low power / coverage. What's more, 90.3 is CBC stereo french service from Toronto. Talk about adjacent channel spacing....

I wouldn't discount HD Radio penetration just yet. The auto industry is making noises of making them standard. We'll just have to see how far that goes. Almost all of the stations in Buffalo are HD now...

Cameron