ABC CITADEL AM STATIONS SUSPEND NIGHTTIME IBOC

[StephanieNYC]

I still do AM stereo with my little 250-watt pea-shooter which covers Boston (on 740). C-Quam sounds GREAT (and 25 listeners who have AM-stereo receivers LOVE it).   C-Quam sounds better than flawed IBOC ever would.

Also, C-QUAM never deteriorated the sound quality of the mono AM signal that most of us listen to.  IBOC adds hiss to the audio, especially if you're using a wide-band tuner, which is what most cheap Chinese junk radios are these days, not to mention hi-fi sets like the Tivoli #1 series of radios.

Even if you tune in very carefully, the hiss is still there.

[hipporadio]

You know it's time to move on when the thread's discourse deteriorates to this level:

Bob... EXACTLY the PROBLEM HERE!  I often hear the question:  “WHERE are the technically-competent engineers who just happen to ride-herd over stations transmitting in HD?”  I would suggest that while they may prowl – they choose not to post.  Would YOU want “the affiliation” with SOME of the “HD ilk” that make this site an outlet for their fantasy?  I wouldn’t!  Fortunately, the CRITICS of “HD” on this board DO NOT [generally] embarrass me; many are insightful and apt with regard to technical issues; and some like Chuck and Tom Wells are predominantly-guided by courtesy—but even they are not immune to the all-to-typical “resume comparison”.  Remember, Chuck is “just some low-power broadcaster” and Tom “doesn’t have a real job in radio” [sic.: He is incapable of such ]  GEEEZE!

"What SPECIFICALLY do you propose to fix IBOC-AM?"

Just a few days ago, I spent an entire evening composing a post that specifically addressed such [the “Band-Plan” thread].  It is far from perfect, and is merely a “first swing” [I DO get two more strikes don’t I].  Within a few days—a FEW responded... Their observations are fair and the augmentative ideas are good;  BUT... 'Guess who are conspicuously-missing from that exchange? ...[Save just one], the usual suspects known for their “HD Radio” enthusiasm here.

"Why did you spend $400,000 upgrading your AM and why didn't you get an FM instead?"  (As if the poster had never heard of a little thing called "the filing auction.)

...And as if a paltry $400,000 would buy you a mere TEN-WATTer licensed to a metro-Rochester high school!  We can thank corporate radio and its gluttonous late-90s buying spree for this greed-driven commoditization of available frequencies.

"Your station is one of a group which never should have been licensed."

...And as if corporate radio has missed ANY opportunity to enjoy the SAME fruits of past “AM initiatives” to enhance one of THEIR almighty clusters!

"your station will soon be sold to a religious broadcaster."

Just this past weekend, the pro-IBOC-on-AM camaraderie had settled-in on teenage fodder to make their case   ...Now I see yet another seminar-style justification taking shape: “If IBOC on AM fails, those religious zealots will confiscate the AM band!”  PATHETIC!

"I've talked to BE/Harris/iBiquity engineers.  They know what they're doing."

I really liked my Harris rep back in the day, but nearly-every time I talked to a compadre’ – that “sales-type” wanted to sell [or lease] me something.  UNDERSTANDABLE!

Best wishes to all - I'm wanted back on Planet Earth.

Come now Bob... PLEASE tell us you’ve caught just a bit of “drama” [as one would the common cold] and will return after a reasonable period of recuperation.  I’m sure as the owner of a financially and ratings-challenged “AM interference machine” on the verge of a TBN-style take-over – your time and attentions are well-demanded; but I [for one] enjoy your cogent and creative contributions here... FACE IT, Bob—this is too much fun at times to cast-off merely for the misadventure and substandard debate etiquette of “The HD Radio Gang”

[Bill]

Yes, WNMB broadcasts in C-Quam AM Stereo and we are very blessed to be doing well. Maybe we are like the old story of the hot dog vendor and no one has yet told us we can't succeed.  We do "Local" radio about our community of license, North Myrtle Beach.  We, along with our local news, community involvement and so on, play oldies and classic hit songs. Business is good.  We sell ideas to advertisers. Listening is good and we have a constant stream of people whom we know can hear the AM Stereo because we are running constant education campaigns about it in our local market. Listeners let us know they can hear it. We don't have a magic formula for success.  We make many mistakes.  But, folks, local radio done well still works. Even on AM.  Now as to the AM Stereo, and excuse the arrogance, it is not a failed technology.  Instead, we (broadcasters and the FCC) failed it to date. I am really proud of my fidelity and on a decent receiver I am not afraid to compare it to anyone's FM.....or, for heaven's sake, AM IBOC transmission. If AM Broadcasters in this country would go to AM stereo and promote it, it can still work. HD, however, with it's inherent inequities for AM, is not going to be an AM solution.  It is a problem instead because it introduces a new set of problems. For example, if I put IBOC on my 500 watt station, what kind of HD coverage would I get?  Not a lot.   The AM Stereo, however, gives me most all my existing coverage area and it does not degrade the mono.

[Play Freebird]

I really liked my Harris rep back in the day, but nearly-every time I talked to a compadre’ – that “sales-type” wanted to sell [or lease] me something.  UNDERSTANDABLE!

And HD Radio sure has been the golden opportunity to sell boxes.  "Exporters", "Importers", E-PALs, Dexstars, Flexstars, Neural Neustars, HD monitors, A to D converters, sample rate converters, test equipment and a bunch of digital studio gear and digital STLs.  (Because, if your "pristine" digital audio touches an analog device anywhere in the chain, you're a sinner!)

I predicted that we would see some of this stuff in the Dayton flea market in less than five years, but the AM HD exciters may be showing up on eBay as soon as next week.  Ten bucks would be a fair offer -- you might be able to re-use the power supply for a ham radio project.

And to think that many of those great airchecks on ReelRadio required only a talented individual working with two turntables, a few Tapecasters, a Gates Yard, Audimax/Volumax, a 1 kW AM rig in the back room and a 300 foot stick in the field.

[LinoNYC]

And to think that many of those great airchecks on ReelRadio required only a talented individual working with two turntables, a few Tapecasters, a Gates Yard, Audimax/Volumax, a 1 kW AM rig in the back room and a 300 foot stick in the field.

You left out; Listeners.

Lino

[StephanieNYC]

Oh they had listeners.  Lots and lots of them. 

[JohnnyElectron]

somebody wrote: "...but the AM HD exciters may be showing up on eBay as soon as next week..."

Curiousity has the best of me on this one:
Since the 0-5KHz part of IBOC signal is phase-modulated (as is the L-R CQuam), I'm wondering if one could rewrite the code in the HD exciter with the CQuam algorthym and use it for C-Quam at night?  Or even Uncle Leonard's CAM-D?  Enhancing the analog is the key, and making a really decent AM tuner as part of an FM-HD tuner package.

I'm curious on how strong the CAM-D sidebands are too?

Can somebody loan me a Dexstar (DeathStar) so I can try it out with different software?

[Savage]

Johnny: Sure!!  You can have WBZ's.

Hippo-man: I'm baaaack!! 

[hipporadio]

And to think that many of those great airchecks on ReelRadio required only a talented individual working with two turntables, a few Tapecasters, a Gates Yard, Audimax/Volumax, a 1 kW AM rig in the back room and a 300 foot stick in the field.

You left out; Listeners.
Lino

...And he also left out the DIGITAL DELAY—necessary to keep “those dumb listeners” fooled and in-synch with the real-time ANALOG world... MANDITORY equipment given the poor HD signal coverage, poor structure penetration, and downright UNRELIABLE HD-AM service... Flip-Flop... ‘Now when’s the “flop” going to “flip”?

...I'm baaaack!

I knew you couldn’t resist us, Bob...Plus the sun set just an hour ago – much of the AM band is under assault from IBOC and unworthy of any TSL

[dumber than a box of hair]

Three and a half years ago I asked someone that I correspond with out at Quincy: what if the adjacent channel problem is insoluable? He and his company's position is that stations using AM iboc may have to accept curtailment of servive area back to within their primary contour in exchange for a degree of sonic parity with FM.

Ladies and gentlemen, we've just entered the Twilight Zone.  A solution for a badly engineered digital-radio system, which pours interference onto adjacent channels, hundreds of miles from the transmitting antenna, causing decreases in NIF contours, is to cripple it even further??  How do these engineers propose to kill skywave propagation and interference altogether, when no one has been able to do so for the almost 100 years the AM service has existed?  How do they propose to change the laws of physics?

Oops, almost forgot...the FCC and Congress do it all the time...