I find myself a proud owner of a new car that includes a factory HD radio in it.  (My old car with the add-on HD unit will be passed down the food chain.)

The HD listening in my previous car was been confined mostly to AM stations, and I noted frequent reversions to analog during my drive.  I have been listening to FM HD Radio in the office, mostly to -1 channels to avoid multipath.

My question is:  How many stations have implemented the power increase on their FM HD operations?  I live about 45 miles west of the city, and HD radio from NYC is pretty spotty until I get about ten miles closer to the city. Cruising the dial last night, I was surprised to get good enough HD coverage in my driveway for some NYC station’s -2 or -3, but of course, not all of them.   I do get a fair amount of HD Radio stations from NE Pennsylvania, but don’t spend much time on them (even in analog.)

My next question is:  How many operators use and maintain their PAD data on the HD Radio subchannels?  Users of satellite radio quickly get used to the title/artist or score data provided in these PAD services.  I can speak from personal experience that I would like to know the format or title/artist being played on some of the -2 or -3 channels I cruise across.  I assume that most of these services are automated, so this info probably exists somewhere in the service.  I guess it needs to be bridged into the PAD data system.  Even static data describing the station being simulcast (if that’s what it is) would help.  I think that accurate PAD data would make the additional services more attractive and more useful.

Just my two cents worth.  I’m amazed at how much of the content I “consume” is digital these days…

Regards,

Ken

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Kenneth R. Hunold
Broadcast Applications Engineer, New York Office
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
1350 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019, USA
T  212-767-1700  F  212-767-1705
www.dolby.com | krh@PROTECTED