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Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 19, 2023, 9:17 pm

Last time I checked WUSN-HD2 is gone. So is WXRT-HD2. WPPN has been for a while, along with WTMX-HD2, WSSR-HD2 and WLIT-HD2. The AM iBOC signals have been gone for years.

🤷🏻‍♂️

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by PhilJSmith <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=PhilJSmith' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 19, 2023, 10:58 pm, in reply to "Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

I actually miss the Blues channel that was on WXRT-HD2. I guess the only HD2’s and HD3’s that are likely to survive are those driving FM translators. As for AM HD which was a boondoggle from the engineering bench all the way through Marketing, there are only 2 signals I can still detect: AM 920 WBAA West Lafayette, and AM 810 WGY Schenectady. I can never lock them, just detect them. I would not be surprised if they just forgot the devices were still on.

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 19, 2023, 11:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Phil what are you using tor FM HD and AM iBOC receiver? I think you also use inside antennas, so if you can detect those AM HD signals, impressive!

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by PhilJSmith <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=PhilJSmith' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 10:01 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Totally indoors, yes. Sangean HDR-14 palm-of-your-hand receiver which has impressive sensitivity on AM and FM, good selectivity on FM, and well-designed auto IF bandwidth on AM. I also have a Sangean HDR-18 which displays more info at once on the larger display, has nearly as good FM sensitivity and equal selectivity as the -14, and better sensitivity on AM than the -14. For FM I sometimes use portable Radio Shack #15-1607 TV/FM rabbit-ears with bypassable battery-powered amp. Throw that antenna atop a lampshade or nearby in a chair and it does wonders compared to the stock whip.

AM HD is and always has been a technological failure. It takes impressively little signal to detect the HD sidebands, but a seriously strong signal to actually lock the data and decode audio. Those 2 stations I mentioned will quite easily start flashing “HD” on the display but only one time ever did the skywave bring in AM 810 strong enough to show “WGY” on the display, and cough up some bits of full-quieting audio. The only stations that ever truly sounded good to me in AM HD were 1120 KMOX St. Louis (they had an evening Oldies show) and all-news 1060 KYW Philadelphia. 1690 WVON probably sounded the best of all the crappy-sounding over-compressed AM HDs in the entire Chicagoland area. All of those stations have nixed HD. It’s fine because I’d much rather listen to moderate to strong AM stations on a receiver where I can pry open the bandwidth above 4 or 6 kHz.

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 10:58 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

For FM I sometimes use portable Radio Shack #15-1607 TV/FM rabbit-ears with bypassable battery-powered amp. Throw that antenna atop a lampshade or nearby in a chair and it does wonders compared to the stock whip.

Last time I looked I had about 4 of those that still work! Used to use them on my Radio Shack 2006 scanners. I am not the only one in the world to use those! LOL. 🙇🏻‍♂️

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 7:05 am, in reply to "Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Audacy and iHeart shut most of theirs off nationwide to cut costs

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:18 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Great move. Make non Terrestrial net casters more attractive. Then again..... their HD2 programming was not too compelling.

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:22 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

They have to pay iBiquity to have any HD sub channel aside from HD1. iHeart shut all of theirs off except ones that feed translators, ones that simulcast AMs and some others like 95.5 HD2 and national feeds like Pride Radio.

Audacy followed lead. They shut them all off except for national feeds like Channel Q.

WXRT HD2 was the exception in Chicago. They must have shut that one off very recently because it was on the last time I checked. It is off now

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:27 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Jeremy,

They have to pay iBiquity to have any HD sub channel aside from HD1.

Too bad, this is the cost of business. It is not like you and I paying our electric or internet bill for necessity. These companies are a joke. No wonder Ford and other companies want to stop offering AM/FM radio in cars. I just looked at a really high end Jeep. No HD radio, it is a paid option. LOL, why bother?

Audacy will soon charge their employees money to drink from the water fountain. The meltdown needs to start so there is correction in that crap pile.

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:33 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

They simply are too cheap to pay for the sub channels because they obviously don't bill.

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:37 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

I honestly think if they have no use for the technology in regards to sub channels, they should just shut HD off all together. It doesn't improve the sound quality and it just causes interference.

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:44 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Jeremy that is true they do not bill, but, you do not put in effort for good programming, there is no reason for them to bill. 94.7 HD2, oh lets retransmit WLS-AM in Mono, a 60s -70s oldies outlet would never work! (in a period when classic hits is dominating). 96.3 HD2 it is stupid to air a classic hits format like Party Radio or Killer Bee. Let's air Channel Q! (Channel Q is not bad, but it is just there to clear markets, not generate local love of the format). Irony, EMF mixes up their HD sub channels with KLOVE retro formats, foreign language and leasing out to BOOST. Sad that a commercial free empire is turning HD *on*, not off! They have mastered how to utilize the technology.

Most important, turning them off, will take whatever listeners and force them to a competing platform, most likely not terrestrial radio. It is just stupid business.

If they are turning them off to save the monthly licensing fee, there are bigger problems at hand they need to deal with, as there are larger expenses than that!

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 12:49 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

I know Wisconsin Public Radio shut all of their HD off except in big markets because they didn't want to pay to upgrade the equipment.

EMF supposedly installs HD when they upgrade transmitter sites. 103.9 is one of them. They sound pretty good.

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 20, 2023, 1:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

Jeremy, the 103.9 TX footprint is a monster. The ironic thing is? When closer to the city you might be hearing one of the 999 repeaters of "Streets 95.1" but the display is picking up that WAWY has 4 HD transmitting and shows the WAWY main carrier image on the screen.

Z

Re: Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing.

Posted by ilgrant <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=ilgrant' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on October 21, 2023, 8:57 pm, in reply to "Anyone notice how the Chicago FM HD Digital sub channel signals are disappearing."

I've noticed it as well. Thankfully, Deep Tracks on 97.1 WDRV-HD2 is still alive. That's pretty much the only reason why the HD Radio module add on is still in the car. If that goes I'm yanking the module. Frankly, radio in Chicago has been so bad that I actually broke down and got a Sirius subscription after I swore to myself I would never pay for radio.

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