WABC 770 AM, New York, NY - Are they running HD or AM Stereo Day and Night?
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on February 18, 2024, 7:14 pm
I was recently traversing the relatively quiet Wisconsin back roads a few Saturday's ago. When I was approaching the stateline and the static was growing, I fell upon 770 WABC-AM. (The Milwaukee/Racine/Kenosha FM band is pitifully sad almost as bad as Chicago). Listening to the Saturday Nights with Tony Orlando show about 10pm CST. It was hard to listen as the ground wave was kicking, but it was very listenable.
I am not sure if AM Stereo or HD kicked in. Most likely was HD. Trust me, it was not Mono, the audio was night and day, high fidelity. It locked in 3 times and it sounded "great" those few seconds!
Do they broadcast HD audio? All day and night? During just some dayparts when they feature music? I can't find any info on it and radio-locator makes no mention of it. Any of my DX pals out there verify this? Thanks!
Z
Re: WABC 770 AM, New York, NY - Are they running HD or AM Stereo Day and Night?
I can still receive WABC at night from my domicile, on my ICOM 7610 HF Transceiver using a horizontal long wire. Sure, I have to offset the frequency a bit and apply some noise filters, but hearing it in Chicago these days, is a miracle. WCBS is a much harder catch.
Z
Re: WABC 770 AM, New York, NY - Are they running HD or AM Stereo Day and Night?
Neither my Sangean HDR-14 nor HDR-18 are detecting HD Radio on 770 WABC right now, even though the signal appears strong enough at times to do so. Unfortunately I have no way to verify that either receiver is functioning properly (I assume they both are), because I cannot find any AM stations that are still transmitting HD Radio. The last holdouts were 810 WGY Schenectady and 1020 KDKA Pittsburgh and they both apparently shut it off, too.
I don’t know what receiver you are using, but most of the HD Radio capable ones also have automatic IF bandwidth adjustment based on signal strength and presence or absence of adjacent-channel interference. On either of my Sangean radios if I tune a relatively strong AM station, shortly after the bandwidth will open up to let the rich treble audio through (non-HD). Perhaps this is what you heard, at points where the signal reached that threshold. It would also mean splatter from 760 WJR and 780 WBBM would need to be comparatively low. If the signal level drops, the IF tightens back up again to remove noise and het whistling.
I have read in the past that some HD Radio receivers can demodulate C-QUAM AM Stereo. My ancient Sangean HDR-1 can do this; the Mono/Stereo status text will change to Stereo even though it shows no HD lock. For whatever reason the audio quality would improve slightly with this. I have that radio packed away in storage.
Re: WABC 770 AM, New York, NY - Are they running HD or AM Stereo Day and Night?
Yes both of the original Sangean tuners demodulated C-QUAM AM Stereo. The 3rd one did not. I think all the Best Buy Insignia and Rat Shack receivers did too. I remember my friend was in his car around 2005 (?) tuning up and down the AM band on his new in dash HD capable radio. WLS-AM and AM 1390 were both AM Stereo iBOC. We were in shock they were AM Stereo!
The vehicle is a Jeep with a 12.3 in screen. The antenna is in the windshield (trash). I believe it is a Panasonic or Alpine tuner. Honestly, the FM clicks away and sensitivity is a crapshoot. It clicks and whines because there is no insulation in ANYTHING wire related. The AM is the most muddiest audio I have ever heard in my life. The terrestrial offerings are an afterthought these days, wanting people to stream personal devices. Hearing WABC was in itself a miracle on that radio.
Not sure, but I think the HD symbol was lit up, but it was not receiving. Someone told me that they might be turning the HD pilot on for the weekend music programming. Who knows. 🤷🏻♂️ I would contact their engineer but, these days they are all contractors, so good luck on that. It was probably the IF bandwidth feature like you said.
on February 18, 2024, 7:14 pm