iBiquity HD Incentives

[Eli Polonsky]

I just decided to splurge and purchase an HD home tuner.

The Sangean HDT-1 sells for $199.99 at "You-Do-It" in
Needham and some other stores, as well as on line from
the Sangean website. Using a 20% off "You-Do-It" coupon
that was valid only on Presidents Day, I got it for
$159.99 (plus tax).

The programming on the HD-2's really is not much to
write home about at this point, though I do enjoy the
"Lost Classics and Deep Cuts" on WZLX HD-2. It sounds
like an FM AOR playlist from around 25 or 30 years ago.

Of course, the attraction is also no commercials or
obnoxious patter, though that will change if/when the
mode becomes more popular, with more people owning the
receivers, and when the stations are allowed to try to
make money from these channels.

> > From: "Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>
> 
> The AM HD is not useable unless you happen to see
> the towers or have a very LONG longwire.

That doesn't seem to be true. Here in Somerville with
the supplied wrapped loop antenna, I'm getting clean
AM HD on the three Boston area stations broadcasting
in that mode in the daytime, WBZ, WMKI and WXKS-AM.

Another bonus about the HDT-1 is that although it's not
mentioned anywhere in the printed specifications or in
any promotional material, it also receives AM stereo in
the old analog C-Quam mode. WJIB appears in AM stereo.

However, it's unfortunately not wideband AM stereo, so
WJIB appears with full stereo separation, but with the
same cut-off, muddy high-end fidelity of conventional
narrowband AM mono receivers. I guess I can't put away
my mid-80's Sony wideband AM stereo tuner yet, on which
WJIB sounds just about as good as analog FM stereo (in
the daytime. There's often background noise at night).

EP