HD Radio, a closed standard developed by the company iBiquity, is the standard for digital radio broadcasting in the USA and Canada. Unlike DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), the standard utilized in Europe, HD Radio is in-band, on-channel (IBOC), meaning that both the analog and digital signal (including any subchannels) are carried on the same frequency. A consequence of this is that the digital range of otherwise powerful stations is extremely limited, for example, in the case of WCBS-AM, a clear-channel AM station licesned to and transmitting from New York, New York, which transmits in HD, the HD range of the station is functionally limited to New York, Brooklyn, Newark, and immediately adjacent areas, while the analog signal carries strongly as far south as Trenton and Philadelphia. In spite of the signal constraints of HD Radio, I've been able to successfully recieve several HD stations in Trenton, New Jersey.
As a matter of clarification, the HD reciever I presently use is a Sangean HDR-14, which seems to have good sensitivity on both the AM and FM bands.
Copyright 2024, econobox_