HD Radio is in Da House (Nov 30, 2007)

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Technical Details

1. Alarm clock with alarm, snooze and sleep timer.
2. Scan HD allows the tuner to scan only for available HD Radio stations.
3. Scan All lets users scan for both analog and HD Radio Stations.
4. AUX IN port allows users to play MP3 and other audio devices.
5. Preset up to five FM and five AM stations.

Product Description

The HD100 is a high-definition Digital Radio that provides superior reception of HD digital AM/FM and existing AM/FM signals. This next-generation radio receives the additional digital channels many FM stations now offer on their current frequency. The crystal-clear sound of HD Radio has virtually no static, fade, hiss, or pops--with improved signal quality that makes AM sound like FM and FM sound like a CD. Unlike satellite radio, HD Radio is free; there is no subscription fee. An internal FM and an external AM antenna provide optimum reception in any environment. Seek control can search for all stations or digital (HD) stations only. Indicator lights for stereo and digital signal detection. The backlit graphical display highlights scrolling text such as station ID, song title, artist and important weather or traffic updates. Intuitive controls include full clock-radio functions, alarm and snooze control and ten station presets (five AM and five FM).

Review: Radiosophy HD100 (Nov 30, 2007)

As predicted, the reception of the AM stations are tricky if you put the unit on a steel shelf. You need to use an external AM antenna to pull in the stations that are borderline listenable.

KOGO 600 broadcasting in HD went from scratchy analog to crystal clear digital when the HD signal locked in five seconds after I tuned in the station. This is like going from black and white to color.

I tuned in KNX 1070, the 50,000 watt station from Los Angeles, and I got a blinking digital light, indicating that the radio sensed a digital signal, but I could not lock in a digital sound because it wasn't strong enough to be picked up. I also sensed a digital signal from KTAR 620 from Phoenix but I couldn't get a digital lock on the sound either.

By turning the antenna 90 degrees, I went from KTAR to XESS on 620.

I tuned in XESURF and XEPRS and for some reason I got a blinking digital light. Neither of these stations are broadcasting in HD.

Some of the nighttime stations I can pick up were broadcasting in HD, but were so weak down here that the digital light never blinked.

On the FM side, I was surprised at how different the radio acted when I used an Optima indoor antenna instead of the built-in FM antenna, which I unscrewed so I could screw in the plug for the Optima.

I could pick up KPBS-HD1 and KPBS-HD2 easily on 89.5. Classical music was playing on both stations. KPBS-HD1 (which is KPBS-FM in analog) broadcasts classical music in the evening. There was no HD3 channel yet for Groove Salad.

The transmitter location for KHTS and KGB-FM was the closest to my house. I picked up Channel 933 on KHTS-HD1 93.3 and Pride Radio on HD2 with ease, as well as classic rock KGB-HD1 101.5 and DSC on HD2. There were relatively few HD dropouts, that is, a second or two of silence before the signal returns, much like listening to a streaming radio feed on a dial-up modem in 1997.

KMYI "Star 94.1" is the strongest local station in the county at 100,000 watts, yet I had a little trouble picking up its HD2 channel Amy, as well as its HD1 channel. There were slightly more dropouts of the HD signal on 94.1.

US 95.7 and Rock 105.3 were the most difficult of the five Clear Channel owned stations to pick up in HD. With the built-in antenna, I could rarely get their HD signals at all. With the Optima antenna hooked up, I had better luck picking up the HD1 and HD2 channels, but with effort of turning the antenna around. US 95.7 HD2 has New Country, and Rock 105.3 HD2 has Rock Mashups.

KSON 97.3 HD1 came in easily. There are no HD2 channels for that station yet.

KYXY 96.5's HD channels came in fine. HD1 is KYXY, and HD2 is Cafe with Jazz and Modern Pop music.

KSCF 103.7's HD channels also came in fine. HD1 is Radio Sophie, and HD2 is House of Sophie airing electronica and dance music, like Pride Radio on 93.3 HD2 is.

XHKY 99.7 from Tijuana is now multicasting in HD with two Spanish language music channels, both coming in fine from 30 miles away.

So with this HD radio, I got nine new HD2 channels on 89.5, 93.3, 94.1, 95.7, 96.5, 99.3, 101.5, 103.7, and 105.3.

For dance music stations, we finally have two San Diego-based radio stations playing electronica and dance mixes that haven't been heard in the Outland in the waking hours since XHMOR flipped formats to rap and canned the Rewire dance mixes. Combine that with the selection of Internet and satellite stations you're already picking up on your computer and satellite unit respecively.

To give it to you straight, XM and Sirius satellite radio, which each carries a $12.95 monthly fee, gives you over a hundred channels apiece instead of a mere nine free San Diego HD2 channels that you don't pay for monthly. You can also get more classical, dance, rock, jazz, and other channels from satellite radio. Your market's count of multicasting HD stations will vary from location to location. Smaller locations might be lucky to get even one multicasting HD station. Many can't get HD at all or could be too far away to get any usuable digital signal in their area.

It will be a while before all of the local broadcasters in the San Diego and Tijuana areas are all broadcasting in HD with two extra multicasted channels on each FM frequency. Potentially, we could have roughly 50 HD2 and HD3 channels broadcasting in San Diego with the 25 major broadcasters in the area. At this time, AM radio stations cannot multicast as there's no room for extra channels for the same frequency.

Yes, you do get more stations with HD radio, but it's provided that they're multicasting, and it depends on how many local FM broadcasters are serving your area.

You get crystal clear reception as long as you're within the limited signal range of the HD signal as well as being in the line of sight. Once you're out of the limited range, or if you're behind a hill or other object that blocks the signal, you don't get static or a hissy sound, you get a Seinfeld sound: nothing. It's as if somebody turned off the radio while you were listening to HD radio. It's weird not even getting a scratchy sound in the background of white noise when a signal is weak like analog is. With digital, it's all or nothing.

If you're listening to an HD1 channel, and you lose the digital signal, you fall back on the analog signal. With HD2 and HD3, you get silence when you lose the digital signal.

Reception of HD radio signals is tricky at best. With stations XHKY, KGB, KPBS, KHTS, and KSON, they came with ease. KYXY and KSCF were a little bit harder. KMYI, KUSS, and KIOZ were progressively more difficult to get in HD. I live a mile behind Cowles Mountain, and to the west of that line is Mount Soledad where many of the local TV and radio station transmitters reside.

For example, KLQV on 102.9 doesn't reach my house too well although it's a major local station. With the Optima antenna, I picked up KIIS 102.7 from Los Angeles, as well as Indie 103.1 (whichever stick I'm getting) adjacent to 102.9. I picked up Smooth Jazz 94.7 The Wave from Los Angeles with ease, though it's next to KBZT 94.9, but once that station is broadcasting in HD, it might obliterate 94.7.

US 95.7 isn't broadcasting in HD strong enough in my direction to interfere with my reception of KLOS 95.5 in Los Angeles. I also picked up KKGO 105.1 in analog next to KIOZ 105.3 in HD. KRTH 101.1 also came in clearly with the Optima so Shotgun Tom Kelly came in almost as clear as he did during the days he was once on a local station near me.

All of the Los Angeles stations came in analog. I got KBIG 104.3 OK. I couldn't pick up KSSD 107.1 at all, and that station is broadcasting in HD.

KHHT 92.3 came in okay, as did KSOQ 92.1 from Escondido. I'm not sure if KSOQ is broadcasting in HD yet.

KSDS Jazz 88.3 sounds fine. It's not in HD yet. Expect it to kill reception of KKJZ 88.1 from Long Beach if KSDS ever upgrades to HD.

91.1, 90.3, 92.5, 94.9, 98.1, 100.7, and other FM stations have yet to announce when they'll upgrade their signals to HD.

Later this year or early next year, KPRI 102.1 will be moving their transmitter to Mount Soledad so that their signal will finally be metro city-grade, like another former North County competetor, the now KUSS 95.7, did back in 1995; it also shifted frequencies from 95.9 to 95.7. There's no word if the owners of the KPRI station will be upgrading to HD.

I’m not certain that HD4 is even possible with the current generation of HD Radios being sold today. Theoritically, with a station frequency being 200,000 Hz, which is also 200 kHz, and 0.2 MHz, I'm sure that it's possible to have one analog channel at 20 kHz, and nine digital channels totalling 180kHz (20kHz times nine) filling out the allocation. We could then have an additional 225 HD multicasting channels in San Diego to choose from, more than XM and Sirius combined after their reported merger.

Maybe then when we could get nine multicasted HD channels per frequency in San Diego would the combined XM/Sirius company start to feel threatened. At least XM/Sirius would have the non-HD capable markets for itself.

On the critical side, I wish that the unit had Line-Out jacks so I could hook it up to my stereo unit. The speakers are fair, but when I hooked it up to my stereo unit from the headphone jack, the audio didn't sound right. I had to turn the volume up all the way so that the sound level coming into the AUX-IN jack of my stereo unit would match that of some of my analog VCRs. At least I could amplify the sound and use an equalizer on the sound. I guess the volume level for the headphone jack is low so that your ears won't go deaf when you're listening to the radio with headphones.

The signal strength meter is a plus. I haven't seen one on a radio in 27 years. This helps me pinpoint the strength of a radio signal. You have to use the Enter button and scroll until you see it.

In short, this could have been a better radio, but it's good enough for what I want for now.

I give it four out of five stars, with one star missing because of the lack of a Line-Out jack and average AM reception even with the external AM antenna. It does get a plus for letting me replace the rod antenna with an external FM antenna.

You can read more about the Radiosophy HD100 Radio Here!