Station Focus WERS FM

Focusing in on WERS-FM, on my Accurian tuner

I got strong clear HD reception here in Wilmington,
on a plain omni antenna
(88.9 MHz WERS, Boston, MA 4KW, ~10miles away).

But what did it do to other channels nearby?

The closest I got were:

88.5 MHz WFCR, Amherst MA (13KW)
(over 100 miles away!) and

89.1 MHz WEVO, Concord NH (about 60 miles)

Both were weak and had noise, just like long ago (10 yrs or so?).
But the fact that they came in and were legible was very impressive.

On FM, I can't see much or any interference from the HD station
over tremendously far away stations adjacent and alternate. Of the two,
89.1 is the bigger achievent...it's only .2 MHz away. On most FM radios
it would be stepped on, whatever the mode.

Just for laughs, I tried the Sony SRF-M37V (the little digital Walkman).
Danged if I didn't get all 3 stations! (though 89.1 needed a headphone
cord tweak to aim...selectivity is not the best).
I even got 88.5 and 89.1 better than on the Accurian! Wow,
don't underestimate Sony's FM chips. This would be a sweet FMDX
unit up on a hill at night, with your arm and the phone-cord making
a loop.

That's tonight's actuals.

HD AM night radio

Focused observation, 02/25/2008, Wilmington MA
Rad.Shack/Accurian HD Radio, AM mode,
small 4" included loop on post

1010 KHz: WNDS NYNY, no problem, almost all azimuth

1020 KHz: Bad Fizzing, can null for other
station reception in narrow 20-deg azimuth range

1030 WBZ AM: HD mode with fiddling, semi-hifi,
with light surging, strong bubbling dynamics

1040 KHz AM: Bad Fizzing, No stations, any azimuth

1050 AM: good station reception, most azimuth of loop


I tried a Grundig S350, narrow-band setting, in-radio antenna:
alomost exactly the same result. 1020 was only good in a
20-degree rotation range, and 1040 was trashed at all angles.
1010 and 1050 were OK.

Tried Sony SRF-M37V (belt-mounted digital portable):
The narrow-and-poor reception area extended to
1010 KHz and 1050 KHz. I am very disappointed on
the 1010 trashing: this is a good NYNY news station
that usually booms in on this Sony no problem.


I enjoy FM HD a lot, and I can't find troubles across
a lot of frequencies and far-off near-freq stations.

AM HD is a whole nother story. It's a little fun in the
daytime, and there's not much to walk on, but at night
it really messes up some AM DX for me, and it even
stomps 1010 in New York, something I didn't even
consider DX at night, it came in so well before.
I think 1010 is losing some key market at night.
I usually check it out on car radio, and there's no
way for me to null that!

report,

on 02/24/2008, in wilmington,
accurian radio,
attic omni/tv antenna,
about 12:30am

----------low fm-------------------------------
(all results simply 'how it sounds')

-----------------
88.1 - wmbr - cambridge ma - mit
reception fair
mode mono fm
----------------
88.3 - wevs - nashua - nh
reception excellent
mode stereo fm
content bbc news
----------------
88.5 - - - nashua nh
reception fair
mode mono fm
content classical
----------------
88.9 - wers - emerson coll. - boston
reception excellent
mode hd fm
content techno/club
soundstage excellent
dynamics slight compress, mostly natural
----------------
89.1 - - - nh
reception fair-poor (smooth static)
mode mono fm
content bbc news
soundstage n/a
dynamics n/a
----------------
89.7 - wgbh boston
reception excellent
mode hd fm
content
channel 1 blues / natural dynamics / lo-fi matl
channel 2 classical / wide dynamic / exc soundstage
channel 3 news/mono/slight sizzly/compress
----------------
90.1 - wmea - portland me - (80 miles?)
reception good, slight crackle
mode fm stereo (?)
content classical guitar
soundstage n/a
dynamics natural
----------------
90.3 - wzbc - newton ma - bc
reception excellent
mode fm stereo
content mix
soundstage good
dynamics compress/bloom
----------------
90.5 - wicn - worcester - ma
reception excellent
mode fm stereo
content smooth / musak /elevator music
soundstage narrow
dynamics widely compressed, fatiguing
----------------
90.9 - wbur - boston university
reception excellent
mode hd fm
content stage-latin-samba
soundstage excellent
dynamics slight compress, mostly natural
----------------
91.3 - wunh durham, nh (50-60 miles?)
reception excellent
mode fm stereo
content rap
soundstage narrow
dynamics compress
----------------
91.5 - wjul - lowell - u.mass lowell
reception excellent
mode fm stereo
content latin
soundstage good
dynamics wide compress (source or station??)
----------------
91.7 - wnef - newburyport
reception excellent, slight ticks
mode fm stereo
content garage / indie bands ?
soundstage narrow
dynamics slight compress, mostly natural
----------------
91.9 - wunb - u.mass - boston
reception excellent
mode fm stereo
content blues / big band
soundstage narrow (old sources)
dynamics varies (reprocessed 78s)
----------------

sort of a radio experience

I tried the XM satellite channels on the airplane on the way here. I used my fairly hi-fi sealed earbuds. The selection was OK, but not much for breaking talent like the FM back home. There was this sizzley-bubbly sound at the high end that was kind of annoying. I heard that on a system at a Radio Shack once too. I had to bring my own headphones to test at the Rad.Shack. They always demo with those little 1-way boombox speakers. I wonder if that's why. My daughter is even more bugged by it. It's like the squirmies on the lower-grade MP3. Anyway, my daughter listened on the giveaway earphones from the airline. They cut out the squirm. So it seems lo-fi speakers or earphones help. If your ears are hi-fi, that is. I wish they sacrificed some channels for fidelity, and maybe some human feel or localization on the playlist.

FM in Surprise Arizona

On vacation in Arizona.

Using a great radio, the SONY SRF-M37V.
This unit is digital, AM/FM/TV/Weather,
and has great FM performance.

It also tunes in 0.1 mhz ticks, which helps you
dodge interference. Helpful since the bandwidth is
pretty wide. Sensitivity is awesome.

Here are a few of the stations picked up, mostly from
Phoenix, 50 miles away. (outdoors by the heated pool)

Antenna:
My earphone wire, me holding the SONY in my hand.


---------------------------------------------------------
Frequency/Call: 88.3 KNIA
Content: Spanish (nice Mex. flavor)
Reception: excellent
Mode: FM Stereo (+??)
Loc.: Phoenix (40-50 miles)
----------------------------------------------------------
Frequency/Call: 89.5 KBAQ
Content: Classical, NPR
Reception: excellent
Mode: FM Stereo (+??)
Loc.: Phoenix (40-50 miles)
------------------------------------------------------------
Frequency/Call: 91.5 KJZZ
Content: Jazz, NPR
Reception: excellent
Mode: FM Stereo (+??)
Loc.: Phoenix (40-50 miles)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Frequency/Call: 95.5 KYOT
Content: Smooth Jazz
Reception: excellent
Mode: FM Stereo (+??)
HD, too(I didn't bring HD radio...no detectable splash)
Loc.: Phoenix (40-50 miles)
----------------------------------------------------------
Frequency/Call: 102.5 KNIX
Content: country
Reception: Excellent
Mode: FM Stereo (+??)
HD, too (I didn't bring HD radio...no detectable splash)
Loc.: Phoenix
-----------------------------------------------------------

----that's just a few for now.


So far I can't notice any trouble with FM HD Radio interference.

Some people say you can only get an FM HD station 20-30 miles.
That doesn't seem like the whole truth...I get HD to 30-40 miles
back home, and I get plain old FM Stereo way past that (like non-HD).

HD is bothersome on big-power AM stations, though.
For 20-30 khz, it gets in the way of my AMDX tuning at night.
Sort of a ticking hiss.

Anyway, more actual reports later.