pim

I suppose HD radio exists in the US only, just like XM and Sirius.

Considering that, will the BoomzBox HD have use in Europe?
Will it at least do RDS (maybe even TMC) over analog FM,
and do things like tune to even frequencies?

Pim

Zip-Lock

Here's a map showing worldwide coverage: http://www.ibiquity.com/internationa...dwide_coverage

It should work in other counties too in analog mode. RDS is supported. TMC is not supported. It will not work with competing digital radio standards such as DAB offered in the UK.

It appears to only be able to tune to odd frequencies now, we'll have an international beta test after the USA beta test.

pim

Having RDS support in hardware is good. It would even be better if the software would actually be using it, not only for station names, but also for AF (automatic frequency) and TA (traffic announcements). Ideally, it would pause playing music for an incoming TA.


DAB is almost everywhere in Europe, but noone cares. Supposedly, DAB is worse than analog.


I'd be happy to participate.

Thanks,
Pim

pim

Wikipedia has an article on HD Radio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hd_radio

It puts some remarks on the subjects you mention:


"iBiquity and other sources do not explicitly state in published articles what technically comprises the "evaluation", whether there are ongoing (or elapsed) test transmissions, and the quantity or power of transmitters."

With both DVB-T and a new DAB rising as competing open standards, I don't see proprietary HD Radio being launched in Europe.


"The analog systems already in place differ between North America and other parts of the world. The U.S. uses a 200 kHz spacing for FM and 10 kHz spacing for AM, while Europe uses 100 kHz spacing for FM and 9 kHz spacing for AM. Thus, although an analog radio from one continent can be taken to another and it will work to some degree, the differences between HD Radio and DAB/DRM make listening to the other system impossible."

and

"HD Radio has been criticized for being incompatible with the standards selected by most other countries; hence overseas travel with an HD Radio, or the sale of radios to or from countries that don't use HD Radio is not possible. Manufacturers presently must design and build separate radios for the U.S. market."

Maybe Streetdeck should stop seeing the HQCT as competition and do international customers a favour by properly supporting it.

Pim

Lithoss

I have had many radios that can be tuned by less than 100khz increments (even down to 10khz), which essentially means they can be used anywhere. I'm sure with a little bit of tweaking the boomzbox (or any other radio, for that matter) could be tweaked to work perfectly anywhere. Sounds like they're already working on it.

pim

Yeah, in Italy 50 KHz increments are used. Still, I wonder what the Wikipedia author meant with

"Manufacturers presently must design and build separate radios for the U.S. market."

Sounds to me like a tuner designed for an international audience would work in the U.S. just fine. Just not the other way around.

Pim

Lithoss

Exactly. It makes sense too. In europe the population is a lot denser overall (duh), so they need that extra resolution to avoid excessive overlap. North America's population is a lot more spread out, so stations can spread out as well, so there's no need for that precision. At least, in theory....