[IRCA] Dave Hascall bought an HD Radio? Yep for 6 Bucks!

["HASCALL, DAVID CIV DFAS" <DAVID.HASCALL@xxxxxxxx>]

What what what WHAT? (Sheila Brofloski - from South Park)

As most of you know, I'm not a fan of HD radio / IBOC.  But last night
when I was trolling one of our local Goodwill stores, I saw a fairly
unique piece of electronics that slightly resembled a powered iPod dock.
As I got closer, I noticed the HD) logo and then the Accurian brand
name.  Then I wondered what was wrong with it. :)

I took it to the "testing area" where there is a huge power strip
mounted on the shelf.  I always joke around with a "bzz" sound when I'm
plugging some unknown object in, to get a rise out of the other shoppers
but the Accurian's clock and electric blue display came on.  I hit the
power button and 105.7 came on.  I immediately put it in my cart.

First impression: The radio is cool looking, even though this one is
scratched up.  The power cords and the associated outboard power supply
seem too big for this radio.  The remote is missing but I think that I
can do everything from the radio and the AM loop isn't there either.
The FM antenna isn't a "T" dipole, it's just a straight wire with an
F-connector on the business end an a place to tack it up on the other.

FM: Got all of the local analog stations and a few semi-locals.  It took
just a minute or two to figure out the subchannels.  The subs were
finicky on a few of the local channels but did okay on most.  The subs
are cooler than I imagined, there is a blues channel, a comedy channel,
a "back of the stacks" / classic rock channel and so on.  Has anyone
caught FM Es with this radio?

AM: Just using (the obviously puny), built in loopstick I got some
distant clear channel stations.  The only two channels to decode were
1070 WFNI and 1260 WNDE.  1310 WTLC sounds good but no HD decode.  I
have one of the AM loops that are included with cheap stereos, I'll see
if it improves it any.  I doubt that I'll get serious DX on it but
that's not why I'd use it on AM (FM maybe).

SOUND: Analog sounds pretty darned good for the size.  You DO notice
when the HD kicks in.  To me it's actually worse than the analog.  The
frequency response flattens out and goes "tinny" but it's not too bad.
CD quality?  Nope.

Pardon me if this review went a little long but I wanted to share my
perceptions of my new, $6 toy.

73
Dave Hascall
Indianapolis, IN

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