[Electronics-talk] First User Review of Narrator HD Radio

Fri Jul 6 05:33:29 UTC 2012

Hi all!

I wish to post a few thoughts concerning the Best Buy Narrator.  Mine
could arrive as soon as tomorrow or as late as Monday, July 9th.

I now have two HD radios presently.  I had one from radiosophy.com
which I sold and replaced with a Sangian HDR1.  Both of these are
table radios.  My third is the insignia portable radio from Best Buy.
Some say it won't last more than two years and one cannot replace its
battery!  It appears to work quite well even though it is an FM radio
only.

Part of the problem of displaying information from radio stations is
this!  Some stations may not be transmitting data in the first place.
Others may transmit data however.  The narrator won't get the 67 or 92
KHZ sub carrier signals since it wasn't designed to get those in the
first place.  Many Radio Reading Services will be using an HD radio
stream from one of the public radio stations in the future.  Yes!
Anyone with an HD radio may listen to radio reading services.  That's
fine by me!

One cannot compare analog radios with HD radios.  These are different
animals in a way!  The HD radio will generate birdies and noise on the
AM band especially which interferes with weaker signals.  Mounting the
AM loop to the radio will only keep the antenna close to the noise
generated by the radio itself.  This is part of the IBoc design!  I of
course cannot explain all of this but I have found this to be the case
with the Sangian HDR1 I have presently!  Move the AM loop 3 to 6
inches or further from the radio for best results.  One can loop out
unwanted signals very effectively!  On some wintery days, I was able
to hear KSL in Salt Lake City from my home in Montana on HD.  This
doesn't stay in very long but it is possible!  I have also heard KOA
in Denver, and KFAB in Omaha from my basement in HD but these don't
stay in very long.  One needs a strong signal in order to get an HD
stream to come  in.  When this happens, the experience is quite
impressive!  One doesn't get allot of noise or hum from any signals!
In fact, it is truly FM quality from an AM station and CD quality from
an FM station!  If there is any dead time on the station, one won't
hear anything at all till the programming begins again!

My advice is to place your AM loop 3 inches from the radio for a local
station, or place it further if you can from the unit itself.  This
reduces noise on an analog signal!  If dxing, hold the loop in your
hand and use it to null out local stations and bring in stations near
the local station being looped out.  I have a station on 970 KHZ.  I
can hear a sports station in Canada on 960, CFAC very comfortably with
little to no interference from the local station.  There is more of a
noise factor on an analog station from an HD radio unit.  I have heard
WOAI out of SanAntonio Texas which is quite a find in my area!

My Sangian Radio has a whip antenna for FM or I can put the long
antenna on it which works very well.  I also put a pair of TV Rabbit
Ears on that radio which worked quite well on the FM band.

Perhaps the Dream Machine had good sound and it wasn't too bad on AM
but it was a horrible FM radio.  One had to put up with that silly
piece of wire which was a poor excuse for an FM antenna as I saw it!
I'm glad I sold mine!  At least with the narrator, one can choose
which antenna can be used and it is a standard cable connector.  I
think too one must fiddle with the radio longer than two hours to
really appreciate HD radio!

I'll have more to say once I get my narrator so don't be discouraged!
Keep the loop antenna away from the radio, connect that FM antenna and
have a blast!  What I wrote here is very typical of the HD radios I
have used.

HTH

Jim

On 7/4/12, Gerald Levy <bwaylimited at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> Following is a brief review of the highly-anticipated Narrator HD Radio that
> was posted by someone named Steve on another blind-techrelated mailing list.
>  The opinions expressed in this review are strictly his:
>
>> "For all the hoopla, and touting about its accessibility, I guess I was
>> expecting more than a piece of below-average junk.  Here are my quick
>> findings:
>>
>> 1.  As with most Am sections, the radio is completely deaf without
>> connecting its loop antenna.  I've only had the radio for a couple hours,
>>
>> and haven't figured out a way to attach the loop to the radio.  It has
>> enough wire that it could be placed on a wall.
>>
>> 2.  Similarly the Fm dipole is a must.  Interestingly, instead of the F
>> connectors that most tuners use these days, this has a cable type screw-on
>>
>> connector.  Sensitivity is good, selectivity and immunity to overload on
>> mine is only fair.
>>
>> 3.  Menu Accessibility:  It doesn't say this in the main radio manual so
>> unless you look at the Quick-Start Guide for the Blind, you won't know
>> that the Menu Mode is disabled when you are in accessibility mode.  You
>> enable accessibility mode by pressing the power button, the lefthand
>> button on the top with the Select Button which is the lower-left button on
>>
>> the front of the radio.
>>
>> It appears that in this mode, you can set the time by holding the display
>>
>> button in for two seconds.  You can also set the alarm time for Alarm 1
>> and Alarm 2.  You can press either alarm to be informed that it is on or
>> off. What sighties can do is determine whether the alarm wakes you with
>> radio or a tone, this doesn't seem to work in accessibility mode.  Sighted
>>
>> people can also access the menu and make all sorts of other adjustments
>> such as 12 or 24-hour time, tuning modes like U.S. or International Am/Fm
>>
>> band limits and channel spacing,Lcd color and brightness, etc.  These are
>>
>> only available in the menu when the accessibility mode is turned off.
>>
>> There is an option in the menu under the regular non-accessible mode to
>> see what the hardware/software version of this radio is.  However, there
>> isn't a Usb or some other port to update the software, so even if a new
>> version came out, I don't know if there is a way to update it.  The manual
>>
>> doesn't state that this is possible.
>>
>> Also, there is no way to control the radio's verbosity.  The buttons
>> typically give you way too much feedback.  For example, if you press the
>> volume up button, it says something like Volume Up.  That type of feedback
>>
>> is nice when you are familiarizing yourself with the radio, but I think
>> after a day or so it would be too verbose.  It would be nice to be able to
>>
>> set it to advanced mode, where it wouldn't continue to be so verbose.
>>
>> Sound quality is better than a $29 off-the-shelf clock radio, but that
>> isn't saying a whole lot for it.  Those of you who have had the Sony Dream
>>
>> Machine, this doesn't compare to it as far as sound quality.  I think the
>>
>> manual is written incorrectly.  It claims it has 4 two-inch speakers, but
>>
>> without ripping off the front grill or voiding my right to return the
>> radio, it looks more like it has two four-inch speakers.
>>
>> I am not sure if I will keep this radio or not.  Since I don't need a
>> clock radio with all sorts of other alarm options, it is one of those
>> things that might be nice, but not sure it is worth the cost.  It can
>> receive Hd stations, but not the radio reading service subcarriers.  In
>> accessibility mode, you can't bookmark songs, read the Hd display for
>> data, or other things that I would have thought would have been made
>> available if the IAAIS was as involved with the design as they were."
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