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

Fri Jul 6 10:46:39 UTC 2012

The fact that you have to constantly fiddle with the antenna to get decent 
HD radio reception is one of the main reasons why HD radio has never 
attained widespread popularity with the general public and probably never 
will.  Like digital TV, which was forced on the public by a bunch of 
ignorant FCC bureaucrats, HD radio was implemented in a slipshod, haphazard 
fashion that virtually guaranteed its failure.  It seems to me that adding 
HD reception to a clock radio doesn't make a whole lot of sense because who 
wants to lay in bed in the morning and putz around with an antennajust to 
listen to a particular radio station?   Maybe Best Buy would have been 
better off including provisions for Sirius/XM reception in the Narrator 
instead of HD.  Or better yet, it could have included the ability to receive 
the audio portion of digital TV broadcasts.  With all of its inherent 
reception limitations, it seems to me that HD radio is a format without much 
of a future.

Gerald

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Aldrich" <jajkaldrich at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 1:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] First User Review of Narrator HD Radio

> 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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>
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