[Electronics-talk] More On the Narrator Radio

[David Andrews]

I can't disagree with any of that -- the one small thing I would add 
is that the antenna situation, t-shaped dipole fm and loop AM antenna 
is pretty standard with HD tabletop radios.  Signal strength is 
somewhat of a problem with HD, particularly penetration into 
buildings.  iBiquity Digital Corporation is trying to get the FCC to 
raise the power allowed to broadcast the digital HD signal.

Dave

At 01:07 PM 7/30/2012, you wrote:

>The following editorial about the Narrator HD radio was published in 
>this weeks's edition of the Mathilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind:
>
>Op Ed with Bob Branco - The Narrator Isn't All That was Advertised
>
>Several weeks ago, most of you heard about a wonderful new radio 
>that Best Buy was selling called the Narrator.  It is supposed to be 
>the best radio for visually impaired people ever 
>manufactured.  While reading one of the original press releases, I 
>was so enthused with the information that I ordered the Narrator 
>myself.  Why not?  It is supposed to be extremely user friendly for 
>the blind and visually impaired.
>
>While it allows you to set the clock, the alarm, the radio band, and 
>specific radio stations by using voice application, the Narrator 
>does not totally perform as it was advertised.  For example, in a 
>press release I received as part of a mass email from a consumer 
>organization, it states in one of the paragraphs as follows:  "With 
>speech turned on, the radio will announce the artist and song, and 
>will show and announce visual images as well."  This is not 
>true.  Though the Narrator may display artist and song titles on the 
>screen if you happen to find an HD radio station that provides that 
>service, you won't hear it in voice mode.
>
>If a blind person hopes to use the menu or bookmark buttons to 
>navigate the radio in voice mode, think again.  Those two features 
>are for just the sighted.
>
>Although the Narrator comes with an audio CD instruction manual, 
>which most people may feel is what you should read in order to use 
>the product, the only section of the CD that benefits the blind is track 12.
>
>If you feel that locating HD radio stations is difficult with the 
>Narrator, well, it's just as tough to tune in a regular A.M. 
>station.  The Narrator does not come with a normal telescopic 
>antenna which you can rotate.  It comes with two plastic shoelace 
>Y-shaped antennas which you have to plug into two different adaptors 
>on the back of the radio, and even after you plug them in, you have 
>to swing the antennas around, especially the A.M. one, in order to 
>pick up a station which may be as close as 25 miles away.
>
>I have one more side note.  Although Best Buy uses the Insignia 
>label on the Narrator as well as other products, a representative 
>from Insignia told me that the company had nothing to do with 
>manufacturing the Narrator.
>
>So, if you are blind and are satisfied with setting the clock and 
>alarm on your own, finding and presetting radio stations and tuning 
>into certain frequencies, then you will like the Narrator.  But do 
>not expect it to be the miracle radio that's being advertised, 
>because it isn't.
>
>
>Gerald