HD Radio Performance
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:02 am
Forum readers,I gave in to the barrage of hype surrounding HD Radio and purchased a JVC KD-HDR1 to replace the head unit of the 6-CD changer in the moon and tunes package (7 speaker monsoon).I installed the head unit successfully (harness even had the remote amp turn-on wire) and here are my observations with regards to the radio portion:1. HD signal reception appears to be marginal at best. Signal is unusable farther than 30 miles out, even though analog stereo signal goes out beyond 60 miles. This is not observed on the AM band as the signal seems to reach further before this happens.2. HD signal appears to be sensitive to noise. We live approximately 10 miles away from New York City and tooling around the neighborhood revealed spots where there is a slight noise on the analog signal that in digital mode the signal is unable to lock. This happens in AM as well but it is to be expected.From reading the posts in the section and consulting with radio installation technical support at the catalog store it appears that the Vibe is equipped with a RF signal inline amp. I am wondering whether any kind readers out there have:1. Replaced the signal amplifier with a lower noise unit or removed unit altogether. Removing power to the signal amplifier does not count and others have observed made reception much worse;2. Replaced with a higher performance whip antenna;3. Relocated the antenna such that a signal amplifier is not needed.I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions to improve the radio performance. At this point I am doubtful whether I can recommend HD radio to others. Thank you in advance.