3rd Gen dual antenna system with HD Radio .... worth it?

[BrianSD_42]

:guitar3:

Hi guys,

HD radio is becoming more popular lately and there are quite a few $200-$300 head units that include built in HD Radio.

Here in San Diego there are 10+ popular stations in HD radio. My current head unit is great but very dated and I only hooked up one (of the OEM 2) antenna when I installed it years ago. I've been meaning to fix this by merging them like some of you-all have but I don't listen to the radio much.

My current head unit has: CD Disk, standard radio, MP3-CD, AUX-IN.
Does not have: BlueTooth audio, HD-Radio, Direct iPod or USB plug-in.


So can you share your experiences with HD Radio in your towns?


:guitar3:

 

[zooroadbaja]

I don't have first hand experience but when I researched before buying my head unit. I saw a lot of reviews of people saying it was annoying when the hd station would go in and out from hd to regular because of the distance from the radio broadcasting station. Also I couldn't find out if the radio had a on and off for hd. So I just got a hu without it.

 

[Hacker]

I used the Y-cord to combine the two antennas into the single input on my Pioneer HD radio unit.

I have had very little difficulty with HD radio, even given that I live 100 miles from most of the stations that are broadcasting.

There is some switching between the digital and analog signals when they're weak or it is a bad coverage area; on some stations that isn't a big deal as the broadcasts are perfectly synched up, but for some other stations there is a second or three delay between the two stations, and that is annoying as hell. On my head unit, you can select what kind of mixing you want (all analog, all digital, or it picks the best at any given time) so when it starts getting bad, I can just select one or the other.

Overall it isn't anything I'd be concerned about.

 

[blizz86]

Since you dont listen to the radio much, i dont see a point in putting in another antenna just for that. Just combine your signal wires, and update with a new HU that has bluetooth audio, etc.