am stereo was never a waste, the problem is deregulation of  radio and the fact that the ccc screwed us in this country. am stereo is successful in other countries like japan, and a good music station in am stereo which I have heard back in the  day sounds excellent, almost as good  as fm if they use the kahn hazel tine system, which was rare. i had a stereo am walkman back in the day and listened to stations like ksl in salt lake when they plays music and they sounded awesome. I was over 320 miles away in the mountains with just the walkman in the window, plugged into a stereo and enjoy music in the nighttime that was wonderful when fm stations were unlistenable due to horrendous multi path distortion even with a tv antenna.
On Jul 14, 2013, at 2:30 AM, Jim Gammon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I have had a Sony HD Am Fm radio for some time now, and agree 
> with what Mike and all have said here.  I have no experience with 
> the newer HD models.  When I first got my HD radio, I tried to 
> pick up KNX, 1070 in LA from the San Francisco area where I live.  
> Although I can and could hear it fine, it never would go to HD 
> mode because the signal just wasn't strong enough no matter what 
> kind of antenna I used.  The strongest HD Am station I can get 
> where I live is KCBS.  After a couple seconds, the high 
> frequencies improve and the audio just sounds more like Fm.  My 
> other experience with Am was when we had a car with an Am stereo 
> radio in it.  In that case, You could get stereo on weak stations 
> when the signals were strong, but when they faded down, the 
> station would become mono again.  In my opinion, the separation 
> was never that good on Am stereo.  I was really surprised when I 
> heard our local baseball team, the Oakland A's in stereo on Am.  
> The only thing that you really could get was the crowd noise in 
> stereo, but it was cool.  Other than that, I think Am stereo is a 
> waste and I  apologize for diverting this off topic to even more 
> off topic.  Jim WA6EKS.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tom Behler <[log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date sent: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 20:49:11 -0400
> Subject: Re: Off Topic:  HD Radio In New Vehicle
> 
> Steve:
> 
> Thanks much for the clarifications.
> 
> The radio has the usual tuning knob, so it will be easy for me to 
> experiment
> with when we get into an HD radio area again.
> 
> And, I never even thought to try it on A M.
> 
> I guess I've always been turned off to digital A M radio because 
> of the
> limits it puts on A M D X ing at night, but I suppose the cleaner 
> audio
> could be easier on the ears.
> 
> Anyway, I appreciate your and everyone's help with this, and will 
> let you
> know what I find in my future explorations.  Of course, I can't 
> do it hear
> in my town, so things may have to be delayed a bit.
> 
> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]
> To: <[log in to unmask]
> Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2013 8:14 PM
> Subject: Re: Off Topic: HD Radio In New Vehicle
> 
> 
> Tom,
> 
> Tune to the main frequency of the station you have in mind.  
> After a few
> seconds, the radio will acquire the HD signal if there is one.  
> Your XYL
> will be able to tell by the display, but you may hear a subtle 
> change in
> the
> audio (usually a slight stutter) as the HD locks on.  If you're 
> doing this
> on AM, the audio will become a lot sharper and clearer (unless 
> there's
> static or noise, in which case you won't be able to acquire the 
> HD).
> Getting back to FM, since that's the only place where you'll 
> find stations
> with more than one HD subprogram, once the HD has been acquired, 
> press the
> Up button (or tune clockwise one click if the radio has a tuning 
> knob) to
> get to the HD2 subchannel, and continue the process to get to 
> subsequent
> channels.  In most cases, HD2 is the limit, but you may find an 
> occasional
> station with HD3.  If you go past the maximum number of 
> channels, you'll
> hear the familiar white noise that happens between stations.
> 
> Steve
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]
> To: <[log in to unmask]
> Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2013 19:03
> Subject: Off Topic: HD Radio In New Vehicle
> 
> 
> Hi, all.
> 
> Well, the xyl and I regularly lease our vehicles, and today we 
> picked up
> our
> newest one.
> 
> I was interested to learn that the radio in the vehicle has HD 
> radio.
> 
> This is not helpful in the semi-rural part of Michigan where we 
> live, but
> could be interesting to experiment with when we are traveling to 
> larger
> metropolitan areas.
> 
> But, my question is this:
> 
> How do you access the given HD radio stations?
> 
> I know that many stations have their main frequency (say 99.5 
> FM), but
> how
> do you access their HD sub-channels for other program 
> selections?
> 
> Do you start on the main frequency for the given station, and 
> then go
> from
> there?  Or, does it depend on how the given radio is set up?
> 
> I know this is off topic, so please respond off list to:
> 
> [log in to unmask]  if you have some suggestions.
> 
> Of course, the radio in the new vehicle also has XM/Serious 
> satellite,
> which
> I'm really going to have to be careful not to get addicted to, 
> since we
> only
> have a four-month trial subscription.  Sure is tempting, though, 
> due to
> the
> terrific program variety selection, and no commercials!!  
> (smile)
> 
> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ, Big Rapids, MI