HD Radio coming into its own

Don Lindich from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes:

Question: I am disappointed in the electronics industry regarding a specific niche that I think is being ignored by radio manufacturers. My wife and I listen to KSJN, the local NPR station in St. Paul, in the mornings. A great program has been moved exclusively to the HD Radio band and we can hear it in only one of our cars, the one with the HD enabled radio. We are unable to hear the show at home because we like to carry our battery-powered portable AM/FM radio from room to room, and there are no portable HD radios on the market that I am aware of. What I want is a portable, battery-powered radio that receives HD broadcasts. Is there such an animal?

Brian Siemens Hastings, Minn.

Answer: Up until recently the chipsets required to tune HD Radio required too much power to be run from battery-powered devices. More efficient chipsets are now on the market and battery-powered HD Radios are starting to appear.

Coby Electronics has exactly what you are looking for in the new Coby HDR-700, a battery-powered, portable tabletop unit selling for $149. The batteries provide up to five hours of play time and it tunes AM and FM, too. You can see the HDR-700 at www.cobyusa.com.

An iPod-sized HD Radio was recently introduced by Insignia, Best Buy's house brand. The Insignia NS-HD01 sells for a mere $49 and is a great way for people to get their feet wet with HD Radio. If your current portable has an auxiliary input, you can connect the Insignia with a miniplug cable and listen through the speakers.

If neither of these radios suits your needs or tastes and if you wait, there should be a great many more choices by the holiday season. HD Radio is really starting to come into its own, and people are catching on.