This is an underutilized technology, I personally love it. It essentially was like the ATSC switch for FM radio, meant to compete with satellite radio and streaming. It never really took off, unfortunately. 
I've had an HD Radio head unit (a Jensen, actually) in most of my cars since 2009, and it's still running decently today (clock jumps a few minutes fast and some buttons stick when cold, but otherwise works as it should...) In my Fusion I got a Clarion HD head unit for only $10, but USB doesn't seem to work. I bought a JVC tuner that can apparently plug into the aux port of anything, and can even work indoors on a home receiver, so I'm itching to try that out once it arrives at my house. It seems like there's very few aftermarket radios of any sort coming with HD capability now, but for me it's almost a must for a car radio, despite maybe using it 5-10% of the time I commute.
I really love the technology personally, I'm not a big radio person, but on HD where I live there's a club music channel on 95.7 HD2 (mixed bag, but some good songs occasionally) there's 102.9 HD2 with all the old 1950s and 1960s music, and my favorite, the smooth jazz station on 100.5 HD2. There used to be a classic country station 92.5 but that seems DOA now. Some substations change back and forth, some are offline for days at a time, which sucks, too. They're mostly robo-stations just playing a playlist with no DJ, I've encountered some simulcast stations from different states, too. The cutouts are annoying, but I still enjoy it when it comes in. Sound quality can vary from awesome to somewhat mediocre depending on the station's compression, too.
Not many people are familiar with the technology, and I'm sad it never truly took off. I feel like I'm part of a secret club of HD Radio users. So does anyone else use it currently? Have you used it before, but switched cars or head units with the capability? Any home users?
Thanks and I'm super interested to see if there's anyone else here that uses it still.
I've had an HD Radio head unit (a Jensen, actually) in most of my cars since 2009, and it's still running decently today (clock jumps a few minutes fast and some buttons stick when cold, but otherwise works as it should...) In my Fusion I got a Clarion HD head unit for only $10, but USB doesn't seem to work. I bought a JVC tuner that can apparently plug into the aux port of anything, and can even work indoors on a home receiver, so I'm itching to try that out once it arrives at my house. It seems like there's very few aftermarket radios of any sort coming with HD capability now, but for me it's almost a must for a car radio, despite maybe using it 5-10% of the time I commute.
I really love the technology personally, I'm not a big radio person, but on HD where I live there's a club music channel on 95.7 HD2 (mixed bag, but some good songs occasionally) there's 102.9 HD2 with all the old 1950s and 1960s music, and my favorite, the smooth jazz station on 100.5 HD2. There used to be a classic country station 92.5 but that seems DOA now.
Some substations change back and forth, some are offline for days at a time, which sucks, too. They're mostly robo-stations just playing a playlist with no DJ, I've encountered some simulcast stations from different states, too. The cutouts are annoying, but I still enjoy it when it comes in. Sound quality can vary from awesome to somewhat mediocre depending on the station's compression, too.Not many people are familiar with the technology, and I'm sad it never truly took off. I feel like I'm part of a secret club of HD Radio users. So does anyone else use it currently? Have you used it before, but switched cars or head units with the capability? Any home users?
Thanks and I'm super interested to see if there's anyone else here that uses it still.
