Is my car (see signature) supposed to be able to receive HD radio stations? When I have FM radio on the infotainment display and I click Browse, I get a list of available FM station frequencies. One frequency stands out because it is a different color (orange, IIRC) and the frequency is listed twice. That makes me think that the radio has detected an HD subchannel for that frequency. But, I know that that FM station has 3 HD subchannels. And, many local stations have HD subchannels. I doubt that my car can receive HD signals but why is that one frequency listed twice and in a different color than all the rest?
HD radio
- Thread starter Newton
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By experimenting with it, I discovered that the reason that frequency is orange is that the radio is tuned to that frequency at the moment. I still don't understand why that one frequency is duplicated. I still don't know which trims, if any, can receive HD radio broadcasts. I discovered Monroneylabels.com, which can display sample Monroney labels for vehicles. I looked at labels for a 2023 Bolt EV 1LT with no options and a 2023 Bolt EV 2LT with the Infotainment Package option and neither label mentioned HD radio. Do any forum members have a Bolt that receives HD radio broadcasts?
No response. My guess is that no Bolts have HD radio. Why, then, is HD mentioned 12 times in the owners manual for the 2023 Bolt? Maybe there are instructions for deploying the life rafts (if equipped) in there somewhere, too.
Joe Cherra
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Searching the web, I found this:
HD Radio (HDR) is a digital radio technology that broadcasts AM and FM stations with improved sound quality and additional channels. HD Radio is also known as in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio.
It appears to me that every vehicle has HD radio because HD radio is the signal sent out by the broadcaster. I don't see any antennas on The late model automobiles which leads me to believe that they are all able to receive HD
HD Radio (HDR) is a digital radio technology that broadcasts AM and FM stations with improved sound quality and additional channels. HD Radio is also known as in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio.
It appears to me that every vehicle has HD radio because HD radio is the signal sent out by the broadcaster. I don't see any antennas on The late model automobiles which leads me to believe that they are all able to receive HD
AM and FM are analog systems but HD is digital. Radios that can receive digital signals have circuitry that legacy AM/FM radios don't have. I suppose a radio receiver could be HD only but usually HD capability is just added to an AM/FM receiver to make it an AM/FM/HD radio. I presume you mean that you don't see any whip antennas on modern cars. I think that is because engineers figured out how to make AM and FM antennas compact so they fit in those shark fins that many cars have now (along with antennas for other signals). A minority of radio stations broadcast in HD but the Wikipedia article says it is popular in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Are there any forum members in St. Cloud (or anywhere) who listen to HD radio in their Bolts?
I tried the voice command on page 123 to ask to hear HD 2 of an FM station that I know has HD subchannels. It just tuned to the regular old FM station. So, I am pretty sure my car only receives AM and FM but I am curious to know if other Bolts can receive HD and, if not, why the manual talks about it.
I re-read my post this morning (checking for mistakes) and I noticed that my signature was missing. My signature is "2023 Bolt EV 1LT with Driver Confidence Package". Then I logged in to the forum and my signature appeared. So, if you are reading this without being logged in, you could not know what I meant by "other Bolts". Now you know.
Joe Cherra
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I would assume it would be serious Excel seeing as Chevrolet pushes it
I don’t know about newer Bolt’s but the broadcast radio in my 2017 Bolt receives only standard AM and FM channels and of course Sirius/XM satellite if you’re willing to pay.
The Sirius/XM may be why GM omitted HD radio, because HD competes with Sirius/XM. The local NPR affiliate station has four additional HD digital music sub channels in addition to the main analog news channel. My fiend has a Prius Prime and he is able to get both the analog and digital channels on his car radio.
I believe not many if any AM channels in the US have any high speed digital modes for consumer reception. The signal has to fit into a 10 KHz wide slot with guard bands on either side of the modulated signal in order to avoid adjacent channel interference. That doesn’t leave much space to work with for digital. I believe I have seen some very narrow band digital embedded in AM when I look using my spectrum analyzer. My guess is those are very low bit rate signals which are for relaying transmitter performance data to a monitoring receiver in the station’s master control booth.
