On Thursday the 22nd of March, 2007 the Federal Communications Commission approved all facets of digital broadcasting in the USA. In particular, AM stations will soon be authorized to begin 24/7 use of their first adjacent frequencies for digital sidebands.
What this does is open the door to significant interference to all AM stations. A 50kw clear channel station can run a digital transmitter at far more power than would be authorized for any conventional station in that location on those two adjacent frequencies. It will be interesting from a rather perverse sense to see what happens at night..
I have had two HD Radios, and found that the digital signals are very fragile, and cover about half the radius (1/4 the area) of a good analog signal. Electrical noise from many sources like car ignition, light dimmers and bad wiring can easily disrupt things.
