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[email protected] (800) 275-2840 Friday, March 29, 2013 THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO Tech developer says new chips will power-up HD reception. One of the biggest beefs with HD Radio has been limited signal ranges. New technology that’s said to improve the chips used inside receivers could change that. By focusing on a fix at the receiver level, Digital PowerRadio (DPR) says broadcasters won’t foot the bill for improvements that could come more quickly as Americans buy new phones, cars and other electronic devices. DPR has spent the past 18 months developing the tweaks that would be made to the baseband receiver chip inside radio receivers. The tech company says it would significantly improve the performance and coverage of the digital signals radio stations already have on the air. “We don’t make any changes on the transmission side, which means broadcasters don’t have to spend any money — this is all on the receiver side,” says Mark Fowler, managing member of DPR, and former chairman of the FCC from 1981 to 1987. Using computer simulation modeling, DPR says its new chips will provide coverage gains of approximately 5 dB for FM signals in mobile phones and tabletop radios, and approximately 7 dB for auto receivers. Similar improvements are possible for AM stations. “The new chips would be much more sensitive than what is being used now, therefore we can take a weaker signal, receive it, and the effect is to increase the signal going into various radios,” Fowler says.