DAB radio

itboffin

What a steaming pile of poo!!!

What's wrong with the normal radio ?

nameinuse

Normal radio doesn't have BBC Radio 6! I'm aware it's Radio 2 for music nerds in denial of their age, but that fits me rather well...

asprilla

5 Live sounds much better on DAB.

cyclingprop

I'm looking forward to the tv/radio spectrum being freed up...

Paul E

I have one I put on while I am out and it sounds fine to me

merkin

I live the extra choices you get from it but it is frustrating when the reception is less than perfect as it simply keeps cutting out rather than the slight static noise of FM. Am I right in thinking that the digital signal will be stronger when FM gets switched off?

cyclingprop

Not necessarily and I'm not convinced there is an FM off date like there is for analogue tv. There is talk of using the spectrum for 4g mobile etc...

itboffin

yeh coz 3g works brilliantly too

Pill-o-techno-crap

daviesee

Sold as a quality product.

Then the money men decide that instead of 6 quality stations, you can have 12 lower quality stations.

Con.

davis

It's a total and utter con. It's outdated, unnecessary, and incompatible with other standards. Shockingly bad audio quality compared to decent FM reception. Fetch my pen of rage; I shall write an angry letter!

Nik Cube

better to stream over the internet for home use

CiB

DAB? Dead And Buried? I used to have one of those Arcam jobbies when it first came out but flogged it on fleabay when the quantity over quality merchants took over.

@ Merkin. No you're not right, on two counts. Unlike digital TV which gained when analogue was sitched off, VHF FM radio is way off the DAB frequencies (which uses the old monochrome 405 line TV frequencies if you're interested) so won't benefit from FM switch-off, and I'd bet my next major cycle purchase that FM switch-off doesn't happen for a good few years yet. It's pretty much a dead cert that 2015 comes and goes with R2 still on 88-91 and R4 just next door past poor old R3 sitting there all on its own, unnoticed but held in great affection.

craker

I bought an internet radio off the 'bay recently - 30 quids, more channels than you can shake a shi**y stick at and it streams music from my media pc. Still I only listen to radio 4 and that has the nasty habit of stopping randomly at busy times. Should've just bought a normal radio.

Stone Glider

For once, I was an 'early adopter' of DAB and it was impressive, excellent quality on R3 and others. However, as related above, the more is worse theory got applied and I have abandoned my DAB radios, gone back to FM and prefer listening on Freeview,(if that makes any sense). DAB has been my own personal eight-track technological safari :oops:

veronese68

But 6music has some great stuff on. Shame it's not on proper radio.

symo

Roberts Internet/DAB radio in the kitchen and a Pure Siesta DAB alarm clock.

I love it, Radio6 and 4Extra are worth it alone. Adam & Joe on Saturdays when it is their turn is awesome, also enjoying Peter Serfenovich (sic) on Saturday morning at the moments is brilliant; absolutely loving pirate station Terry Wogan

jimmypippa

I wonder about the goal of analogue switch-off for FM when over 50% of radios sold are digital.

Has anyone factored in mobile phones?

My understanding was the there are US regulations that encourage mobile phones to have FM receivers for civil defence situations.

FM reception uses less power than digital, and radios are in sync. With digital, there are delays due to encoding and decoding the data. The decoding delay will vary between radios; try listening to a digital and a FM version of the same radio station simultaneously.

daviesee

Veronese68 wrote:

But 6music has some great stuff on. Shame it's not on proper radio.

+1
But on-line streaming resolves that issue :P

rick_chasey

They make good kitchen radios.

CiB

S'true, they do make good kitchen radios esp if you get one with pause / rewind. Just the job for comedies & Danny Baker, when you miss the punchline or there's a record on R2 straight out of the Cheesey Music thread, that you fancy hearing again.

shouldbeinbed

BBC 6 & 7 (none of this modern 4extra frippery) are my reasons for DAB buying & listening. Otherwise I'm a 5 live & Absolute radio kinda guy so the FM is brill argument passes me by on old crackly, cutty outy AM.

A genuine question for the clever people: why is mobile phone radio only ever FM? Surely the technology is there to incorporate AM or DAB in a reasonable size package so wierdos like me that like sport coverage and are too old for the 89% childrens drivel music, too young for the 10% easy listening in nylon slacks & not always in the mood for classical or R4 that is FM get catered for too.

DrLex

shouldbeinbed wrote:

[...]
A genuine question for the clever people: why is mobile phone radio only ever FM? [...]

It's a long time since I did Physics, but I recall that the wavelength of AM reception requires a long aerial - even just a piece of wire - so unless the design incorporates the use of the headphone cable as the antenna, there's just no space inside the device for a suitable aerial. I'm sure someone will be along soon with a more technical answer.

shouldbeinbed

DrLex wrote:

shouldbeinbed wrote:

[...]
A genuine question for the clever people: why is mobile phone radio only ever FM? [...]

It's a long time since I did Physics, but I recall that the wavelength of AM reception requires a long aerial - even just a piece of wire - so unless the design incorporates the use of the headphone cable as the antenna, there's just no space inside the device for a suitable aerial. I'm sure someone will be along soon with a more technical answer.

FM is the same on every radio equipped phone I've had tho. Headphones plugged in as the aerial or it doesn't work. I can never tune the radio in on my Bluetooth headset

davis

I believe AM requires the tuner (i.e. the phone) to be "aligned" with the transmitter. Every time you moved you'd need to retune (rotate) the phone.

shouldbeinbed

davis wrote:

I believe AM requires the tuner (i.e. the phone) to be "aligned" with the transmitter. Every time you moved you'd need to retune (rotate) the phone.

Ah, fair do's i guess DAB would be similar, it does seem very sensitive to location around the house or work

itboffin

dont even get me started on digital TV

First.Aspect

itboffin wrote:

dont even get me started on digital TV

I think that there are brochures and stuff to help older people convert, ITB.

dhope

First Aspect wrote:

itboffin wrote:

dont even get me started on digital TV

I think that there are brochures and stuff to help older people convert, ITB.

Plenty of stuff to help the older folk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zxZ9TmMSvY

There you go ITB

SimonAH

I made a DAB aerial out of a piece of coax cable at my old house (which was not technically even in DAB coverage). You need to split the cable and arrange it in a T shape - the length of the T should be a whole multiple of the wavelength (forget what that is off the top of my head, but a quick search will locate it). Mounted this on my garage roof by making a T out of plastic piping and running the cable up inside of it and out along the arms.

Hey presto, perfect DAB reception for a cost of about £5.

rjsterry

SimonAH wrote:

I made a DAB aerial out of a piece of coax cable at my old house (which was not technically even in DAB coverage). You need to split the cable and arrange it in a T shape - the length of the T should be a whole multiple of the wavelength (forget what that is off the top of my head, but a quick search will locate it). Mounted this on my garage roof by making a T out of plastic piping and running the cable up inside of it and out along the arms.

Hey presto, perfect DAB reception for a cost of about £5.

I think that answers the question about DAB and phones