Help with TV/radio stations?
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Tuesday, 28 February 2012
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David12:25 PM
Mark:
I guess I will have to get my DAB radios (I have 2) before they become completely obsolete, out of the store where I put them when I found DAB only worked in a very few places and was blocked by buildings when I was on the move.
I suppose there are people willing to waste their money on the new format, but I suspect more will simply boycott any new format and revert to VHF which still works in my car.
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David: You won't be able to "revert to VHF" as the service will be discontinued.
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Friday, 2 March 2012
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Nedbod6:59 AM
Reading between the lines I don't think FM/VHF will be switched off for quite some time to come. Uptake of DAB in cars is pathetic.
At a recent Any Questions in Oxford not one person in an audience of over 400 had DAB in their car.
As one of your previous contributers stated DAB unlike Heineken does not get to parts AM & FM can reach and that includes the inside of Virgin trains too. Northern Trains fair a little better, however, on the line from Stoke on Trent to Manchester, so if I want to listen to a BBC Radio 4 Extra drama or comedy I take one of these.
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Sunday, 4 March 2012
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Alvin Pritchard2:23 AM
Interesting fact about Denon's multi award wining TU-1800 DAB Tuner (Now discontinued)
Many people nationwide are reporting that this tuner has become susceptible to signal dropout lasting for 4-5 seconds every half hour or so but only on the DAB band, FM&AM bands seem to be unaffected, the tuners microprocessor seems to be the cause, Denon's advice of rebooting the tuner has no effect.
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Monday, 12 March 2012
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Nedbod8:01 PM
My PURE stereo DAB radio packed in after just 3 years of "very little" use (I preferred to listen on my clearer FM radio cassette anyway, which is also cheaper on the lecky bill). Even more so after the bit rates were lowered on most channels and some broadcasts changed to mono only on DAB!! Whereas all my FM/AM, LW & even SW radios just plough on regardless, until the big switch off that is (whenever it may be). The light comes on on the display but no stations are either named or audible on the useless PURE. I can't be bothered to pay for the PURE DAB radio to be repaired. My sister has had her PURE tuner back to John Lewis five times now, and they've still not repaired it properly, similar problem just conked out no stations. I tend to listen to digital radio on the i-player or on Freeview these days as the quality is better than my DAB radio, a ludicrous situation. Only Radio 3 is acceptable on DAB, when it is running at 192 kbps.
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Tuesday, 13 March 2012
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michael9:26 AM
In a moment of optimism, I bought a PURE, which was promptly disabled by an enforced software "upgrade", affecting all users of the same model. The fault was rectified, but I now seldom listen to anything on DAB except the WS - not least because most music sounds pre-vinyl. Let us hope that the ring-fenced DAB budget, plus savings from the SKY clawback, will benefit DAB - and FM and AM where the only portable and mobile option for essential services.
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Mark6:03 PM
@ Nedbod
I'm not sure what you're doing to your Pure tuners, maybe you have just been unlucky.
I have had a Pure DRX-701 ES since 2002 and never had anything go wrong with it. It's still working fine after ten years.
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Nedbod10:26 PM
As I said, I did nothing and it's not just me, my sister has had similar PURE trouble with hers. I hardly used mine as I say (even before it went wrong) after the bit rate reductions on DAB (sadly still happening on the commercial stations these days, Absolute for example has lowered its bit rate to even less than 128kbps from 160kbps since it took over from Virgin, which was one of few rock/pop stations with a highish bit rate). I find most DAB very hard to listen to apart from Radio 3, which is the only station on DAB to have an occasional decent bit rate of 192kbps (even this is lowered from time to time to accommodate sport and other live output on other BBC DAB radio channels).
Micheal : BBC WS sounds much better on BBC R4 FM (stereo) overnight than BBC WS DAB. I record from this source any programmes I like that are broadcast between 01:00am and 05:20am UK Time. Nowhere near as many as I used to though, as the variety of music, drama, thrillers, book readings, Waveguide, pop music, proms, science programmes have vanished to make way for a rolling service of news, more news, followed by even more news, then news briefing, business news, sports news and analysis and for the next virtual millennium the US election yyyyyyyaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn!!
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Nedbod10:52 PM
Almost as impossible as expecting everyone to ditch their FM radios, which in the majority of highly populated areas still offer a better quality than DAB. I have 8 FM radios in my house that I do not wish to become redundant. DAB in cars is also a huge issue as so few drivers have this facility at present and cars can last quite a long time as we know.
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Sunday, 18 March 2012
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Alvin Pritchard2:23 AM
Let's just get these bit rates boosted, the powers that be now know what is required if DAB is to have a solid and prosperous future.
This is the most sensible way of progression and investment to make to please the masses of High Fidelity Radio fans in the United Kingdom.
The UK has highest amount of DAB stations in the world but the lowest amount of bit rates!
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