All posts by Michael Rogers
Below are all of Michael Rogers's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
DAB transmitters appear to be undergoing major works, judging by the frequent switch-offs. This may well be planned upgrades within the framework of further DAB roll-out. But does anyone know specifically what work is being undertaken?
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This is the big "can of worms". Many do not have a broadband speed anywhere near video-viewing minimal requirements - and near-zero hope of improvement and zero hope this century of fibre-optic to the home line-box. "Providers" concentrate on high population-density areas. (The same applies to DTT and 3GB and 4GB networks.) Broadband subscriptions should reflect the real average download speeds. I get 0.5-0.9MB/s, but pay the same as others on 3++ MB/s who can use iPlayer and other streaming services. The Beeb et al are inquitous in fomenting online viewing - not least as this reduces even further the download speeds of other subscribers further down the line. The much-vaunted market ain't working - except for the fatcats. Surprise, surprise :-).
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The latest PURE email advertising an in-car
radio merits wordwise reading between the lines :-
"... on the move with our new Highway H240Di. Not only do you get DAB for high-detail, digital-quality sound, you also get FM and AM for any stations that haven't yet gone digital. ..."
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Quiz question : which words above might be interpreted as aluding to low bit-rate ???
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Postscript : I have peeked at the spec. As this model would craftily get me BBC local radio on **AM** and the rest on FM, it might prove to be a winner while waiting and waiting and waiting for DAB coombe-dale-and-coast-swamping.
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The question at the top was "....amplitude- and frequency- modulation - and to wonder why anyone is still using it." Because I can only receive local BBC on MW, and because I like to listen to more distant stations; and because I can listen anywhere in or around the house on a cheap-to-run very portable battery radio. There can be a bit of crackle, but no annoying warbling, drop-outs or swishing. DAB is unlikely to equal this anytime soon... Analog radios rarely fail, but can be easily serviced. (I have a BSc in computing and use AM, FM, SSB, DAB, webradio etc.) 4G will ultimately offer technical solutions, but at considerable cost to the consumer. AM costs almost nothing.
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There are a lot of brief outages ar present. Presumably due to the musical-chairs party games engendered by 4G spectrum restructuring. It could, of course, be that the riggers transfer transmitter power to their electric kettles for a few minutes now and again. It is nippy way up there on the masts :-)
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Wednesday 7 August 2013 8:31PM
It would seem evident that the future remains uncertain. The new diy DAB technology might well be a viable compromise to fill DAB gaps - and enrapture pirates and community broadcasters. Software magic should surely be able to conjure up an SFN solution where needed. For the foreseeable future, it has to be a combination of DAB and FM (hopefully with vestiges of AM where neither of the above will provide a continuing service. DAB+ and DRM would have been better choices, but it would be disastrous to expect listeners to now ditch their DAB radios after so much relentles plugging. The DAB take-up statistics do not indicate how many DAB radios each household has acquired. FM will be in many rooms, plus portable - so it would burden the household budget in difficult times for each to equal its FM assets - assuming equal coverage.