All posts by Michael Rogers
Below are all of Michael Rogers's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
"...massive 745% increase in sale of vinyl records since 2008."
Whopee! Only a question of time before my EMP-impervious, power-outage-despising, hyper-green, zero-electron 78rpm grammophone becomes ultra-desirable tech...
Bump! Ouch! Back down to earth : today's high winds are wrenching at the overhead telephone lines, causing frequent breaks, router crashing and webradio misery. Ain't modern technology full of wonder ?
My crystal-set receives AM and with discriminator circuitry also FM.
I search high and I search low on the internet (when the wind drops) for modifications to receive DAB. Still searching.
Okay, okay, not all of the above is intended to be taken seriously.
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Methinks we should focus on the main theme of this DAB thread.
1: Given a strong indoor signal, DAB is the best option for increased choice of stations.
In the final phase of implementation, due to the higher frequencies used, mobile or indoor reception may or may not equal or be better than FM.
2: With the sacrifice of some sound-alike stations, better bitrates would produce better-sounding audio than FM - eg AAC.
3: Where these conditions are not met, DAB wavers.
4 : In terms of indoor portability, where the signal is less than optimal, DAB radios are unsatisfactory.
5 : DAB running costs are higher, requiring static mains operation and/or a costly rechargeable battery pack.
6 : Where a roof aerial is required, DAB dictates static listening, as does DTT radio.
This does not accord well with today's more mobile listening culture.
7 : DAB restricts listening to local stations. Webradio partially compensates for this.
8 : Some low-lying areas will lose local radio when no longer available on MW or FM.
9 : I acquired a cassette player to record my C60s etc to mp3. The darned thing
won't recognise my 78s and 33s, but I will spawn a cunning plan for this :-)
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Following the above link was interesting and in part disconcertingly confusing, not least the 2010 Guardian reprint :
24 reasons why DAB might not make it | Technology | theguardian.com
Some of this content will be contestable, some dated, but some would appear to concur with informed opinion, including such posted in this austere blogsphere. My impression has been for some time that there will be a compromise, with broadcasters choosing between DAB and FM (and even AM in some areas), rather than duplicating investment or enforcing analog demise on an unconvinced electorate. It is beginning to become apparent that 3G and 4G radio reception will take an increasingly big bite of the cake - once affordable megabyte download charges or flatrate packages are on offer. At currently advertised 1p per Mb, radio on 4G doesn't compare well with 0p on FM, AM or DAB. Ultimately, DRM may have the last laugh, but not for many moons...
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"They" can shut down everything else or charge a pound a second - BUT don't touch free-to-listen better-than-Radio-Four Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio. Okay, I am a lone true-Brit voice in the ether, but the arguments voiced on this page apply to most digital outreach. Ich zittere weiter vor mich hin... We are more than convinced that decisions made on high have little to do with technology and listener-consumer stakeholder interests, but all to do with profits and share-holders. As a future fall-back, I am working on a new patent idea, which I will call books, Bcher, livres, libros - and on a super-dish to receive free-to-air radio from Planet Zog :-)
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I just bought a new car. No DAB, only MW and FM. DAB not even available as an option. The
proprietry dashboard design would make it difficult to retrofit any other radio. A Pure Highway solution is unattractive : aerial and hanging wire problems.
Hmmm....
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I just bought a new car. No DAB, only MW and FM. DAB not even available as an option. The proprietry dashboard design would make it difficult to retrofit any other radio. A Pure Highway solution is unattractive : aerial and hanging wire problems.
Hmmm....
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As reported above, my new car does not have, and cannot be upgraded to, DAB. Even if it had DAB potential, local DAB would be unreceivable according to published future plans. DAB future coverage maps do not equal current FM. 220MHz DAB propagation is physically inferior to 100MHz FM, so many more filler-relays than suggested in official plans would be needed. Budget? Solution : replace FM with DAB for main population centres and motorways, retain FM and AM where population and topology require it. ( I realised I may not qualify for equal human rights etc.) Longterm future planning : DAB+ and DRM and DRM+. This technology works on longwave, mediumwave, and VHF. As we are now stuck with DAB and residual FM and AM, technology will be crushed by politics and business interests.
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Practical expediency, not technical superiority will determine the near future. See history... DAB is already established, albeit not as successfully as planned. Incompatible DAB+ duplication is not an option for the forseeable future. DAB will be most effective at high signal levels in population centres and along motorways. To replace FM in more remote areas, a large number of filler-relays would be required. It would probably be more expedient to retain FM/AM in such areas, especially for local and regional broadcasting. If 4G became affordable with unlimited downloads, radio via the expanding mobile phone network would solve reception issues in most areas. DRM and DRM+ research is to be applauded; they may well be a future option, but not anytime soon.
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KMJ, you mirror my concerns. I hope you are right that ultimately fillers will abound to "prove the original wisdom". CCI killed our valley-village DTT self-help. 2/3G is very patchy. With a roof aerial some can receive FM, few get DAB. We are not alone in our green and pleasant land. Hence my voice in the wilderness. As you say, drop-outs are a no-no, but may be the music of our future... A DAB filler-relay at the head of the valley would be l-o-v-e-l-y. There are similar situations in many other parts of the country and along coastal strips. I remain doubtful that there are enough pennies for all the necessary DAB fillers to materialise, but hope to be proved ignominiously wrong! Hopefully, pragmatism will cosy up with the bean counters and FM and/or AM will be retained for awkward customers across the realm. They would cry if they realised that DRM etc could have eased all their woes... Now, we wouldn't want tears, would we...
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Friday 13 September 2013 7:51PM
Brian, the on-paper tech specs for here-and-now-reception of DAB sadly do not correspond to empirical observations. DTT mis-planning resulted in CCI which Ofcom would neither recognise nor rectify. Scepticism is not entirely unjustified. If final implementation is in reality as documented, we will eventually verily verily have reliable DAB reception of all currently available FM broadcasts, including local BBC, in the valleys, on the coast and indoors. "if" is a big word. We shall see...
Rob, I am amazed that I am not a lone nuisance-voice in the valley :-) As Ofcom has committed the UK to DAB and most thus far sold DAB-receivers are not DAB+ compliant, the UK is unlikely to adopt DAB+ for many moons. Check your in-car DAB receiver's spec. If you are lucky, it will be dual and will work beyond the waters, but if it is UK-only DAB, it will bestow you serendipity, silence and meditational bliss on the autoroute, autostrada and Autobahn... No matter, let us join in chanting the praise of progress for the toiling masses...