All posts by Charles Stuart
Below are all of Charles Stuart's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
I don't find this surprising. I think that one's mind can only cope with so many channels. One might watch another occasionally as a result of channel surfing, but I'm sure that each individual has a list of channels that they consider regular viewing, even if only very occasionally. I get Freeview and when I went through the channels (excluding +1 services and things like 4/7) I think of to view, I came up with 17. There are many others but I don't think of looking at them except when I'm desperate and my regular 17 have zilch on.
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The big problem with FM is that it's fine as long as you stay in one place. Try driving around or taking a train and you're constantly retuning. RDS isn't that good because it only kicks in when the signal is weak and then one gets constant squelching and hiss until it locks onto a better signal. Sometimes it simply tunes the radio into a totally different station. However, RDS could work better if radios had two FM receivers with one constantly searching for the strongest signal. Therefore, apart from the problem of an insufficient number of transmitters and those that exist not having a strong enough signal, DAB does work much better than FM for long-distance (surface) travel.
With regard to Pure, I think that the problem may be with the brand and not the technology. I've had no problems with Roberts, Panasonic or an Argos own-brand Hi-Fi separates DAB unit. My experience of Pure has been limited to an in-car FM to DAB adaptor unit that still works fine but the rubber sucker attachment breaks repeatedly and needs to be replaced, which they've done at no charge.
Recently I went by coach for a day trip to Cardiff. Some of the time I listened to Absolute Radio via their mobile phone app. I was quite surprised by just how good Internet radio was in a vehicle and how little of my monthly data allowance was used. I used far more data watching a short video on YouTube (Meow Mix by Cyriak). How long before there are Internet radios installed in cars with their own dedicated SIMs?
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MikeP, in contrast, I live in an urban area and travel to and from urban and suburban areas. In the places I visit regularly I have few problems with DAB. There's a null point near Membury Services on the M4 and the area between Warminster and Shrewton is poorly served. Also, reception along the Sussex coast is zilch. But in Bristol, Bath, Surrey, London and all along the M3 and M25 there are no problems. If these areas with poor service could be served, DAB would be fine for me.
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"Lets have an end to this feeding aspirins to the corpse of digital radio"
OK, when you can find FM space for stations like Planet Rock and Absolute 80s. Until then, you're welcome not to listen to DAB (or any other digital format) but I will, along with many others. The fact is that I am not served by any of the analogue stations, except for one local station here in Bristol. I like DAB for its ease of use in the car and the fact that it has brought some variety to the UK's otherwise very dowdy selection of radio stations. Only Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live seem to have anything worthwhile on analogue and I rarely listen to them because the programmes I like are usually at inconvenient times. Perhaps I should look at iPlayer.
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I'm sure there's a reason why this has not been considered but wouldn't it create far fewer problems at the next switchover if channels 31-41 were handed over for 5G services, rather than 49-60? Just because the Americans have chosen to use the 700MHz band doesn't mean that Europe has to do so as well. If this idea is possible, wouldn't it mean that almost no one would need to buy a new TV aerial?
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C
Read this: Channel 4 to launch two new HD channels Digital TV EWednesday 2 July 2014 6:58PM
Bristol
It now appears that there are 6 full-time HD streams and one SD stream in use on MUX 7. How is this possible? I thought that the 5 HD streams on PSB3 were a tight fit. Or has MUX 8 started?
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C
Read this: Channel 4 to launch two new HD channels Digital TV EWednesday 2 July 2014 10:29PM
Bristol
KMJ,Derby: Are you able to explain in greater detail? I'm really rather interested in the way encoding can be improved. However, my knowledge is very limited, so I might not understand technicalities without them being explained.
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I finally got around to fitting a new aerial. I fitted in the loft because reaching the roof in this house was too difficult. First I bought a cheap aerial but it wouldn't pick up PSB3, though it got all the other MUXes, including the local one. Then I bought a second cheap aerial, one of the ones with three rods (don't know what they're correctly called). It worked but but reception of PSB2 was dodgy unless I used an amplifier. I then improvised. The loft mounting rod I bought was too short, so I bought a wooden broom handle that fitted in the bracket. I mounted the aerial higher up and pointed the nose more noticeably upwards and the problems with PSB2 were solved. The reception quality went from about 55% to 100%. Oddly, the MUX with Pick on it stayed with a signal quality of about 78% but that seems good enough for error-free reception. The local MUX only has a signal strength of 28% but gives a quality level of 100%.
To make sure that the aerial was facing the right direction, I used the compass app on my phone.
The aerial that works is made by Labgear and I have found their products very good in the past. The aerial that wouldn't pick up PSB3 I'll use for my bedroom TV that doesn't have HD reception capabilities.
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Jon, it's quite easy to fit a new aerial if you're able to reach the old one. A decent wideband aerial can be bought for £20 - I got one at Maplin - and if you have a compass or a compass app on a phone, you can align it easily.
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Wednesday 23 April 2014 9:55AM
Bristol
I don't know about now but in the 1970s and '80s there were a few long wave transmitters in the US. WCBS New York simulcast its 880kHz news station on 200kHz and there were, I believe 11 other transmitters across the US broadcasting on long wave. Most Americans were unaware of this and one radio shop owner I spoke to denied that long wave transistor radios were even possible until I showed him a British one. I had found the CBS station on my radio, so that's how I know it existed. I subsequently did some research and found that these stations were popular with long-distance truckers, who often travelled out of range of regular AM/FM transmitters. A few years ago I read that the FCC proposed shutting down these stations but the long-distance truckers put in an objection and won. However, with the advent of satellite radio, I wonder if they're still there.
With regard to the main subject of this thread, I'd like to see the 30% of the 2nd national multiplex used for DAB+ to transmit stations in the highest possible quality. I would like to see Planet Rock, Absolute 80s and a classical music station, perhaps a Classic FM 2 - aimed at a more highbrow audience than Classic FM, if 30% will take three stations at highest quality. I choose this combination because I think that it's a combination that would spur sales of receivers. I think that Planet Rock has a very significant niche following, Absolute 80s is very popular and a Classic FM 2 station would appeal to a very small but important group who are currently poorly served by the commercial sector and could be profitable if run as a second station.