DAB............what is the point?

[fayeanddavid]

So, I have a shiney new Cambridge One receiver/cd player/iPod thingy with FM and DAB.

Poistioned into space allocated then couldn't extend rigid aerial to get any DAB reception at all although FM was good.

Went to Maplins, bought necessary cabling, F connectors etc and postioned aerial outside of the cabinet, fully extended with 2 metres of coax on it, and fully scanned for available DAB stations, which told me there were 43 stations

Result is;

Can't get BBC premium DAB service on Radio 5 Sports Extra (so what is the point of national DAB?), can get Radio's 1,2,3 and 4 (which I can on FM)

can get Absolute Rock, can't get Absolute 80s

Then got bored of checking each station for availability as apart from Classic FM all the above would cover my requirements if available

So..............what is the point of DAB apart from the technology that drives it, when still not receiving premium national DAB from the BBC?

Very poor.

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

I had the same issue but got myself a flylead coaxial one end/ F connector at t'other and tapped into the TV aerial from a booster splitter and that boosted the signal strength up to 180-215 .Although its not a proper DAB aerial ,it is in a much better position to receive.-

 

[fayeanddavid]

Ravey Gravey Davy:I had the same issue but got myself a flylead coaxial one end/ F connector at t'other and tapped into the TV aerial from a booster splitter and that boosted the signal strength up to 180-215 .Although its not a proper DAB aerial ,it is in a much better position to receive.-

All a bit of a pain in the butt.........................and they want to cease FM transmission, but you can't be sure of DAB reception (undoubtedly very poor transmission rates on some stations) unless you go the whole 9 yards with aerial installations, hassle and cost.

Am I being cynical or have I missed something

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

In this particular instance ,although a bit of extra cost for cable ,I was redoing the room,creating a small network hub and relocating my router so it wasn't much of a pain but could have been if I wasn't going through that exercise.

The only other Dab in the house is a small Intempo jobbie in the kitchen and that suffers from the same problems as you describe.Mind you, it didn't help that the kitten chewed all but the last 3cm of the single wire aerial off.

No you are not cynical- just do a search and you will find other threads bemoaning DAB- and one promoting a petition to delay FM switch off (I think that was the petition- Chebby could confirm)

 

[Frank Harvey]

Personally, I don't know why they don't just give it up and change over to internet radio.

 

[hammill]

FrankHarveyHiFi:

Personally, I don't know why they don't just give it up and change over to internet radio.

And how does that help me listen to BBC7 or 5 Live sports extra in the car or back garden?

 

[fayeanddavid]

I'll get over it I'm sure, just seems to me unless you're outside with a 10ft mast you're not likely to pick up much in terms of available stations

And the last thing I want is to incur the wrath of you know who by trailing more cables from room to room, or drilling through walls and the like, plus patching and painting!

Grief, it sounds worse as I go along,...................bring back the Light Service on Long wave

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

hammill:FrankHarveyHiFi:

Personally, I don't know why they don't just give it up and change over to internet radio.

And how does that help me listen to BBC7 or 5 Live sports extra in the car or back garden?

Watching the BBC currently rethinking its "minority" listening outlets,it might not make any difference either way.

 

[Anonymous]

really hope the government don't turn FM off and swap over to DAB. It would be a travesty if they ever did.

 

[richardw42]

Prob not v.likely, would render millions of car radios useless.

Mind you that's assuming they've thought of that.

 

[Andy Clough]

At the moment, the analogue radio switchoff is scheduled for 2015, but given that we may be about to have a change of Government, who knows when/if it might happen.

 

[The_Lhc]

richardw42:Prob not v.likely, would render millions of car radios useless.
Mind you that's assuming they've thought of that.

Yes they're assuming all new cars will include DAB radios by then and everyone else will either replace their existing car radio or buy a DAB adapter.

From a car point of view it would probably make more sense to go for satellite radio but I can't see that up and running by 2015, even with the availability of Sirius hardware form the States (knowing the UK we'd probably go for a completely different system, just to be bloody awkward).

 

[Anonymous]

With arrival of 4G and past 10 years experimenting with 3G data transmissions, don't be surprised to see 4G reaching out for a whole new market where its not limited to cell phones and computers but also other periphals that can benefit from wireless internet connectivity.

DAB, DAB+ and the many other alternatives being experimented with are mostly all transitional technologies trying to satisfy two fronts at the same time, which, as DAB has proven, just isn't possible. Bad reception, low A/D conversion rates (sub 96 kb/s) and modern digital sound compression are just few of many arguments out there.

Internet radio through 4G technology will very likely surpass many of the transitional technologies offering variable sound quality based on coverage, on-demand streaming etc. etc.

Having opposed DAB/DAB+, I don't mind it at all, and frankly, I really hope there will be a solid DAB transitional technology as we're still ways off solid 3G/4G based internet radio alternatives.

Cheers

 

[dfa2124]

Something I've wondered about is whether the current crop of internet radio sets would work with 4G wireless data via mobile phone masts. Or do they just work with a wireless router?

If they will work with 4G then I can see internet radio becoming THE digital platform in the next 10 years.