Why are such a large section of the population against a FM signal switch off?

[MrReaper182]

I listen to a lot of radio and in the past 10 + years non of my radio listening has been using a FM signal. Now a huge percentage of the population are against the switch off of the FM signal, why? DAB (we should have DAB + by now, we laging behined Europe) and internet radio offers more stations paying a wider selection of music and most of those staitions (take Classic FM for example) are in much better sound quailty. I know that some areas in the UK get a bad DAB reseption but if the Uk had a shut down date then the gov could work towards getting those areas ready for the DAB switch and maybe even seting up DAB+.

 

[emcc_3]

If there like me it is because I would have no radio in the car anymore.

 

[andyjm]

I listen to a lot of radio and in the past 10 + years non of my radio listening has been using a FM signal. Now a huge percentage of the population are against the switch off of the FM signal, why?

Car radios.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

If I was to have a radio on my new amp, I would want DAB for classic rock.

 

[MrReaper182]

Also most new cars come with DAB radio fitted. The gov could sort out the bad reception problems that come with DAB if they had a shut down date to work towards.

 

[MrReaper182]

If there like me it is because I would have no radio in the car anymore.

I download radio programs and podcasts to my smatphone then hook that up to my cars audio system and listen to the radio that way.

 

[chebby]

The gov could sort out the bad reception problems that come with DAB if they had a shut down date to work towards.

Yes because that's a really high priority for the Government right now.

I refer you to my thoughts on the subject in the other thread ...

http://www.whathifi.com/comment/1022807#comment-1022807

 

[Gray]

I've heard some say they've got 9 FM radios to replace.

Or maybe someone bought them a portable DAB radio as a present and it worked upstairs but not downstairs in the house (or was that just me?)

My Quad FM4 tuner would also be pretty useless (although, to be fair, they're talking about leaving some local radio on FM - so it'll be worse than useless)

Maybe NEW cars have DAB, but I've never had a NEW car - and DAB would certainly not be an attraction.

I'm not the least bit surprised that some people prefer FM not to be switched off.

Next question.

 

[bubobubo]

we should have DAB + by now

i read some where long time ago that fm is in fact better than DAB in some kind of way dab just like music over 48khz is a new thing to get money from people *diablo*

 

[chebby]

... we should have DAB + by now, we laging behined Europe ...

You might have noticed - since June last year - that the majority of people don't care that ... "we laging behined Europe" anymore.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Personally speaking

i only listen to 2 radio stations .... radio 2 , BBC radio Cambridgeshire I can't see the problem in keeping Fm going it's reliable .

i have dab radio in the car ... it came with it not by choice but it does have issues sometimes with being a little out of sync not like Fm .

 

[Al ears]

Because in most areas DAB is cr*p not to mention car radios. The only answer may be DAB+ which most of our European cousins seem to be rolling out. DAB itself was poorly thought out and could never have the coverage or indeed quality of a decent FM set-up.

 

[nick8858]

Agree with Al Ears. DAB is out and out rubbish quality. You cannot beath FM for sound quality it wins hands down. DAB is rubbish.

 

[plastic penguin]

The whole 'Switch off' thing is crass. It has been years since we first heard that FM would be defunct, yet there's still no sign of the big SO.

Personally I still use the FM tuner and love the SQ.

 

[Gray]

I think the OP should be in a better position to answer his original question.

DAB? The words horse, flogging and dead spring to mind. Bung it in the skip with 3D.

 

[shadders]

I think the OP should be in a better position to answer his original question.

DAB? The words horse, flogging and dead spring to mind. Bung it in the skip with 3D.

Hi,

You edited that response very quickly. We all need to have a moan.

Regards,

Shadders.

 

[MajorFubar]

Internet-basd digital radio is the future, but I never had a longing for DAB. With a good aerial and a strong signal my Cyrus mkII tuner comfortably wastes any DAB tuner I've ever heard. I have moved on a bit and have the means to transmit internet radio to my speakers, but prior to that I would have been very against turning off FM because I didn't have anything to equal it.

Even with internet radio, there is a huge variance in quality between the worst streams at 64K mp3/AAC and the best ones at 256+. And I pity spoken word enthusiasts because their stations always seem to get lumbered with a worse-than-AM bitrate.

 

[Gray]

You read it too soon Shadders. (I thought it was just me and the odd bat around after midnight)

Thought we may have been all moaned out, but you're right we can never have too much on here.

 

[iMark]

When I'm travelling by public transport I like to listen to FM radio. My little iPod Nano has an FM tuner and works quite well. There is no way that you could fit DAB/DAB+ into a small device like that. DAB/DAB+ is incredibly power hungyr and the battery in the iPod Nano (or any other small portable device) would not be big enough.

The best thing about FM is that broadcasters can't skimp on the bitrate.

 

[shadders]

You read it too soon Shadders. (I thought it was just me and the odd bat around after midnight)

Thought we may have been all moaned out, but you're right we can never have too much on here.

Hi,

No - i enjoy a good moan now and again. It is healthy, in moderation, like alcohol.

DAB will soon be 30 years old - based on MP2, and Dab+ is slighlty better - but lower bit rates.

What we really want is Software Defined Radio - so we can upgrade the codecs to take advantage of the new research - no need to buy an new product.

Regards,

Shadders.

 

[MajorFubar]

What we really want is Software Defined Radio - so we can upgrade the codecs to take advantage of the new research - no need to buy an new product.

That's not the way modern businesses work. So it will either never happen or they'll still find a way of making you buy new gear, like how we have to keep periodically replacing our computers and mobile devices because the latest OS's purposefully won't run on old hardware.

My old (read 2010) Panasonic TV I recently sold would not play MP4 videos, but it would play DIVX and some other codecs (so the hardware was capable). Despite the fact its OS was patched via download several times early in its life to fix bugs and deploy minor improvements, they never sent a patch to allow it to play MP4s. Why? Because Panasonic would rather I went out and bought another TV. No other reason. It's the way modern marketing works.

Oh and over a period of 5 years most of its smart features like YouTube and iPlayer were systematically removed, so what it became eventually was just a regular dumb TV.

 

[shadders]

What we really want is Software Defined Radio - so we can upgrade the codecs to take advantage of the new research - no need to buy an new product.

That's not the way modern businesses work. So it will either never happen or they'll still find a way of making you buy new gear, like how we have to keep periodically replacing our computers and mobile devices because the latest OS's purposefully won't run on old hardware.

My old (read 2010) Panasonic TV I recently sold would not play MP4 videos, but it would play DIVX and some other codecs (so the hardware was capable). Despite the fact its OS was patched via download several times early in its life to fix bugs and deploy minor improvements, they never sent a patch to allow it to play MP4s. Why? Because Panasonic would rather I went out and bought another TV. No other reason. It's the way modern marketing works.

Oh and over a period of 5 years most of its smart features like YouTube and iPlayer were systematically removed, so what it became eventually was just a regular dumb TV.

Hi,

Yes, vendors do like to extract as much money from you as possible. I never buy a TV with all the latest add on features. You do read so many stories of people relying on embedded features, only for those features to actually stop working, or removed remotely, as you have discovered.

As with hifi, I always want a product to perform its main function only, and not rely on extras. It may mean more boxes, but then, if it goes wrong, the larger product that may have included the feature, does not then become obsolete.

Regards,

Shadders.

 

[MrReaper182]

Fm radio is not perfectly fine as some say. When I lived with my parents in the 90's I could never receive a good reception of Classic FM. When I moved to a new city so I could live on my own in the early 2000's I could still not get a good reception of classic FM in my apartment. FM needs to go away and be replaced with something better.

 

[MrReaper182]

You read it too soon Shadders. (I thought it was just me and the odd bat around after midnight)

Thought we may have been all moaned out, but you're right we can never have too much on here.

Hi,

No - i enjoy a good moan now and again. It is healthy, in moderation, like alcohol.

DAB will soon be 30 years old - based on MP2, and Dab+ is slighlty better - but lower bit rates.

What we really want is Software Defined Radio - so we can upgrade the codecs to take advantage of the new research - no need to buy an new product.

Regards,

Shadders.

I guessing your British and moaning is what the British do best so moan away.

 

[MajorFubar]

Fm radio is not perfectly fine as some say. When I lived with my parents in the 90's I could never receive a good reception of Classic FM. When I moved to a new city so I could live on my own in the early 2000's I could still not get a good reception of classic FM in my apartment. FM needs to go away and be replaced with something better.

Do you have a roof aerial? What tuner were/are you using?