DAB Radio

[Pickled Onion]

rather than just mute any squelch.

IANA Ham (and you are!) but I thought squelch was a filter that muted noise on analogue radio, rather than the noise itself?

[clarion]

Agreed, apart from not all DAB stations are available on FM (R6M and Planet Rock to name but 2). Having said that the more recent Ford DABs are better, even, than those from a couple of years ago. No shark fin and I doubt they have developed a dual aerial, so I have no idea where the DAB aerial is on my car, but I do know it just works!

Wrong!  Planet Rock is broadcast on 105.9FM.  The only downside is that, to hear it, you have to be in the West Midlands :/

[tiermat]

Agreed, apart from not all DAB stations are available on FM (R6M and Planet Rock to name but 2). Having said that the more recent Ford DABs are better, even, than those from a couple of years ago. No shark fin and I doubt they have developed a dual aerial, so I have no idea where the DAB aerial is on my car, but I do know it just works!

Wrong!  Planet Rock is broadcast on 105.9FM.  The only downside is that, to hear it, you have to be in the West Midlands :/

OK, so I should have qualified it with "nationwide"

[Ham]

rather than just mute any squelch.

IANA Ham (and you are!) but I thought squelch was a filter that muted noise on analogue radio, rather than the noise itself?

Yes, I agree. It's also the noise made by pedants when being hit with a SHUVEL 

[Vince]

We have a Roberts radio that does DAB, but we've never used it, because it also does wifi (pronounced weeffee in Holland) and gives great 'reception' on all channels, including, if you really wanted, the strange Christian rock channels in the American south.

[Wombat]

Those Christian rock channels are a bit odd, aren't they? 

Not quite as odd as the "conservative talk" radio stations as categorised by my Sonos thingy.

"Conservative?" I think you mean Nazi....

[pcolbeck]

Try searching for any guitar stuff on the Internet and you find all sorts of sites and YouTube videos giving advice for the perfect guitar or pedals for Christian Rock like apart from the lyrics it was any different to any other kind of rock. Never really understood that.

[Mr Larrington]

The first time I went to USAnia there were only four stations available on the car radio once east of Reno. One wall-to-wall thrash metal, one Spanish-language talk and two identical (even down to the adverts) Christian.

Metallica it is, then.

[valkyrie]

As I'm currently stuck in bed with the lurgy I've had plenty time to mess about with my new Ruark R2i. It was fairly (OK very) expensive for a radio but it packs a lot in. Decent stereo sound quality, FM, DAB and Internet radio, Spotify, DLNA streaming and Bluetooth.

FM is probably the best radio sound quality but only on some channels. If I have the aerial positioned so that I get good DAB reception then I can't get my favourites on FM. I need DAB for Radio6 so that's what I end up using for most stations. Internet radio is pretty much the same quality as DAB, I get both at a lowly 128kbps.

Streaming Flac files from my NAS gives the best sound quality. The Bluetooth isn't great.

[pcolbeck]

I keep hearing about reception problems with DAB. The only DAB radio I have is the one in my car and for the most part it has fantastic DAB reception, I can drive from York to Southampton and it never drops the DAB signal once. It does loose Kerrang (which Pcolbeck junior likes) in the bottom of the Derwent Valley at Kirkham but that’s the bottom of a very narrow deep valley.
I wonder why reception is so good ? The car is only a year old so maybe the latest generation of receivers manage to lock on to the signal better than some of the older ones ?
The car amp and speakers aren’t that brilliant so DAB sounds just about as good as FM. At home on the HiFi its easy to tell the difference between 128Kbs MP3 and CD or FM quality though.

[GruB]

I love my DAB in the office ( at home ).  I researched via WHICH and purchased the John Lewis model they recommended as having the best sound quality. 

The only problem with my DAB is that I have it on Planet Rock - I love it - but Mrs G doesn't.   

[Wombat]

Well I don't love my new birthday present Pure DAB alarm clock radio, 'cos its crap....  What use is an alarm radio, if most of the time its going to just scroll "unavailable" across the screen instead of actually playing a radio station.  Pure, get yer effing act in gear.  DAB seems all hype and no actual performance.

John Lewis, prepare to take my radio back, and none of those arguments like you gave me when I wanted to return my Philips telly.  No, its not a faulty example that I want replaced with a non-faulty one, its a crap product, and I don't want another one.  Yes, I will quote the Sale of goods Act 1948 if I have to...

[Biggsy]

Another receiver/meter is needed to check DAB reception where you are before blaming Pure.  It varies by area from piss weak to so strong that you don't even need to extend the aerial.

I even removed the fixed antenna from my Pure Oasis for neat's sake.

[citoyen]

My wife's birthday present was a Ruark R1. She is very happy with it.

[mcshroom]

I've found the same out here in rural Cumbria. I have DAB radios in the house, my car and even a pocket one which all get decent coverage, often without extending the aerial. For FM radio stations there's not a lot of difference, but for AM/LW stations it is much clearer.

Now if only they could make the radios without blue glowing displays

[Biggsy]

Now if only they could make the radios without blue glowing displays

The bane of the boudoir indeed.

[hellymedic]

We have 2 DAB radios.
I am unimpressed with them overall.
My cheap 'obsolete' VHF & MW/LW radios do not play out of synch with each other, do not take half a minute to switch on if left off standby and aren't incurably sticky.

[Kim]

Now if only they could make the radios without blue glowing displays

The bane of the boudoir indeed.

The bane of anywhere, TBH.  LED blue is a terrible colour for user interfaces^[1], the eye can't focus on it properly, and after the year 2000 or so when the novelty factor of LEDs coming in blue as well has worn off, it looks shit.  Something on the orange-green spectrum would be much more appropriate.  IMHO retro red 7-segment displays are the way to go for the bedroom.

I reckon e-ink would make a nice display for something like a Pure radio.


_{[1] Other than those that indicate that something is, or is about to be, on fire.}

[Biggsy]

Even backlit LCDs can be easy on the eye when done well.  The one on the Heston Bloominhell kitchen scales I just got is amazing and looks like some new technology.

[TimC]

The DAB radio in my car is great - until I get to the tech sinkhole that is East Angular*, where anything more advanced than string'n'tin is just a rumour. But within 50 miles or so of That London, the range and quality of radio stations is terrific. Ok, so I choose to listen to Planet Rock. So sue me.

*Where my humble abode is stituationated.

[pcolbeck]

The bane of anywhere, TBH.  LED blue is a terrible colour for user interfaces^[1], the eye can't focus on it properly, and after the year 2000 or so when the novelty factor of LEDs coming in blue as well has worn off, it looks shit.  Something on the orange-green spectrum would be much more appropriate.  IMHO retro red 7-segment displays are the way to go for the bedroom.

I reckon e-ink would make a nice display for something like a Pure radio.

_{[1] Other than those that indicate that something is, or is about to be, on fire.}

I agree. The one true use of ulta bright blue LEDs is Cisco's implementation for their datacentre switches. Each PSU or other removable module has a blue LED that you can turn on with a remote command. When you need to replace or upgrade something you light the LED and then when you are walking down the isles and isles anonymous racks of kit the thing you need to pull is lit up like a beacon. Genius.

[rafletcher]

Ok, so I choose to listen to Planet Rock.

Still? We lost that at the end of last month, even in the car. In Bucks.

[TimC]

Ok, so I choose to listen to Planet Rock.

Still? We lost that at the end of last month, even in the car. In Bucks.

Yeah, us too. But I can get it ok once London-side of Halstead on the way to/from work, so I can get 1:30 of it each way. Use my own music for the rest of the journey, or 5Live.

[Kim]

I agree. The one true use of ulta bright blue LEDs is Cisco's implementation for their datacentre switches. Each PSU or other removable module has a blue LED that you can turn on with a remote command. When you need to replace or upgrade something you light the LED and then when you are walking down the isles and isles anonymous racks of kit the thing you need to pull is lit up like a beacon. Genius.

Unifi access points do something similar for ease of identification.  My bugbear with that is that they have a lovely not-too-bright white LED in there to indicate that it's booting up and not yet provisioned, which turns to blue (or can be configured to off) when operating.  The other way round would be much nicer.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In a general rant, I do feel that the cost vs quality (of build) is completely out of whack. DAB radios are waaaay too expensive IMO. And the (mainly Chinese I believe) hardware is crap. Roberts and Pure are serial offenders.

I'd kind of expect Roberts to be the Holdsworth of radio.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FRHOCYC/holdsworth-cyclone-heritage-frameset