The Humble Kitchen Radio

[Beef Oven!]

What was/is your 'Kitchen Radio'?

Happily, my family always had a 'Kitchen Radio', a true British custom. I can't remember what the first one was, but by 1970, it was a beige coloured Bush radio.

When I left home in the late 1970s, I had a Roberts, which was replaced in 2004 by a Sony. It was expensive at £53 and it had very little by way of features and tuning through the stations is snail-paced.

However, it is extremely robust. I twice dropped it, completely submerged into my hot bath. It died twice and came back to life twice (after 24 hours to dry out). I am listening to Radio 4 on it, as I type. It has great sound, clear with enough volume.

But I fancy a change.

I've seen a Sony Dab that has caught my attention. If it comes back in stock at £35, I'll buy it. I don't want to pay more than £35.

I have a question. When tuning in on Dab, do you have to extend the aerial, or is that just for FM?


A picture of my current radio............

[Don Petter]

I have a question. When tuning in on Dab, do you have to extend the aerial, or is that just for FM?

You do have to extend the aerial, and then move the radio round the kitchen, in one inch increments, until you get a reliable signal.

Actually, I find a spare DAB car windscreen aerial hung up on the picture rail works well. (Does your humble kitchen have the necessary rail?)

[Nick Armstrong]

A Dynatron "Rally" MW/LW radio is the only one I recall in the family home in which I grew up, from the 60s (it was released in '66) right through to visits home in the '90s...

[Beef Oven!]

You do have to extend the aerial, and then move the radio round the kitchen, in one inch increments, until you get a reliable signal.

Actually, I find a spare DAB car windscreen aerial hung up on the picture rail works well. (Does your humble kitchen have the necessary rail?)

Drat, I was hoping that aerials and shifting/pointing the radio would be banished. :sad face:

As I use the radio in the bathroom, kitchen bedroom and generally move around the house with it, I'd like to avoid hanging Dab car radio aerials all over the place!

[Nick Armstrong]

Drat, I was hoping that aerials and shifting/pointing the radio would be banished. :sad face:

Yes I was disappointed too. The aerial definitely affects the strength of signal received.

Here, the DAB signal in the kitchen is pitiful with or without, so radio comes from the old iMac which is in the corner picking up WiFi, meaning the half-dozen favourite foreign internet stations are options when BBC radio offers nothing tolerable

[Don Petter]

It does obviously depend on the signal strength in your area. Perhaps you could see what results neighbours are getting, before deciding?

[Nick Armstrong]

It does obviously depend on the signal strength in your area. Perhaps you could see what results neighbours are getting, before deciding?

I just tested it on the bedroom DAB radio (Pure Evoke-3) - with the aerial extended there is a very stable full signal, all 5 (6?) bars showing. Retracting the aerial that drops to 3 bars - but the sound is still fine.

I agree that testing the strength of signal in the house is a good idea, I suggest by borrowing a DAB radio to use in situ, because it does depend on the architecture of the house, and in what rooms you would want to listen, how strong the signal will be - here: full strength in the bedroom, virtually nothing in the kitchen

[Beef Oven!]

A Dynatron "Rally" MW/LW radio is the only one I recall in the family home in which I grew up, from the 60s (it was released in '66) right through to visits home in the '90s...

Wonderful, Caliban

[Don Petter]

Yes I was disappointed too. The aerial definitely affect the strength of signal received.

Here, the DAB signal in the kitchen is pitiful with or without so radio comes from the old iMac which is in the corner picking up WiFi, meaning the half-dozen favourite foreign internet stations are options when BBC radio offers nothing tolerable

Since the only thing worth having DAB for is R4extra (and R5/R5X if you're a sports fan), we find it easier to listen to these via Freeview on one of the TVs, or via the net on PC, laptop or tablet, depending where we are in the house.

[Beef Oven!]

It does obviously depend on the signal strength in your area. Perhaps you could see what results neighbours are getting, before deciding?

I have adopted a policy of not discussing purchases of music replay equipment with my neighbours, it stresses them too much.

[Beef Oven!]

Since the only thing worth having DAB for is R4extra (and R5/R5X if you're a sports fan), we find it easier to listen to these via Freeview on one of the TVs, or via the net on PC, laptop or tablet, depending where we are in the house.

I can get radio through my iPhone, iPad, Hi-fi, MacBook, Airport etc etc, BUT I can't break the habit of a life-time of carting a portable kitchen-type radio about the house!!!!

[Don Petter]

A Dynatron "Rally" MW/LW radio is the only one I recall in the family home in which I grew up, from the 60s (it was released in '66) right through to visits home in the '90s...

Perhaps it was a 'sounds importantly technical' radio naming convention in the fifties, but that has reminded me that we once had a Dynaport 'Portadyne' model.

(Or was it a Portadyne 'Dynaport' model, the memories intertwine ...)

[Don Petter]

I can get radio through my iPhone, iPad, Hi-fi, MacBook, Airport etc etc, BUT I can't break the habit of a life-time of carting a portable kitchen-type radio about the house!!!!

Well, that makes things easier. You could have an old non-working radio to satisfy that habit. Even throw away the works to make it lighter?

[Beef Oven!]

Well, that makes things easier. You could have an old non-working radio to satisfy that habit. Even throw away the works to make it lighter?

Not quite as helpful as Caliban's suggestion to borrow a Dab player and test it out in one's home prior to purchase, but I'll consider it all the same.

[cloughie]

Not quite as helpful as Caliban's suggestion to borrow a Dab player and test it out in one's home prior to purchase, but I'll consider it all the same.

How important is portability - do you have a little shelf space? - I have a small Yamaha system which has DAB and FM, CD player, USB and iPod inputs - versatile compact and decent sound. If that's too big and you need to move it around then your Sony example looks good.