Has the BBC abandoned 192 kbps Discrete Stereo?

[NHTL]

ff He He! I have just picked up your message. nhtl

[jayne lee wilson]

This all happened with the 2006 Proms, remember the Radio 5 Live Sports Extra advert broadcast 24 hrs continuously for many weeks? And all those false claims about improved processing! Just terrible.
DAB only went back to 192 kbps 2 weeks after the 2006 proms, following a somewhat tardy recognition and apology on Feedback from... Jenny Abramsky.
Not that 192 was ever enough anyway. I gave up on R3 in 2006, fed up with Optimod and DAB, only returning when the iPlayer and then the HD320 kpbs stream got going. Personally, Bryn, I do seem to have better luck than you with the live stream. We don't have fibre optic cable here yet either, FWIW my avge. ADSL speed is ca. 7 Mbps.

As for intros, I was amazed at Stephane Deneuve's rambling affair before last week's Debussy/Roussel effort... I've never yet heard a "conductor's little talk" that was ever anything but twee and condescending. Really, why bother... almost as irritating as trailers.

Bryn, I am in full agreement with you. I live part of each year in France and I am aware of the high quality of their France Musique transmissions. Granted they are largely in FM, but it is high quality FM without Optimod processing. If the BBC is going to say that R3 at 160 kbps Joint Stereo is, with their new processors, as good as FM or 192 Discrete Stereo, I despair at who is assessing the output and what equipment they are using to monitor their output.

Another point for me to make as “Disgruntled of Plymouth” is that in the past it was possible to speak to the Duty Officer and express your concerns, that option is no longer available to us.

I note that at 20:30 we are still at the lower bit rate – why? R4 always used to drop after approximately 5 pm.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, but don't forget his other passion is cricket ...

He does have some good points then?

[french frank]

I've had a message from someone living in Shoreham, Sussex:

'I came upon your web site in my search for a site where I can complain about the electro-magnetic interference on R3 which started a month or so ago. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.'

Anyone have any comments on that?

[OldTechie]

'I came upon your web site in my search for a site where I can complain about the electro-magnetic interference on R3 which started a month or so ago. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.'

Anyone have any comments on that?

There is a reception query system here:

https://faq.external.bbc.co.uk/templates/bbcfaqs/emailstatic/interferencePage

It takes you through a chain of questions - which will probably not solve the problem, but I think it then offers a reporting mechanism. With enough determination (and suitably worded complaints) you can get them to take action, but it helps if you can clearly state that you have used their procedures before you try something more formal.

I managed to get them to send Arquiva to the local relay transmitter to try to remove the hum they transmit on radio 3 FM (but not on radio 4). Despite multiple visits (one of involved 3 people for a week) they failed - but they did try. So I have multiple faulty methods of getting radio 3. Maybe I'll start a detailed reception whinge thread! I have a thought of building a box to fix it - but it's complicated. (In essence, I would digitise the FM feed, and then use the DTV feed to work out what the Optimod had done to the levels and undo it. I should be able to null out the hum by locking a synthesised waveform to the local mains - it is introduced by a fault only 10 mins walk from my house.) Currently the internet feeds are the best quality I can get but they all have the occasional glitch.

[french frank]

Many thanks, OT - I'll pass that on!