FM switchover.....Coalition steamroller?

[Guest]

Please take a look at this page from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport website. Vaizey seems intent on stuffing DAB down our throats despite many of the logical and sensible reasons not to go down that route.

There is a link on the page to a report and a request for comment. Please if you have the time read it, comment and write to your MP if you think this is a daft idea.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/media_releases/9176.aspx

Please drum up as much support as you can.

[teamsaint]

Well I am with you on this one RM

Moves towards digitising everything.....very bad.

Buyer beware !Too much control in too few hands, for one thing....and that is just the start of it.

[Ferretfancy]

At my partner's house in the Lake District recently, we were visited by a pollster with one of those "It'll only take a few minutes of your time" surveys which actually take an hour to complete.
It was all about listening habits, but every question was phrased along the lines of Sam Goldwyn's, "Tell me, how did you love my movie ? " There was no opportunity at any stage to express a preference for FM, everything referred to digital listening habits. Although we pointed out that we only use the property for a limited time each year, and are often not home, he insisted on giving us a massive form to fill in which seems entirely designed to justify a decision which is already made.

No hope, I'm afraid.

[An_Inspector_Calls]

Great: bring it on. FM was always crap.

Sits back and waits for the next 30 pages of tripe concerning the utter wonders of FM: variously, as the bard would say

How am I going to listen to radio 3 in the lavatory . . .
We have 20 radios in our house and they'll all need converting . . .
I've tried DAB and the tone's dreadful . . .
I can't receive DAB at the bottom of my well, but I could get FM . . .

[teamsaint]

Great: bring it on. FM always was crap.

surely you meant to say something like

"digital is frequently crap, FM is usually very good, tried and tested and most of the public are happy with it, so lets leave it alone".

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There are those who have their own personal vested interests in abolishing FM. I suspect many of DAB's few supporters fall into this category. Digital radio could (and should) be good. DAB is inadequate.

[teamsaint]

How am I going to listen to radio 3 in the lavatory . . .
We have 20 radios in our house and they'll all need converting . . .
I've tried DAB and the tone's dreadful . . .
I can't receive DAB at the bottom of my well, but I could get FM . . .

all solid reasons for keeping FM.

[Lateralthinking1]

Advice please on how I can get DAB with a dial.

[Bryn]

Advice please on how I can get DAB with a dial.

Don't know of any with a dial, but Roberts do several models with a rotary tuning selection knob. My first DAB tuner, a Sony ST-D777ES, also has such a feature.

[jayne lee wilson]

Radio 3 FM - excellent basic sound quality, equivalent in digital terms to ca. 832 kbps, but usually ruined by dynamic range compression.

R3 DAB - good dynamic range ruined by low bitrates - 192/160 kbps - well below the recommendations of BBC's own 1990s r&d, which said 256/224 kbps were necessary for high quality stereo.

R3 'HDs' 320 kbps AAC - if you can get it, the only show in town!

[teamsaint]

Radio 3 FM - excellent basic sound quality, equivalent in digital terms to ca. 832 kbps, but ruined by dynamic range compression.

R3 DAB - good dynamic range ruined by low bitrates - 192/160 kbps - well below the recommendations of BBC's own 1990s r&d, which said 256/224 kbps were necessary for high quality stereo.



R3 'HDs' 320 kbps AAC - if you can get it, the only show in town!

just a guess, but even option 3 can't redeem " breakfast", can it?

[Resurrection Man]

I've read a bit of the report on the website and looked at the questions asked. The whole questionnaire skewed. Questions akin to being asked 'do you prefer green tea or white tea'....not do you prefer tea or coffee. I then dug into the original PwC report...based on data from 2004 and 2000! They did the original cost-benefit-analysis. The only benefit identified and quantified (although quite how they managed to do that is not clear) for consumers is that if DAB coverage improves then more people will be able to receive it Simply looked at the potential population coverage and multiplied it by a figure £. No question of actually asking those people if they wanted DAB.

Spitting feathers.

[Lateralthinking1]

Don't know of any with a dial, but Roberts do several models with a rotary tuning selection knob. My first DAB tuner, a Sony ST-D777ES, also has such a feature.

I thought as much. Nostalgia for Luxembourg, Budapest and Athlone.

Bryn - we have discussed one of my two radios before, a Tesco bought Technika as per the picture below. Am I right in thinking that its four preset channels as arranged in the factory can't be altered or added to? (in line with the sticker, R1, R5L, World Service and Absolute Radio). If so, it is even more frustrating than my other set where it seems there are only three presets but at least they can be put in manually and altered. - http://www.coolgizmotoys.com/images/...TPS8018841.jpg - Lat.

[Bryn]

I thought as much. Nostalgia for Luxembourg, Budapest and Athlone.

Bryn - we have discussed one of my two radios before, a Tesco bought Technika as per the picture below. Am I right in thinking that its four preset channels as arranged in the factory can't be altered or added to? (in line with the sticker, R1, R5L, World Service and Absolute Radio). If so, it is even more frustrating than my other set where it seems there are only three presets but at least they can be put in manually and altered. - http://www.coolgizmotoys.com/images/...TPS8018841.jpg - Lat.

I don't know that particular model, but I would be most surprised if you were not able to choose which digital 'station' you wished to assign to any given preset button. Did you get any sort of manual or quick start guide with the radio?

What are the various buttons labelled as? If there is a "scan" button (or something that might be interpreted as scan) try pressing that to seek out which stations are available, then, presuming there are last/next buttons, use then to select the station you want, then try holding down one of the preset buttons for a few seconds. In many cases that is how you assign the chosen station to any given preset button.

[Lateralthinking1]

I don't know that particular model, but I would be most surprised if you were not able to choose which digital 'station' you wished to assign to any given preset button. Did you get any sort of manual or quick start guide with the radio?

What are the various buttons labelled as? If there is a "scan" button (or something that might be interpreted as scan) try pressing that to seek out which stations are available, then, presuming there are last/next buttons, use then to select the station you want, then try holding down one of the preset buttons for a few seconds. In many cases that is how you assign the chosen station to any given preset button.

There must be a manual. I see a button called 'select'. I've tried many times but will give it another go.

Love this. Van the Man with Irish poet Paul Durcan in the days before the eight splitter amplifier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF9eu7vyOEQ&feature=fvwrel