FM Switchover- response deadline looming

[Nick_G]

Yes I had one today as well. It'll be interesting to see what responses are published. We'll have to wait & see what happens.

[Resurrection Man]

I also got one. Must be a mass emailing.

I also received a reply via my MP from Vaizey re-iterating the reasons why the DCMS would not give out an unredacted version of the PwC report. He also stated that the DCMS are not reliant on the PwC work for the current cost-benefit analysis. So does this mean that the PwC CBA did not give them the 'answer' that they were looking for? One can almost imagine them feverishly building a humongous Excel spreadsheet and, buried among the cells, reference to a 'hidden' sheet cell entitled 'Fudge Factor'. Anyway time to let that point pass.

What he did NOT provide was an answer to my simple question, namely...

Can he please tell me one benefit of the digital radio switchover for the many millions of listeners like me who are very happy listening to FM on their transistor radios, have no interest in ‘choice’ and are perfectly content with BBC Radios 2, 3 and 4.

So I shall write again.

[Resurrection Man]

Coming out of self-imposed purdah, I write with regret to say that the one dissenting lone voice among those involved in the decision making process regarding the possible DAB switchover would appear to have been sidelined. In researching this subject for an article, I got profoundly depressed on reading all the reports produced from as far back as the Interim Report from the DRWG (Digital Radio Working Group) since none of them questioned the flaws in this first report. Hyperbole and marketing BS ruled the roost. All singing off the same hymn sheet.

That is apart from the excellent and considered report produced by the CEG (Consumer Expert Group) http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/pub...switchover.pdf under the chair of Leen Petrié. In this report, many very valid and awkward questions and concerns were raised regarding the proposed DAB switchover. No hyperbole. No BS. Virtually none of the questions or recommendations contained in this report have been actioned because they would have raised too many barriers to the DAB switchover steamroller.

Leen is no longer the Chair but has been replaced by one Roger Darlington. He just sent me his document that he thought 'might be of interest'. It toes the party line. It perpetuates the many myths regarding DAB. It re-iterates the incorrect facts and half-truths. The one dissenting voice has thus been nobbled. Yes, Minister at its worst.

It has spurred me on to not pull any punches in the article.

[DracoM]

Go for it.

I live in a particularly difficult area, and the MP is aghast at what is being proposed as it will virtually disenfranchise 80% of his constituency at a stroke EVEN if they purchase new sets such is the appalling coverage.

And I gather the industry is STILL reluctant to get into it. This is not going to be where the real money is to be made at all, not once a wave of initial buying is over. TVs are changed frequently, as said above, and there are far bigger profits in it, but radios far, far less frequently, such that firms will be involved in serious technological re-tooling for a relatively small return. Apparently.

[Gordon]

Thanks for that RM. Get in touch with FF and get her to give you my email address would you? I'm very interested in your article.

[Gordon]

Go for it.

I live in a particularly difficult area, and the MP is aghast at what is being proposed as it will virtually disenfranchise 80% of his constituency at a stroke EVEN if they purchase new sets such is the appalling coverage.

Where is that area? 80% seems very low penetration given the field strength maps I've seen. I would guess that FM isn't very good either.

And I gather the industry is STILL reluctant to get into it. This is not going to be where the real money is to be made at all, not once a wave of initial buying is over. TVs are changed frequently, as said above, and there are far bigger profits in it, but radios far, far less frequently,

Some parts of the industry are keen and others not. There is no big money in radio, never was and there is little more to be had from DAB. But it depends who you are - a broadcaster has little to gain but radio manufacturers make a bit from DAB but not much given the competition and low margins. You have to sell a hell of a lot of radios to make any real money. Adding cost burdens [eg forcing a mandatory specification and test regime on them] to this market doesn't help - or so they argue.

.........

such that firms will be involved in serious technological re-tooling for a relatively small return. Apparently.

They did that tooling a long time ago when they first started making DAB radios and, anyway, much of that "tooling" is software. Chip sets have evolved as a natural part of the marketplace. Why would so many manufacturers make DAB sets [look on Curry's for example] if there was no market? Problem is that market isn't that large and is shared among too many. And then there is the car radio market.......

Someting like 13 million DAB sets have been sold since the service started. Given that there are about 25 million households in the UK the arithmetic tells its own story as do the RAJAR listening figures - only about 20% of listening is on DAB. Why so low after so much time? Answer: people are not taken by the blandishments of DAB and an intensified marketing push won't change that.

[teamsaint]

Where there is a change that is taking so much time , effort and money, and there is SO little apparent benefit to the people, I think we should be very sceptical as to the motives of those pushing the changes.
DRM issues have to be close to the centre of the push for change in my opinion.

With RM all the way on this one !

[Bryn]

Careful with that there arithmetic Gordon. I have, over the past decade or so, purchased a dozen or so DAB devices, including no fewer than three Psion Wavefinders in the early days.

[Resurrection Man]

Careful with that there arithmetic Gordon. I have, over the past decade or so, purchased a dozen or so DAB devices, including no fewer than three Psion Wavefinders in the early days.

Ahah...we can now add unreliability to the DAB debacle

Over the last couple of days I have gone way way back and dug very deep in the archives. As a result I reckon that I have a pretty good idea where the drive for DAB is coming from and what the levers are.

[VodkaDilc]

Isn't the car market a significant one? I have just bought a new car; DAB radio only available as an extra, so naturally I did not bother. How many years will it be before they are standard? And how many years before all the cars with FM radios have been replaced?

Just for the record, my radio listening is via FM bedroom radio, FM tuner in main hi-fi system, car FM radio and occasionally via Sky.

[Gordon]

Careful with that there arithmetic Gordon. I have, over the past decade or so, purchased a dozen or so DAB devices, including no fewer than three Psion Wavefinders in the early days.

Let's get one thing clear, I am a DAB sceptic for one reason only - the public don't really want it, the offering since day one and the marketing push that has been applied lately didn't and doesn't work. The flat-lined listening figures show that growth to meet government projections is not happening. Only a tiny minority of HiFi fans quibble about the "sound quality" [whatever that is and I doubt whether any two HiFi enthusiasts would agree on it anyway - eg DAB doesn't use valves so it can't be any good can it?], the vast majority of receivers sold are portables with mono 2" squawkers for speakers and class D audio amplifiers with enough distortion to drop a horse. Anyway, stereo with 6" between R and L stuck behind the bread bin while the bacon sizzles??!!?? When the average consumer judges sound quality in DAB the last thing they will quibble about is bit rate, it's more likely to be about signal strength and bubbling mud.

But the queries:

First I doubt whether the Psions or the like are counted and any listening using them may well count as "computer", not DAB. However government/proponents will add it all up to get what it wants. If the total of all platforms is counted why does DAB coverage have to equal FM? Anyone who can't get DAB at the fringes can use another platform can't they?!?

Second, I have 3 working DAB receivers, all portables [so sound quality is not the the issue] with whip antennae scattered over the house and they work fine [apart fom the fact that they all have different delays] because I have a good signal here; forget FM here on a portable, even in mono, nearest transmitter 40 miles away over the hills. Hence 6 element yagi on roof for HiFi. I had a fourth, the first to be bought years ago, but it has died.

I think that the 13 million is cumulative and so some must have died and/or been dumped as useless. Make an allowance for that factor, and the multiple receivers in some households, you have even fewer receivers per household on average. That's the arithmetic I was hinting at - people/households are not buying in to DAB. If you look at the various published stats on listening/sales they don't stack because they conflict.

I'm looking forward to reading RM's article.

How many years will it be before they are standard? And how many years before all the cars with FM radios have been replaced?

The car market is very significant. There is some European legislation. Some manufacturers would answer the first as within 2 years; but on which of their models? Top of the range easy, now; budget models - Hm! Who buys a car for its radio? Car makers will not make a UK only receiver package, it will be multi-standard for Europe.

Converting existing cars could take a very long time, especially if the owners don't wish to do it. The "after-market" is geared up for this conversion opportunity but I wonder whether it will materialise. On an old car it might not be worth the trouble. Technically, the conversion is not trivial - if it is to be done properly. For example, the antenna issues are significant.

Author closes door, heads for bunker and dons steel helmet. Puts on Edison cylinder of Caruso and sighs nostalgically. Those were the days, that was real singing that was.

[amateur51]

Lovely reasoned response with a smashing pay-off, Gordon - many thanks

I too am looking forward to reading RM's article.

Me? I'm a technopeasant but I feel I'm part of a lucky tribe here having so many informed sources on this particularly knotty problem

[Dave2002]

Lovely reasoned response with a smashing pay-off, Gordon - many thanks

I too am looking forward to reading RM's article.

Me? I'm a technopeasant but I feel I'm part of a lucky tribe here having so many informed sources on this particularly knotty problem

I just happen to be reading about so called Technology Acceptance models - for example, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technol...ceptance_model It seems to me that DAB doesn't really do it for most people, because its Perceived Usefulness is no/not significantly better than FM. I suspect that Perceived Ease of Use is not too bad, but again, unlikely to offer significant advantages for most people. If digital radio were to be done well, I could see benefits for the end user, and there may well be benefits for the infrastructure providers, but trying to persuade Joe Public and family that they "have to have" DAB seems a tough task. They don't want to do this, and don't want to be told what they have to have (or not!).