By what means and how was your introduction to Radio 3 via DAB?

[Old Grumpy]

It wasn't - I started on FM and am still on FM in both car, personal radio and home.

DAB reception round here is not good for topographical reasons.

OG

[Andrew]

It wasn't - I started on FM and am still on FM in both car, personal radio and home

I started on FM, or V.H.F. as it was called then, using an Ekco C273 radio, a HUGE wooden valve operated radio, which only received V.H.F. back in the days when the V.H.F. band went from 88 MHz to 100 MHz and had three stations; "light", "third" and "home"! I still have the very same radio (it was my late Grandfather's) and although the quality isn't quite up to modern systems, its "warmth" is phenomenal! Ordinarily I use BBC Sounds, to listen to programmes when I want to listen to them, as opposed to when the BBC think I OUGHT to listen to them!

[cloughie]

I started on FM, or V.H.F. as it was called then, using an Ekco C273 radio, a HUGE wooden valve operated radio, which only received V.H.F. back in the days when the V.H.F. band went from 88 MHz to 100 MHz and had three stations; "light", "third" and "home"! I still have the very same radio (it was my late Grandfather's) and although the quality isn't quite up to modern systems, its "warmth" is phenomenal! Ordinarily I use BBC Sounds, to listen to programmes when I want to listen to them, as opposed to when the BBC think I OUGHT to listen to them!

Anyone else start their VHF on Heathkit?

[Bryn]

Anyone else start their VHF on Heathkit?

Not me, though I did assemble one of the early Sinclair AM matchbox-sized radios back in the mid-1966. IIRC, it had 3 transistors and was dreadful. Built lots of stuff from home electronics magazines, too. My first amplifier was home built. I recall the output transistors were OC26s.

[jayne lee wilson]

Anecdote from the Days of DAB.......


I had an on-off friend across the town, hands-on soldering-kit audiophile, very plain-spoken, well just blunt-to-tactless really, who kept telling me I had "paid a premium" for the Arcam A10 because it was so early in the tale of digital radio. I know, I said, I know, I just really wanted it..... Angus Mackenzie, Gramophone....and Its New!

He visited the BBC on a long weekend in London a few weeks later and called me afterward ..... having just won the Technics DAB/FM Tuner (RRP: £550) in a prize draw.

Incurably given to old-BBC-gentleman-style eternal-bachelor drollery, he remarked "probably because I was the only person to enter it..."

[cmr_for3]

My introduction to DAB was Christmas 2005 when my parents bought me my first DAB radio (a Ferguson badged alarm clock) living in the sticks and with little choice on FM it was a joy for speech stations. From then on whenever I got a new radio/or hifi it was DAB and it always amazed me how low the take up was (knowing more about audio quality now I can see why but for speech this was not an issue) I did not become a Radio 3 addict until about 2014 so I am a late comer. Now most of my listening is via internet radios (either in units with that feature) PC or phone.

[ardcarp]

I've never gone down the DAB route, and now I don't see the point. I often listen to (for instance) R3 on my iPhone, either via headphones or by plugging it into a stereo system with speakers. Is the digital quality any less than DAB radio? I also have a widget with which which I can plug my iPhone into the TV. I find that, on the rare occasions when there's a TV music broadcast, the sound quality is good. Therefore is there any point in buying a so-called Smart TV?

[Bryn]

I've never gone down the DAB route, and now I don't see the point. I often listen to (for instance) R3 on my iPhone, either via headphones or by plugging it into a stereo system with speakers. Is the digital quality any less than DAB radio? I also have a widget with which which I can plug my iPhone into the TV. I find that, on the rare occasions when there's a TV music broadcast, the sound quality is good. Therefore is there any point in buying a so-called Smart TV?

The signal from Sounds at 320kbps AAC-LC is considerably superior to that from DAB. However, what the receiving end does to it might render it well or badly depending on its chip-set. Chances are that a modern smart-phone will offer a considerable improvement over DAB or FM. The digital audio signal over standard television is approximately on a par with DAB, that via HDTV, which uses aac coding, should be better but the often use rather low data rates for audio.