From Christopher Reason

Friday, 9 December 2011

Not just in Cragg Vale

I live by the canal. My digital radio works in the living room, but not the bedroom.

Does anyone know if this situation will ever improve?

From Rob Blake

Friday, 9 December 2011

To be honest, I think that DAB is a failed technology that has never lived up to early promise. Far better in my opinion are these new internet radios that use your home wifi connection. You can get literally thousands of radio stations from around the World and the quality is great.

From Isla S

Friday, 9 December 2011

I use the digital radio channels on Sky tv and recently sold my DAB radio on ebay as I had no reception.

From Mick Coughlan

Friday, 9 December 2011

I must agree regarding the disappointment over signal strength of DAB - and I don't live in Hebden Bridge.

I also use an internet radio - excellent, some of the wierdest stuff can be found.

From Patsy F

Saturday, 10 December 2011

Well, there is a definite consensus against DAB, isn't there? Thanks everyone for replying. Our daughter has a little Pure DAB radio in her Edinburgh flat and it receives really well, so I assumed the signal was clear everywhere else - when the service arrived. Just goes to show.

We'll get an internet-Wi-Fi, DAB with FM Robert's portable radio, so hopefully a signal will be picked up from the computer elsewhere in the house. I'll post again with a progress report.

Gratefully - Patsy Frederiksen - and Happy Christmas and a wonderful 2012 to all Forum Contributors! And Chris of course! XX

From Rev Tony Buglass

Saturday, 10 December 2011

DAB is great when it works, but not as good as FM in difficult conditions. I had a DAB car radio, which gave lovely clear reception until I drove up the valley through Hebden Bridge - it would blank out on Market Street, recover further up, then fizzle and switch to FM as I got near the railway bridge. There was no DAB reception up the valley at all. My new car has a simple FM radio, which gives very clear reception even at places where the other one was a bit fuzzy.

I understand the problem is that digital transmissions are on a very narrow bandwidth compared to FM. In a narrow urban canyon like Market Street, or a deep valley which blocks line-of-sight transmission, FM at least catches enough of the signal to receive, while DAB doesn't penetrate at all.

Of course, the real reason for the push to DAB is that more signals can occupy the same bandwidth, thus freeing up broadcasting frequencies which can be sold by the Government.

From Pete K

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Well in Mytholmroyd valley, South side, the only way I can get decent digital radio reception is by using a 3 element DAB aerial mounted on a long pole on my chimney and pointing towards Emley Moor.

This will only be any use if you have an aerial socket on your DAB radio which you can connect the cable from the external aerial to.

I've got a DAB hi-fi tuner and digital radio is a bit disappointing. UK DAB sampling rates, which determine audio quality, are low compared with elsewhere in Europe. In addition, BBC Radio speech stations are broadcast at the lowest sampling rates of all and often in mono! You can get better sound quality on Radio 4 Extra for instance by using iplayer.

From John Loader

Monday, 12 December 2011

My mother in law featured in a Yesterday programme this week and confusion reigned as we could watch it in an area of Yorkshire not fully converted but she couldn't. UKTV which runs amongst others Dave and Yesterday is part owned by the BBC so residents of Hebden Bridge are paying licence fee money to promote channels they are not allowed to watch unless they pay even more money to Rupert Murdoch - UKTV doesn't feature on Freesat due to problems of continental reception and copyright. I suggest you complain to the BBC.

From David Telford

Monday, 12 December 2011

Reception for DAB is digital and you either get it or you don't their is no inbetween.

Sound quality on DAB is a compromise, it's MP2 quality so compared to a good CD or Vinyl being transmitted over a good FM signal on a good FM receiver will be better than a good DAB signal transmitted to a DAB receiver. The advantage of DAB is the lack of interferance on less than perfect signals. DAB is also very narrow and really not suited to car audio systems as the signal is changing as you move.

John Loader makes an excellent point re UKTV. The licence fee the BBC receives was used to invest in UKTV yet not all licence fee payers receive the benefit. Even worse, the poorest in society who can't afford the best digital tv / HD tv etc are the ones subsidising the wealthy. Personally, I think it's time to do away with the licence fee and privatise the BBC. The sale of the BBC would raise billions and the country needs that money right now. Furthermore, technolgy and the internet is starting to make the licence redundant in any case.

From Tim B

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Yet more unsubtle astroturfing from David T - thread on digital radio reception - why not slip in a sell off the BBC line? If you want a public - bad private - good thread, why not start one off?

From Rev Tony Buglass

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

As far as getting all the channels is concerned, I might get a bit miffed at not having access to all of them, but I never had time to watch the 4 I had before switchover, so not getting all the dozens more now available is really academic.

But using this as an argument for selling off the BBC - that's a very big slide away from where we were! No. Do not privatise the BBC. We know where the money would go, into the pockets of the same fat cats that have got most of the rest of it, and those of us who should be benefitting from community broadcasting resources will be left high and dry.

Back to the original question, about DAB versus FM. I've heard a number of people say the quality isn't as good. Perhaps my ears aren't good enough, then, because I really can't tell the difference. What does confuse me is the time-lag between FM and DAB. Because of the encoding-decoding process at either end, there is a delay of a second or two, with DAB signals arriving after the FM signals. I was listening on DAB in one room, my wife listening on FM in another, and we had our music running in canon! That was mildly funny, but the serious question is whether or not we can ever trust the Greenwich time signal again. And I need it to check my sundial . . .

From Lizzie D

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

DAB?? my radio works perfectly well as long as I remember to wind it up that is!

But the TV - well, now we have gone digital itis not so fandabidozi. A bit of rain and its crackly, a lot of rain and it's off!!! Never happened with my terrestrial channels. Did no one tell the digi people we live in a wet valley?