Battery power and DAB radio

[Bod]

Unknown, it must be all of 200 years since I listened to an AM transmission.

[Mike Barnes]

198 years, perhaps?

[meow2222]

Really? So the noise reduction of FM and the huge difference in audio bandwidth make no differece?

yes, to an extent tiny in comparison with the UK AM system's distortion

it has nothing to do with it of course. Why would anyone be recording stuff while driving along instead of at home? A home tape recorder has far more utility - and sanity.

NT

[Martin Brown]

I used to listen to R4 LW in Belgium before the days of internet radio. I made a simple tuned loop antenna to get a really good signal.

The only problem was summer pollution by incessant cricket commentary.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A static portable receiver? Or a domestic tuner with decent fixed external aerial?

Sorry to be blunt but that's nonsense.

Then put them in a better position.

That would depend on lots of variables. Rather like recording on a ghetto blaster.

I'm trying to follow your logic but failing. Do you mean a recorder or tape player? If recorder, it would add to the price of the unit - and car radios are built very much down to a cost. Which is why so few have DAB. And it's a facility very very few would ever use.

I do have a car radio that allows you to record to a memory card. Apart from trying it out, I've never used it. But that recording sounded just fine when played elsewhere.

You're wrong there too. Useless in the North of Scotland.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And none of that applies to DAB?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I managed to get it at St Tropez. Car in the carpark at the beach - everyone was going for lunch and I was trying to diet. So sat in the shade in the car. ;-)

[Capitol]

I did use the word reception. Think about it.

Not in a car.

Where?

In car tape recording was tried. The sound quality level was too poor to be acceptable. You get massive interference spikes as you drive along from a variety of sources with AM and FM. I was involved in the trials. Maybe DAB is better for this, but the signal is badly corrupted by the encoding/decoding process and subsequent analogue filtering which is used. LW works in Scotland if you have a decent external car aerial. Try it!

>

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Right. Sound like you needed some engineers involved. In my job as a sound recordist I've recorded lots of audio (and pictures) to tape inside a moving car. With absolutely no problems. Including VHF radio mics.

There's no reason why 'your' recording should be any different to listening 'live' to the car radio.

[Bod]

I'll check my diary to confirm.

[tony sayer]

Thats blasphemous that is;!..

Repent now!!...

[tony sayer]

In article , Dave Plowman (News) scribeth thus

I think that got a bit out of context from the original. Take that to mean FM and DAB from a RF point of view regardless of the modulation in use;!...

[RJH]

I think there is a worthwhile difference, and I'm surprised you don't. Haven't used AM on a car radio for many years.

[RJH]

But really? In the majority of cars, does it matter to most listeners?

Not saying that makes it right, and the UK implementation of DAB has been a shameful dog's dinner.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Interesting. I only use DAB in my old car, and generally only 'light' music when I'm not listening to R4. The audio installation is my own and it's far better than most. But I've never noticed the effect you refer to.

Once you decide to introduce a lossy data reduction system, there will always be artifacts. Maybe so rare you'll not hear them - but they will be there. Obviously some are better than others.

What annoys me about the DAB thing is those who are now apparently so worried about its sound quality totally ignored it at launch. To the point where it was a total flop. Only after the station choice was greatly increased (requiring a data rate reduction) did it gain at least some acceptance. It's true the tuners were very expensive to begin with - but so were other 'Hi-Fi' bits.

When you mention to the average man in the street who only ever listens to radio in the bedroom kitchen or car etc, that DAB has poor audio quality, they think you are a crank. They may have experienced poor reception - but that's a different thing.

[Ian Jackson]

In the English-Scottish border country, in a car, R4 LW is often an absolute mess (because you get all three transmitters at once). A radio with a ferrite rod aerial can be somewhat better, as you can null out at least one of the signals.