Thinking of getting a DAB radio for the Kitchen but also for out an about and wondered if they track the station tuned in to ? (apologies for possibly wrong group but its a DIY project to build it into the kitchen in a removable pod) Anyone know ?
Thanks,
Nick
Unlike FM where all the National stations broadcast on different frequencies, the National Multiplexes on DAB (which includes all the national BBC stations) are on fixed frequencies so there is no need for the DAB radio to retune - it just needs to be in range of a transmitter.
On DAB there are also local multiplexes (where you will find your local BBC and Independent stations). As the name suggests they will only be receivable in the locality. These frequencies are reused for different local stations around the UK. Not sure what happens here with the DAB radio if you move it elsewhere - I guess it just says "station unavailable" until you do a rescan.
There is a group alt.radio.digital where you *should* be able to get more info. Unfortunately is seems to be populated by an anti-DAB brigade who will advise you to buy an FM radio instead.
Chris
Hi Chris, Thanks for the info - will follow the "links" and educate myself on the system Nick
Digital transmissions are on the same frequency throughout the country. Unlike analogue where this would cause problems with cancellation etc it's actually a benefit because in weak signal areas the two add.
I'm not sure how well it actually works in a poor signal area, though. Receivers seem to make the most alarming noises when they lose signal - rather worse than FM.
Beware. 'DAB sounds worse than FM' continually searches for any mention of DAB anywhere and pops up to spew his bile.
Thus spaketh Dave Plowman (News):
But he has a valid point.
He does have a point, up to a point. But he's so vociferous that I suspect most people ignore or even killfile him.
Thankfully "DAB sounds better than AM" so evening R5 listening (before
1am when the local BBC stations take the R5 feed) is improved, and for me R4 sounds good enough, if I were an R3 buff maybe I'd be complaining.
In the main I'm an R4 listener, and that sounds ok on DAB - apart from when they reduce the rate at certain times. R3 also sounds ok. All the other stations are in the main pop - and so heavily compressed at source the final transmission medium is of less consequence if quality was the aim. Not that it probably matters on a portable radio much anyway. I'm not defending DAB as such as it promised good quality before the bean counters got at it. But the fact remains it suits many people who simply can't hear the effects of the low data rate or don't care. For those that do, there is at present no date for the switch off of FM, and you also have the cheap alternative of FreeView for a Hi-Fi tuner, with more stations getting added regularly.
Doesn't stop me disliking 'Mr DAB'. He is exactly like dribble in that only his opinion is valid and those who disagree idiots.
Presumably you're considering DAB as an alternative to FM. My experiences with (early) DAB radios taught me that they drain batteries very much quicker than FM radios, which might be worth taking into account. If anyone can report that modern DAB chipsets are better in this regard I'd be pleased to hear about it.
The Visonia from Maplin is a neat little job for the kitchen. Cheap and cheerful, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the sound quality.
Hi-ish Fi. I prefer FM on a good day but when it goes hissy the Freeview box is useful.
But then I prefer LP anyway so what do I know.
Owain
Mine apparently does the batteries in an hour, so portable it ain't
A new chipset coming out next year will reduce the power consumption.
I'll wait then...
The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:
And for all the power the BBC and Castlewotnot will be saving when the cut the ERP of the transmitters, the rest of us will be paying in mains/battery electricty to run the DAB receivers which use a lot more juice than analogue radios.
Isn't there a plan to change the DAB coding algorithm to make them international? Needless to say, the UK one is the non- preferred version (again)
Yes - although nothing definite about the UK adopting it. It will make current DAB receivers obsolete. The chips are cheaper to make and consume a lot less power.
That's the problem with being first. And you can bet there will be a better algorithm developed *after* the new one is adopted - if it is. It's a fact of life with such things.
Actually - DAB is quite inefficent spectrally, and in terms of transmitter power. However. The new chipset from the maker of 80% or so of chipsets in radios will use much less power at the users end, and also support AAC, and the other things needed to support a better technologically DAB radio - one which can fit _much_ more per multiplex into each frequency band, as well as needing less power to transmit.
At some point in the future - probably well before analog switchoff, we'll switch over to this DAB standard - at that time DAB radio chipsets'll be a couple of quid.
Hopefully, quality will be quite good, as bitrate is much less expensive.
The message from Ian Stirling contains these words:
At the moment much of it is bloody awful. R4 gets the scrag end of what's left over after R3's pedants have had the lion's share.
OTOH, my wife loves her Pure Evoke II to pieces, and it's on R4 for most of the day.
I shall be deeply pissed off if the format of DAB changes and it no longer works; it wasn't cheap.
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