I don't know where the myth that R4 DAB is mono came from, but I've read it before many times.
Of course, not all programmes on R4 are made in stereo, so they'd be mono on DAB. And FM, come to that. Oh - and LW. ;-)
Hey, why is there a fashion to knock LW all of a sudden?
I am in Northern Holland and can happily receive R4 all the time, even listen in on my car radio. I even get uninterrupted test match special, without SWMBO trying to change channel! Hands off LW!!!!
Don't knock it just because you have bought the sales pitch for the fancy technology. I'mm keeping a look out for a good 2nd hand radio with LW for the garage so I don't have to carry a portable in the garage.
I suspect is all a plot to prepare the public for stopping transmission on LW.
BTW I recently looked at digital for my house in the UK. However my area has effectively no reception at present, and will not do so in the forseeable future.
What has actually annoyed me is the official statements that DAB will be introduced, and existing systems withdrawn, with the expectation that there will be cheap conversion kits available. Actually I have quite a lot of radios dotted about (don't forget the car), so I aked what the story was on conversion. The answer was of course that conversion is unlikely to be available. So at some point, I am expected to buy new kit?
In my kitchen I have a Grundig radio that works fine, as it has for the past 20 years. I am sure it will do so for another 20, so what is in it for me to support a change?
Unless of course the manufacturers don't like the fact that radios last! How can they generate obsolecence in the market ? Simple, persuade the Government to muck about with the fundamentals of the system. Very eco friendly I don't think.
Ooops my short comment on DAB has got a bit out of hand! Apologies...
I am in my forties, and grew up having the radio on rather than the TV, and enjoy the fact that you can listen while doing other things rather than be sitting passive in front of the haunted fishtank. Hence the LW radio for the garage. I regret that the the kids of today don't seem to do this, including my own. I used to work late nights in a garage changing gearboxes etc, and we always had R4 on. Perhaps strange but true...
Eric
Could you give me some concrete examples and I'll check out why.
Since I use this computer for audio related work, I've got both level and phase meters attached, and can instantly switch from R4 DAB to FM (or indeed LW);-)
That's not always the case. The bitrate of Radio 4 and/or Radio 3 (gasp - no - surely not!) is reduced to make way for 5 live sports extra.
Quite simply, if there's some sport on 5 live sports Xtra (and all other channels are on-air), Radio 4 on DAB will be in mono, even if the programme was made in stereo, and is stereo on FM.
What's more, BBC7 is always in mono on DAB, whereas its many stereo programmes can be heard in stereo via FreeView and Sky.
If the option is available to you, Digital Satelite (a free package - no contact with Murdoch is necesary!) or FreeView will bring you _all_ BBC radio stations at higher sound quality than DAB. Digital satelite also gives you more (and in some cases better quality) commercial stations too.
The only use for a DAB "Hi-Fi" component is for folks who have no other option. Portable radios are a different matter, but for a fixed Hi-Fi, DAB loses to digital satelite on all counts (and to FreeView on some, including quality and value!).
Cheers, David.
P.S. your question about digital radio wouldn't have been off topic in alt.radio.digital which (despite the alt. name) is a UK dominated newsgroup.
Come over here and laugh at Long Wave! Go on, I dare you! See what I'll do with these tulips!!
Eric, (Happy to listen to Long Wave in Holland!)
:-)
I think when they first started messing about with the bitrates, R4 did go into mono at times. I remember hearing Jenny Abramsky (on Feedback, probably) admitting it had been a terrible mistake and promising that they wouldn't do it again, honest. Since then the notion's been perpetuated be a certain one-man anti-DAB campaign.
Like me, you probably remember when they turned the pilot tone off durng mono programmes...
Seems they got lots of complaints so now leave it on - after all if the light says stereo then it must be so...
And the fact that it still happens.
Cheers, David.
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