Digital Radio continued...

  

Well, Gildy has finally purchased a digital radio. My last blog entry on this is done as much as anything to help anyone out there in the UK or if similar changes are happening elsewhere to make the right choice.

For some reason where my house located even though nothing visibly appears to block the signals of television and radio I have always required an external aerial for television and at least an aerial in the loft otherwise stereo FM radio is impossible. So for years now I have listened to much of anything I want in high quality sound via Sky's satellite platform.

So I entered digital radio from a previous experience of using a gadget that was hailed as a great item from Psion called a wave finder which you connected directly to a computer. But the signal was poor and it really required an external aerial and then I think I am correct in saying that the product was discontinued(please correct me if I am wrong)and once the newer Windows operating system came out, it could not be used with XP.

Another item destined for the bin(thank heavens I managed to get it at half price)but I think it was still something like £25-£30.

So I had every intention to purchase a reasonably good DAB radio on the net(I heard that the more you spend it really does make a difference)but as LBC is starting on September 1st I looked in a national retail outlet and came out with one manufactured by one of the best known companies for quality and reputation, I thought it looked quite stylish. I got it home and within 2 minutes didn't like it. The sound had too much base and no way of taking the effect off. It cost £70.

Now how do you know whether you like something if you cannot hear it? Yet though you can return items to the shop for refund or exchange...you must not use them! Using them to me is if you have them for ages and when you return them they are damaged. I had it in my possession for 60 minutes(only because I did some shopping elsewhere)and in the home for perhaps 8 minutes.

No way was I keeping it. Back to the shop and I took instead a radio approx £30 cheaper as you can see by the picture. Well, generally I cannot lie that FM is any better but most of the stations available on FM around here are on the same set using DAB. But it does offer FM/DAB. I have only lost BBC Radio Newcastle, Metro Radio and BBC Radio York which is a pity but as long as FM is not turned off for many years they should still be heard.

The sound is nicer on this Bush set, and in my bedroom at least I have found a spot where it offers me pretty well a full strength signal on every Digital station or the error is so slight it does not spoil the sound. And I do not have to keep moving it around for optimum sound. This radio also offers better connections than the previous more expensive model too and enables me to play it through the computer system so I can listen and record to hard drive. And that improves the sound too though even its own speakers are loud enough and in high enough quality.

Satellite radio's disadvantage probably is that you need a TV on to see what station you are listening to(and if you keep it on screen too long chances are the writing may burn into the screen)and that you are tied to the room that the TV is in unless you have it plugged into a hi-fi system or have some way of piping it around the home, that way you can change stations and leave the television picture switched off. An advantage of satellite delivered radio is good quality stereo sound on all stations and often all of them are on 24/7.

The latest list of satellite radio on Sky is around 100 stations.

Now on my digital set I can hear 39 stations of which all but 5 are on the satellite system so I have gained 5.

Further investigation has shown that the local stations offer the highest quality whether BBC or commercial, there are four companies supplying the transmitting technology(EMAP, MXR, Digital1 and BBC National DAB) between them though I am picking up all the stations I am supposed to...I can access alternative signals of two or three stations thanks to one of these companies from a neighbouring area Yorkshire plus an extra station meant specifically for Yorkshire so just maybe, a digital radio with an external aeriel if set up correctly might pull in a few other stations. I'd like to get BBC Radio York, BBC Newcastle and just maybe I may be able to pull in the local commercial stations from Tyneside and Yorkshire. So at some stage in the future I may invest in a more sophisticated radio that can be connected to an aerial.

So taking your location, transmitter power, frequencies becoming available and moving your radio around the home, using LBC as an example even some of you that officially should not be hearing it, may find the signal can be picked up from a neighbouring county.

Another thing is that some stations because they are trying to squeeze into the spectrum allocated to digital radio and because I suspect until sometime in the future power is not at the full capacity so some stations are broadcasting in a lower bit rate, some are in mono on the digital platform(usually those that are speech based)and though speech can manage on lower specifications and in mono, if you want to hear perhaps a drama being in mono is going mean that it will not sound as good.

And one station closes overnight but still carries on via satellite. So some capacity is being wasted during the hours it is not broadcasting and one station seems a waste of time as it is doing what the other commercial stations are doing already and that's a station called Capital Disney. By the name I cannot decide if that is a joint venture between the Disney Corp and Capital Radio in London. Or a station run by Disney.

But yes, there is adequate and increased choice of listening by having the digital set.

I understand that in the pipeline more frequencies are to be released especially for more national stations, possibly a different type of digital system which had this country waited might've been the one chosen as it also allows a signal from much further away so in a way could offer something like the old shortwave radio so you can hear stations from abroad but the quality would be fine.

Then, we have the likelihood of Europe investing in a satellite delivered radio system such as the two that exist in the States where you might pay £10 a month and be offered radio channels each offering a different genre and no commercials.

And of course we will see more radio delivered by the net from across the globe and again the quality will improve.

Some radio is likely to be included in the new version of Freeview which will be delivered via satellite as an alternative to Freeview delivered as now via a TV aerial and not always available across the UK. And if ITV/BBC ever get this project off the ground and broadcasting, it could be an alternative to Sky's platform and give viewers an alternative and give Sky some competition and unlike Sky, being called Freesat, from what I have heard(if correct)all channels carried on this system will be available free apart from the initial cost of the receiving equipment(box and dish)

So there is much happening and no doubt we'll all have to change systems a few times over the coming years.

So perhaps just as well I only paid about £40 for my digital radio. If I have to buy something different I won't feel too bad losing that amount of cash.

But yes, I am happy with my DAB Radio...

Now to find a phono cable that offers female connections on one end and male on the other, no one on this town sells any, just male to male, so I can lengthen the cable but adding bus or taxi fare to go to the neighbouring towns makes its an expensive item to buy. So I'll wait or hey, if it costs no more...I'll get it on the internet direct.