So have we decided to live with DAB as it is then?

[Brian Gaff]

Or will they sell everyone a set and then change it.
Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please!

[David]

Well to start with we have one and do not use it, so will not be buying
another.

Our Freesat/Freeview TV gives us some radio.
In car of course we use FM so if FM/MW were to run down and nothing
receivable at all it would be CD's in car.
In caravan if FM/MW gone it would be CD or radio on TV set.

Might be like in the old days when only 3 BBC radio stations we did what we
could to get other stations from overseas, I suppose today we on the
internet would use internet radio.

Regards
David


"Brian Gaff" wrote in message news:jrhgnj$pus$1...@news.albasani.net...

[Brian Gaff]

I'd have thought we should have gone with two other systems. DRM on medium
wave and DAB+ on dab with better bit rates protected in the spec. The
current mess is the worst of all worlds.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"David" <david...@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:jrhhs1$jmk$1...@dont-email.me...

[Andy Burns]

David wrote:

> Well to start with we have one and do not use it, so will not be buying
> another.

I have one at home, and one in the car, both are well used. So far as my
listening is concerned the BBC national mux accounts for 99.9% of my
listening, if they replaced it with DAB+ I'd be highly likely to replace
the home DAB with an internet "tuner" instead, I doubt that will be
feasible in-car for some time, so would drop back to FM/AM.

[Dave Liquorice]

On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 09:56:11 +0100, David wrote:

> Well to start with we have one and do not use it, ...

We have one but can't use it,. No signal that doesn't produce boiling
mud noises, you can *just* tell the difference between speech and
music but that is all.

> ... so will not be buying another.

We will only buy one if it happens to be included in a bit of kit
that is being bought for other facilities. Just like the first,
though there was a small amount of "oh it has DAB, wonder if that
will work?", wasn't surprised when it didn't.

> Our Freesat/Freeview TV gives us some radio.

I'd rather not have the TV on consuming 300W to listen to the
radio... It does have a "radio" mode that "switches the screen off"
but I'm not sure how far "off" that off is. It comes back very
quickly so I suspect the heaters (it's a plasma screen) are still
powered up.

> In car of course we use FM so if FM/MW were to run down and nothing
> receivable at all it would be CD's in car.

Downloaded podcasts and MP3 player in the car. Podcasts have probably
increased my radio listening.

--
Cheers
Dave.

[Brian Gaff]

One of the issues I've noticed is that certain stations seem to have
downgraded their fm quality. Smooth is a case in point where you can at
times clearly hear what sounds like the phase errors of some lossy
compression on the output and also a very hard filter at the top end, I
suspect its not getting more than about 8khz through.
Add to that the usual over compression and its a pretty messy afair.
Brian

--
From the Bed of Brian Gaff.
The email is valid as bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user.
"Andy Burns" <usenet....@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7aCdnaWBOOdEzEHS...@brightview.co.uk...

[Andy Burns]

Brian Gaff wrote:

> One of the issues I've noticed is that certain stations seem to have
> downgraded their fm quality. Smooth is a case in point

I generally want speech radio in the car. If I want music it has an SD
card slot so I get my choice rather than someone else's. That said,
6Music or even Planet Rock make a change once in a while ...

[Graham.]

On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 10:31:59 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
<allsortsn...@howhill.co.uk> wrote:

>On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 09:56:11 +0100, David wrote:
>
>> Well to start with we have one and do not use it, ...
>
>We have one but can't use it,. No signal that doesn't produce boiling
>mud noises, you can *just* tell the difference between speech and
>music but that is all.
>
>> ... so will not be buying another.
>
>We will only buy one if it happens to be included in a bit of kit
>that is being bought for other facilities. Just like the first,
>though there was a small amount of "oh it has DAB, wonder if that
>will work?", wasn't surprised when it didn't.
>
>> Our Freesat/Freeview TV gives us some radio.
>
>I'd rather not have the TV on consuming 300W to listen to the
>radio... It does have a "radio" mode that "switches the screen off"
>but I'm not sure how far "off" that off is. It comes back very
>quickly so I suspect the heaters (it's a plasma screen) are still
>powered up.

Heaters? I think they are effectively cold cathode array.


--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

[Mark Carver]

Dave Liquorice wrote:

>> Our Freesat/Freeview TV gives us some radio.
>
> I'd rather not have the TV on consuming 300W to listen to the
> radio...

Get a Freeview or Freesat box, and use that as a 'tuner' feeding your HiFi.

It's a shame though that virtually no Freeview/sat box has its own LED channel
display. I miss my On Digital box for that feature.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

[John Williamson]

Brian Gaff wrote:
> One of the issues I've noticed is that certain stations seem to have
> downgraded their fm quality. Smooth is a case in point where you can at
> times clearly hear what sounds like the phase errors of some lossy
> compression on the output and also a very hard filter at the top end, I
> suspect its not getting more than about 8khz through.
> Add to that the usual over compression and its a pretty messy afair.
> Brian
>

Could they be using the DAB bitstream to drive the FM transmitters? I've
don't normally listen to Smooth FM, and the radio I've got access to at
the monent isn't brilliant, unfortunately.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[J G Miller]

On Saturday, June 16th, 2012, at 11:35:46h +0100, Mark Carver opined:

> It's a shame though that virtually no Freeview/sat box has its
> own LED channel display.

The Humax Fox T2 has an LED channel display and some people
derided it for its 1980s "stereo component" appearance.

Most satellite receivers have an LED or VFD display, and thus
for the latter, one can even read the name of the station ;)

[Mike Brown]

On 16/06/2012 09:39, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Or will they sell everyone a set and then change it.

The current plan seems to be to continue making the programmes less and
less interesting. Pretty soon no-one will want to listen to any of them
and the issue will then be solved.

--
mb

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <a435s3...@mid.individual.net>, Mark Carver

<mark....@invalid.invalid> writes:
>Dave Liquorice wrote:
>
>>> Our Freesat/Freeview TV gives us some radio.
>> I'd rather not have the TV on consuming 300W to listen to the
>> radio...
>
>Get a Freeview or Freesat box, and use that as a 'tuner' feeding your HiFi.
>
>It's a shame though that virtually no Freeview/sat box has its own LED
>channel display. I miss my On Digital box for that feature.
>
>

Labgear FV400 (note: not the 300, that didn't have it) seemed to be the
only one that did (excluding PVRs etc.). There appears to be only one on
ebay. Amazon and Farnell (CPC) used to sell them.

Hang on: Amazon have the Icecrypt T5000 (like the Labgear, also has a
modulator). 27.45, 4.3 out of 5 stars (though most of those are because
of the modulator rather than the display - none of the reviews I read
actually mentioned the display, other than one who had a dud one which
buzzed in standby in time with the dots on the clock, which suggests it
does as the old OnDigital boxes and shows the time when in standby).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Happiness isn't happiness without a violin-playing goat. [Anna Scott (Julia
Roberts) in "Notting Hill" (1999)]

[Brian Gaff]

I cannot stand 6 music myself, its very odd in its choices.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Andy Burns" <usenet....@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message

news:yY-dnWX91Iy0xUHS...@brightview.co.uk...

[Brian Gaff]

I think they have been using some kind of internet feed, as you can clearly
hear it drop out from time to time. Whatever it is, its pretty crappy.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"John Williamson" <johnwil...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:a43651...@mid.individual.net...

[Brian Gaff]

Its also annoying that Smooth on freeview is now in mono.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mark Carver" <mark....@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:a435s3...@mid.individual.net...

[Brian Gaff]

You are more cynical than I am.
Why did they not use digital radio Mondi'al as I heard some demos early on
and it was reasonable for medium wave stuff.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mike Brown" <use...@mb21.co.uk> wrote in message
news:jri49j$kig$1...@dont-email.me...

[Andy Burns]

Brian Gaff wrote:

> I cannot stand 6 music myself, its very odd in its choices.

It certainly has a few presenters who seem to care more about what fun
they have in the studio than whether it's interesting to the audience,
but I'm not ready for Smooth FM just yet! <grin>

[Bill Wright]

J G Miller wrote:
> On Saturday, June 16th, 2012, at 11:35:46h +0100, Mark Carver opined:
>
>> It's a shame though that virtually no Freeview/sat box has its
>> own LED channel display.
>
> The Humax Fox T2 has an LED channel display and some people
> derided it for its 1980s "stereo component" appearance.

They should have made it wider so programme names are less likely to be
truncated.

Bill

[Dave Liquorice]

On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 11:35:46 +0100, Mark Carver wrote:

>>> Our Freesat/Freeview TV gives us some radio.
>>
>> I'd rather not have the TV on consuming 300W to listen to the
>> radio...
>

> Get a Freeview ...

What's Freeview? Not available here. DSO1 is on 12th September, DSO2
26th. Currently don't have a functional terrestial aerial.

> ... or Freesat box, and use that as a 'tuner' feeding your HiFi.

Have Freesat in the TV and Blu-ray but that would mean disabling the
HDMI power control feature which I quite like. Put the TV into
standby and all the HDMI connected peripherals alos go into standby.
Switching one on will power the TV back up.

> It's a shame though that virtually no Freeview/sat box has its own LED
> channel display.

I did ask that very question a while back but with no Freeview
available and not many boxes available didn't chase it.


--
Cheers
Dave.

[Mike Brown]

On 16/06/2012 18:33, Brian Gaff wrote:
> You are more cynical than I am.
> Why did they not use digital radio Mondi'al as I heard some demos early on
> and it was reasonable for medium wave stuff.

Who knows?

The point about radio is that ideally it should be able to work anywhere
where people could take a radio, noy just wehre people happen to live
and drive. This is more likely to be achieved using DRM on MF and LF.
The fact that we are still using MF and LF for the appallingly primitive
AM amazes me. We should be talking about a digital radio switchover from
AM not FM.

--
mb

[Mike Brown]

It's interesting that some people refer the station as "Smooth FM" - the
station themselves never have, as they were (are?) one of the first to
acknowledge that FM is not and will not be their primary platform. From
their inception they have been "Smooth Radio" and identified on DAB as
"SmoothUK".

--
mb

[tony sayer]

In article <a43651...@mid.individual.net>, John Williamson <johnwilli
am...@btinternet.com> scribeth thus

They could or else there're using a low rate to drive the TX anyway.
Generally if you do that i.e. from studio then into the processor then
that can sound well, not too good. Worse still when you put the
processing at the studio end and then use rate reduced lines to drive
the TX not too wonderful either;(.....
--
Tony Sayer

[Brian Gaff]

However the big problem on am now is interference from badly designed
devices like wall wart psus mains used for internet connections and plasma
tvs, not to mention cheap and chearful Inverters for solar power and other
badly designed gear.
If the people charged with looking at radio frequency interference enforced
the laws, then medium and long and to some extent short waves would be
usable again.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


"Mike Brown" <use...@mb21.co.uk> wrote in message

news:jrion3$llt$1...@dont-email.me...

[Graham.]

On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 21:06:19 +0100, Mike Brown <use...@mb21.co.uk>
wrote:

ASDA FM Live makes me smile, as AFAIK, it's only distributed as an
Internet stream.

I suppose it might have been on an obscure analogue satellite FM
subcarrier in its early days.

--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

[charles]

In article <eqlrt7drta9lrbibd...@4ax.com>,

Surely FM in this case stands for Favourite Music.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

[Mark Carver]

Mike Brown wrote:
> On 16/06/2012 19:49, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Brian Gaff wrote:
>>
>>> I cannot stand 6 music myself, its very odd in its choices.
>> It certainly has a few presenters who seem to care more about what fun
>> they have in the studio than whether it's interesting to the audience,

That's my problem with the station, when it opened I was hoping it was going
to be akin to 1970s/80s Radio 1 on Saturday afternoons/Sunday evenings when it
would borrow the Radio 2 FM transmitters. Instead there's far too much inane
chatter.

> It's interesting that some people refer the station as "Smooth FM" - the
> station themselves never have, as they were (are?) one of the first to
> acknowledge that FM is not and will not be their primary platform. From
> their inception they have been "Smooth Radio" and identified on DAB as
> "SmoothUK".

From their on air IDs, they seem to be called;

"Smooth Radio- The home of Simon Bates at Breakfast"

[J G Miller]

On Sunday, June 17th, 2012, at 14:13:59h +0100, Graham. commented:

> as AFAIK, it's only distributed as an Internet stream.

How do you think they distribute it to their stores?

Well know you will know better ;)


Telstar 12 at 15.0° West Europe and South Africa beam

transponder 19U DVB-S SR: 18386 FEC: 3/4

frequency 11,150 GHz Polarizaion: Horizontal

ASDA FM Live SID: 104 AudioPID: 1014 (English)

ASDA FM Live Scotland SID: 105 AudioPID: 1015 (English, not Scotts)

"ASDA -- part of the Walmart family."


<http://www.lyngsat.COM/radiochannels/uk/ASDA-FM-Live.html>


Does every ASDA supermarket have a suitably aligned satellite dish?


PS Carpetright is also on the same transponder SID: 101, AudioPID: 1011

[Mark Carver]

J G Miller wrote:

> PS Carpetright is also on the same transponder SID: 101, AudioPID: 1011

Yes, but the sound is a bit woolly.

[Bill Wright]

I've never heard of it. Is 'Smooth' a euphemism for 'bland'?

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Graham. wrote:

> ASDA FM Live makes me smile, as AFAIK, it's only distributed as an
> Internet stream.
>
> I suppose it might have been on an obscure analogue satellite FM
> subcarrier in its early days.
>

Yes it was. I had a mad customer who used to listen to it all day.

Bill

[Mark Carver]

Bill Wright wrote:

> I've never heard of it. Is 'Smooth' a euphemism for 'bland'?

Ah, decide for yourself:-

Sky Ch 0128, Freeview Ch 718, Freesat Ch 732, DAB D1 mux, or nearest to your
part of the world, 97.5 MHz from Eston Nab.

The audio quality down here on 102.2 from Croydon is poor. Not smooth at all,
more like lumpy grit.

[Mike Brown]

On 17/06/2012 18:08, Mark Carver wrote:
> Bill Wright wrote:
>
>> I've never heard of it. Is 'Smooth' a euphemism for 'bland'?
>
> Ah, decide for yourself:-
>
> Sky Ch 0128, Freeview Ch 718, Freesat Ch 732, DAB D1 mux, or nearest
> to your part of the world, 97.5 MHz from Eston Nab.
>
> The audio quality down here on 102.2 from Croydon is poor. Not smooth at
> all, more like lumpy grit.
>

Some radio stations just don't seem to care at all.

--
mb

[Dave Liquorice]

On Sun, 17 Jun 2012 20:43:24 +0100, Mike Brown wrote:

>> The audio quality down here on 102.2 from Croydon is poor. Not
smooth
>> at all, more like lumpy grit.
>
> Some radio stations just don't seem to care at all.

Provided they are pulling in enough advertising revenue to satisfy
the shareholders that is all that matters.

--
Cheers
Dave.