The Reid wrote:
I only take an interest in Hi Fi when my system falls to bits,
which it has.
I'm looking at a Hi Fi mag as I write, it appears to have lots of
tuners and receivers (well not receivers, they seem to be missing
from the listings) that are not DAB. Am I missing something,
isn't analogue being switched off soon? Or did I misunderstand
the news broadcasts of a while ago and FM radio is carrying on
and only analogue TV is due to be switched off?

Analogue FM will be around for a very long time to come. The
Government's intention is to turn off analogue TV, as this will release
several hundred MHz of bandwidth for other things. As most people will
have converted to digital TV by 2010, it won't matter too much if
analogue goes. Turning off FM would only release 20 MHz, and would
****-off thousands of people.

DAB currently provides arguably worse audio quality than FM albeit with
a greater choice of programmes, and this quality is to get worse as more
of the bandwidth is to be used for non-audio purposes as multiplex
operators can make more money that way. The only way to improve matters
is for there to be additional multiplexes installed, but as no-one is
yet making money out of DAB, I can't see that happening anytime soon.

S.