Hi,
Looking for a DAB radio to leave in the bathroom! Main problem is
reception - it seems to be a weak signal - so sensitivity is an issue. Also
must run on batteries so battery life is a consideration. Does not need any
fancy features - radios 3 and 4!

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Gordon

"Gordon MacPherson" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Looking for a DAB radio to leave in the bathroom! Main problem is
reception - it seems to be a weak signal - so sensitivity is an issue.
Also must run on batteries so battery life is a consideration. Does not
need any fancy features - radios 3 and 4!

Any ideas?

If you only want R3 and R4 does it need to be DAB? It'll be a lot easier to
find an FM radio to suit your requirement.

David.

In article , Gordon MacPherson gordon.macph
scribeth thus
Hi,
Looking for a DAB radio to leave in the bathroom! Main problem is
reception - it seems to be a weak signal - so sensitivity is an issue. Also
must run on batteries so battery life is a consideration. Does not need any
fancy features - radios 3 and 4!

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Gordon



If thats all you need and the claimed perfick DAB reception isn't up to
it then why bother with DAB?. If you follow most any DAB forum apart
from poor audio quality, OK not that much of a problem for a bathroom
radio, the biggest gripe is power consumption and hence battery life!..

Interesting that your posting from an ox.ac.uk mail addy and if you are
in Oxford there is a main TX at Beckley radiating 10 kW on DAB just to
the North of the town;!...

Get an FM one, will be around for quite sometime as yet!....
--
Tony Sayer

In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
If thats all you need and the claimed perfick DAB reception isn't up to
it then why bother with DAB?. If you follow most any DAB forum apart
from poor audio quality, OK not that much of a problem for a bathroom
radio, the biggest gripe is power consumption and hence battery life!..

R3 uses a higher data rate than any other and is likely to sound just
fine. As will R4 being mainly speech.
I also wonder just how many would notice the other stations low data rate
on a portable. My guess is very, very few. Especially in a blind test. ;-)

--
*Save the whale - I'll have it for my supper*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
If thats all you need and the claimed perfick DAB reception isn't up to
it then why bother with DAB?. If you follow most any DAB forum apart
from poor audio quality, OK not that much of a problem for a bathroom
radio, the biggest gripe is power consumption and hence battery life!..

R3 uses a higher data rate than any other and is likely to sound just
fine. As will R4 being mainly speech.
I also wonder just how many would notice the other stations low data rate
on a portable. My guess is very, very few. Especially in a blind test. ;-)


Thats about all its good for portable listening, provided you've got the
battery belt to go with it;!...
--
Tony Sayer

You can quite plainly hear the gritty digital sound on mono stations like
talk sport and lbc, the medium wave relay, not so much the fm relay on dab.

Also, some of the mono stations which carry music are sounding decidedly
naff. bbc 7 is still in mono it appears and increasingly so is r4. These
obviously prove the fact that bandwidth is a problem. they obviously did
not take heed of that universal law about junk expanding to fill any vacant
space. Its as true with data and bandwidth, unfortunately.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
If thats all you need and the claimed perfick DAB reception isn't up to
it then why bother with DAB?. If you follow most any DAB forum apart
from poor audio quality, OK not that much of a problem for a bathroom
radio, the biggest gripe is power consumption and hence battery life!..

R3 uses a higher data rate than any other and is likely to sound just
fine. As will R4 being mainly speech.
I also wonder just how many would notice the other stations low data rate
on a portable. My guess is very, very few. Especially in a blind test. ;-)


Thats about all its good for portable listening, provided you've got the
battery belt to go with it;!...
--
Tony Sayer

In article , Brian Gaff
wrote:
You can quite plainly hear the gritty digital sound on mono stations
like talk sport and lbc, the medium wave relay, not so much the fm
relay on dab.

Also, some of the mono stations which carry music are sounding
decidedly naff. bbc 7 is still in mono it appears and increasingly so
is r4. These obviously prove the fact that bandwidth is a problem.
they obviously did not take heed of that universal law about junk
expanding to fill any vacant space. Its as true with data and
bandwidth, unfortunately.

Perhaps a confusion between *data* 'bandwidth' and *frequency* 'bandwidth'
lead to some mistaken deductions at an earlier point... Shame that when
'digital' met 'audio' many terms - e.g. 'bandwidth' and 'compression' -
that had quite different meanings came together.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

I tell people that for portables in good signal areas the main drawback of
dab is still that they use a lot of current. This seems to be a problem they
cannot solve. Surely someone out there can make a chip that is economic on
power. what is the problem exactly?
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
If thats all you need and the claimed perfick DAB reception isn't up to
it then why bother with DAB?. If you follow most any DAB forum apart
from poor audio quality, OK not that much of a problem for a bathroom
radio, the biggest gripe is power consumption and hence battery life!..

R3 uses a higher data rate than any other and is likely to sound just
fine. As will R4 being mainly speech.
I also wonder just how many would notice the other stations low data rate
on a portable. My guess is very, very few. Especially in a blind test. ;-)

--
*Save the whale - I'll have it for my supper*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Gordon MacPherson wrote:
Hi, Looking for a DAB radio to leave in the bathroom! Main problem is
reception - it seems to be a weak signal - so sensitivity is an issue.
Also must run on batteries so battery life is a consideration. Does not
need any fancy features - radios 3 and 4!

Any ideas?

DAB tends to be much heavier on batteries than analogue due to the
processing involved. If battery life is important FM would be a better
choice. If you're worried about it being switched off I'm willing to bet
this simply won't happen in the foreseeable future. Too many cars without
it - and no signs of it being fitted to new ones.

--
*With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote

If you're worried about it being switched off I'm willing to bet
this simply won't happen in the foreseeable future. Too many cars without
it - and no signs of it being fitted to new ones.


Agreed. The new government has abandoned the 2015 date for analogue
switch-off that the previous one had set, and is now simply talking about
switching off analogue when the majority of listeners have switched to
digital. That won't be in 2015, probably not by 2025.

It seems to me that DAB has simply failed to make the grade. I wouldn't mind
betting that FM will outlast DAB!

David.