As for DAB “only working in urban areas”, I would hardly
describe Tewkesbury as part of an urban sprawl. We do not even have
cable, and all our Internet has to come via BT’s copper pair.
However, as I have already mentioned, I can get reliable reception of
some 74 different UK radio stations via DAB, and some 20,000 worldwide
stations on my Internet radio. No contest!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Reliability is dependant on the reliability of the internet connection. I am surrounded by urban sprawl, my internet comes via fibre, but such is the pressure on the ISP that I lose contact with the server several times a day, so if I was injudiciously using internet radio I would be losing my programs frequently. Anyway, digital radio masquerades as hi-fi but it actually sounds lousy to me!
My internet access at the end of a 2km copper wire with junctions every hundred metres or so is pretty patchy too.
I quite agree with your comments about DAB quality. I have ClassicFM set up on FM and use DAB for Radio4 and 4extra where the rubbish quality doesn’t matter much. I think the whole system is already out of date. Isn’t the rest of Europe on DAB2? The waste involved if switchover goes ahead is unbelievable. We have at least nine radios here (not including the amateur ones). Only one does DAB. The power consumption is also much higher. The whole exercise seems daft to me, but I suppose that is what government is for.
BTW, what is DRM in this context. I thought it was something to do with copyright protection.
Digital Radio Mondiale. It’s a digital modulation method for LW/MW/SW broadcasting. There is another scheme for VHF, DRM+
DAB’s problem is that there is not enough RF spectrum avialable and the CODEC used is very old. The result is that too many stations are being squeezed into too little bandwidth and low bit rate signals are used and hence poorer quality signals than possible. Poorer than the analogue FM it is meant to replace. In audio quality terms it is a backwards step. However, being a hifi freak I’m not in DAB’s target market. (I’m looking at a cheap upgrade on my audio system and about to spend about £5k on amp and speakers) A one time promoter of DAB said (paraphrased) "people who complain about the quality are being stupid, it doesn’t matter that DAB doesn’t sound better, look at all the stations there are. It’s all about choice. "
The majority of DAB receivers sold have no way of having the software for the CODECs updated and so we are stuck with a 20 year old technology with no upgrade path other than buying new. You could say we have 80 year old technology with AM and you’re right. The problem is that the pace of improvement in technology is still advancing and so we should be using “soft” hardware. i.e. Hardware which can be updated in the field so that as and when new schemes come along we can update existing products. The only update path is to update by buying new hardware. If you have committed money already you wont be keen to scrap what you have.
I’d be happy with upgrading all my FM receivers if DAB sounded better than now. But it doesn’t and can’t unless the BBC reduce the number of stations transmitted. That would be admitting they were wrong and hell will freeze over first.
In reply to G8XYJ:
I read all the comments on the Guardian article because they were, on the whole, interesting and occasionally LOL funny. The most memorable was on page 2. It described what happened in the Netherlands when two transmitter sites failed - one was due to a fire. There was no means to tell a large part of the population what was going on. I recall that the Dutch government took the findings of the subsequent investigation on board and are building new long wave transmitter for use in emergencies. I imagine Britain will revert to town criers in such a situation - it’s the sort of fudged response for which we’re famous.
73
David
ps listen out for my special event station GB0WNS on 80/40/20 phone this Saturday taking part in JOTA.
I am old enough to remember the introduction of video-cassette recording systems for use at home in the 1970s. The two main competing systems were Betamax and VHS (there were others). It was always accepted that Betamax was a superior system … but what did we end up with as the standard?
And then there were 8-track audio cartridges a decade earlier. A similar story.
BTW, the high power MW Orfordness transmitter which was formerly used for the BBC World Service on 648 kHz has now been leased by a Dutch radio station to carry its domestic service.
BTW, the high power MW Orfordness transmitter which was formerly used
for the BBC World Service on 648 kHz has now been leased by a Dutch
radio station to carry its domestic service.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Hi Walt,
Things have gone full circle then. When I was a kid I lived a few
miles from Orfordness, and the Dutch station Hilversum on 298 and
402 metres was stronger than most of the BBC stations!
Incidentally, I’m pretty sure that my Economy 7 electric meter is
switched from ‘night to day’ tariff by a signal from Droitwich. Lets hope
that if and when it does shut down, it’s while it is in the low
night time tariff. Not my luck though!
It seems that BBC R4 is the last European LW broadcaster [although ghostly carriers mark the graves of some LW stations - like Radio France and Deutschlandfunk - on their former frequencies]
Listening to the wealth of LW, MW and subsequently SW broadcasts got me into amateur radio. Almost the end of an era for LW and MW broadcasting
The Beeb has been trying to close it for the past decade or more and the only thing that has kept it going for so long is the RTS transmission used for day/night electricity tariff switching. Numerous shutdown deadlines have come and gone so I wouldn’t be surprised if this one follows suit. There is an old RTS teleswitch here at WGV Towers but I haven’t used Economy-7 for several years.
Once R4 LW is QRT, R5Live and Radio Scotland on the MW may remain for a while?
After they are gone, UK countrywide broadcasting falls on the shoulders of a notably complex (and less reliable?) DAB + FM infrastructure.
May be, in due course, 160/80/40m SSB/CW will rise like a ‘Phoenix from the Ashes’ to fill the UK-wide broadcasting void? When I was a lad, Arthur G2MI used to do a fine job on 80m each Sunday morning with the RSGB news. Ham radio stations could become local news-hubs?
What is more, the modern-day equivalent of communicating via ‘fires on hilltops’ is surely just SOTA summit activation?
The proportion of the UK population who listen to linear (‘live’ scheduled) radio (or linear TV for that matter) varies sharply by age. For the majority of under-35s, if they listen to linear radio at all, it’s via digital-only radio stations or via smartphones or internet devices. Their audio consumption is usually streamed or podcasts. It’s the same in most other countries.
The UK’s network of terrestrial transmitters is expensive to run and – as the number of listeners per transmitter site continues to wane – is becoming increasingly unjustifiable to BBC license fee payers and to the profits of commercial stations. As we broadcast-radio-loving oldies die off these broadcasters will face serious financial issues with their terrestrial infrastructure.
Anyone signing the petition to save the BBC R4 LW transmitter is going to be disappointed. I would like to see their justification presented to the relevant board of directors. Arguments about deep-sea fisherman or ex-pats in Europe or electricity-tarriff switching signals or nostalgia just don’t cut it when they can get BBC R4 by other means.
You’re quite right. In my case it’s simply nostalgia for the radio of my childhood. As a kid I was fascinated by the tuning dials on various domestic radios we had. Names like Allouis, Kalundbourg, Leningrad, Droitwich etc. As an engineer I’m fascinated now at the engineering behind high power broadcasting… generating the power from long wave up to the top of UHF BandV TV seems easy compared to designing and building the antennas, maintaining them, getting the right coverage and not interfering with other service areas.
However, sad as it is, people don’t use the service very much so it is difficult to justify. I can see the Droitwich masts coming down obscenely quickly after the service ends and all that lovely land become very desirable tiny UK rabbit hutch sized houses with insufficient space to swing a cat.
And wont someone think of all those home frequency standards locked to Droitwich which in turn is Rubidium locked itself which now need replacing!
LW broadcasting got started in the UK during the mid to late 1920s. One of the motivations for the frequency choice was the good reception possible with the ultimate low-tech ‘net zero’ radio, the crystal set.
Many soon had their piece of Galena (lead sulphide crystal) and cat’s whisker, together with a simple wire antenna up to the curtain rail.
Starting in the 1930’s, Ashes Test Matches (cricket: UK vs Australia) were relayed to the UK, and broadcast live by the BBC on the LW. My Dad, and many others, used to stay up through the long, dark, and cold nights to listen to the exploits of Don Bradman, Bill Woodfull, Douglas Jardine, Harold Larwood and many others
73 Dave
PS It was 1949 before glass-cased Germanium diodes (1N34A etc) for crystal sets, and so forth, came long.
There was a mod to the PW 200kHz based standard in the mid 90s to make it work on 198kHz. It should be possible to mod them to lock to MSF on 60kHz. I’m not sure if you have ever checked MSF but since it moved to Anthorn it’s very loud here. It’s probably strong enough at your QTH that it will power your house lights
I hope that some enterprising/well connected amateur gets the chance to connect their radio to the antenna after shutdown. I’d imagine it’d load up nicely on 136 and 472 kHz. Bit too long for 1.8MHz but it’d bit fun to try it.
I seem to remember a bunch of Dutch amateurs doing this at some shortwave station with a huge antenna array a number of years ago.
