The end of FM broadcasts

[Khane]

i used to work in one of the returns warehouses for argos, and i think the most returned item had to be the DAB radios.

were as most items had maybe 1 or 2 bins, the DAB radios had a whole aisle devoted to them.

and its not that they were broken, almost all of reason for returns stickers had "doesnt recieve stations"

what does that tell you

 

[hamster]

Don't get me wrong, I think the spectrum saving from switching off analogue FM is so piffling to be pointless, and indeed the costs both environmentally and to consumers in replacing FM makes it even more daft an idea.

The only point I was trying to make was that the argument about the age of technology is fairly meaningless.
Any technology is old by the time it reaches mass consumer adoption.

The MP2 codec is not really the obstacle, the serious flaw with DAB is that the bitrate is far too low. After all, NICAM is a hilariously out of date compression scheme, but sounds pretty good because the bitrate is high and little audible information is thrown away.

FM itself uses some really nasty companding techniques, especially in the music stations like R1 etc. R3 is probably best, but as a result you usually have to turn the volume up. The BBC engineers used to joke that the max volume level would be exceeded once a minute on R1, once an hour on R4 and once a day on R3.

 

[gibbleking]

wouldnt it be easier in the long run to set up wifi enabled masts with a heavy subsidy on wifi radios so they arnt too exspensive?norwich has free wifi within 2 miles of city centre im sure something like that would be better....unless the radios got a virus in them and they became our true master radio overlords and forced us to listen to drum n bass non stop with alan "aha "partridge as presenter.

 

[Khane]

wouldnt it be easier in the long run to set up wifi enabled masts with a heavy subsidy on wifi radios so they arnt too exspensive?norwich has free wifi within 2 miles of city centre im sure something like that would be better....unless the radios got a virus in them and they became our true master radio overlords and forced us to listen to drum n bass non stop with alan "aha "partridge as presenter.

sounds like the perfect radio station

 

[hamster]

WiFi has appalling propagation (and so range) so you'd need the whole country forested in masts. Also it requires separate data streams to each receiver. That's the genius of normal broadcast - send once, receiver numbers are unlimited.

AM frequencies are longer wavelength, so can bend over the horizon and don't have problems with shadowing from buildings, hills etc.

 

[gibbleking]

but i like alan partridge....

 

[paulstottuk]

just had another random thought

bye bye bbc world service

 

[legrandefromage]

Not sure how up to date:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/bbc_bitrates.htm


and: hahahahahahah!!!!

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/bitra ... uality.htm





''...President Ahmadinejad is far more likely to become Sir Allen's Apprentice next year than any FM stations being switched off in 2015. Seriously. The main problem they face is getting to a stage where the vast majority of cars are able to receive DAB so that FM stations could be switched off. The Backward Britain Report came up with a 5-point plan to get DAB in more cars, but I'm afraid that the plan is absolutely laughable. For example, point 1 is that all new cars sold should have DAB fitted as standard by 2013, and the other points...''

 

[Russell]

I've heard that the govt is going to run a scheme whereby if you take your FM receiver in to Dixons and can prove that you've owned it for more than 5yrs, they'll give you £50 off a new 'greener' DAB receiver. 'Reddies for radios' I think its called.

 

[legrandefromage]

I've heard that the govt is going to run a scheme whereby if you take your FM receiver in to Dixons and can prove that you've owned it for more than 5yrs, they'll give you £50 off a new 'greener' DAB receiver. 'Reddies for radios' I think its called.

'Dosh for DAB' actually