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DAB Digital Radio
Is there a future for Dab radio in the UK ?
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<blockquote data-quote="william-1" data-source="post: 916331" data-attributes="member: 193781"><p>Worse, the "digital switchover" is all pain with very little gain. The government can't make a profit by flogging off the old radio spectrum, and the current plan is to keep using FM for local radio broadcasting, including community and hospital stations that can't fit on DAB. People are not crying out for more radio stations: they don't listen to most of the ones they already have. And whereas digital TV brought things like HD TV and 3D, DAB doesn't even get you HD radio. The sound quality of the UK's current DAB, with its low bit-rates and obsolete MP2 codec, is worse than FM.</p><p></p><p>Sadly, the UK broadcast radio industry more or less has abandoned the idea of high-fidelity sound, which the BBC did so much to foster. Even your old hi-fi may be too good for stations targeted at small kitchen radios that are either mono or offer very little in the way of stereo separation.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>What to do?</strong></span></p><p>Advertisement</p><p>Prediction is difficult, but it's clear that radio is now and will remain a multi-platform medium. I think FM, DAB, DVB-T (Freeview), Freesat/Sky, cable and internet radio will all be around for the foreseeable future. You can probably add DAB+ to that, because more advanced countries have adopted it and even the BBC is testing it. You may also see DRM/DRM+ (<a href="http://www.drm.org/" target="_blank">Digital Radio Mondiale</a>), since this is developing rapidly and can make good use of old LW/AM/FM spectrum. Basically, DRM brings the digital advantages of DAB plus FM-like sound quality to long-range (ie short wave and medium wave) broadcasting, though <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2009/05/11/digital_medium_wave_report_feature.shtml" target="_blank">interference can be a problem</a>. The BBC World Service has been participating in the development of DRM.</p><p></p><p>The more radio platforms you can use, the greater the range and variety of stations you can receive. This includes "radio like" online stations such as Pandora, Spotify and Last.fm.</p><p></p><p>If you are planning to buy a new radio, you can still buy one that only supports FM or AM/FM. However, it's probably a bit late to buy an FM-only hi-fi tuner like the <a href="http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-3328-quad-elite-fm-tuner.aspx" target="_blank">Quad Elite</a>, in spite of the attractively low price -- only £599.95. (Quad is now owned by a Chinese company, and the Elite looks just like my old Quad 77 system.) If buying either a tuner or a standalone radio, I'd suggest one that supports FM, DAB and DAB+, and preferably internet radio as well. At the moment, there's no reason to look for DRM, though Amazon.co.uk offers a<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-Richards-DRM-27024-Radio/dp/B00A8HOYHA/" target="_blank">Morphy Richards AM/FM/DAB/DRM radio</a>.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>DAB and Freeview</strong></span></p><p>All DAB radios seem to support FM, and a large proportion support DAB+. Indeed, the UK government's guidance, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/minimum-specifications-for-dab-and-dab-personal-and-domestic-digital-radio-receivers-digital-radio-action-plan-report" target="_blank">Minimum specifications for DAB and DAB+ personal and domestic digital radio receivers</a>, published in February 2013, says: "Receivers shall be capable of receiving DAB and DAB+ Digital Radio broadcasts in the frequency range 174 to 240MHz". It's worth having because the BBC can't switch to DAB+ if most of us own radios that don't support it. Whether your radio will last long enough to receive DAB+ is another matter.</p><p></p><p>If you can buy a tuner or FM/DAB/DAB+ radio with RCA-out sockets, that would be even better. RCA/phono plugs make much more reliable connections than audio-jacks. For people who have decent DAB reception, something like a <a href="http://revo.co.uk/shop/mondo-dab/" target="_blank">Revo Mondo DAB tuner </a>is a relatively cheap (£69.95) way of adding FM/DAB/DAB+ to an old hi-fi.</p><p></p><p>If you live in an area with good Freeview reception, then you can feed an audio signal to your hi-fi, preferably using 2 x RCA/phono sockets. People with newer hi-fis may be able to use a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSlink" target="_blank">TOSlink</a> cable instead. Freeview provides more than 30 radio stations so you will probably find some new ones. It helps if the Freeview tuner has a channel read-out on the front, so you can select radio stations without having the TV switched on. If you can't get Freeview then a Freesat set-top box -- plus satellite dish -- is an alternative.</p><p></p><p>Freeview and Freesat generally provide radio with higher bit-rates -- typically 192kbps vs 128kbps or less -- and therefore tend to sound better than DAB. However, bit-rates vary, and there is no guarantee that they will stay the same. The trend in both audio and video broadcasting is to keep reducing the quality of existing channels to add more rubbish that hardly anyone wants.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Internet radio</strong></span></p><p>Internet radio offers by far the widest choice -- tens of thousands of stations -- and the most variable sound quality. But it can offer better sound quality, for two reasons. First, the bandwidth is not limited by broadcast requirements, and the BBC is streaming Radio 3 at 320kbps. Second, even if internet stations have the same bit-rate, they use much more efficient codecs. The 320kbps Radio 3 stream is encoded using AAC (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding" target="_blank">Advanced Audio Coding</a>) rather than MP2. Technically, it’s better than FM.</p><p></p><p>Of course, this assumes that the audio stream has not gone through earlier stages at lower quality. For example, if you convert a 64kbps mono MP2 signal into 128kbps AAC, it's not going to sound better. Also, the playback system has to be capable of exploiting the difference. You may not hear the difference between MP2 and AAC on a cheap kitchen radio, but you should hear it on good quality headphones.</p><p></p><p>Internet bandwidth is growing rapidly, and Ofcom says that the average UK broadband speed grew from 3.6Mbps in November 2008 to 17.8Mbps in November 2013. The average "urban broadband" speed is already 31.9Mbps. Advances are driven by online TV and movie services, and radio's need for bandwidth is relatively trivial. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/internet" target="_blank">Internet</a> radio stations can now stream studio-quality recordings, if they want.</p><p></p><p>The drawback with internet radio is that it doesn't really meet the need for mobile or in-car listening. The latter accounts for about a fifth of UK radio listening. You can use a 3G phone in urban areas, but the signal is not completely reliable, and this consumes expensive mobile bandwidth that is in short supply. (The UK has not adopted the long-range <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX" target="_blank">WiMax </a>version of Wi-Fi that solves this problem.) Unless systems like Apple's CarPlay replace radio, we'll still need good old-fashioned broadcasting.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Aerials matter</strong></span></p><p>If, as you say, "finance is a major consideration", then don't do anything until you're forced to. DAB/DAB+ radios are unlikely to get more expensive, and you may get better 4G/5G/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Multimedia_Broadcasting" target="_blank">DMB</a> options later.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="william-1, post: 916331, member: 193781"] Worse, the "digital switchover" is all pain with very little gain. The government can't make a profit by flogging off the old radio spectrum, and the current plan is to keep using FM for local radio broadcasting, including community and hospital stations that can't fit on DAB. People are not crying out for more radio stations: they don't listen to most of the ones they already have. And whereas digital TV brought things like HD TV and 3D, DAB doesn't even get you HD radio. The sound quality of the UK's current DAB, with its low bit-rates and obsolete MP2 codec, is worse than FM. Sadly, the UK broadcast radio industry more or less has abandoned the idea of high-fidelity sound, which the BBC did so much to foster. Even your old hi-fi may be too good for stations targeted at small kitchen radios that are either mono or offer very little in the way of stereo separation. [SIZE=5][B]What to do?[/B][/SIZE] Advertisement Prediction is difficult, but it's clear that radio is now and will remain a multi-platform medium. I think FM, DAB, DVB-T (Freeview), Freesat/Sky, cable and internet radio will all be around for the foreseeable future. You can probably add DAB+ to that, because more advanced countries have adopted it and even the BBC is testing it. You may also see DRM/DRM+ ([URL='http://www.drm.org/']Digital Radio Mondiale[/URL]), since this is developing rapidly and can make good use of old LW/AM/FM spectrum. Basically, DRM brings the digital advantages of DAB plus FM-like sound quality to long-range (ie short wave and medium wave) broadcasting, though [URL='http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2009/05/11/digital_medium_wave_report_feature.shtml']interference can be a problem[/URL]. The BBC World Service has been participating in the development of DRM. The more radio platforms you can use, the greater the range and variety of stations you can receive. This includes "radio like" online stations such as Pandora, Spotify and Last.fm. If you are planning to buy a new radio, you can still buy one that only supports FM or AM/FM. However, it's probably a bit late to buy an FM-only hi-fi tuner like the [URL='http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-3328-quad-elite-fm-tuner.aspx']Quad Elite[/URL], in spite of the attractively low price -- only £599.95. (Quad is now owned by a Chinese company, and the Elite looks just like my old Quad 77 system.) If buying either a tuner or a standalone radio, I'd suggest one that supports FM, DAB and DAB+, and preferably internet radio as well. At the moment, there's no reason to look for DRM, though Amazon.co.uk offers a[URL='http://www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-Richards-DRM-27024-Radio/dp/B00A8HOYHA/']Morphy Richards AM/FM/DAB/DRM radio[/URL]. [SIZE=5][B]DAB and Freeview[/B][/SIZE] All DAB radios seem to support FM, and a large proportion support DAB+. Indeed, the UK government's guidance, [URL='https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/minimum-specifications-for-dab-and-dab-personal-and-domestic-digital-radio-receivers-digital-radio-action-plan-report']Minimum specifications for DAB and DAB+ personal and domestic digital radio receivers[/URL], published in February 2013, says: "Receivers shall be capable of receiving DAB and DAB+ Digital Radio broadcasts in the frequency range 174 to 240MHz". It's worth having because the BBC can't switch to DAB+ if most of us own radios that don't support it. Whether your radio will last long enough to receive DAB+ is another matter. If you can buy a tuner or FM/DAB/DAB+ radio with RCA-out sockets, that would be even better. RCA/phono plugs make much more reliable connections than audio-jacks. For people who have decent DAB reception, something like a [URL='http://revo.co.uk/shop/mondo-dab/']Revo Mondo DAB tuner [/URL]is a relatively cheap (£69.95) way of adding FM/DAB/DAB+ to an old hi-fi. If you live in an area with good Freeview reception, then you can feed an audio signal to your hi-fi, preferably using 2 x RCA/phono sockets. People with newer hi-fis may be able to use a [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSlink']TOSlink[/URL] cable instead. Freeview provides more than 30 radio stations so you will probably find some new ones. It helps if the Freeview tuner has a channel read-out on the front, so you can select radio stations without having the TV switched on. If you can't get Freeview then a Freesat set-top box -- plus satellite dish -- is an alternative. Freeview and Freesat generally provide radio with higher bit-rates -- typically 192kbps vs 128kbps or less -- and therefore tend to sound better than DAB. However, bit-rates vary, and there is no guarantee that they will stay the same. The trend in both audio and video broadcasting is to keep reducing the quality of existing channels to add more rubbish that hardly anyone wants. [SIZE=5][B]Internet radio[/B][/SIZE] Internet radio offers by far the widest choice -- tens of thousands of stations -- and the most variable sound quality. But it can offer better sound quality, for two reasons. First, the bandwidth is not limited by broadcast requirements, and the BBC is streaming Radio 3 at 320kbps. Second, even if internet stations have the same bit-rate, they use much more efficient codecs. The 320kbps Radio 3 stream is encoded using AAC ([URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding']Advanced Audio Coding[/URL]) rather than MP2. Technically, it’s better than FM. Of course, this assumes that the audio stream has not gone through earlier stages at lower quality. For example, if you convert a 64kbps mono MP2 signal into 128kbps AAC, it's not going to sound better. Also, the playback system has to be capable of exploiting the difference. You may not hear the difference between MP2 and AAC on a cheap kitchen radio, but you should hear it on good quality headphones. Internet bandwidth is growing rapidly, and Ofcom says that the average UK broadband speed grew from 3.6Mbps in November 2008 to 17.8Mbps in November 2013. The average "urban broadband" speed is already 31.9Mbps. Advances are driven by online TV and movie services, and radio's need for bandwidth is relatively trivial. [URL='http://www.theguardian.com/technology/internet']Internet[/URL] radio stations can now stream studio-quality recordings, if they want. The drawback with internet radio is that it doesn't really meet the need for mobile or in-car listening. The latter accounts for about a fifth of UK radio listening. You can use a 3G phone in urban areas, but the signal is not completely reliable, and this consumes expensive mobile bandwidth that is in short supply. (The UK has not adopted the long-range [URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX']WiMax [/URL]version of Wi-Fi that solves this problem.) Unless systems like Apple's CarPlay replace radio, we'll still need good old-fashioned broadcasting. [SIZE=5][B]Aerials matter[/B][/SIZE] If, as you say, "finance is a major consideration", then don't do anything until you're forced to. DAB/DAB+ radios are unlikely to get more expensive, and you may get better 4G/5G/[URL='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Multimedia_Broadcasting']DMB[/URL] options later. [/QUOTE]
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Is there a future for Dab radio in the UK ?
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