Dig deep! Radio asks taxpayers for blank cheque

Ever tried going mobile with DAB!

DAB is shit, fuck it off! Ever tried going mobile with DAB!

Broadcasting is a hugely expensive thing to do

As someone that has started and run three FM radio stations I can say with some authority that unless you have a cast-iron business model, i.e. it will generate money by simply letting the needles 'wag', forget it!

DAB is a waste of air space!

The service provided on DAB in my area does not have any local stations.

Of the stations that can be heard there are only two I would care to listen to but the audio quality is considerately worse than the FM transmissions.

Even the radio engineers don't bother to monitor DAB

Here in Belfast the DAB signals for Radio Ulster and other local stations frequently disappear or are too distorted to understand. It usually takes hours until someone fixes it (or even a whole weekend a few weeks ago).

I bet the technicians don't even monitor the DAB broadcasts.

DAB = Death of radio as we know it.

Once FM is switched off, and people won't pay the absurd amounts charged for DAB replacements the radio listening public's numbers severely decline.

The audience figures go down, the advertising spending goes down, the number of radio stations go down until eventually all that can be received is the BBC stations.

The BBC decides it's on a hiding to nothing and so withdraws funding from DAB stations' budgets.

Everyone goes over to DVB and/or PMPs.

Poor Whispering Bob retires and the decent music content on the airwaves dies the death.

Useless load of Jodrell that DAB is

But some say it's good in your car? Thing about most cars is they're a bit well ..er...mobile.

If you take your shiny new DAB kit over to say Germany ..zut alors it doesn't work.

Because nobody else on the planet uses the same cruddy DAB that the UK is imposing.

Feckwits. I hope the lack of cash kills this DAB stone dead.

I hear Ford are to install DAB from next year. Why don't they offer a Focus with a steam engine it's just as up to date as DAB.

Internet Radio is the future...that and Garlic Bread of course.

Scrap DAB, use DVB-T

Here's an idea, scrab DAB and build DVB-T (or DVB-T2) radios - a simple two line 40 character display will suffice with auto tuning.

Filter out the video channels and leave just the radio based ones.

Most of that can be handled by a handful of integrated chips.

No real reason why it wouldn't cost much more than a budget set top box.

This way you get your £30-40 radio for the kitchen, but on the way scrap an entire infrastructure and transmission chain.

Cheaper for operators.

Cheaper for listeners.

It would seem DAB is the Betamax to DAB+'s VHS

Except DAB+ is *better* than DAB.

And U&K broadcasters won't admit they got hit with "Early adopter" syndrome. Sure all the receivers would have to be junked but is the modern digital broadcast chain *that* inflexible it could not be upgraded?

I note similarities to the enthusiasm for satellite Vs terrestrial TV in UK and the continent.

UK. Broadcaster develop repeater-station-in-a-suitcase and set up little shed around UK giving c95% coverage?

European broadcasters dream of spewing their dubbed US soaps across the whole continent and buy satellites *despite* the regulatory situation being completely fragmented as there is *no* "FCC" for the whole of Europe.

Britards. These people do not *deserve* your money. Why should they have it?

My Roberts Uno Logic DAB/FM is brilliant

it's DAB+ of course, as I bought it in Switzerland where I'm listening to lots of high quality AAC streaming, comes across from Italy too 'classica', 'pop+', 'retedue'. The NiMH batteries easily cope with the decoding. When I return to the UK I suppose I can use FM.

I asked Robertsradio.co.uk if I could eventually flash (DOWNGRADE!) it to UK DAB and they told me that

"There are no software upgrades available for multi format use. Sets will either be DAB Band 111 format used in the UK or DAB+ used in Australia and Switzerland"

meanwhile a comment on the EU Sirius/XM.

A worldspace 1492MHz based twin satellite system was nearly offered end 2009, ground fill-in repeaters were installed in Sweden, Italy, Germany & Austria, a deal was done to have worldspace car-radios in all FIATs (& Alfas etc) but the company went bust days before launch. Credit crunch? Need some Ubuntu style billionaire to finance the rollout. There's even a spare AfriStar satellite in a garage in Toulouse somewhere...

references? FCC Authorizes WORLDSPACE Subsidiary to Launch AfriStar-2 Satellite http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-04-2006/0004242750&EDATE

and http://www.kingofalltrades.com/2009/12/06/sirius-liberty-worldspace-saga-continues/

(802.11p) I forgot to mention although I use DAB+ at home

I actually listen to LBC via their 3G Android app on my drive to & fro to work along the shores of Lago Maggiore. The 20 minute drive gets me on average 19 minutes of 3G streamed radio, could choose NPR or KQED but the early breakfast show with Steve Allen is often more entertaining. *If* LTE ever gets rolled out into the sticks then I'd have better than 0.95 availability, 3G is just about usable - but I don't want anybody else power-sharing my BTS erp!

Future INTERNET CAR RADIO - lots of widespread EU & USA automotive 4.95 GHz infrastructure is being planned around 802.11p, it's possible to get a retunable 802.11a 5GHz miniPCI wifi card for around €50 from Latvia! and a triple band mag-mount GPS/802.11g/802.11p antenna for another €50 and have a MacMini in-car car-radio type infotainment. start planning now!