DAB radio

[richardmorris]

Hello all. I have just bought a slightly used pure dab car radio from the ex editor of the ccc magazine. Had it fitted to his wife's pluriel before realising that the original Citroen radio controlled the display computer.

 

It's going in the merc, but I need to decide what aerial is best. I favour the splitter option to avoid sticking things to the windscreen, but would like to know what anyone has done themselves.

 

Ps for true living on the edge of will it won't it start larks, Chris has a c6 and Anna the pluriel!

[Keymaster]

Ive got the windscreen stick ons in my car and van, easy to fit & they do the job pretty well.

[I_am_Diesel]

Is DAB any good in cars?

[spike60]

Is a DAB still called a 'wireless'?

[tooSavvy]

I a D....

 

^^^ NO!!*

 

*I refer the honourable gentleman to comments heard on the 'Media Show' (R4)  

http://www.techradar.com/news/car-tech/why-dab-radio-in-the-uk-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it-1217586

 

TS

[richardmorris]

Well it's worth a try - my fm reception for classic fm is terrible and radio5 disappears from MW when it gets dark.

[Richard]

I've always gone for the splitter option on the cars my DAB has been fitted to over the past decade. And by splitter I mean I've soldered a wire between the two antenna sockets inside the radio. It works best if the antenna is a decent length and it doesn't really work at all if the aerial is amplified.

[Noel Tidybeard]

dab seems to be ok in thr works poojoe but not so great with the in-phase thing i got for my car- seemingly the only type of this kind of unit without the ability to change/upgrade the aerial, arsebiscuits

[Micrashed]

In car DAB the Autoshite way:

or

Velcroed to the dashboard with the aerial extended passenger side wards, powered from the fag lighter socket.

 

Works a treat.

[richardmorris]

Went for a screen aerial in the end- guaranteed reception one from www.dabonwheels.co.uk. Just finished wiring it all in and so far it's perfect.

[PhilA]

Odd that radio 5 disappears at night- MW is a night-time band. Here during the day the same band is terrible, yet at night I'll routinely pick up Chicago or Nashville (about 1400-1700 miles away).

Local AM station runs at 5kW daytime, 250W night, and the night broadcast stamps on everything around it.

 

Also, reception doesn't usually depend on the length of the antenna, more the impedance. The length from the base plane becomes important when you are broadcasting, like with a CB antenna.

 

Wish the UK had decent satellite broadcast of radio, it's so much less hassle than terrestrial broadcast.

 

Phil

[twosmoke300]

Well it's worth a try - my fm reception for classic fm is terrible and radio5 disappears from MW when it gets dark.

Really ? Down in Cornwall you seem to find classic FM between every station.

[Micrashed]

Atlantic 252, used to shut down at 7pm IIRC due to drowning out everything for miles around

[Pillock]

Whenever we went anywhere new as a kid, I'd have a little pocket radio and I'd make a list of all the radio stations I could pick up - tune, wait for an ident, write it down, repeat. Kept me quiet for hours, and yeah at night there'd be loads of foreign people talking on the AM bands, but not FM. I do remember finding a mysterious FM station that just had birds tweeting all day - turned out to be the Classic FM holding broadcast before they started, so reception could be checked I imagine.

 

RDS ruined my childhood.

[Andrew353w]

I've had a JVC DAB radio (& CD player) in my car for years and it's fantastic! The only problem (and it's not really a problem..) I've had is when driving in hilly areas the radio automatically changes from the FM to the DAB signal, depending on which one is stronger; this gives some "strange" breaks in transmission, with the voices jumping back & forth! 

 

My ariel is a roof-mounted one, fitted in the same place as the original one was, just above the inside mirror. The ariel is a joint one, with the FM one wound around the DAB central element. The radio has 2 inputs for 2 different signals.

[richardmorris]

Really ? Down in Cornwall you seem to find classic FM between every station.

You must have classic fms sole transmitter:-)

It's terrible in Surrey- not helped I admit by the now replaced Sony cassette deck in the merc not locking on to weak signals.

A quick drive to work in the car this afternoon and it didn't loose dab signal at all on 4xtra, classic fm or r4. Success!

[forddeliveryboy]

R4 LW is the autoshiter's choice. You don't have to retune every few miles or turn up the volume as much when you go above the speed limit.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I need to get one of these DAB aerials for mine actually, might copy your idea RM

[richardmorris]

I need to get one of these DAB aerials for mine actually, might copy your idea RM

This is the one I went for http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/High_Performance_Internal_Glass_Mount_DAB_car_Aerial.html

 

Came with a very detailed set of instructions.

[Pillock]

I've had a JVC DAB radio (& CD player) in my car for years and it's fantastic! The only problem (and it's not really a problem..) I've had is when driving in hilly areas the radio automatically changes from the FM to the DAB signal, depending on which one is stronger; this gives some "strange" breaks in transmission, with the voices jumping back & forth! 

 

 

This is normally turn-offable in the menus, all the cars I've had with DAB radio have had an option for something like "FM-DAB station following" which is usually enabled, and does exactly that.

[UltraWomble]

 

Wish the UK had decent satellite broadcast of radio, it's so much less hassle than terrestrial broadcast.

 

Phil

Interweb Radio - its FTW!

 

Obv if you have a limited bandwidth it can eat it fairly rapidly ( but with three kids in the house Ive got an "as much as you can eat" interweb package) 0 I have the Roberts Stream 63i and believe me there is some weird shit out there in internet radioland. I personally love listening to 1940's news and music radio.

[brickwall]

Cannae get DAB up my way. Barely get council radio as it is.

[Lacquer Peel]

Is there a shiter's option for a Bluetooth/DAB head unit?

[Shep Shepherd]

^

One of these is a good option for getting in-car DAB without having to buy a new head unit; you can find them pretty cheaply on eBay, as they are no longer made:

 

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/purehighway.html

 

I have one, which I have used in the Volvos on and off for a number of years.

[forddeliveryboy]

Is there a shiter's option for a Bluetooth/DAB head unit?

 

 

[forddeliveryboy]

plus this connected to a bluetooth device if it's essential

 

[mrcitroen]

What luxury all ths FM and DAB nonsense. I am quite happy* to make do with barely audible MW and LW from my decadent Blupunkt Hamburg feeding a single speaker in my GS.

[robinmasters]

...I do remember finding a mysterious FM station that just had birds tweeting all day - turned out to be the Classic FM holding broadcast before they started, so reception could be checked I imagine...

I 'discovered' that as a teenager, a number of times. Always did it when I was full of chemicals, and for a long time believed I'd imagined it.

[Richard]

It made a comeback a couple of years ago as a placeholder for one of the DAB stations. I used to listen to the FM version so much that I could be certain the DAB version was the same tape.

[richardmorris]

It made a comeback a couple of years ago as a placeholder for one of the DAB stations. I used to listen to the FM version so much that I could be certain the DAB version was the same tape.

 

 

Yep, "Birdsong". Very popular it was too.

 

Wikipedia says...

Birdsong was a temporary radio channel[1] which used to broadcast on national digital radio in the United Kingdom. The transmission consisted of a continuously looping recording of bird song. It was available via the Digital One DAB network. The recording is also available via the Digital One website[1] until Autumn 2009 and the RadioBirdsong website [1].[2] Originally starting out as a test signal on analogue radio back in 1992[3] and then later broadcast on digital radio from 2003 to 2005, the channel gained regular listeners, who complained when it was taken off-air.[4] In 2008-2009, the broadcast again existed as a 'filler' transmission until a commercially operated radio station, Amazing Radio, replaced it on 1 June 2009.[5][6]

 

"Birdsong".

The recording[edit]

The dawn birdsong was recorded in autumn of 1991, on the edge of Salisbury Plain in the Wiltshire garden of Quentin Howard, the chairman of Digital One.[8] The tape was originally made for an amateur dramatics production of When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, which was in need of countryside sound effects, and was first heard on-air during test transmissions between July and September 1992 prior to the launch of Classic FM.[8] It has featured in a number of TV and radio reports including BBC Countryfile in 2008 and on BBC Breakfast TV.[9] [2]

Reception[edit]

Some listeners have found the recording a relaxing alternative to other stations.[3] However, other listeners have been annoyed by the sounds of crows crowing and gunshot-like sounds of wood cracking, as it expands in the morning sun.[3] Several myths have appeared about some of the sounds heard in the recording, which are explained on the Radio Birdsong website.[10] One listener was able to identify at least twelve distinct species of bird in the recording.[3]

Listeners complained when transmission ceased in 2005.[4] In 2008, the transmission was reported in the press as gaining more attention than the spoken-word programming of Oneword,[11] and even of attracting half a million listeners.[12][13]

Closure[edit]

In 2009, Glyn Jones, acting chief executive of Digital One stated that "Birdsong has been more popular with journalists than real listeners", pointing out that there was never any real evidence for the figure of half a million listeners.[2] Nevertheless he undertook to keep it on air until a permanent commercial channel was established on the frequency.[13] Quentin Howard was quoted in several newspaper articles, including The Guardian,[14] that he did not know why "the birds have been killed", but he suspected it might be to create publicity for the new channel." [3]. Also quoted in the Daily Mail,[15] "It's always difficult to know exactly how popular, but judging by the emails and letters from people, it really caught the imagination, like many quirky things the British public like" [4]. This article also says that Discworld author Sir Terry Pratchett is a keen listener to Radio Birdsong.

Birdsong was removed from the Digital One multiplex at 23:59:59 on Sunday 31 May 2009 to allow for the launch of Amazing Radio.[5][6] The original birdsong recording used by Classic FM and Digital One continues to be available on-line via the Digital One website and from the official Radio Birdsong website [5]

Birdsong Radio made a temporary return to digital radio in January 2014 after Jazz FM ceased broadcasting on the Digital One platform, before LBC began airing nationally from 11 February.[16]