DAB changes coming due to switching to DAB+

Box Brownie

Box Brownie

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Hi all

We have a perfectly fine Pure Evoke 1S but having read that one heck of lot of stations are going DAB+ from DAB I looked into it and our radio cannot be (software) updated.

OK I accept that in the earlier days of DAB they could not 'design in' some aspects of future proofing BUT there will be a lot of DAB Radio owners who will find (from sometime in, was it Jan 2024 or June 2024) that they have lost almost all of their stations. :headbang:

Those that can justify buying a new one will be throwing the old ones into the WEE waste....none too good for all parties concerned :(

Grrrr!!!! :mad:
 
DemiLion said:
Slightly more concerning for those of us with an OEM DAB in the car!

No idea if mine is DAB+ compatible or not.
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A good point will have to check that in my 69 plate Ford?
 
DemiLion said:
Slightly more concerning for those of us with an OEM DAB in the car!

No idea if mine is DAB+ compatible or not.
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Mine definitely is not, 59 vw. Even If an upgrade VW unit exists I suspect a b8 Passat may prove to be a more cost effective way!

So looks like a phone + audio cable is the only intermediate solution. FM is just dann noisy out in the countryside to be of any use at all. Prefer the TDI engine noise to that
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Mine definitely is not, 59 vw. Even If an upgrade VW unit exists I suspect a b8 Passat may prove to be a more cost effective way!

So looks like a phone + audio cable is the only intermediate solution. FM is just dann noisy out in the countryside to be of any use at all. Prefer the TDI engine noise to that
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Must be about 10 years ago, when they were trying to convince people DAB was the way to go, they reduced the transmitter output of many/most FM transmitters, just to prove DAB was better.
We have never been able to get DAB unless you put the receiver on the windowsill, and then you end up with pops and gurgles.

Gave up, gave one fancy one to my cousin, put another in the staff room at work, and binned another.

About 5 years ago I bought several Roberts RM33s and refurbished them, including custom front panels and refinishing the woodwork.

Now we have decent FM in every room we want it, and when you walk round the house with several playing, the sound is all in sync, try that with DAB :)

Would point out that those who still watch terrestrial TV all have to have aerial masts extending 10' above the roof tops.
Then in certain areas of the city, you get a huge vertical band down the middle of the screen due to reflections from Rugby Cement.

All very third world round here :)
 
Having looked.......I have been using FM all this time but drilling into the menus I found DAB but not whether it is DAB+ compatible.

I will have explore DAB on it and see what happens!

@Faldrax can you please say which station you know that has switched already to DAB+ ?
 
Upgrading to dab+ may be actually a futile effort. Soon everything will be on 5g, then 6g or fibre cable. Radio, TV, everything. Just like all data and charger plugs now have to be usb-c
 
Box Brownie said:
Having looked.......I have been using FM all this time but drilling into the menus I found DAB but not whether it is DAB+ compatible.

I will have explore DAB on it and see what happens!

@Faldrax can you please say which station you know that has switched already to DAB+ ?
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Planet Rock, they switched in October.
 
I'm still gutted BBC Radio 4 Longwave is shutting down never mind DAB ! It will kill the last use for my vintage radios. I think this technology is becoming waste faster and faster. My landline Rotary dial Phone will fail soon due to going over to digital voice, their shutting down 3g in my village which will kill any of the mobile phones I have + my back up internet connection ( 4g is terrible here due to the terrain and the construction of my house and 5g will be worse when and if it ever arrives. But worst of all is I'm a total skinflint and prefer to spend my money on fun things !
 
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LongLensPhotography said:
Upgrading to dab+ may be actually a futile effort. Soon everything will be on 5g, then 6g or fibre cable. Radio, TV, everything. Just like all data and charger plugs now have to be usb-c
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Time marches on.......

It is keeping up that is challenging, though in the case of the 'connected world' I surmise there is always a fiscal & technology drag on the rate of uptake across all demographic groups.
Faldrax said:
Planet Rock, they switched in October.
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Thanks I will try to find that as a reference station to confirm the car can get DAB+
BADGER.BRAD said:
I'm still gutted BBC Radio 4 Longwave is shutting down never mind DAB ! It will kill the last use for my vintage radios. I think this technology is becoming waste faster and faster. My landline Rotary dial Phone will fail soon due to going over to digital voice, their shutting down 3g in my village which will kill any of the mobile phones I have + my back up internet connection ( 4g is terrible here due to the terrain and the construction of my house and 5g will be worse when and if it ever arrives. But worst of all is I'm a total skinflint and prefer to spend my money on fun things !
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As above "time marches on" and not always it seems for the best!
 
Sangoma said:
Must be about 10 years ago, when they were trying to convince people DAB was the way to go, they reduced the transmitter output of many/most FM transmitters, just to prove DAB was better.
We have never been able to get DAB unless you put the receiver on the windowsill, and then you end up with pops and gurgles.

Gave up, gave one fancy one to my cousin, put another in the staff room at work, and binned another.

About 5 years ago I bought several Roberts RM33s and refurbished them, including custom front panels and refinishing the woodwork.

Now we have decent FM in every room we want it, and when you walk round the house with several playing, the sound is all in sync, try that with DAB :)

Would point out that those who still watch terrestrial TV all have to have aerial masts extending 10' above the roof tops.
Then in certain areas of the city, you get a huge vertical band down the middle of the screen due to reflections from Rugby Cement.

All very third world round here :)
Click to expand...
I must be in the nice bit of town, as still get good terrestrial TV signal. Not that we watch it much.

I can’t say I had any issues when I lived in Rugby, and could see the cement works from my kitchen window.

This photo wasn’t taken from my kitchen window, but approached out of the blue a few years back by someone wanting to buy a print!

https://flic.kr/p/dMKwDB
View: https://flic.kr/p/dMKwDB
 
Craikeybaby said:
I must be in the nice bit of town, as still get good terrestrial TV signal. Not that we watch it much.

I can’t say I had any issues when I lived in Rugby, and could see the cement works from my kitchen window.

This photo wasn’t taken from my kitchen window, but approached out of the blue a few years back by someone wanting to buy a print!

https://flic.kr/p/dMKwDB
View: https://flic.kr/p/dMKwDB
Click to expand...


The ghosting from Rugby Cement was when we were in Stivichall, now in Whoberley, certainly not an up market area :)

For the last 21 years we have not had a TV antenna up, only satellite and cable, and for the last 12 years we have not had a TV service at all, just Netflix.

We still use FM radio a lot, or internet streaming from overseas FM stations.

Local radio here of any type is a waste of time, most is not really local, just part of national networks with set and restrictive slots for anything local.
A good example of how useless it is is traffic news, after you get stuck for two hours, you will get an announcement warning you of it :)

DAB won't help that, likely make it worse.

On a plus note though, maybe it will ease the way for small local low power community stations on FM, so may be it will bring an improvement :)
 
I am also in Whoberley - not upmarket, but a nice area.
 
AFAICS the Beeb has not announced any plans to change to DAB+. I did find a list of stations that have changed, quite lot it seems.
 
ChrisR said:
AFAICS the Beeb has not announced any plans to change to DAB+. I did find a list of stations that have changed, quite lot it seems.
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Yes, the Beeb only likely ones left on DAB according to the Pure Audio support reply I received :(
 
The only DAB I listen to is R6Music - in the car, so it looks like I'll be OK!
 
Faldrax said:
Planet Rock, they switched in October.
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Yes, caught me out on the DAN radio in my bathroom, I thought they'd just closed down but a quick search and it was back. For some reason, the DAB in my 2017 Skoda seems to have adapted by itself as I can still listen to Planet Rock and I haven't done anything to it.
 
The quality of most DAB stuff is awful, so much compression, many sites are actually mono or 64k stereo at best our EU friends have been enjoying DAB+ for years but even that is pretty grim. Much better using higher quality internet radio
 
ShinySideUp said:
Yes, caught me out on the DAN radio in my bathroom, I thought they'd just closed down but a quick search and it was back. For some reason, the DAB in my 2017 Skoda seems to have adapted by itself as I can still listen to Planet Rock and I haven't done anything to it.
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My car did the same - it's a 14 plate, so when they started to advertise the switch I was wondering if I was going to lose it, but all that happened was the name displayed added an 'S' (since it's now in stereo).
 
Car is fine as I‘ve recently put in a new head unit because of screen deterioration. In the house we’ve never had any form of DSB - even FM was almost unattainable. So we’ve gone internet radio via Echo Dots around the house. I’m not an audiophile so the quality is good enough.
 
Stephen L said:
Car is fine as I‘ve recently put in a new head unit because of screen deterioration. In the house we’ve never had any form of DSB - even FM was almost unattainable. So we’ve gone internet radio via Echo Dots around the house. I’m not an audiophile so the quality is good enough.
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The echo dots pull from an internet source that does have very poor quality most of the time.

check out a windows app called Radiosure , this all allows you to see the quality of the streams

RadioSure powered by Radio-Browser !

www.radiosure.fr www.radiosure.fr
 
Is internet radio an option at least for home use?

A former GF of mine a few years back bought a couple although I suppose these days you can use a phone or tablet and stream it somehow?
 
Stephen L said:
Car is fine as I‘ve recently put in a new head unit because of screen deterioration. In the house we’ve never had any form of DSB - even FM was almost unattainable. So we’ve gone internet radio via Echo Dots around the house. I’m not an audiophile so the quality is good enough.
Click to expand...

best thing to do is buy a budget set of blutooth speakers and pair them with your echo dot works a treat like these

 
woof woof said:
Is internet radio an option at least for home use?

A former GF of mine a few years back bought a couple although I suppose these days you can use a phone or tablet and stream it somehow?
Click to expand...
We have a few Roberts 93i Streams and they are very good, pricey
i just need to find out if they will do DAB+ although we really only use them for internet radio
 
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