Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

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Tigersaw
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Tigersaw »

You cant just turn off MW and LW, its an international band and used all over the world. Also it probably would be little use for anything else.
I wouldn't miss FM, but as for DAB, it sounds so sh1t I think that should go first.
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Clipper »

Tigersaw wrote:You cant just turn off MW and LW, its an international band and used all over the world. Also it probably would be little use for anything else.
I wouldn't miss FM, but as for DAB, it sounds so sh1t I think that should go first.
lol!

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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by pete_uk »

Nothing wrong with DAB...

Apart from the coverage. Pumping a few more watts into some transmitters would help
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by LeakyFeeder »

FakeJake wrote:I would agree that it makes sense for LW and MW to go before FM. I don't know anyone that listens to those bands any more.
I do... 5live on DAB is crap in the car... In an out like fiddlers elbow and it sounds very poor in comparison to aft midnight when 5live usually migrates to local BBC FM slots...
MW all the way until DAB quality n coverage improves
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Windy_Miller »

FakeJake wrote:I would agree that it makes sense for LW and MW to go before FM. I don't know anyone that listens to those bands any more.
Ah, I take it you don't drive round the highlands of Scotland very often then! Even the main trunk road, the A9 that runs from Perth to Inverness and is even dual carriageway for some of its length, loses analogue FM radio in the middle of its length for quite a while. If you don't have a good singing voice, or a supply of CD's / MP3's, then its down to LW and MW radio.

Same goes for coverage in more rural parts of the highlands. At the moment, I am listening to MFR on 1107, though to be honest, when at home, I can just as readily pick it up on FM. But move away from home in the car, and it soon becomes a MW only service.

In more populated areas, 3G/4G means wide coverage of internet radio. But away from that services, there are still vast blackspots where there is neither FM nor 3G/4G
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by omega »

dab is total crap.
I listen to mw and lw.
I also dx band 2 fm, 88 /108mhz.
be a while before fm is switched of in this country, just as well, as a lot of time, effort and money has went into my station to dx fm band 2
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Adriano9966 »

:think: Unfortunately you cant stand in the way of progress........ Poor management does though in my view!

As others have said some coverage of DAB throughout the UK is poor and furthermore the quality of the broadcasts is for a lot of people not worth the effort.

For example I can get FM radio with super stereo sound whereas the DAB stuff is.... well not really superior in my view ....... so does that justify the expenditure?

Jake I don't think the medium wave broadcasts are likely to change in the short term as so many listeners use these services.

What could happen sometime in the future is that the few major UK services still using medium and long wave(not really that many now) will move possibly to a new digital service on vhf but this depends on a number of factors in my view not least of these coverage/cost of new equipment and level of interest by the general public
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by bigbloke »

FakeJake wrote: I don't know anyone that listens to those bands any more.
I listen on long wave in the car . Particularly on long journeys where radio 4 is patchy on FM , e.g.
Ironically, about 25 miles south of Droitwich !! :-)

But I also listen to Europe 1 (french language station) on 183KHz

In fact - I actually went out of my way to buy a 2DIN car stereo that could tune MW/LW in 1KHz steps
as many japanese origin brands of stereo cant receive 183KHz !

and when out of FM range of Radio Wales breakfast show I switch to medium wave.

I have in the last few days, finalised / installed a homebrew 24dB DAB preamp and have fitted a dedicated
1/4 wave on the Van and my "local" DAB experience has improved dramatically over the previous
glass mounted antenna which was about as much use as a chocolate tea pot ! {bnghd}

Previously, even though I am around 15 miles LOS from a 9KW DAB transmitter I would loose DAB service at around 20 Miles
Now I see 3-5 Muxes regularly.

I reserve final judgement on DAB until I have done a few more long drives with the new setup

Regards

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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Admiral »

I just use internet radio, I rarely get any drop-outs on my 'all you can eat' 3 data plan, I use Shoutcast via Winamp on the Android phone as I can set a reasonable buffer in case there are any brief drops.

Whack it through the ICE bluetooth (it does help if you have twin channel bluetooth, one for music and one for handsfree) and away you go. About 50,000 radio stations in the car, many AAC+ and the MP3 stuff at least 128kbs.
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by bigbloke »

yes I do that too but im more careful about what I play now...to explain....

I was sitting in a traffic jam on the m42 late summer a couple of years ago. The air-con had broken so I had the window wound down.
nothing took my fancy on the uk fm front so looking for something "alternative" until the radio 4 comedy slot at 6:30, I started streaming WFMU - a new york freeform radio station (wfmu.org)

minding my own business when my attention was drawn to a car in lane 3 - constantly honking - the passenger was waving frantically at me

I mimed "why not wind the window down and talk to me" which she did and began to bellow....

[Her] HI HONEEEEE - SAY - IS THAT DUBYAH FM YOO YA LISTENING TO THERE ?"

[Me] Hi yes it is

[Her] GODDAMN I KNEW IT ! i TOLD HIM [points to driver] THATS DUBYA FM YOO JOHN I SAID! BUT JEEZ YA KNOW
HE WOULDNT BELIEVE ME - HAHH! - SAY - THATS MY LOCAL RADIO STATION BAAACK HOME AND IVE BEEN LIKE TUNING UP AND DOWN
ON THIS HEAP OF JUNK RADIO IN THIS RENTAL CAR AND I CANT FIND IT - WHERE DO YOU GET IT ON THE DIAL HERE HONEY ?

[Me] you wont get it on the regular radio, im streaming it from the internet

[Her] OH MY GAWD YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE YOU HAVE THA INTERNET IN YOUR CAR ?????? YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT ?! HOW CAN YOU DO THAT ? GODDAMN ITS NOT POSSIBLE! OK JOKES OVER HONEY NOW WHERE IS IT ON THE DIAL REALLY ?? HUH ??

[Me] honestly its coming from the internet out of my smart phone and being played into the car stereo

[Her] YA HEAR THAT JOHN ? THIS GUY IS TRYIN TA GET ME TO BELIEVE HE HAS THA INTERNET IN HIS CAR ! OH ... MY ... GAWD !

At this point my lane moved forward leaving her leaning out of the window still bellowing at me .

Every time they pulled level I got another dose of earhole grievance as she was completely convinced I was lying to her !

in the end I just wound up the window and opened up the passenger side

theres some MAD people about !

Regards

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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by MrWeetabix »

I regularly travel through the southern lakes along the M6 and then shoot off over to kirkby Stephen. FM goes first, then even good old reliable 5Live dies for a while. No phone signal either. If it wasn;t for my Wittertainment Podcasts, I think I'd go insane! I 100% couldnt rely on streaming or DAB for coverage on my journey

Oh and 'Hello to Jason Isaacs' ;-)
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Admiral »

For the sake of space, I won't quote that BB, but made me chuckle, I'm guessing they were from the South and you had a bit of Bluegrass on.
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by Farty »

DAB DXing is good fun!
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by kr0ne »

Windy_Miller wrote: Ah, I take it you don't drive round the highlands of Scotland very often then!
Pfft! Highlands and Islands? There are plenty spots on the M6 where FM becomes unlistenable! :(

EDIT: seems everyone else beat me to it!
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Re: Norway becomes no-way for FM radio.....

Post by MrWeetabix »

kr0ne wrote:
Windy_Miller wrote: Ah, I take it you don't drive round the highlands of Scotland very often then!
Pfft! Highlands and Islands? There are plenty spots on the M6 where FM becomes unlistenable! :(

EDIT: seems everyone else beat me to it!
Yup, you lose most stations just north Of Killington Lake on the Northbound..... Those rolling Hills just put-pay to anything in or out. Still, watching the sunrise over then in the early morning is well-worth the radio silence I say! :-)
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