Digital radio trial extended

I’ve been having problems with my digital radio for the last few days, it seems unable to pick up any DAB signal. Is anyone else having issues or might it be an issue with my radio?

I’m a big fan of the music on Canberra 100 Digital (not that the playlist has anything to do with Canberra) but the repetitive yay-Canberra promos they play from Tim Ferguson, Timomatic, Lauren Jackson, and a local Telstra guy) do get on my t!ts. Also I can’t find a stream to play via my idevices or internet radio AV receiver. Once it bites the dust at the end of the year (unless it gets rebranded) I’ll go back to My Canberra Digital.

It’s actually quite depressing to think that in 2013 a self-setting clock is something to get excited about. After a power outage, or when daylight saving ends and begin, how many clocks do you have to reset? And by 2013 no-one has come up with a practical solution to it (mobile phones and computers excepted).

Yeah it’s a First World Problem, but technology giants happily “solve” lots of other FWPs for us, but not this one.

And of course DAB doesn’t solve it for us poor country cousins as we’ll probably never get DAB – we’ll be given a platinum-plated NBN to solve an AM-radio reception problem…

IP

JC said :

OverLord said :

I must admit, I had no idea DAB even existed, but last weekend I bought a new sony clock/radio/iphone5 speaker dock and flipped out when I turned it on and the thing set it’s time AND date by itself. Brilliant!

Plus the ability to see the current song playing from the radio station, and listen to the Pop Asia channel is pretty fun.

Doesn’t take much to get you excited! A self setting clock. Out of interest in other countries such as the UK they broadcast a time signal, so over there analogue clock radios and even mechanical style clocks set themselves too. So if a DAB flipped you out I could well imagine what putting batteries in an analogue clock with self setting time would do!

But yeah DAB is pretty good and very welcome in this household. Just wish they would up the power a few more watts and reception out my way isn’t crash hot in some rooms.

Not much no, but it’s not like you go out and regualary update your clock radio/dock. And considering the one I had before had a tendancy for the power cord to fall out the back, you eventually get the shits having to frequently set the time. So yes, the little advances in technology thanks to the NASA space program are much appreciated.

OverLord said :

I must admit, I had no idea DAB even existed, but last weekend I bought a new sony clock/radio/iphone5 speaker dock and flipped out when I turned it on and the thing set it’s time AND date by itself. Brilliant!

Plus the ability to see the current song playing from the radio station, and listen to the Pop Asia channel is pretty fun.

Doesn’t take much to get you excited! A self setting clock. Out of interest in other countries such as the UK they broadcast a time signal, so over there analogue clock radios and even mechanical style clocks set themselves too. So if a DAB flipped you out I could well imagine what putting batteries in an analogue clock with self setting time would do!

But yeah DAB is pretty good and very welcome in this household. Just wish they would up the power a few more watts and reception out my way isn’t crash hot in some rooms.

qbngeek said :

IP, in order to get ABC 666, I just bought a $10 car aerial kit and a couple of extension cords for the aerial cable. I used a Sony car stereo I had sitting around the house which is about 5-6 years old (only cost about $70 originally) and set it up with a transformer from Jaycar to get 12V.

I put the antenna ion the back of the shed up near the roof and ran the extension cables back down the wall to my workbench. It works quite well, you still get some static and it occasionally drops out (depending on the weather) but I am happy with it considering I really only listen to it on weekends when I am out in the shed and the garden. I can listen to Saturday gardening and that is really all I care about.

Yeah, been meaning to try that or something similar, thanks. Have lots of old car stereos and aerials lying around, but definitely want it in the house. I can just squeeze adequate reception from a radio in one spot in the bathroom, which I can hear all over the house (small house!) but it’s very sensitive to interference, especially from mobile phone chargers and LED lights!

99% of in-car radios get good reception where I live, but a few don’t. Even my landcruiser with a wing-mounted rubber aerial does OK!

I actually caught some good digital reception on the hills recently, but it may have been particular atmospheric conditions that day.

Sorry, I am not saying where I live as there are too many feral trolls on this forum.

Not sure if we can send personal messages on RiotACT, but if you can I am happy to tell you a bit more off-forum.

IP

IrishPete said :

switch said :

qbngeek said :

Internet radio means I can get almost anything I want and I can do it on my computer, laptop, tablet or phone. Combined with Spotify, Audible and podcasts I have no need for terrestrial radio any more, either at home or in the car.

And the TuneIn app for when you’re on the move, if you have a fairly generous data allowance. Digital radio is dead, it just hasn’t realised it yet.

perhaps you don’t travel to places with no mobile coverage, or just one network which you don’t have access to? maybe NBN will kill it, but that’s a long way away yet.

IP

I use Tune-In when I am on the Hume Hwy or at work, but as IP said it is no good if you have no coverage. That’s where a Spotify subscription (and a big offline playlist) comes in handy along with Audible to ease the boredom on the daily commute.

IrishPete said :

Response to various other posts:

Not just Braidwood in a black hole, most of the rural area east of Canberra. No-one can explain why car radios seem almost immune from the black hole – is it they are better receivers, or does the car act as an antenna? I put my hifi receiver’s AM antenna on my house’s corrugated iron roof, with no discernible benefit. I keep meaning to connect up a spare car radio inside the house, to see how that works.

Digital radio has a short lag yes, but so does streaming in my experience. I expect both could be fixed if the broadcasters cared enough.

Digital radios can be bought for well under $100. Given their extra functionality over your $5 transistor from GoLo, they may be worth it. But try to find one with AM, FM and DAB+ just in case! DAB car radio are now under $150 on Ebay, but my main car has a proprietary radio with steering wheel controls and so on, so I’ve baulked at replacing it. Instead I have a Pure Highway stuck to the windscreen, feeding the car stereo through its line-in. I bought it a magnetic roof aerial (a bit like for mobile phones).

Does anyone know why digital radio wasn’t rolled out with digital television? It seems like a huge missed opportunity. Digital TV is universal, Australia-wide. Surely putting a few more ABC radio channels onto it instead of home shopping would have been a good idea?

IP

IP, in order to get ABC 666, I just bought a $10 car aerial kit and a couple of extension cords for the aerial cable. I used a Sony car stereo I had sitting around the house which is about 5-6 years old (only cost about $70 originally) and set it up with a transformer from Jaycar to get 12V.

I put the antenna ion the back of the shed up near the roof and ran the extension cables back down the wall to my workbench. It works quite well, you still get some static and it occasionally drops out (depending on the weather) but I am happy with it considering I really only listen to it on weekends when I am out in the shed and the garden. I can listen to Saturday gardening and that is really all I care about.

switch said :

qbngeek said :

Internet radio means I can get almost anything I want and I can do it on my computer, laptop, tablet or phone. Combined with Spotify, Audible and podcasts I have no need for terrestrial radio any more, either at home or in the car.

And the TuneIn app for when you’re on the move, if you have a fairly generous data allowance. Digital radio is dead, it just hasn’t realised it yet.

perhaps you don’t travel to places with no mobile coverage, or just one network which you don’t have access to? maybe NBN will kill it, but that’s a long way away yet.

IP

Response to various other posts:

Not just Braidwood in a black hole, most of the rural area east of Canberra. No-one can explain why car radios seem almost immune from the black hole – is it they are better receivers, or does the car act as an antenna? I put my hifi receiver’s AM antenna on my house’s corrugated iron roof, with no discernible benefit. I keep meaning to connect up a spare car radio inside the house, to see how that works.

Digital radio has a short lag yes, but so does streaming in my experience. I expect both could be fixed if the broadcasters cared enough.

Digital radios can be bought for well under $100. Given their extra functionality over your $5 transistor from GoLo, they may be worth it. But try to find one with AM, FM and DAB+ just in case! DAB car radio are now under $150 on Ebay, but my main car has a proprietary radio with steering wheel controls and so on, so I’ve baulked at replacing it. Instead I have a Pure Highway stuck to the windscreen, feeding the car stereo through its line-in. I bought it a magnetic roof aerial (a bit like for mobile phones).

Does anyone know why digital radio wasn’t rolled out with digital television? It seems like a huge missed opportunity. Digital TV is universal, Australia-wide. Surely putting a few more ABC radio channels onto it instead of home shopping would have been a good idea?

IP