All posts by Brian Mathieson
Below are all of Brian Mathieson's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
The worst aspect of this plan for those of us living in Scotland was that regional radio - i.e. Radio Scotland had the right to take the FM waveband that was used in the rest of the country by Radio 4. This position remained for a very long time and meant, for example, that while those in England got to hear Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy in wonderful stereo, we in Scotland relied on hearing it on long wave or waiting for the possibility of Radio Scotland to re-transmit it. It took the release of the upper end of the waveband before we got R4 on FM, instead of being stuck with Radio Parochial.
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Monthly email of new news arrived today - empty! (Apart from a thing about Twitter.) Was this a mistake, Brian?
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The government may be claiming to extend DAB, but until commercial stations can be sustained in a market that includes competition from a continuing FM market, they are going to struggle.
I've just discovered that Jazz FM will no longer be broadcasting on DAB from 1 January. What is the point of DAB if you can't get the choice of stations you want?
The Arrow (which was basically my iPod with DJs) was dropped several years ago and now Jazz FM is going. 6 Music is a massive disappointment (a bit like the radio equivalent of Tony Blair - so much promise, but unable to come up with the goods) and all that's left is dull pop or even duller hard rock stations. Where is there a music station to suit my tastes?
Yes, I know that the people at Jazz FM (which actually went into profit last month) say I can listen on my computer or a web radio or the TV, but none of these is an option for listening in the car, so I'll be going back to music on a memory stick, rather than the car DAB radio.
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Brian is guessing that this is good news for all readers: wrong. As an early adopter of DAB I have several radios throughout the house, all of which I assume are basic DAB radios. They cost a lot of money, yet some people would want them to be obsolete. How can I tell which of my radios can process DAB+ and which ones are heading for a a skip? It would be helpful if a birdsong channel could be set up transmitting DAB+ only, so folks can decide whether their radios work or not.
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Thanks for the reassurance, Stan & MikeB. I still think that birdsong channel would be a good thing when it eventually starts to happen, though.
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Mike Meakin:It's good to know that it's not just me. R4 is absolutely grim here in Plymouth, but so are 6 Music & R4 Extra. It must be a BBC transmission issue because Classic FM is absolutely fine on DAB.
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Reason just given on BBC Radio Devom (which is on a different multiplex): problems with Vodaphone are the reason given for the loss of BBC stations.
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I'm experiencing problems with the pop-ups and glossaries. Those that appear nearer the right hand side of the page are cut off as soon as the pop-up goes beyond the white border of the page, so that you only see a part of the text. I'm using Chrome as my viewer, if that is significant. Apart from that problem, the appearance of the pages is fantastic and is a measure of the efforts you have put in.
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Saturday 25 August 2012 10:38AM
Plymouth
Hi. I've been getting poorish reception with a single element aerial mounted at ground floor level outside the house, pointing at Caradon Hill. I'm about to move it to the loft and return it to its original 3 element (+ reflector) form. Should I be pointing it at Caradon or at Plympton, which is only 6 miles away? My postcode is PL3 4JQ. Thanks in anticipation.