Does DAB+ or HD Radio worry Anyone?

[charles]

Analog frequency has seen a decline in recent years in both T.V. and radio. In fact, many European country's have done away with traditional analog frequency such as AM and FM all together and are instead replacing them with digital radio such as DAB or DAB+. With the U.S. offering similar digital radio stations such as HD radio along with AM and FM is anyone who has an older radio worried that one day in the near future we will become totally digital in the U.S. making all older radios obsolete. What are your thoughts?

 

[wayupnorth]

And yes, you have to subscribe with a card to get it and it will automatically renew and take you 6 months to cancel, just like Sirius. Good luck getting your money back.

 

[rp2813]

I would think there would be digital receivers that could be paired with older radios, the same as it is/was for older TVs.  I can't imagine NPR and its affiliates abandoning all of their donors who opt not to subscribe to a digital service. 

 

[tolivac]

At how bad radio is today-don't listen anymore.There is too many analog radios out there to go full digital.Used to get Sirus-but dropped them-their music channels just play the same records over and over verbatim.Wish I could ask them to put a different stack on the "changer"!

 

[iowabear]

I think Ralph is correct about the digital receivers to use with older radios.   Right now "Bluetooth FM Transmitters" are a big category on Amazon so people can listen to music from their phones in their cars.

 

I remember these being a thing (to listen to portable CD players in cars) a long time ago and wasn't impressed.  Given all the positive reviews the technology must have improved.

 

[foraloysius]

Overhere in the NL we have both at the moment. I'm using FM most of the time because most classical music stations aren't broadcasting on DAB+ yet. Adapters are available here for far less under $100.-. There is also the option of using a Google Chromecast audio for streaming music to your older equipment. I use it for streaming music from some foreign radio stations. The app I am using at the moment is MyTuner Radio. It's all free.

 

[rolls_rapide]

DAB = Rubbish!

From personal experience in the UK, FM signals come in as clear as crystal.

DAB is much, much poorer, less clarity, is frequently monophonic in order to cram more stations into a multiplex, and when it breaks up, it sounds like it is drowning in a babbling brook - and that is with a stationary receiver at home!

Apparently it is worse in a vehicle - I can't comment on that - nobody I know has DAB car radios.

I don't know who cooked up DAB, but it is the proverbial crock of shit. It really isn't fit for purpose.

DAB+ might be better, but I can't comment on that, I haven't heard any demonstrations.

 

[kb0nes]

Here in the US HD radio will NEVER do in AM or FM broadcast. HD unfortunately hasn't caught on here due mostly to unfamiliarity. Own 4 HD radios and in my area the programming and service is excellent, people are just missing out of the improvements.

Since HD is broadcast by the same AM or FM transmitter it is likely the analog signal will remain for as long as broadcast radio remains viable.

I'd wager that we will see FM (and probably AM) broadcasting remaining unchanged here in the States for 20-30 years at least. And when it goes it will be market forces that do it in.

Television on the other hand is likely to see a change again before that, ATSC 3.0 will come along before too many more years. That will surely upset the apple cart yet again.

 

[statomatic]

In France we've got fucked up by the digital tv (TNT) in 2011, analog tv was just simply turned off so the only option was buying a new tv with a digital tuner or digital receiver, then in 2016 the TNT was stopped in profit of the TNT-HD, so need to buy again a new tv or receiver if the previous one wasn't hd compatible.
And the worst of this, with analog tv it was almost never possible to get perfect image and sound (but close enough with a good antenna and right aligned tuner) but it was still possible to watch with bad weather and/or in a difficult receiving location.
With digital it's 1 or 0, perfect image or black screen...
I'm waiting 2021 for the TNT-UHD (or whatever it will be called) to throw out the tv in fire, this will make more room for another vintage washing machine !

DAB is another story in France, sadly AM radio is almost dead, some digitally convinced dumb startupers tries to kill FM but lot of people don't want to get rid of good vintage radios to buy an ugly chinese made receiver (with a screen so you can watch the radio show like it's a tv).
I'd really hope FM will be still alive, analog is real, digital is fake !

 

[lakewebsterkid]

HD radio

I actually do not like the sound of HD radio or FM. It generally is far too peaky for my liking. I will keep my $5 Spotify subscription with 320 kbits/sec. It is a shame they are going to make people pay for it though. If there were no commercials and great sound quality I would understand, but I don’t think that will happen any time soon.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Yeah I've actually been a bit concerned about this with the talk of HD radio.

Only radio I have that gets HD channels is in my Ford Taurus. It shows the HD logo if the frequency is broadcasting it. Don't really notice much difference between it and regular FM. Also notice only a few channels have it.

I've noticed some of the newer portable radios offered don't even have an AM tuner - particularly when the unit has Bluetooth streaming capability from a device. I got a clock radio recently that is this way. Also portable CD players and cell phones sometimes have radios built in, but only FM.

I don't really listen to AM very often at all. Once in a while in the car. Even some of the newer radios that do have AM band have poor reception. My GE Spacemaker for example I cannot pick up anything on the AM band other than some very strange sounds on certain frequencies. It uses an internal AM bar antenna which is almost useless, unless perhaps you were right next to a transmitter. Their claim to correct the issue is to turn the unit slightly might help. How can one turn the radio if it's mounted under the kitchen cabinet?

And yeah, Sirius/XM - had a 3 month trial in the car. After it expired I didn't bother renewing. Liked some of the travel link features though. After I got oil changed last month - got another free trial in the mail. Will probably use it just since it's free.

 

[sudsmaster]

I like what I've seen so far with HD Radio, albeit with some drawbacks:

1) It's free here, as long as you have a radio with HD capability and are tuning in a station that broadcasts in HD.

2) Most major FM radio stations in this area have HD broadcast as well. My favorite classical FM station, KDFC, unfortunately has not yet added HD radio capability (I understand it's not cheap for a station to do that).

3) The HD signals don't seem to carry so far as regular FM, which can be an issue for car radios

4) All the new car radio/receivers I've bought in the past 10 years have HD capability. There doesn't seem to be much if any price increase associated with the feature.

5) Desktop radios are another matter. It's hard to find a desktop radio with HD for a reasonable price. I have a few such but in general they are smallish. For better sound you can get an HD receiver but these are kind of pricey. Go figure.

I agree that analog AM/FM isn't going away in the USA any time soon. It might take an act of Congress for that, Which means never.

 

[wayupnorth]

I did like the free Sirius XM music in my Silverado when I bought it and got a receiver for home. It made my Bose speakers sound like a crappy mini transistor radio. Cancelled everything and returned the receiver and it took 6 months to have them to cancel everything after a zillion calls and credit me for the months I didnt want it. DONT give Sirius a card number or they keep charging and hope you forget about it. I rarely even turn on the radio now in my truck and get this crappy Music Choice on Directv at home. I do like Stephen Kings 100.3 FM out of Bangor in the truck when I feel like it.

 

[twintubdexter]

Yes, I realize things change but....

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">...hopefully I'll be in the cemetery by the time all-digital radio happens. When I first read about this there was some "know-it-all" that said it was no big deal since over 45% of American homes no longer even have a radio. What a crock of caca. Reminds me of a a radio commercial sung by the late, great Ella Fitzgerald when I was a kid in support of radio advertising as opposed to television ads..."Who listens to raaayayeedeeooo, only 150 million people...thaaaaat's all". US population was considerably less way way back then. </span>

 

[tolivac]

AM---The problem plaguing AM is not radio---its the switching "wall wart" power supplies for devices and LED and CFL lights that have switching type ballasts.These cause HORRONDOUS interfrerence to the AM band-even into the HF bands.And high wattage HID ballasts-they are more efficient than core and coil ballasts.They can cause AM interference as well.

 

[tolivac]

My 2019 Toyota Highlander has HD radio like before don't listen since there is nothing but TRASH programming on radio today.

 

[gusherb]

Had a car with HD radio once. I remember the HD stations dropping out constantly, in a big metro not that far from the transmitters mind you. None of our current cars have it despite two of them being 2017 and 2018 MY cars and the oldest a 2013.

 

[tomturbomatic]

AM Interference

Rex, I remember as a kid in the early 50s the horrible interference on the AM radio when we would go into Ottawa, IL and drive under the street lights. It came on as soon as we entered the zone with streetlights, died out between each light and ended just as suddenly as we left the lighted streets for the dark road on the way home. I don't seem to remember it after we moved to the Atlanta area. When our neighborhood got streetlights in the early 60s, they were the bluish light kind. I don't remember any interference from them.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Like the way, to me, telephones seem overly computerized and speaking for my land line & it has an answering system, but the messages go to an inboard voice mail that I have to go through all these prompts top hear & don't even bother to save, as I would on the counter-driven system, more reminiscent of back in the days when you strictly made a way to field/retain/screen/record/deliberately miss/save strictly via an optional accessory (and why doesn't it operate like my cell phone does, in the way of received/out/missed as easily as non-landline does?), I think radio has gotten to overrated in the way of AM/FM not being enough, that is something NO IMPROVEMENTS are needed for...

It began with Pay TV via. cable, so look to this revolution being similar, as when my SIRIUS does get switched on after the free-tun/trial period I mostly get a lot of plugs and ads to subscribe, among the samples the stations/channels voluntarily provide...

The owner of a record store I go to, BLAST FROM THE PAST on Gratiot in Roseville actually gave into his radio (a tabletop/desktop--countertop, in his case--being something that broadcasts from the '60's, and what I'd initially thought or dismissed as being an oldies such as Honeyradio AM530 WHR or the long-ago Oldies FM104.3 WOMC, until upon asking him, that was what he gave... (Yes, the thing I thought only existed only for car radio/mobile/marine/airline electronics!)

Sonically, too, I believe anything even playing on my car radio sounds annoyingly "peaky" as well... Naturally you wonder what is behind the monotony of a radio station playing the same stuff all the time, in the ads and talk endlessly played that it seems if the money from that going into the station isn't enough to finance traditional On Air Licensing then you are lured into believing you get the Old Time Variety financing a New Time Service right from your pocketbook, which me being that hard-core media junky (after all, it used to be the old fashioned idea, when you honestly heard whatever broadcasted you ever more honestly gone out and bought!) that is just what I strictly listen to, and only at home--though I'd given the car radio-equipped CD and Tape Decks the good, honest run, I can't deal with the interruptions when I finally arrive somewhere to turn my pleasurable listening off--so everything, I'm afraid, as far as audio, until I find "my music" played without all these hi-tech (& adding to my already expensive cell phone bill-paying, this system is otherwise available through) app's...

-- Dave