3C off Peterborough and Norwich digital radio multiplexes

3C is no longer broadcasting on the NOW Digital radio multiplexes serving Peterborough and Norwich.

Please see the left-hand column of our station directory for current stations.

Perstel DR-301 handheld personal DAB digital radio

The latest handheld personal DAB digital radio - the Perstel DR-301 - is about to hit the shelves in the UK. The Perstel DR-301 combines a DAB digital radio with FM reception and music player.

The DR-301 shuns ipod-esque styling: the wide unit offers a multidirectional controller next to its large, backlit screen. The DR-301 searches out digital stations manually or by a full scan of Band III (and Band L as an option - the UK model may be Band III only) and it's simply a case of selecting a station using the left/right controller directions. Up/down controls the volume and a central selector brings up a scrollable list of stations for browsing.

The Perstel DR-301 offers a one-minute radio rewind feature - press a button and the DR-301 will skip back by about a minute, in case you missed a 'phone number or the name of the song. The Perstel's "killer app", though, is the radio record feature. Pop an SD card into the top of the Dr-301 (and surely lose the tiny card reader cover since it's not permanently attached to the radio), hit the record button and the Perstel Dr-301 saves the programme in MP2 format to the card. Unfortunately there's no timer for recording, so you can't schedule programmes to record, but it's an extremely useful feature nonetheless.

Reception with the DR-301 is, unsurprisingly, far better than the Bluenote and pulls in the best signal than any other of its stablemates. Reception, of course, depends very much on where you use the DR-301, but in strong signal areas the radio indicates almost perfect reception. Sure, the DR-301 uses the headphone cable as the aerial and, as a result, it's longer than standard cables (and L-Band is picked up by a separate, tiny telescopic aerial), but even with the cable coiled up there shouldn't be a problem in strong signal areas. Walking between highrise buildings in Sydney, the radio does stutter, but during my own tests it never fell completely silent - although there was some burbling as the 301 struggled to rebuild a poor signal.

The FM receiver is limited to three presets (as is DAB), but it's fairly quick to scan up and down the band. RDS station naming and text is a noticeably missing from the specification.


Perstel DR301 with DAB, FM and music player

The music player lets you play WMA, MP3 and saved-from-DAB MP2 files. Unfortunately, the Perstel's firmware is a little flakey and the unit locked up on several occasions when trying to play back saved MP2 files and after deleting files: the batteries must be removed before you can get going again. Luckily, the DR-301 is fitted with a USB (1.1) port, allowing any firmware upgrades to be ported across to the radio as well as allowing PC users to transfer music files across. The DR-301 is recognised as a removable device in Windows, making file transfer almost painless.

The music player also has a number of preset sound modes, but strangely these are unavailable when listening to the radio.

The large display shows multiplex name, bit-rate information and notes any secondary services. The scrolling speed can be adjusted - as can the text font size. A quirky feature is that, when choosing smaller text, DAB text is scrolled on two lines, with the information on the second line slightly delayed from the first - so you get two chances to view content.

The Perstel DR-301 is certainly a capable radio - the international version has traffic and news checkboxes and programme type search - and I would guess these will feature on the UK version. It's also one of the first to offer rewind and record features - a great achievement.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the firmware upgrade is announced: when performing a manual scan, it's possible to selects past the next station onto the next multiplex, as the same button is programmed to do both jobs. The record button starts and stops recording - why doesn't the central play/stop button do this job?

The hold feature is a bit clunky - turn the ring and a large "hold" icon appears momentarily on the display, resetting the DAB text to the start of the message. It works, but it's not pretty.

The battery compartment cover is also a little flimsy and the third AA battery sits proud after installation until the cover is replaced - presumably to help with a battery change.

The DR-301 also has problems with decoding bit-rates above 192kbit/s. This isn't a problem in the UK, of course, where only Radio 3 broadcasts at 192kbit/s stereo. In Sydney, however, where ABC Classic FM plays out at 224kbit/s stereo, the DR-301 inserts momentary dropouts every few seconds.


To criticise the Perstel too much would be churlish: most of the (admittedly minor) problems can be solved with a firmware upgrade. That it offers recording, rewind and music player functions in a handheld unit is reason to shout about. It's the sort of functionality listeners have been crying out for in kitchen radios since the arrival of The Bug. Perstel should be commended for launching such a sophisticated digital radio.

Keep an eye out on these pages for further pricing and availability details as we get them.

Sony Radio Academy Awards

Live from 7pm, Monday 9th May

http://www.radioawards.org/news/news.htm

http://relay.exequo.org/sraa/002/

DAB digital radios - top deals for May

Here's a quick rundown of some better deals on DAB digital radios that we've spotted:


GBP59.97 - Ministry Of Sound DAB Personal Radio DR-011
Handheld DAB/FM radio with 10 presets at a breakthrough price!


GBP39.94 - Crown CDR240 DAB digital radio with PLL FM tuning
Mains or battery DAB/FM radio with dual-line display and PLL (not dial) FM tuning

GBP92.99 - Goodmans MICRO 1106DAB DAB Digital Radio Micro hi-fi - FREE p&p
Twin speakers, CD player and DAB, remote and 3 sound settings - FREE delivery

GBP79.99 - Philips Portable DAB digital radio DA1000 - FREE p&p
DAB and FM reception in a handheld radio - with 20 presets - FREE delivery

GBP114.99 - Sony XDRM1 Personal DAB digital radio Walkman
Large 4-line display for DABtext, 40 presets and both DAB and FM reception, up to ten hours playback from a single set of batteries and remote control in headphones

GBP54.99 - Roberts RD18 portable kitchen DAB radio
Line out, rotary tuning and volume controls and dual-line backlit display

GBP124.97 - Roberts RD1 Gemini 1 DAB digital radio (Open Box)
FM, DAB and a huge display in one. Records onto SD card.

GBP82.99 - Pure Evoke 1-XT in cherry
Alarm clock, clear display and 6 station presets - the successor to the Evoke 1