Radio-now back at the usual address

We are now back at our usual address - www.radio-now.co.uk, with live audio links, DAB digital radios and tuners and the best news links.

Archives are available

Archive entries dating back to September 2004 are available in the left-hand column, including product news and information. You can also perform a search in Google for articles on this site by preceding your search with the term:
site:www.radio-now.co.uk before your search text, viz: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aradio-now.co.uk&meta

Perstel DR-301 now available online

The Perstel DR-301 handheld personal DAB radio with FM is now shipping from one online supplier at present.

We reviewed the Perstel DR-301 back in May of this year. It is retailing for GBP159.00 including delivery, which is good value when compared to other DAB radios with much less features.

Sanyo's first handheld DAB available

Sanyo's first handheld DAB personal radio is now shipping. Featuring both DAB Band III and FM wavebands, the Sanyo DAB-150M DAB radio offers a total of 12 preset stations across the two wavebands.

The Sanyo DAB-150M boasts 8 hours battery life on DAB and up to 30 hours when listening to MP3 music files (transferred by way of USB). The Sanyo DAB-150M uses two AA batteries and has space to store 8 favourite stations.

A quirk of a previous radio-only version of the Sanyo DAB was that the power button was used to access secondary services, since there was no other button available on the unit to switch between primary and secondary services (Since secondary services are no longer used in the UK, this doesn't matter).

The Sanyo DAB-150M is shipping now.


Sanyo DAB-150M DAB/FM personal handheld DAB radio

locate and buy the Nevada ND-01 from John Lewis (GBP169.00 - free delivery)
list of online retailers of DAB digital radios

Nevada ND-01 personal DAB digital radio

Nevada's ND-01 DAB personal handheld radio is now available. Featuring DAB Band III and FM reception, the Nevada ND01 DAB radio offers a total of 12 preset stations across the two wavebands.

The ND-01 boasts 8 hours battery life in a unit measuring 96 x 60 x 22mm and weighing in at 160g. The Nevada ND-01 uses a four-way controller mounted centrally for station and volume selection, with surrounding buttons to allow switching between FM and DAB, access to presets, menu and station information.

The Nevada ND-01 is shipping now.


Nevada ND-01 DAB/FM personal radio

locate and buy the Nevada ND-01 from John Lewis (GBP79.50)
list of online retailers of DAB digital radios

All change after Jazz FM's London departure

Following the launch of Smooth FM 102.2 in London, the FM station's output has appeared on regional DAB digital radio multiplexes in Central Scotland, the North East of England, Yorkshire, West Midlands and South Wales and The West. The station can also be heard on London's second DAB multiplex.

Further changes and the removal of Jazz FM from multiplexes have meant that Real Radio is now broadcast across regional West Midlands and North-East of England on digital radio.

Jazz FM has been rebranded jazzfm.com to reflect its availability on the internet as well as DAB digital radio in some areas. The updates can be viewed below:

North-West England
The Arrow
Capital Disney
105.4 Century FM
Choice FM
DNN (m)
Galaxy 102
Heart
Real Radio
100.4 Smooth FM

North-East England
The Arrow
Capital Disney
100-102 Century FM
Choice FM
DNN (m)
Galaxy 105-106
Heart
Real Radio
Smooth FM 102.2

Yorkshire
The Arrow
Capital Disney
Choice FM
DNN (m)
Galaxy 105
Heart
jazzfm.com
Real Radio
Smooth FM 102.2

West Midlands
The Arrow
Capital Disney
Choice FM
DNN (m)
Galaxy 102.2
Heart
Jazz FM
Kerrang! (m)
Saga 105.7 FM
Smooth FM 102.2

South Wales and The West
The Arrow
Capital Disney
Choice FM
DNN (m)
Heart
jazzfm.com
Real Radio 105-106FM
Smooth FM 102.2
Vibe FM

Central Scotland
The Arrow
BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal
Beat 106
Galaxy 105
Heart
Kerrang (m)
Real Radio 100-101FM
Smash Hits Radio (m)
Smooth FM 102.2

Sony CMTGPX9DAB DAB digital micro hi-fi system

Sony has introduced its first DAB digital micro hi-fi system, the snappily-titled Sony CMTGPX9DAB. Equipped with AM, FM and DAB digital radio reception, the nicely-styled CMTGPX9DAB offers 2 x 35 Watts RMS power output, 30 presets across FM and AM and a further 20 on DAB Band III. RDS station naming is also featured.

The Sony CMT-GPX9DAB features a slot-entry CD player, capable of reading conventional, CD-Recordable and CD-Rewriteable formats.


Sony CMT-GPX9DAB micro hi-fi system

A top-loading auto-reverse cassette deck allows synchro recordings to be made from CD and radio shows to be saved on cassette for later listening. There are also separate bass and treble controls to tweak the sound from the Sony CMT-GPX9DAB micro hi-fi system.

Available now, the system is priced around GBP150.00.

Related links:
locate and buy the Sony CMT-GPX9DAB micro hi-fi system with DAB from Unbeatable (GBP148.99 with FREE delivery until 4th July)
list of online retailers of DAB digital radios

DAB digital radio deals for July

Here's a quick rundown of some low prices on DAB digital radios for the month of July. Be quick, because some of these won't hang around...


GBP49.99 - Ministry of Sound MOS DR-011 handheld DAB radio with FM - FREE p&p
(was GBP79.95) - with FREE delivery

GBP69.99 - Goodmans GBD5 DAB and Freeview set-top receiver - FREE p&p
receives DAB digital radio stations and Freeview TV - with FREE delivery

GBP104.38 - JVC UX-HB4 DAB micro hi-fi system - FREE p&p
micro hi-fi system with CD player and DAB - FREE delivery

GBP59.99 - Intempo KTB-01 DAB/FM portable in black finish - FREE p&p
listen to FM and DAB digital radio stations - with FREE delivery

GBP59.99 - Ministry of Sound MOSRC023 DAB/CD portable - FREE p&p
stylish design at a much lower price - with 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

list of online retailers of DAB digital radios

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/