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   station directory latest radio news air today feedback features  | |  Feedback archive An archived selection of comments and e-mails can be found below. Please be patient while the page loads. |
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 Notts mux Saturday 12th June 2004 I've read your update re the Nottingham multiplex. As we stand re:3rd June I can only receive Trent FM and BBC Nottingham on 12C. Century is still fringe signal from the Leicester multiplex. I have performed an autotune but don't seem to be able to get anything else on 12C (such as GEM). Is there a reason for this? You ought to be able to get GEM as it's on both of the multiplexes you mention, even from the more distant Leics multiplex, unless it's operating at a reduced protection level from Century. You seem to be receiving some services on the Notts multiplex fine, so perhaps your radio is getting confused as to which is the stronger multiplex. I know further transmitters are planned for Nottinghamshire - which may improve the situation - does anyone have any details? Ed. I have recently moved to SW France and have heard that I would be able to pick up such stations as BBC Radio 4 with a DAB digital radio. Please can you tell me if this is true? Not true, I'm afraid - the signal wouldn't reach that far. It's designed to fade out mid-English Channel. Ed. I'm very happy with my Pure Digital Evoke-2 radio, so I thinking of buying a Evoke-1 for my sister who lifes in Dover. Will she pick up French stations? Is Kerrang Radio coming to DAB in Kent anytime soon in 2004? An agreement has been reached to ensure that DAB signals between France and England do not interfere with each other. So, picking up French DAB stations would be difficult. Kerrang Radio is unlikely to be broadcast in Kent as the multiplex operator is Capital Digital, and Kerrang is not a Capital Radio Group station. It is more likely to launch on Emap's own local DAB multiplexes, as Emap Digital Radio is the station's owner. Ed. Can I get Sky digital in the US? If so, how, and can I get Mojo Radio on Sky digital? No, you can't get Sky in the US. The US does have satellite radio - XM and Sirius (if I remember correctly), but would doubt Mojo could be found on these platforms. Ed. Just wondering, when is Xpression FM, the student radio station in Exeter, going to be on DAB? Will it share the access channel with SBN? Does any one know? What has happened to Jezza's Virgin confessions on Virgin Radio? If Xpression ever did make onto DAB digital radio, it would certainly share the access channel with SBN. Presumably an agreement will be reached for local student stations to provide a part-time service as was originally envisaged, though this may depend on a certain number of us using DAB sets. Does anyone have any news? Jezza's show has been axed in the recent programming overhaul at Virgin. Ed. Hi there, do you know if you have any plans of broadcasting all the Magic Radio stations over the internet soon? I see that Magic 105.4 has been on for a while. It would be good to hear the other Magic stations because most other medium wave stations go out over the internet. I haven't heard of any plans to broadcast the local flavours of Magic stations on the web. Ed. I'm looking to buy a DAB alarm clock radio. Can anyone tell me if the Grundig Opus is an alarm clock/radio? All the specifications say 'clock' but nothing about an alarm! It's a bit strange that very few of the DAB tuners seem to have an alarm function; I wonder why this is? No, the Opus does not have an wake-up alarm. It makes use of the time signal carried on DAB multiplexes to set the clock. The Sharp FV-DB1E, Intempo PG01, Pure Tempus 1, Pure Digital's "The Bug" and the Bush DABCR2003 are all suitably-equipped with alarm functions and sleep timers. There was a time (excuse the pun!) when alarm features on DAB radios meant extra cost, but now these functions seem to be more common. Ed. I have had the Pioneer DAB radio in my corsa for about 6 months and it has been great! But this month the quality of signal on some stations like Radio 1 has been pretty rubbish. Has a transmitter been turned off? I think these problems may be related to some additional transmitters being tested for the recently-launched Stoke-on-Trent local DAB multiplex. Power is reduced for a short time whilst work is carried out to install the necessary equipment. Ed. Coming away from DAB, anyone know what's happening at Romford's Soul City 107.5? Over the last few weeks it has started broadcasting feedback from locals asking what they want from their local radio station. They have changed their name to Time 107.5 FM. The Soul City web site remains unchanged. There is a Time FM in South West London/Kent (I think); I went to their web site but it goes to something called Foundation which seems to be nothing to do with Time FM, or radio. Can't find any news on your web site; any one know what's going on? Time 106.8 replaced Millennium FM quite some time ago in South-West London (the Time name is connected with Greenwich forming part of its coverage area). I think this may have been a buyout by a small group of individuals, though I'm not certain. It seems Time is now owned by Sunrise Radio (Easy Radio 1035, YaarRadio, Sunrise 1458, etc) and they have acquired Fusion Radio Group's London-based station Fusion 107.3. Soul City 107.5 (formerly a UKRD station) seems be another recent acquisition by Sunrise Radio. The Foundation website you mention appears to be for Foundation IT, who presumably will be providing the web prescence for each of the stations at some point. Ed. I am writing this while trying to coax any sort of signal out of a Bush DAB personal radio while tuned to either commercial multiplexes operating here in the Clive Vale area of Hastings, East Sussex. Anything on the BBC multiplex comes through loud and clear with strong signal strength and minimal signal error. Its as if they are operating on twice the power. I understand other areas of the country have had their signal strength boosted, why not here? The usual excuse is that it upsets the French, but I understand that their Digital Radio system operates on a different format. Please can you advise. As I understand it, certain frequencies that the UK uses for its DAB multiplexes are already in use in France for something else. So, it is possible for one multiplex to operate at a higher power than another because of this. At the risk of repeating things further down this page, this page in PDF format gives side-by-side comparisons of exact transmitter locations and power. The Bush DAB personal may not always be your best way of obtaining reception. Ed. I am impressed with the idea of the 'rewind' facility now available on many DAB models and the possibility of external recording via an external mini disc. Any idea if a company is developing a hard drive for digital radio enabling a recording to be made direct to the machine (same kind of thing as the SKY+ machine)? This may become reality in future models, but as yet I am unaware of a company producing such a facility - though research and development departments are no doubt investigating this possibility. I would imagine the cost factor is the hard disk itself - witness the relative expense of hard-disk MP3 jukeboxes. Ed. The alternative / pop station Liquid has ceased transmission and has been replaced by Virgin Classic Rock on the DRg multiplex in London Thanks for the information, Andrew. Ed. Another Aria A-3000 woe. I returned my radio with a broken aerial socket. I have called and emailed with no response. Definitely do not recommend. I would suggest buying Aria products from one of the vendors on our shopping guide pages. Your contract is then with one of these vendors: I would suggest customer service is high on their priority list. A broken aerial socket does not a bad radio make, though, readers - the A3000 has had good feedback from the press and customers alike. Ed. Just installed the Goodmans GCE7007 DAB hi-fi in my Corsa - the instruction manual said something about Vauxhall roof top mounted aerials having an adverse effect on DAB reception, I can't even connect the male to the female! Could you possibly advise me as to a solution, the CD and all associated functions work fine, just no radio. I think unless one of our visitors has any suggestions, you may be better off taking the Corsa to a specialist fitter, unless you can attach a connector of the correct type. Originally it was thought the Goodmans could use the existing aerial for its DAB reception, but guidelines have since been issued indicating that a DAB aerial may be required. This may explain the note in the manual. Ed. I would like to make a complaint about a radio station - how do I go about it, please can you help, I have noted there are a lot of misgivings about this particular radio station as I used to be a DJ on it. I look forward to your advice - basically I want their licence to be taken away from them and given to someone else who can better manage it. Complaints about commercial stations are dealt with by the radio regulator Ofcom. Clearly you have no axe to grind. Ed. I am after a piece of equipment with the following features: DAB and a CD player with a radio alarm, for use in the bedroom. My main problem is that Radio Five Live on MW is terrible in the area where I am, but on DAB with my "Pure" set it is superb. I don't think all three requirements: CD, DAB and alarm feature can be found in one box. The four radios that spring to mind that have an alarm that could wake you with the sound of Five Live are the Intempo PG01, Pure Tempus 1, Pure Digital's "The Bug" and the Bush DABCR2003. I'm not certain that the TEAC systems have an alarm feature, but I've a feeling these may be overkill for your needs. A compromise would be to have a DAB radio with an alarm and an AUX input for a CD player, but I'm sure none of the four above has an AUX socket. Alas. Pure Digital's Legato will almost certainly meet your needs, when it arrives later this summer. Ed. Hi, I have just heard about the new DAB Radio 'the bug' and I was trying to find reviews of it over the web but, as its new, I couldn't find any: Are there any thoughts on whether or not this is a good buy? We'd love to hear from owners of "The Bug" - what do you think? In terms of features, the radio offers some of the most comprehensive so far on a "portable" DAB radio (indeed, any DAB radio). Ed. What are the most disappointing things about DAB? Here are a few examples:- Low quality - Heat is just 64k mono and ever since it started has sounded like a Dansette playing a stack of severely warped 45s. Does no-one bother to monitor the output? No song info - Easy Radio, Heat and many others just have a silly slogan rather than current song info. Failed promises: Now Digital Southend and Chelmsford has promised a country music service 'Coming Soon' for almost two years now. Simulcasting - When stations like Radio 4 are already on FM, LW, MW, Satellite, Freeview and the internet, do we really need them hogging space on DAB? It would be better to release this wasted bandwidth for high quality DAB-exclusive stations. Patchy coverage - BBC National and Digital One stations are weak here; the local DAB multiplex for Kent is unreceiveable because the Kemsing transmitter hasn't launched, and Otford (London multiplex 2) has been off the air for two days. Points all taken, Gerald. I share some of the disappointment with services that have been promised at the time of the application failing to materialise. This is sometimes down to service providers pulling out or being put off by the cost of launching and maintaining a station on DAB. It's a shame that this spare bandwidth in more cases couldn't be used by the multiplex operator to launch a different station or at least go some way in providing a service that was originally planned, even if it's, say, just a country music "jukebox". Better that than nothing at all? A film-and-shows station was to have appeared on Now S&C by 1st April 2003, with "The Storm" filling the gap until its launch. Now "The Storm" has a permanent slot on the multiplex, but far better to have this than wasted bandwidth. Ed. I've had DAB radio (Pure DRX-701ES) for well over a year now and reception has nearly always been perfect. However, yesterday evening and today, I find that while signal quality for BBC stations has been running at 100 percent, or very near it, the commercial stations reception is very poor, with signal quality running as low as 64 percent, variable, with much bubbling. Do the commercial stations use the same transmitter, and is there a problem? BBC and Digital One do use the same transmitter sites, but the power of their individual transmitters does vary somewhat. A really good site for actual power figures is Frequency finder site, specifically this page in PDF format that gives side-by-side comparisons at transmitter locations. The BBC give a list of their transmitters and powers in HTML format, but Digital One give only grid references for their transmitters. They do however have a list of planned interruptions. If the problem persists I would contact Digital One though one of the links above. Ed. Can you advise on the following problem? My Pure DRX-701 tends to produce a crackling distortion on transient peaks. I listen mainly to BBC Radio 3 - the sound quality is otherwise fine with full signal strength via the loft mounted TV aerial. Many thanks for any help you can offer! Jazz FM used to suffer this problem, too. I wonder if some sort of attenuation is required at the aerial? Hopefully a techie will write in and let us know the real cause and solution... Ed. I have recently purchased a Bush DAB CR2003 clock radio. But seem to get a low hum from the speakers even without the radio being on, and am wondering if like the Roberts radio is this caused by the transformer. Has anyone else found the same problem? I would suspect the transformer is to blame. Suddenly the rather clunky AC/DC adaptors of the Evoke and Intempo seem quite attractive. Ed. It seems to me that England has a better choice of radio stations then in Scotland. Why is that? Do you know when the new Glasgow FM station is due to start. Will I pick it up in Dunfermline like I can Clyde 1 and have stations started applying for the new Edinburgh FM station yet? There are more stations in England (and more choice) simply because a greater proportion of the UK population live in England than Scotland. Saga 105.2fm, the Glasgow licence winner, is due to start in summer 2004 and may have a slightly smaller coverage area than Clyde due to the lack of relays. You should find out if you can pick it up when testing begins, usually a couple of weeks before the (as yet unadvertised) launch date. The Edinburgh licence is due to be advertised formally in June 2004; stations need not apply before any announcement is made. Ed. I've found three radios at three different prices. The expensive one is a Harman Kardon TU 970. The middle range is the Pure Evoke 2. The "cheap" one is the Aria A-2000. I've found your review on the Evoke-2. I've not been able to find any reviews on the other two. I haven't listened to either the Harman or the Aria A-2000 units. I would suggest if you want a better FM tuner, go for the neat Intempo PG-01 over the Pure Evoke 2; the Intempo will also wake you up in the morning so you can use it as an alarm clock, too. Ed. I am interested in buying a DAB personal radio and - this might be a totally stupid question - but I am a runner and I wanted to know if there are any which are better suited for someone who wants to take a personal DAB out whilst running. Many of the handheld DAB radios currently available, such as those from Pure Digital, Ministry of Sound and Grundig, use the same electronics housed in a different case, depending on the brand you buy. Often the only real difference is the number of batteries each can take. For example, the Ministry of Sound DR-011 uses only two AA batteries, giving around ten hours' use. With an extra battery, the Pure PocketDAB(tm) squeezes a few extra hours out of the radio. The Ministry radio comes with a rechargeable battery pack and the necessary charger to get you listening again, while the PocketDAB(tm) has a DC adaptor included for mains use too. Both of these radios use the a longer-than-usual headphone cord as the antenna, so sometimes in poor signal conditions these radios can stutter. When you are running, you would need to keep the headphone cord as free as possible (so that it doesn't get tangled up, thus possibly losing the signal). If you are in a good signal area, these type of radios perform well. They all have a station lock feature, too. There are a couple of other alternatives from Perstel; these use a standard telescopic aerial to pull in DAB stations. However, you would no doubt feel a little silly trying to run around with the aerial extended! These type of radios need their telescopic aerial fully extended to pull in a good signal, though. Ed. With reference to the correspondence about Mid FM - the station launched last year as 'Mid 106', rather cunningly on 106.0MHz! Wednesday 19th May 2004 Thanks for the info chaps. Ed. Since the launch of the Nottingham local multiplex, the national BBC and Digital One multiplexes have suffered a big loss in reception. Before the local multiplex was launched (30th April) the reception was fine but now it is quite hard to get interference-free reception on the national multiplexes. The local multiplex reception is perfect. Any ideas? I have just bought an Intempo PG01 DAB digital radio. I find it is excellent. I like the clarity of the reception and the choice of channels. The radio itself is a joy to use. I have only two minor quibbles: firstly, another two preset channel options would have been good and, secondly, the mains adaptor is a bit clunky. Otherwise I am enjoying the whole DAB experience. Yep, there has been a lot of very postive feedback about the Intempo PG-01, with regard to its sensitivity, styling and sound. That it used to cost GBP119.00 and is now available for around GBP85.00 is a bonus. Ed. I recently received a Roberts Gemini 3 (RD3) so I thought I would let you have my thoughts on this. I am a blind person and had very little help in learning how to operate this radio. However, it did not take me long to work out the various features which are available, plus I was able to download the instructions so I had some idea of what to expect. The ten pre-sets for each of the bands is very useful and means you can easily select your favourite stations once they have been stored in the memory. In addition, I was impressed with the three methods of tuning, with my favourite one being able to manually select the multiplex you want. I would have liked a bit more variation on the bass and treble controls and perhaps a bit more volume, particularly when listening to Radio 4 where you virtually have to have the volume control on full. Sixteen hours of battery life with irregular use is not bad and, to date, I have only changed them once a month. My mains lead for this product is redundant as I believe it defeats the object of portability. Thanks, Robert - nice to hear from you again! Ed. Yesteday I tried to tune in to Jazz FM to find the frequency has been taken over by a dumbed-down version called Smooth. There is nothing Smooth about it.You can hear the type music played, on any number of other frequencies. You state that you want more listeners, well, this is one you will be losing, along with several others that I know - I have no doubt. Why oh why couldn't you have found a new frequency for Smooth and left us with Jazz FM? And, if London is catered for, why should the North West be left a wasteland? News item about the switch to Smooth. Ed. Do you know of any site providing an audio feed of BCRfm in Bridgwater, Somerset. No. Ed. On your webpage it states that Mid FM procured the licence but broadcasting date: TBA, however, I believe they are now up and running. Can you advise what frequency they are broadcasting on, please? Errr.. anyone? Ed. Having a Wavefinder (I recommend WinDab and DabBar for this) and an Evoke 1, I'm now looking for a DAB digital radio that: With the remote control, you're limited to the Goodmans GPS280 and ElanSat LaGIO, the latter having trouble storing more than 8 services on a multiplex with its DAB module; since you're in Bristol, the LaGIO is not recommended. The Aria A-2000 is similar to the LaGIO but, as I understand it, sorts out these problems. Alas none of these has a sleep timer. As for mains hum, this may be solved by a DAB radio with a mains adaptor at the plug end, however, I'm not sure if the A-2000 has this. Perhaps one of our visitors can confirm. You might be better off going for a separates tuner instead. Ed. As I receive many DAB radio stations through my TV via NTL cable network, will I be able to receive BBC Radio Stoke, and both Signal stations? If this is the case what will be the channel numbers for these stations? You need a DAB digital radio such as an Evoke to pick up DAB digital radio stations. Those coming through your TV are transmitted differently and should be referred to differently (usually just digital radio or DTT digital radio). NTL may decide to carry the stations that are available on the local DAB digital radio multiplex for Stoke-on-Trent on its cable service, but I have no news on this. Ed. |