02-07-2019, 03:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-07-2019, 03:44 PM by Mike Watterson.)
Oh dear.
Words fail. Also AM is nothing like FM, though my 1929 and 1935 AM sets sound better on R4LW than RTE1 does on DAB! Probably big box and speaker vs 3.5" speaker and plastic box.
If the DAB used 256K I'd believe better quality. Not at 128K MP2 and 64K AAC.
Also 220MHz is worse coverage than 100MHz. There are not enough fill in masts for portable or car coverage for DAB. That's why they do opt-outs on R4LW.
Here the DTT is in theory worse still coverage being 470 to 750MHz approx, except here DAB has less than 50% geographic rollout and DTT is 99% with also Ka band FTA sat coverage. Also most of the DAB here is only RTE plus a few extra semi-automated RTE, all on DTT.
Also a DTT stick for a tablet or Laptop uses less power than DAB and is about £7 inc postage.
FM receivers use even less power.
Outside of a car I've not seen a single DAB set that is has a decent speaker.
Sadly the DTT here uses the same 128K stereo as the DAB.
I have a satellite distribution system for non-Irish stations. A £35 Sat receiver and £5 FM transmitter intended for MP3/Phone to car radio (CE) is used for up to three extra stations. The quality on any decent FM portable or table model (home, car in drive, or workshop) is superb.
I get about 10 to 20 FM stations on my phone too, not just RTE. ALL far better quality. BECAUSE the bitrate is to low (worse for poor hearing as the 128K MP2 assumes a standard hearing) and coverage too poor.
The ergonomics on modern portables is mostly ghastly, though worse for FM than DAB.
Channel change time to a different Mux? Terrible in N.I., no problem here as there is only the RTE mux.
Now they are practically giving away top of band one. 67MHz to 87MHz and 175 MHz to 195MHz would have made more sense for Rural/National and local/community FM. I even have DOMESTIC sets that do those bands.
DAB was too early and now the operators are too greedy. Halve the number of stations per mux and add far more masts and develop a cheap low power chipset, then I might take it seriously. The DAB+ is simply being used to increase the number of stations, not quality. South East DAB+ here is all 64K!
Words fail. Also AM is nothing like FM, though my 1929 and 1935 AM sets sound better on R4LW than RTE1 does on DAB! Probably big box and speaker vs 3.5" speaker and plastic box.
If the DAB used 256K I'd believe better quality. Not at 128K MP2 and 64K AAC.
Also 220MHz is worse coverage than 100MHz. There are not enough fill in masts for portable or car coverage for DAB. That's why they do opt-outs on R4LW.
Here the DTT is in theory worse still coverage being 470 to 750MHz approx, except here DAB has less than 50% geographic rollout and DTT is 99% with also Ka band FTA sat coverage. Also most of the DAB here is only RTE plus a few extra semi-automated RTE, all on DTT.
Also a DTT stick for a tablet or Laptop uses less power than DAB and is about £7 inc postage.
FM receivers use even less power.
Outside of a car I've not seen a single DAB set that is has a decent speaker.
Sadly the DTT here uses the same 128K stereo as the DAB.
I have a satellite distribution system for non-Irish stations. A £35 Sat receiver and £5 FM transmitter intended for MP3/Phone to car radio (CE) is used for up to three extra stations. The quality on any decent FM portable or table model (home, car in drive, or workshop) is superb.
I get about 10 to 20 FM stations on my phone too, not just RTE. ALL far better quality. BECAUSE the bitrate is to low (worse for poor hearing as the 128K MP2 assumes a standard hearing) and coverage too poor.
The ergonomics on modern portables is mostly ghastly, though worse for FM than DAB.
Channel change time to a different Mux? Terrible in N.I., no problem here as there is only the RTE mux.
Now they are practically giving away top of band one. 67MHz to 87MHz and 175 MHz to 195MHz would have made more sense for Rural/National and local/community FM. I even have DOMESTIC sets that do those bands.
DAB was too early and now the operators are too greedy. Halve the number of stations per mux and add far more masts and develop a cheap low power chipset, then I might take it seriously. The DAB+ is simply being used to increase the number of stations, not quality. South East DAB+ here is all 64K!
