Digital radio

GTE

Hello
I am looking into getting a digital radio for my mam and I am curious to how widely available it is in Ireland. We are living in North Kildare.
There are a few requirements for the radio.

Has to receive RTE 1 and other RTE stations.
Has to receive BBC 4(I think its that) and other BBC stations. Basicly any BBC stations from the UK that would on the LW band on a normal radio.

I dont really know much about this thing, but it seems to be good.
Its just the selection of stations available that is importent.


Thanks and regards
Rob

DMC

Hi Rob,

On selection grounds, Digital Radio via DAB is a no-no. There are some devoted folk interested in DAB in North Kildare, picking up BBC has been tried, but unsuccessfully so its not quite the way to go.

RTÉ are presently transmitting on DAB, but its very much still in the early days, so until RTÉ publicise it more, I wont advocate getting a DAB radio just yet.

As you may know BBC Radio 4 and RTÉ Radio 1 transmit on Long Wave, 198kHz and 252kHz respectively. All RTÉ services and national & local radio are on FM.

To get all BBC radio and RTÉ radio services digitally, there is the option of satellite. Both broadcasters are free-to-air on satellite, so you don't need to get a Sky subscription, but it will be through the TV rather than the Radio.

For the latter, I can go into more detail if you wish.

One other question, do you or your mother come from the UK? I'm thinking Sky Gnome here.

GTE

Thanks DMC.

So, we should wait on the DAB for now. And, we arent from the UK. The Sky Gnome popped in my head just now, but I am I am guessing BBC 4 isnt on the Irish Sky package.
Tis just, my Mam really likes listening to BBC radio 4 and on LW its can be weak and it can have other distortions. So, a crystal clear sound would be nice I would think.
Its mainly BBC 4 that I am interested in. I assume on the BBC site its possible to listen to it.

Thanks for your help.
Rob

DMC

BBC 4 wont work through a Irish Sky sub on a Sky Gnome
(watty; would the upside down card trick work here?)

It is on the web, live, all the time (The FM service is not interrupted by cricket)

I would recommend a Roberts Radio for decent LW reception.

White Horse

If you have broadband, have you considered a wifi internet radio (see www.reciva.com). They have all the stations you mention. In addition, you can also access the BBC on demand programmes.

I have one and it works great.

watty

Re: Internet Radio
Or laptop with WiFi or Philips Streamium. But the quality is terrible. If you like Mono 32K MP3s then it's great.


DMC. Does Gnome work with no card, if so:
1) Make sure Irish card in
2) Go 501.
3) Press Red
4) wait for Interactive to load
5) Remove card
6) Press backup
7)Wait for EPG to reload
8) Check the radio stations

Oddly SOME boxes will go to UK EPG with no card if repowered at mains
If the box has no card and Irish EPG and shows Irish EPG after mains re-connect, it can't be fooled to UK EPG, UNLESS you put an Irish card in it and do instructions above.


BBC DAB is poor quality compared with Satellite (Internet is worse though). RTE management are totally opposed to BBC radio on Irish DAB.

DMC

watty wrote:

DMC. Does Gnome work with no card,

Aye, to all intents and purposes, that was the question I was asking you

DublinWriter

OP,

What you could do is get a free-to-air sattelite system. Point it at the Astra 2B satellite and you'll get all the BBC radio stations in glorius digital (BBC1 through BBC7) and you'll also get all the BBC TV and ITV stations for free. No Sky subs to pay. I'm a big fan of BBC Radio 4 and I find it the best way to pick it up.

The only problem is that she'll be using the TV to listen to the radio and she won't get RTE and CH4 TV channels via satellite (yet).

DMC

Just a foot note of clarification, RTÉ Radio is free-to-air on satellite, RTÉ Television isn't.

byte

If you went the Free-to-air satellite route, you could connect the receiver directly to a hi-fi's auxiliary input. Get a receiver that has a channel number display, so you'll be able to know what station is on the receiver without needing the TV on.

Propellerhead

watty wrote:

RTE management are totally opposed to BBC radio on Irish DAB.

:rolleyes: Ready made content and unique selling point then not good enough for RTE then.

Are RTE going to provide a rolling news service and a grown up popular music station?

Thought not.

It wouldn't kill RTE to provide BBC's R2, 6music or R4, would it?

DMC

Propellerhead wrote:

It wouldn't kill RTE to provide BBC's R2, 6music or R4, would it?

No, but it might show them up.

watty

I wonder would the Goverment licence the community radio equivalent of Deflectors using Digital Radio Mondail or DAB, that carry the 10+ BBC radio channels?

GTE

Thanks for the replies, all those years ago

We never went for the digi radio though, but have things changed now?
I was reading an article where in the UK sound quality is being sacrificed for bandwidth. FM stations are putting out better sound quality then DAB is putting out. So I hear anyway

White Horse

bbk wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, all those years ago

We never went for the digi radio though, but have things changed now?
I was reading an article where in the UK sound quality is being sacrificed for bandwidth. FM stations are putting out better sound quality then DAB is putting out. So I hear anyway

FM was always better. The sound quality of DAB is rubbish (to my ears). Internet radio is the business. Huge number of station, many at very high bit rates.

If only BBC would make their Iplayer AAC steams available to the likes of Reciva.