Internet Radio

fourcats

I have been happily using my internet radio getting all the stations I want until recently my BBC Radio 4 seems to have dropped. I can still get Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 4 Extra so why has Radio 4 gone, I can see it on my Station List still and have tried changing broadband channels to no avail, can anyone suggest a solution? Many thanks.

Torqay

I don't think they have changed their stream URL. I have just checked BBC4 FM still working fine with my software radio whithout having to update anything.

Some more details about your radio?

fourcats

It's a Roberts Stream 205. Can get absolutely everything from everywhere on it thats why I can't understand why Radio 4's gone. I did get it for an hour or so Monday night but that was all.

Torqay

First, let's check if you can play BBC Radio 4 on your computer. Either from ther website via iPlayer or copy and paste the stream URL into your media player (i.e. WMP).

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4lw.asx

fourcats

When I did that and put BBC Radio 4 in the 'enter URL' box I got this - Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file.

fourcats

Sorry, yes played okay from BBC Radio 4 website on laptop.

Torqay

Then I'm really at a loss.

Do you play BBC 4 from your favorites? Try selecting the station from the menu instead.

stanley1

I can play all the BBC's but "on demand" is not working on any of them.

fourcats

This is what I got back from Roberts Radio tech support, do you think that explains things?

Thanks for your email regarding Stream205.
We are aware of this problem and have already alerted the BBC to this
problem. The international stream for BBC Radio 4 does seem to be very
unreliable at present, whereas the international stream for BBC Radio 3
appears fine. There is no problem with the radio , but there is a problem
related to the BBC's streaming servers.
This problem is temporary and not caused by the radio
I hope this information will be of some assistance

stanley1

Thread here on reciva refuge site about BBC on demand.

http://recivarefuge.net/forum/index.php?topic=849.0

Radio3 on demand seems to be ok.

chinwag

I seem to be getting BBC R4 fine on my internet radio (Roberts 83i), just tried it.

stanley1

yes, live BBC's are working, it's the "on demand" service which is not working, a lot of people use this as a "catch-up" on serials etc.

chinwag

stanley1 wrote: »

yes, live BBC's are working, it's the "on demand" service which is not working, a lot of people use this as a "catch-up" on serials etc.

Oh, I see. I'm not sure if I'd even recognise 'on demand' service on the menu. I've played some podcasts which are a sort of a 'catch-up'.

fourcats

Yes, I did get it for a while yesterday morning,now it's gone again. According to Roberts Tech help its only a temporary streaming glitch - hopefully Funny some people don't seem to be having any trouble. Recivareuge website has a lot of overseas listeners having the same problems.

stanley1

Finding somewhere on the BBC site to report this took me a while, but eventually I filled in what they call a form here: https://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/templates/bbciplayer/emailForms/emailPage

You initially have to pretend that it is an iPlayer complaint, but as you proceed through the questions you get to a point where you can fill in that you are using an internet radio.

fourcats

Might have a go at that if nothing comes back soon,bit fed up with it all at the moment.Tnx.

stanley1

all working now, including on-demand.

fourcats

Nope, was this morning but not now, grrrr...

stanley1

check again, disconnect from mains and reconnect. Working perfect for me on Roberts WM-201. Reciva Refuge site reports all stations are up and running, seems it was a URL fault, BBC UK streams were not connecting with international streams.

fourcats

I tried your suggestion last night and it seemed to work, but when I went to listen an hour or so later it was gone again. So this morning I changed the broadband channel and its back again, we'll see if it lasts this time.
Many thanks.

Papidub

I've been having the same problems getting bb4 as have a number of people I know. I have 2 Internet radios ... one in a room near my computer and one some distance away. Have had no problems getting reception on the one near the computer but the other one comes and goes...as if the signal isn't strong enough. One affects bbc4. Would love to hear a solution to the problem.

fourcats

Thats interesting. I only got my Internet radio fairly recently and when the stations started 'dropping' the very helpful tech guys at Eircom broadband support where very helpful in showing me how to change channels to get better reception which helped in most cases but not all. Apparently (in my case with that particular problem) I use a cordless phone and with the phone base being quite near the modem, as the phone was receiving its wireless signals it was affecting my radio, just moving the base a bit further away from the modem seemed to help, but then there was the recent problem with BBC R4 URL stuff (which has been sorted out) so I will have to wait a while before I see how things pan out. This seems to be the opposite to your problem 'tho.