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Letter: DAB radio doesn’t reach the parts FM can
Tuesday 23rd February 2010, 7:30AM GMT.
Letter: I have to confess that I smiled when I read that radio broadcasters were requesting a delay to the switch off of analogue radio.
The Government’s proposal to makes us all switch over to digital radio was always a badly thought out plan. Large parts of Shropshire cannot receive digital radio signals and even if many more radio masts were erected there would still be some who would never be able to get a signal.
It is estimated that some 200 million radios, including nearly all car radios, would become useless if analogue broadcasts were stopped. So these radios will either be thrown away, causing chemical pollution or we will have to pay someone to dismantle them.
Digital radios also use more power. and those who listen to high quality broadcasts of music may also be interested to know that digital broadcasters transmit a lower quality signal.
Manufactures are pushing for enforced switch over, presumably hoping we shall all buy new radios. It is interesting that the broadcasters have now noticed that fewer people are listening to digital radio and they are asking for a delay.
Dr Charles West
Shrewsbury
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DAB works well here in Bridgnorth and is proving very worthwhile.
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my DAB works very well in Shrewsbury and the sound is superb, I much prefer it to FM . It is far more user friendly and the additional information display such as playlists, sports scores etc is great.
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Reception is rubbish in Shrewsbury, we can only pick it up in one room of the house (and that’s with a long length of copper cable attached to the aerial.
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DAB is loud and clear in Minsterley. I am so impressed with the amount and variation in stations. £40 from Comet it’s a Proline excellent. I listen to Planet Rock all the time.
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After buying a DAB radio, I found I could no longer receive BBC Radio Sropshire. I only live 8 miles from Shrewsbury where the station is based. On FM you can pick up BBC Shropshire on a piece of wet string all over the midlands. After taking this up with the DAB authority I found that because BBC shares a digital multiplexer with commercial stations they now use directional aerials to beam the signal to the most populated areas. This is presumably so the advertisers reach a bigger audience. The result is that BBC Shropshire on DAB reaches Telford Wolverhampton and all points east, some not even in Shropshire, but very little else. DAB has been taken over by commercial considerations. Just as with broadband, if you live in a rural area you no longer count. For some strange reason, I can listen to the Asian Network on DAB but can’t get my local county radio station. A total farce as usual.
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