Have your say & ask the experts

Clare Newsome:

Oh, and no plans to switch FM off for the forseeable future - it's not part of the TV digital switchover plans. 

Great news! Having just bought an old analogue tuner, this is welcome news indeed. I was aware we had at least 12 years (or so I had read) ahead for FM broadcasting to continue, but if this is now without limit, that's what a lot of analogue radio fans will want to hear.

Serenity:

They are getting good at this sort of thing.
See how meak/mild we all are at paying around £5.45 for a gallon of petrol.   2 years ago that would have been cause for civil war!

Be good!

Serenity 

Far be it from me to get political, but they were also pretty good at introducing the minimum wage, the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement, the New Deal for Families, Working Tax Credits, but we don't tend to hear much about that from the malcontents.

And oil is governed by the Middle East for much of our supply and they hold the purse strings both on price and supply. We produce our own, but due to too few refineries and oil storage depots (a failing going back many governments), we ship out to holding places in Europe who then charge a premium to send it back to us!

As for the high tax rate on fuel, the protests of a few years back made me laugh. Yes, let's all have cheap unleaded and diesel and use up fossil fuels with nary a backward glance. Once it's gone it's gone but no-one seems to have registered that who runs a 4x4, BMW, or does the school run. Ho hum; my sympathies grind to a halt I'm afraid and we have seven month old twins and rely on a car, so I'm not speaking out of some hippy "wholegrain rice" view of the world.

It's this kind of limited, short-termist thinking that leaves me stone cold. Better it's taxed, the revenues go to fund the public purse and therefore US (in case that nugget was overlooked as well) and we encourage private enterprise to really look at developing alternatives. I would be in favour of limiting the tax burden to levels of 12 months ago for business (hauliers, etc) but otherwise, we use it, we pay for it. If it makes us reappraise what we take for granted, that's a good thing IMO.

Totally agree with Gordon Brown's statement the other day that Britain has an opportunity to develop and lead electric car production, both in terms of cell development and vehicle design and production. We might even get a manufacturing base back in this country long after a blue-rinse wiped it all out 25 years ago.

[/rant over folks!]

Don’t let anyone stop you getting political.
Its good to see there is at least one person here who is
awake.

I know I’ve steered this thread off topic.  But a change is as good as a rest.  And you boys should take a break from fiddling
with your knobs once in a while.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the claims that the
current crisis is the fault of “some other country / company / political party /
government or situation”

I don’t mind you calling me “limited” or “short termist”   - at least its getting views aired, whether
general or personal.  Although how you
can judge me by the fragments and sound bites I throw out, is a mystery to
me.  But HEY – who cares!   Call
me all the names and terms you can think of. 
I’m happy to be your sounding board.  
Getting things off your chest should have warmed you up a little?

COME ON Everyone  - get
all this pent up anguish out of your system, then we can get back to the music.

The current so called “world economic crisis”  is dead simple really, but not many people
realise the simple way out.  I’ll shut up
before my mentors hear I’ve been starting to spread the gospel once again.  They turned off my listening capabilities for
a month last time I did this.

So to turn things back to the DAB I started with.  Anyone know when the next version (or format)
of  DAB is to come on stream?   You know – the one that’s supposed to be
worth bothering with.

Cheers
Serenity

In this country, not for a while, even though some other european countries are planning rollouts now.

The problem we have is the inverse chicken/egg scenario, where we already have the egg and the chicken, but which one to cook first to create the DAB+ omlette.

Apologies, that is an atrocious metaphor. But you get the idea...we already have too many dab v1 sets out there to kill it off, but in order to roll out v2, we have to do just that...

Serenity - just to be clear, my comments were more general than personal, although inspired by one or two lines in your post. Nothing more though.

fatboyslimfast
So, I'm safe investing in FM only kit for a good while yet.  And can comfortably wait until the first round of DAB gear has all been abandoned into landfills.
Cant help thinking that this particular wheel could have been made round in the first place and hence not need re-inventing. ;-)


the record spot
Thanks for the clarification.
Glad I can be of inspiration to at least one Forum member.
I had expected more views would have been aired, and meaty matters slung back at my physog!

Best
Serenity

PS  
We talk about being in possession of the facts, but most of the time the facts have possessed us. When we talk about possession as a quality, we mean that there’s a feeling that the envisioned ideal is one’s own.
We know when something is ours and when it isn’t, don’t we?
We’re all capable of visualizing something that may be good or very good or incredibly good, but still not be ours.
This is a crucial sense; it must be there to begin with; otherwise, it’s a kind of theft.

fr0g:

FM beats DAB, but I don't think vinyl is better than CD.

Pretty much how I feel - Dab is poor in these parts anyway - I have line of sight on the main transmitter(s) a few miles away.

FM is wonderful DAB is frequently accompanied by the soft sound of gurgling mud.

CD has improved a lot in the last 20 years both digital recording and playback technologies.

I still enjoy the sound of vinyl but couldn't call it superior.

DAB isn't going to improve without a major rethink and perhaps a change in the incumbent technologies.

I frequently listen to music on FM Radio for it's quality. BBC Radio 2 and 3 have astonishing quality with a decent tuner and roof aerial. It is also a good way to come across music you would not normally hear or would not normally seek out. (Unlike the zillions of commercial stations who are all playing the same safe 500 'Gold' tracks to please their advertisers and keep 'Mr Drive-Time Suit' and 'Mrs Bored and Hitting the Bottle' comfortably numb n dumb.

Radio 2 nowadays covers everything from Acid Garage to 1930s Big Band (and Hyms!) in the span of a week and I even heard some Russell Brand banter the other day on Radio 2 that would have had most commercial stations closed down! My wife and I were in fits of laughter. I am so glad someone on the airwaves can still get away with sailing that close to the edge without fear of ******* off some advertising drone.