Looking for a good Digital Radio

Wig
Wig Posts: 14,139 Forumite
I had a Roberts Gemini 49, which has kicked the bucket.
With regard to the Roberts G49....

It searches for radio stations stores them in memory. You then scroll through all the stations in alphabetical order, when you want to listen to the radio station you press "select" and it tunes to that station. The problem is is it finds about 50 named stations, but when you select on them 9 times out of 10 it then says "Station currently unavailable"... It has no problem going to the main stations like R1, R2, R3, R4, R4xtra, BBC RW Cymru, etc etc etc.... it's only the ones that you have never heard of that you can't listen to. And it takes a long time to scroll through all the memory then press select then wait a few seconds for the display to say "not available" then the radio reverts back to the last station that was actually being played i.e. R4, and then you have to scroll throguh all of them again to select the next one after the one you had just been refused. My beef with this is, if the station is not broadcasting/does not exist then the radio should not pick it up and store it in memory!
And it only had 5 presets.

I also hate all the 50s retro styling and wooden casings that manufacturers think we should all be wanting to buy.

I want a modern smart look. Like a Sony.

I need to know are there any digital radios which have a better user interface than I described above and which only stores the stations that are actually broadcasting...?

Comments

  • were
    were Posts: 632 Forumite
    edited 10 June 2017 at 4:30PM
    A very skewed answer to request is with a computer or pi etc, run kodi and put on the TuneIn Radio app. Think it can allegedly receive 50000 radio station

    Unsure if dead stations are visible. Also some local segments from part time stations are also not broadcast, like the live Stoke (area) football matches which was covered on another post in the forum.
  • ThemeOne
    ThemeOne Posts: 1,471
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    Most radios allow you to store your own list of favourite stations, so you don't have to scroll through all the stations it found when scanning.

    I got a cheap ALBA radio from Argos which does this.
  • I tried several DAB radios and took them back before I stumbled on this one, which was the cheapest and did everything I wanted.

    https://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-dcr1401g-dab-clock-radio-grey/755-4302.prd?skuId=755-4302
    "There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock
  • Wig
    Wig Posts: 14,139 Forumite
    No, I want a DAB, I did not know that "internet radios (Wifi)" existed.

    thanks all.
  • codger
    codger Posts: 2,079
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    Sound quality has always been more important to us than anything else. We have, over the years, had models from Hacker (now defunct, I think?) and Roberts. Each was a joy to listen to.

    When it came to replacing our large, upright, 16-year-old Roberts FM, we listened to several radios in different stores -- admittedly, not exactly a definitive testing, but sufficient to discover if the radio was a shrill tinny gimmicky waste of time or a silly boom box with muddied bass, or a tinsel toy good for only its lighting and promise of an endless number of stations that, of course, were unlikely ever to be brought in.

    We finally purchased a Pure DAB/FM portable radio. Small. Black. Stereo -- though as we know something about hi-fi, we also know that there isn't ever going to be noticeable stereo separation in a small unit.

    That said: the Pure, with the optional battery pack we also bought for it, consistently impresses. Never fails to lock onto a DAB signal and sounds superb -- bass, mids, and treble; voice as well as music -- regardless of source (we actually use FM more than DAB, seeing as how DAB chews up battery power whereas FM doesn't.)

    We bought a 'factory recon' unit from Pure because, to be honest, Pure's Quality Control record didn't inspire us to fork out for a new one. We also bought the battery pack from an eBay supplier. Not from Pure.

    Five years later, and that power pack is still working perfectly, whereas the factory recon died after a couple of months. No matter. We returned it to Pure at their expense, and they immediately -- immediately -- provided us with a brand new model. Can't say fairer than that. If sound quality is what you're after, put Pure on your short list.
  • @wig.

    DAB stations come and go quickly.

    I can't think of a DAB radio that clears out "dead" stations automatically.

    A factory reset would clear out all the dead stations.

    Buy a radio you like the sound of which has "DAB Plus" as well and an increasing number of stations use this (newer) version of DAB.

    I've a little Sony DAB radio (Sony XDR-P1DBP) which is good for travel (within the UK !).

    If I were buying now I might go for the Sony XDRS40.
  • Wig
    Wig Posts: 14,139 Forumite
    Are the stations preprogrammed into the model? How can you tune to a new station which starts to broadcast after you bought the radio?

    This is what I don't get, when you buy a TV you press search and it finds all the stations currently broadcasting. but the Roberts Gemini always had these dead stations even when you asked it to reset and "auto tune".
  • Wig wrote: »
    Are the stations preprogrammed into the model? How can you tune to a new station which starts to broadcast after you bought the radio?

    This is what I don't get, when you buy a TV you press search and it finds all the stations currently broadcasting. but the Roberts Gemini always had these dead stations even when you asked it to reset and "auto tune".

    You need to do a 'rescan', which should remove all defunct stations and insert any new ones.
    "There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871
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    edited 12 June 2017 at 7:30AM
    Wig wrote: »
    This is what I don't get, when you buy a TV you press search and it finds all the stations currently broadcasting. but the Roberts Gemini always had these dead stations even when you asked it to reset and "auto tune".
    Freeview tv also broadcasts channels with nothing on them. If your current radio is finding empty stations after a retune its likely another dab radio will find the same empty channels.

    My beef with this is, if the station is not broadcasting/does not exist then the radio should not pick it up and store it in memory!
    Its likely the radio doesn't know the channel is empty. Transmitting empty channels appears to be the problem rather than your radio picking them up.

    Can you delete individual channels on your radio?
  • letsbehonest
    letsbehonest Posts: 1,098
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    I have a Pure One dab for 7 years and it works flawlessly, It does not come with its own battery pack that is extra but I only use it on mains so not bothered.
    "Imagination is more Important than knowledge"
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