Great Dab Radio Hunt

CAHA

Not sure how important portability is to you but all DAB radios chew batteries big style.

The best I have found on offer so far have been a Roberts and a Pure that offer up to 30 hours...which is not that great.

Pure are starting to design radios with battery chargers incorporated in them (so when you do not need to use batteries and can use mains it will be charging the batteries up for you) but the first model is not due out until end September I think. They say they will incorporate this feature in more and more models.

In short...if you want a battery powered DAB radio I would wait a little longer...we bought one of the early models and have regretted it ever since...

Regards

Chris Allen

grownup1

CAHA wrote:

Not sure how important portability is to you but all DAB radios chew batteries big style.

You're right that this cost is worth taking into account. I really wanted a battery DAB radio for my bathroom. I bought a Portal model from Boots (on points!) and it takes 6 C size batteries, which are expensive to buy. The last lot lasted a few months of daily listening while I brushed my teeth but I'm now going to try and reduce the long term running cost by using AA rechrgeables and AA->C converter cases that I bought on ebay. Will let you know how I get on.

mcnutsuk

Any recent finds or good deals? Looking for an alarm clock DAB

black-saturn

I've just bought my boyfriend a DAB radio for Christmas for £44 including delivery from Wesco Wholesale who have a mail order site and also sell on ebay. It has an alarm clock and a LCD display (which were the main features he asked for). Heres the site

Wesco Wholesale

and here's their ebay shop:

Wesco Wholesale Ebay Shop

DonnieH

Looks like comet are the cheapest for the Pure 1000 DAB pocket radio.

Anyone know anywhere cheaper?

scoobie

mcnutsuk wrote:

Any recent finds or good deals? Looking for an alarm clock DAB

Theres a 49 pounds one in Sainsburys from Goodmans, its reviewed on the net.
Intempo have just launched the RS-01


http://www.qed-uk.com/?i=13kpwE2OIPMe&vp=5&bg=181&bp=01w&bi=0

https://www.intempodigital.com

coolagarry

I'm thinking of buying myself this for christmas
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009YCUN2/enevacom04/026-1525331-6841260
Its a dab radio but includes a dvd player which seems to play everything including mp3's all for £119. Looks like a quality item

droopsnout

coolagarry, at present the link you provide gives an error message from Amazon, so I won't comment further on your choice.

I have posted on this theme before, but I will be more specific now.

At present, DAB broadcasts are transmitted on a section of the radio wavebands called "Band III". In the near future, more frequencies will become available on a section of the broadcast bands known for some reason as "Band L".

To future-proof your purchase of a DAB radio, you should ensure that the model you pick includes the facility to receive transmissions on this Band L, or you may soon be disappointed that your radio does not offer you the widest choice of programming.

Some broadcasters on the continent already transmit on Band L, so you could find that useful when going on holiday.

My advice to you would be to ask any shop assistant, "Does this radio receive Band L broadcasts?" If they say no, or if they don't know what you are talking about, go elsewhere.

Anyone contemplating a new DAB radio might find the reviews here useful.

As always, do your own research, etc.

droopsnout

Further to that last post, the web link is now functioning. The machine you have your eyes on is listed as having full Band III reception only - no mention of Band L.

You can find a product description on Sanyo's site here

The model's instruction book can be found here in pdf format (16 pages)

The cheapest price does indeed appear to be at Amazon.

The radio section has FM and DAB Band III, but not AM or LW, so you will not be able to listen to all the "Gold" stations or BBC Five Live on AM when you are out of a DAB reception area, but as this unit is not meant to be portable, this should not be a problem.

Enlarging page 4 of the instruction book shows that there is a pigtail antenna for FM, and a socket for a 70-ohm DAB antenna, supplied. You may need a more efficient outdoor antenna, depending on your location.

The FM radio has RDS.

The spec for the DAB section reads:

RF section: Band III, 174 ~ 240 MHz
(UK: 218 ~ 230 MHz)

This seems a fully-featured unit except for the all-important exclusion of L Band. If this is not important to you, then it seems a decent buy, especially at this level of outlay.

Hope this helps.

CAHA

Further to earlier posts about poor power consumption...Pure are introducing a new range that has a built in battery charger...something I feel should be standard on a such a beast that consumes so much power...hopefully the rest will follow suit...