FM switch off!!

scruffyone

Can anyone tell me when FM will be 'turned off' and what can we do about inbuilt car radios that may need to change to DAB.

Thanks.

InsideInsurance

It was pushed back from 2015 to 2018 and its not a switch off, its just the major national stations that are forced to switch to DAB, the local/ community etc stations continue on FM

TBH, I wouldnt be that confident that even the 2018 date will happen. There are so many more problems to fix with DAB before its realistic.

As to options, you either buy a new radio with DAB built in, live without the national stations or if it has an aux in then wire up a portable DAB player to it. For iPods/iPhones you can get a gizmo that broadcases what its playing over a short distance FM frequency to allow your car to tune into it if it doesnt have an Aux In slot, imagine that a similar thing could exist for DAB players.

A.Penny.Saved

DAB is far too old and open to bandwidth/bitrate abuse and therefore is not a good option for anyone with any regard to quality IMO.

I went back to FM due to the lousy quality on DAB. They have to pay for network usage so the quality is unlikely to improve even with DAB+ which is currently being tested by some operators such as the BBC. With DAB+ comes lower bitrates possible due to the higher compression rates using AAC HE etc. Chances are many operators will lower the bitrate as far as possible which will mean the quality will be probably be little better than it is ATM with MP2 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer II)

Best thing to do is not to encourage it!

Do you enjoy listening to Mono (not stereo) poorly approximated sound, think large steps rather than a smooth slope.

FM quality will probably be lowered to accustom/train people to the lower DAB quality at some point. It's already happened in other technology areas and people don't question the now low quality that they accept as being the norm.

securityguy

It's not even 2018 now.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/10520514/Reprieve-for-FM-as-Government-abandons-digital-radio-deadline.html

Vaizey has said the government won't even set a date until DAB listenership is at 50%.

molerat

Unless you live in big cities DAB coverage is pretty abysmal. Turning off FM would leave much of the country with little or no national radio coverage.

bod1467

And what would happen to traffic flashes? These still use FM stations, even if you're listening to DAB.

Big_Graeme

bod1467 wrote: »

And what would happen to traffic flashes? These still use FM stations, even if you're listening to DAB.

Doesn't DAB have a data stream that could be used for these?

bod1467

Maybe. All I know is the DAB in my car (VW Golf, 12 plate) uses FM for traffic flashes. (TP button).

Bollotom

I'll be surprised if DAB radio ever replaces FM. It was a good idea once, but now is as much use as a chocolate kettle. :cool:

http://www.techradar.com/news/car-tech/why-dab-radio-in-the-uk-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it-1217586

EssexExile

securityguy wrote: »

Vaizey has said the government won't even set a date until DAB listenership is at 50%.

I bought a little DAB radio alarm clock. I am now officially a digital listener despite listening to FM most of the time. I don't think it will be long before 50% are officially "digital" listeners. I hope I'm wrong.

Kernel_Sanders

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

FM quality will probably be lowered to accustom/train people to the lower DAB quality at some point. It's already happened in other technology areas and people don't question the now low quality that they accept as being the norm.

Would an example of this be flat screen TVs where 'HD' = CRT quality?