DAB in Ireland: RTE multiplex closed

Will we ever get DAB in Sligo? It's funny that Argos are selling DAB sets and no coverage here!

watty

You aren't missing much.

Currys, Maplin, Argos and Tesco are all UK stores that regularly sell stuff unsuitable here.

Tesco in Limerick Doradoyle especially promotes their DAB sets which are x5 to x 20 more expensive than their own AM/FM sets, one of which at €14 gives better sound. No mention of which are DAB+ (which NOT about quality but reducing cost by fitting more stations in) or fact that coverage in Ireland is appalling, bit rate only 128K MP2 on RTE, and the non-test service is RTE only.

I don't see a DAB Car Radio with LW for R4 and coverage is useless anyway compared to FM. At night I also listen to UK MW stations.

DAB only benefits UK retailers and Irish NATIONAL stations. Internet is better for Niche stations.

StreetLight

The dynamic label on All 80s is announcing the end of its trial service on 21st of June.

DrPatrickBarry

I live in Manchester and I listed to RTE on LW 252. Will I have anyway of getting RTE in the car when this service is shutdown?

zg3409

DrPatrickBarry wrote: »

I live in Manchester and I listed to RTE on LW 252. Will I have anyway of getting RTE in the car when this service is shutdown?

No, and yes.

You could set up an IPOD to automatically download the podcasts from the internet and then take that with you in the car. Not sure if they are available daily or only weekly downloads.

Some people have streamed radio live over an internet connection to the car. I did it while driving all across the UK and it was reasonable. You would need to be on an unlimited package and have half decent coverage.

You can get it at home on satellite on a Sky box and stream from the internet. The podcast would probably be the best bet, as you could have multiple shows, and no ads or music. If you have never used a podcast before it is very easy to update once initially set up. At home an internet streaming radio is the simplist way of listening, some can even access some podcasts too.

DrPatrickBarry

Thanks but it is really the news programmes morning and evening that I listen to, that needs to be live so a PODcast the next day would not be much use. I have an internet radio at home so no problems on that front.

reboot

watty wrote: »

You aren't missing much.

Currys, Maplin, Argos and Tesco are all UK stores that regularly sell stuff unsuitable here.

Tesco in Limerick Doradoyle especially promotes their DAB sets which are x5 to x 20 more expensive than their own AM/FM sets, one of which at €14 gives better sound. No mention of which are DAB+ (which NOT about quality but reducing cost by fitting more stations in) or fact that coverage in Ireland is appalling, bit rate only 128K MP2 on RTE, and the non-test service is RTE only.

I don't see a DAB Car Radio with LW for R4 and coverage is useless anyway compared to FM. At night I also listen to UK MW stations.

DAB only benefits UK retailers and Irish NATIONAL stations. Internet is better for Niche stations.

I have been asked by a friend to suggest a portable,(long battery life,I assume Li-on) Dab radio ,his wife can carry around the house.
A quick look ,(no Broadband still in the Mournes), and the Panasonic RF D 10 popped up on AMAZON, any thoughts? Thanks.

Capt'n Midnight

reboot wrote: »

I have been asked by a friend to suggest a portable,(long battery life,I assume Li-on) Dab radio ,his wife can carry around the house.
A quick look ,(no Broadband still in the Mournes), and the Panasonic RF D 10 popped up on AMAZON, any thoughts? Thanks.

Make sure you stock up on rechargeable batteries

reboot

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Make sure you stock up on rechargeable batteries

Thanks for that, I was hoping the Panasonic would have Li-on, but sadly as you point out it uses 4 C cells, may be a heavy piece of kit about 10 "long. It raises the question of devices such as these moving away from 6 Volt to 4, 8, or 12 Volt to incorporate lithium batteries.
Why is it so difficult for this Lady to carry a wireless around the house and get BBC Radiio 4 Extra. Seems we have not progressed much in this field?

Booms

If she has Sky, there used to be a Sky Gnome.
It transmitted audio to its receiver from the Sky box, and the channel received could be changed remotely.

Came with its own charger, and NiCad battery

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Gnome

reboot

Booms wrote: »

If she has Sky, there used to be a Sky Gnome.
It transmitted audio to its receiver from the Sky box, and the channel received could be changed remotely.

Came with its own charger, and NiCad battery

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Gnome

Thanks for that, looks the business, but you know what its like, this Lady won't touch anything technical.That's why I always say "Wireless Set" to her. If money was not an object the nice set from Norway called Pinell Go at a mere £150! Mind you John Lewis stores will sell you a battery pack for Pure Dab at £35, between £3 and £6 postage.
I believe the history of this big battery consumption goes back to the nice man who came up with the idea of reducing the Tx power and making the Rx pay for it instead? I'm sure a man will be along soon to correct me.

Booms

What I use now, instead of the Gnome, is a set of cordless radio headphones, connected to the audio out of my freesat box.

There used to be a wireless speaker version of these on the market at one stage.

reboot

Booms wrote: »

What I use now, instead of the Gnome, is a set of cordless radio headphones, connected to the audio out of my freesat box.

There used to be a wireless speaker version of these on the market at one stage.

Good point, in fact I believe its still a good time to hunt down wireless speakers and head phones ,as Bluetooth has seemed to have taken over, but the old RF system had a much greater range. maplin recently sold RF headphones at £20.
I bought 4 pair and they are great at that price. But sadly not for the lady in question.

waiguoren

DrPatrickBarry wrote: »

I live in Manchester and I listed to RTE on LW 252. Will I have anyway of getting RTE in the car when this service is shutdown?

Have you tried getting it on FM? I can receive Lyric FM at an M3 address using a Sony XDR-F1HD with a loft aerial. It's not great quality but it should be listenable with an external aerial

TAFKAlawhec

waiguoren wrote: »

Have you tried getting it on FM? I can receive Lyric FM at an M3 address using a Sony XDR-F1HD with a loft aerial. It's not great quality but it should be listenable with an external aerial

That's not likely to work for listening in the car though, especially for any consistency in coverage.

The only potential option likely to be available is streaming the station via mobile data.

Alsalmo

RTE are reported to have postponed the LW shutdown until January 2015, to allow more time for "discussion" with the Irish in Britain.

Does anyone know how RTE propose to broadcast programmes like Sunday religious services when LW closes, as DAB is not available nationally? Does this suggest an quicker roll out of DAB?

Mr. Rabbit

reboot wrote: »

I have been asked by a friend to suggest a portable,(long battery life,I assume Li-on) Dab radio ,his wife can carry around the house.
A quick look ,(no Broadband still in the Mournes), and the Panasonic RF D 10 popped up on AMAZON, any thoughts? Thanks.

Try the Roberts Play.

Excellent on both DAB and FM. Also has DAB+

Battery life is excellent, and you can also use rechargeable batteries through it's built in charger.

Mr. Rabbit

Alsalmo wrote: »

RTE are reported to have postponed the LW shutdown until January 2015, to allow more time for "discussion" with the Irish in Britain.

Does anyone know how RTE propose to broadcast programmes like Sunday religious services when LW closes, as DAB is not available nationally? Does this suggest an quicker roll out of DAB?

Presumably via FM or Saorview.

reboot

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

Try the Roberts Play.

Excellent on both DAB and FM. Also has DAB+

Battery life is excellent, and you can also use rechargeable batteries through it's built in charger.

Thanks for that,I like the coloured bumpers. One review puts the current drain at 110 ma, quite high from AA batteries? Always difficult to suggest these things for a friends wife who fights with technology. Thanks again.

Mr. Rabbit

reboot wrote: »

Thanks for that,I like the coloured bumpers. One review puts the current drain at 110 ma, quite high from AA batteries? Always difficult to suggest these things for a friends wife who fights with technology. Thanks again.

Seems to have excellent battery life on the one I have. Put a set of rechargeable batteries in mine ages ago and they haven't needed to be recharged yet.

It's also a very good size portability wise. Sound quality is good and much better than the Pure Move 400D (also a good wee set).

reboot

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

Seems to have excellent battery life on the one I have. Put a set of rechargeable batteries in mine ages ago and they haven't needed to be recharged yet.

It's also a very good size portability wise. Sound quality is good and much better than the Pure Move 400D (also a good wee set).

I had a look in a store yesterday and agree, it would suit me and good value. Another thing occurs to me is that when I assume we switch to Li-on batteries in radios and the rest , circuits may have to be designed to operate on 5 Volts or 8 Volts. as a cell will be around 4V. I have modified a few devices to do this but not that easy as in the case of this radio we are talking 6 Volts ,and of course there is the different in built charger to consider? Thanks again.

reboot

Alsalmo wrote: »

RTE are reported to have postponed the LW shutdown until January 2015, to allow more time for "discussion" with the Irish in Britain.

Does anyone know how RTE propose to broadcast programmes like Sunday religious services when LW closes, as DAB is not available nationally? Does this suggest an quicker roll out of DAB?

Just this morning a Lady asked me why she could not receive Lyric on her new Dab radio in Belfast. Says a lot really,people expect everything everywhere. Maybe by the time they sort Dab out people may have given up, bought a bluetooth speaker and moved upstream?
Some people were happy with a system called Frequency Modulation.

Mr. Rabbit

a Lady asked me why she could not receive Lyric on her new Dab radio in
Belfast.

Since most DAB radios also have FM, I would assume this is all down to BBC Radio Ulster from Carnmoney Hill on 95.3 drowning out Lyric FM from Clermont Cairn on 95.2.

I thought RTE were proposing to move Lyric FM from this frequency ?

Mr. Rabbit

reboot wrote: »

I had a look in a store yesterday and agree, it would suit me and good value. Another thing occurs to me is that when I assume we switch to Li-on batteries in radios and the rest , circuits may have to be designed to operate on 5 Volts or 8 Volts. as a cell will be around 4V. I have modified a few devices to do this but not that easy as in the case of this radio we are talking 6 Volts ,and of course there is the different in built charger to consider? Thanks again.

There's a switch on the back of the Roberts Play in the battery compartment which must be turned to the left when you use rechargeable batteries.

It's fairly obvious and easy to find.

watty

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

Try the Roberts Play.

Excellent on both DAB and FM. Also has DAB+

Battery life is excellent, and you can also use rechargeable batteries through it's built in charger.

Absolutely CRAP battery life. A 30 year old AM/FM radio has about x6 battery life and far better Audio quality.

Roberts is owned by Glen-Dimplex (also sell Morphy Richards) and some of the stuff is x10 price for same gear by others. It's stuff the real Roberts people would never have sold.

Total waste of money. It's just a bit better battery life than older DAB Radios.

reboot

Mr. Rabbit wrote: »

There's a switch on the back of the Roberts Play in the battery compartment which must be turned to the left when you use rechargeable batteries.

It's fairly obvious and easy to find.

Yes, sorry I was just considering the radio with a Li-on battery . I assume would require a different type of charger, battery balancing etc
Didn't mean to light any blue touch paper..

watty

Lithium batteries are extremely variable voltage compared to NiMH. They need very specialist chargers as they have a complex charging profile. Many electronics need a SMPSU to run of Lithium batteries, but it's possible to have just the complex charger. A cell varies from about 3.6V to 4.3V (in use, not on charge). If it gets too low there are problems so the electronics must disconnect the cell if voltage is too low (Doesn't matter for NiMH).
NiMH (in use, not on charge) is about 1.1V to 1.3V in use. The NiCd are about 0.05V lower.
NiMH last for more cycles and for VOLUME can be same nearly capacity, Lithium rechargeable only beat on capacity by weight, but usually have lower self discharge than very high capacity NiMH. But medium capacity "eneloop" type NiMH have lower self discharge.

But an AM/FM radio can use Alkaline (x5 less consumption) and they will last twice as long as Li-ion or NiMH for same size at low current draw (half as long on the high current of DAB radio). An AM/FM radio designed for headphones only on Alkaline will last almost 50 times longer as it has about 1/20th the consumption of DAB.

At much higher currents for size of cell the low resistance of NiMH means they last longer than Li-Ion and about x2 life of Alkaline (AA Alkaline thus can have x5 capacity at low current draw).

Lithium batteries easily go on fire or explode if incorrectly discharged or charged.

Only EVER use any electronics with battery it's designed for.

reboot

watty wrote: »

Lithium batteries are extremely variable voltage compared to NiMH. They need very specialist chargers as they have a complex charging profile. Many electronics need a SMPSU to run of Lithium batteries, but it's possible to have just the complex charger. A cell varies from about 3.6V to 4.3V (in use, not on charge). If it gets too low there are problems so the electronics must disconnect the cell if voltage is too low (Doesn't matter for NiMH).
NiMH (in use, not on charge) is about 1.1V to 1.3V in use. The NiCd are about 0.05V lower.
NiMH last for more cycles and for VOLUME can be same nearly capacity, Lithium rechargeable only beat on capacity by weight, but usually have lower self discharge than very high capacity NiMH. But medium capacity "eneloop" type NiMH have lower self discharge.

But an AM/FM radio can use Alkaline (x5 less consumption) and they will last twice as long as Li-ion or NiMH for same size at low current draw (half as long on the high current of DAB radio). An AM/FM radio designed for headphones only on Alkaline will last almost 50 times longer as it has about 1/20th the consumption of DAB.

At much higher currents for size of cell the low resistance of NiMH means they last longer than Li-Ion and about x2 life of Alkaline (AA Alkaline thus can have x5 capacity at low current draw).

Lithium batteries easily go on fire or explode if incorrectly discharged or charged.

Only EVER use any electronics with battery it's designed for.

Thanks, with you on all of that, and was aware that Li batteries in radios, as opposed to other mobile devices, phones/tablets etc ,seem to make the radios very expensive presumably because of this BMS, as you point out. The majority of Dab/Fm portables seem to be of the headphone o/p only type.
Your right to point out the charging dangers with Li, I have managed to fill the kitchen with black smoke from charging a battery the size of a match box.
Just to cross threads slightly, on the Electric Vehicle threads, Leaf owners have been pushing for higher charge currents, batteries around 22 kwhrs,the latest charge points in Belfast o/p 160Amps DC!

wolf99

Hi Folks
Its a long time since I paid any attention to DAB radio in Ireland but am looking to maybe get a radio for someone for xmas so I need a quick summary of the state of play of DAB ATM as most of the official info online appears to not have been updated since the start of the trials rollout some years ago.

1) Has roll out completed? It started about 2010 right?

2) Is there a coverage map?

3) What band is Ireland using? 3 or L or something else?

4) Will a DAB+ radio in Ireland be able to pick up UK DAB stations?

5) Im looking to buy a radio that fits into a separates system. The system currently uses a irectional aerial up on a pole outside i.e. one that looks abit like this:

-¦¦--I-I-I-

when viewed from above. Is this suitable for use with DAB?

Thanks!!

craoltoir

DAB is only available from a limited number of transmitters:

DAB, Block 12c

Transmission sites:
Three Rock – 10kW ERP
Clermont Carn – 5kW ERP
Spur Hill – 5kW ERP
Woodcock Hill – 5kW ERP

Coverage map available at digitalradio.ie