Radio Scrappage Scheme

[geofy]

The radio stations on Freeview are nothing to do with DAB, though both systems use the old MP2 audio codec. If you think radio on Freeview sounds bad (and it does) you'll be horrified to hear DAB, which generally uses even lower bitrates.

Please don't discuss sound quality further in this thread folks, as it is OT.

Paul

Thanks Paul and John, I have never actually heard a DAB radio yet. I did look in the back of a Roberts in a Currys store, the so called retro R200 look-alike, very boring, just a speaker and not much else visible. Closed it back up before I was accosted by a sales person trying to flog me one.

[dave walsh]

Staying away from the quality/reception issues as Paul S requests [difficult] a comparison with the vehicle scheme is interesting.

It wasn't ever going to happen [similar comments re DAB on here]
Nobody would be interested.
The system would be complicated.
People would try to capitalise on trading in [unfairly described as fraud by the authorities]
It would be seen as a failure [by the general public]
The government would be discredited.

In fact it was extended and [overall] is viewed as a success [rightly or wrongly] It will be interesting to see how much similarity there is from Saturday with Radio Scrappage.

A major question [re both schemes] is why did these initiatives that would "never happen" suddenly get rushed out? And how?

I'm simply making these points for analysis-not asking for any political comment or taking a pro/anti DAB stance. I suspect that the Government is being advised somewhere that it is a modern multi platform world and that [as with the internet] consumers are taking in their info from a variety of concurrent sources so the odd concern doesn't matter. We'll see won't we!

Dave W

[paulsherwin]

The government isn't putting any money into this. Some retailers and manufacturers are offering 10-20% discounts if people 'trade in' an old radio, and the BBC have agreed to publicise it (no surprise there.)

As I said earlier, it's just a PR gimmick which has achieved its objective of generating lots of media coverage and conveying an impression that non-DAB radio is somehow 'on the way out'.

[Welsh Anorak]

Hi
On the (analogue) radio last night the man in charge of this scheme was asked 'what about those people who can't get it'. He said that new transmitters were being built and existing ones boosted in power all the time. I was told a couple of years ago that this wouldn' be happening. Anyone know which is true?
Will take one home tonight to see what happens, but I'm not holding my breath. Doubtless as soon as I can get it 6music will be axed...
Glyn
PS He said any radio, cheapos included, working or not, qualifies. So your round Ekco will be fine.

[Radio_Dave]

I just can't see many people being fooled by this offer. In my experience a 'normal' radio owner/listener will use some sort of multi-purpose radio/cd player/boombox thingy for the kitchen and a hifi/stack/separates type of system in the living room. Are these people, really, going to swap these for a simple portable DAB? It's a bit like getting a discount on a push bike in exchange for your car

[dave walsh]

Just to point out that they changed the rules on cars at least three times Glyn. [R6 has doubled it's listeners and meets BBC Charter aspirations so it should be safe]. Dave

[n_highfield]

Am I right in thinking that this was almost standard practice in the 1930's when dealers would take customer's old sets in 'part exchange' then junk them to keep them off the second hand market which was seen as damaging to demand for new sets?

I have a vague recollection that I read this in 'The Setmakers'.

NHH

[G8HQP Dave]

It is true that new transmitters are being built, and some existing ones will probably be boosted in power although I am not clear why they can't run at high power already. There is not the same problem with interference to analogue which the TV switchover has to handle, as the DAB frequencies have been set aside for digital radio all over Europe. Those who currently get an unreliable DAB signal or no signal may in future get a better signal. As far as I know, there is no plan to improve bit rates and audio quality unless this is going to be a useful side-effect of scrapping 6 Music.

[Andrew2]

I don't like the expression 'radio amnesty', as if analogue radios are something to be ashamed of and to be quietly 'handed over'. Yuk. I know we are not allowed to discuss the finer points of DAB here, but until a minimum bitrate of 192 kb/s is declared I won't be taking part.
I too heard Rob Mannion on the radio, but I feel he failed to clearly make his points. Nerves, probably.

[valveaudio]

If FM goes then what happens to car radios? many cars now have custom radios fitted which cannot be replaced with off the shelf size units.

Another car scrappage scheme!!

Trevor

[wireful3]

i also dislike the term radio amnesty. In fact it might even be inappropriate. To me it suggests something that is illegal but will be excused for a limited period. There is nothing illegal about owning and using a broadcast radio receiver.

It is really a limited period of special trade-in terms against a DAB radio.

No doubt someone used to trading in the Eastern Bazaars would take it as normal practice and do even better all the time !

[tedzed1]

I probably only live about 8 miles straight line sight from the sutton coldfield transmitter, possibly a bit less, and have found DAB reception in my area to be rubbish, the term quite often used of sounds like bubbling mud, i find to be quite accurate on reception of most stations apart from the BBC multiplex, plus the use of MPEG2 coding and low bitrate that is not even near fm quality, let alone the promised CD quality, is it suprising it is such a failiure, as for my own preference, if we have to go digital, my own preference would be Digital Radio Mondiale, as it utilises the shortwave and AM broadcast bands, and most of our old radio sets will quite happily accept a convertor board hidden away inside, so best of both worlds, and we get to still use our old sets for reception of this digital transmission method, visit www.drm.org to have a look, i think if we had to go digital, it would probably be the better of the two, ( but i still prefer analogue at heart)

at least we would get a few more years use of our beloved sets. and no need for a trade in, sorry for wandering OT

(its just a thought)

Paul

[Darren-UK]

The Moderators have been looking at this thread, in bits and at a certain rate, and feel it's becoming difficult to decode from the original scrappage topic. Therefore as the batteries have died we're retracting the aerial and closing down.