Today seems to be a day of negative digital radio news - and not necessarily entirely accurate news at that. Be warned, I'm going to ramble on for a bit. If you can't be bothered to read it all, I sum up my point at the end.
An Open Letter to Rt. Hon. Ed Vaizey MP
First I read an open letter from Rob Mannion, the editor of Practical Wireless Magazine, which was sent to the Telegraph newspaper aimed for the attention of Mr Ed Vaizey MP and reproduced here:
Dear Sirs: With the right Hon.Ed Vaisey about to make a statement regarding the imposition of DAB radio on Band II v.h.f. radio services, to replace the practical f.m. broadcasts, it is to be hoped that the new coalition government have listened clearly to all the criticisms regarding the impractical technology and the difficulties of receiving DAB radio services on portable equipment using simple antenna systems (a service the public has been used to for many years).
With the much mentioned huge spending cuts announced by the government, it will be unfortunate indeed if pensioners and those out of work should face the prospect of buying new equipment - all made in Far East - that would most likely provide inferior reception.
I implore Mr Vaisey to take the opportunity to repeal the legislation that will force listeners to buy equipment that's not necessary, and at the same time will also send money overseas to support another country's economy. Keep the money that would be spent in the UK, keep the service that works so well on simple portable receivers and enable as many people to carry on enjoying the essential broadcast radio services as before with simple to use receivers that don't require large amounts of power to operate them and work efficiently. With DAB radio on Band II that's certainly not possible.
Please Sir - Dump the DAB on Band II.
Rob Mannion
Editor Practical Wireless magazine
Broadstone
Dorset BH18 8PW
Whilst the theme of the letter may be sound, I find the arguments put forward here to be quite surprising particularly the mention of the source of DAB products - the Far East. I fail to see the issue with electronics being made in foreign countries. It is indeed the case that a significant majority of our products are manufactured outside of the UK and I daresay this is true for analogue radio products. Yes it would be nice for the UK to have a thriving manufacturing industry, but at the moment it simply is not the case. The sale of digital radio products will still occur on these shores however and that will generate revenue for the UK economy.
I also take issue with the inference to expensive digital radio sets. Prices are falling all the time, and a DAB radio receiver can now be had for £20.00. It wasn't so long ago that the lower price was £50.00 and when I first obtained a DAB receiver, it was £100.00. Switchover isn't happening this year or next - it's pencilled in for 2015. That's five years for prices to fall further and for people to gradually replace sets. I'm sure also that as technology improves, so will the power consumption.
It also may be the case that people may choose not to replace some sets. With many digital radio stations broadcasting via digital television some may find that all the radio they need is already available to them in a post TV switchover country. Let's also not discount online radio.
Lastly in respect of this letter, if you're going to emplore a minister to listen to your viewpoint and in an open letter at that, it's probably worth at least spelling his name correctly!
The Daily Mail Jumps On The Bandwagon
The second source of negative reporting comes from that bastion of quality news(!) The Daily Mail.
The news report itself is linked to via Related Links on this entry, but the key points are thus:
In typical sensationalist journalism, the body of the story contradicts the headline as can be seen in the points above. The headline that motorists will have to pay £300 to replace their radios simply is not true. Let's do some research:
I conducted a quick search through Google UK found a JVC DAB head unit for £148.99 - half the price quoted by the paper. Unfortunately, for a quick search, that was about the only result but one result at half the price is still not £300.00 in my book.
The Mail does mention conversion kits and acknowledges that these are cheaper than head units (there's the contradiction). More research again:
A search for the Pure Highway DAB receiver, which mounts on the windscreen and re-broadcasts a digital station on an FM frequency that any plain old car radio from the last 20 years can receiver, resulted in a number of hits. The cheapest source for this product (from a major known retailer) was Amazon UK at £68.00 - a whole 32% less than the cost of a conversion kit quoted by the Mail.
So we can clearly see that The Daily Mail is simply wrong with it's figures. It's also wrong stating that a switch-off of the analogue bands will happen in 2015 but this is more forgiveable. Major national and local stations are intended to be moved from FM to DAB by 2015. The resulting space on the FM band is earmarked for community stations. A similar prospect is on the cards for AM, but there is an intention to close this by moving community stations found here to FM.
As can be seen from the above paragraph, with FM being used for community stations it does not mean that all analogue radios will become redundant although it's true that the requirement for them will be reduced. There's no reason to fear that these will end up simply trashed though - old radios could be recycled and sent abroad to countries where digital radio has not become established.
So let's take a final look at costs. The article states that most homes have two or three radios (although a later quote mentions four or five, we'll go with the Mail for the purpose of this bit of maths). Let's say that all of these radios are replaced with digital sets. At the cheapest cost of £20.00, that's a replacement cost of £60.00. Adding on a new car head unit at £148.00 results in a total replacement cost of £208.00. Okay, it's still not cheap but that's every radio replaced for less than the cost stated for motorists only.
Going back to my earlier point about other sources of digital radio, we could perhaps assume that only two radios will be needed - one for the kitchen and one for the bedroom with the living room being served by digital television. Take £20.00 off the above total, that's £188.00.
There's five years remaining to replace these radios, so no immediate rush. The cheaper sets could be replaced over the next two years - easy enough by saving £1.70 per month. Then there's a further three years to save for that more expensive car head unit - £4.11 per month assuming prices don't fall.
What's My Point?
Digital radio is here and it's going to stay. I don't think there's any two ways about it, and at the moment 2015 is earmarked as the date when we should be using some form of digital radio as our primary method of receiving radio broadcasts.
DAB has its problems. At the moment, coverage is less than FM and there are issues around audio quality. Yes, receivers currently use more power than FM and yes, they do cost more.
All I ask for though is some perspective. There's five years for problems to be ironed out. Coverage can be improved, power consumption can be improved. Audio quality is subjective but there are solutions to that too (increased bitrates, codec changes), and a good quality DAB signal does provide generally better audio than a poor quality FM signal.
Whilst DAB is digital radio, digital radio is not just DAB. Satellite, cable and online services all provide digital radio and in many cases the audio quality is excellent.
It also occurs to me that perhaps there is some hate for DAB simply because it's not analogue.
I know I'm asking to much of our press, but let's look at the both the pro's and con's of digital radio compared with analogue radio and have a balanced report written in light of the situation we're in now - not as though switch-over is taking place next week and we're all being conned out of our hard earned cash.
An Open Letter to Rt. Hon. Ed Vaizey MP
First I read an open letter from Rob Mannion, the editor of Practical Wireless Magazine, which was sent to the Telegraph newspaper aimed for the attention of Mr Ed Vaizey MP and reproduced here:
Dear Sirs: With the right Hon.Ed Vaisey about to make a statement regarding the imposition of DAB radio on Band II v.h.f. radio services, to replace the practical f.m. broadcasts, it is to be hoped that the new coalition government have listened clearly to all the criticisms regarding the impractical technology and the difficulties of receiving DAB radio services on portable equipment using simple antenna systems (a service the public has been used to for many years).
With the much mentioned huge spending cuts announced by the government, it will be unfortunate indeed if pensioners and those out of work should face the prospect of buying new equipment - all made in Far East - that would most likely provide inferior reception.
I implore Mr Vaisey to take the opportunity to repeal the legislation that will force listeners to buy equipment that's not necessary, and at the same time will also send money overseas to support another country's economy. Keep the money that would be spent in the UK, keep the service that works so well on simple portable receivers and enable as many people to carry on enjoying the essential broadcast radio services as before with simple to use receivers that don't require large amounts of power to operate them and work efficiently. With DAB radio on Band II that's certainly not possible.
Please Sir - Dump the DAB on Band II.
Rob Mannion
Editor Practical Wireless magazine
Broadstone
Dorset BH18 8PW
Whilst the theme of the letter may be sound, I find the arguments put forward here to be quite surprising particularly the mention of the source of DAB products - the Far East. I fail to see the issue with electronics being made in foreign countries. It is indeed the case that a significant majority of our products are manufactured outside of the UK and I daresay this is true for analogue radio products. Yes it would be nice for the UK to have a thriving manufacturing industry, but at the moment it simply is not the case. The sale of digital radio products will still occur on these shores however and that will generate revenue for the UK economy.
I also take issue with the inference to expensive digital radio sets. Prices are falling all the time, and a DAB radio receiver can now be had for £20.00. It wasn't so long ago that the lower price was £50.00 and when I first obtained a DAB receiver, it was £100.00. Switchover isn't happening this year or next - it's pencilled in for 2015. That's five years for prices to fall further and for people to gradually replace sets. I'm sure also that as technology improves, so will the power consumption.
It also may be the case that people may choose not to replace some sets. With many digital radio stations broadcasting via digital television some may find that all the radio they need is already available to them in a post TV switchover country. Let's also not discount online radio.
Lastly in respect of this letter, if you're going to emplore a minister to listen to your viewpoint and in an open letter at that, it's probably worth at least spelling his name correctly!
The Daily Mail Jumps On The Bandwagon
The second source of negative reporting comes from that bastion of quality news(!) The Daily Mail.
The news report itself is linked to via Related Links on this entry, but the key points are thus:
- Motorists face a bill of £300 to install digital radios,
- the government is pushing ahead with plans to switch of AM and FM broadcasting,
- 100 million analogue radios will be redundant following switchoff in 2015
- New car head units cost £300; conversion kits cost £100
- Most ordinary homes have 2 or 3 radios
In typical sensationalist journalism, the body of the story contradicts the headline as can be seen in the points above. The headline that motorists will have to pay £300 to replace their radios simply is not true. Let's do some research:
I conducted a quick search through Google UK found a JVC DAB head unit for £148.99 - half the price quoted by the paper. Unfortunately, for a quick search, that was about the only result but one result at half the price is still not £300.00 in my book.
The Mail does mention conversion kits and acknowledges that these are cheaper than head units (there's the contradiction). More research again:
A search for the Pure Highway DAB receiver, which mounts on the windscreen and re-broadcasts a digital station on an FM frequency that any plain old car radio from the last 20 years can receiver, resulted in a number of hits. The cheapest source for this product (from a major known retailer) was Amazon UK at £68.00 - a whole 32% less than the cost of a conversion kit quoted by the Mail.
So we can clearly see that The Daily Mail is simply wrong with it's figures. It's also wrong stating that a switch-off of the analogue bands will happen in 2015 but this is more forgiveable. Major national and local stations are intended to be moved from FM to DAB by 2015. The resulting space on the FM band is earmarked for community stations. A similar prospect is on the cards for AM, but there is an intention to close this by moving community stations found here to FM.
As can be seen from the above paragraph, with FM being used for community stations it does not mean that all analogue radios will become redundant although it's true that the requirement for them will be reduced. There's no reason to fear that these will end up simply trashed though - old radios could be recycled and sent abroad to countries where digital radio has not become established.
So let's take a final look at costs. The article states that most homes have two or three radios (although a later quote mentions four or five, we'll go with the Mail for the purpose of this bit of maths). Let's say that all of these radios are replaced with digital sets. At the cheapest cost of £20.00, that's a replacement cost of £60.00. Adding on a new car head unit at £148.00 results in a total replacement cost of £208.00. Okay, it's still not cheap but that's every radio replaced for less than the cost stated for motorists only.
Going back to my earlier point about other sources of digital radio, we could perhaps assume that only two radios will be needed - one for the kitchen and one for the bedroom with the living room being served by digital television. Take £20.00 off the above total, that's £188.00.
There's five years remaining to replace these radios, so no immediate rush. The cheaper sets could be replaced over the next two years - easy enough by saving £1.70 per month. Then there's a further three years to save for that more expensive car head unit - £4.11 per month assuming prices don't fall.
What's My Point?
Digital radio is here and it's going to stay. I don't think there's any two ways about it, and at the moment 2015 is earmarked as the date when we should be using some form of digital radio as our primary method of receiving radio broadcasts.
DAB has its problems. At the moment, coverage is less than FM and there are issues around audio quality. Yes, receivers currently use more power than FM and yes, they do cost more.
All I ask for though is some perspective. There's five years for problems to be ironed out. Coverage can be improved, power consumption can be improved. Audio quality is subjective but there are solutions to that too (increased bitrates, codec changes), and a good quality DAB signal does provide generally better audio than a poor quality FM signal.
Whilst DAB is digital radio, digital radio is not just DAB. Satellite, cable and online services all provide digital radio and in many cases the audio quality is excellent.
It also occurs to me that perhaps there is some hate for DAB simply because it's not analogue.
I know I'm asking to much of our press, but let's look at the both the pro's and con's of digital radio compared with analogue radio and have a balanced report written in light of the situation we're in now - not as though switch-over is taking place next week and we're all being conned out of our hard earned cash.