tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896552808274455196.post8381489162767958647..comments2024-01-16T08:37:20.766+00:00Comments on A Walker's Ramblings: The elegance of FM stereoDavid Cottonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17662508558674678268noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896552808274455196.post-7953348618231998692012-02-23T07:03:58.650+00:002012-02-23T07:03:58.650+00:00Hi Alan,
The government's policy is for AM an...Hi Alan,<br /><br />The government's policy is for AM and FM to be switched off, in a similar manner to analogue TV. This was scheduled to be in 2015, but take-up of DAB has not been good enough to allow that. <br /><br />There is still debate about when it will happen:<br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8617678/Government-still-wont-commit-to-digital-radio-switchover-date.html<br /><br />Although certainly a digital radio fan I do not think the technology is ready for a switch. Portable radios in particular suffer from poor battery life (and sadly always will when compared to FM - with FM simple circuitry can decode the signal; with DAB you need full demultiplexing and decompressing).<br /><br />However the government want to see the AM and FM frequencies.<br /><br />One of the lovely things about analogue is being able to go walking and only change the batteries once a week, not once every six hours...David Cottonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17662508558674678268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896552808274455196.post-73212208736890788842012-02-22T16:16:03.578+00:002012-02-22T16:16:03.578+00:00Fascinating stuff
Thanks for that - I *think* I u...Fascinating stuff<br /><br />Thanks for that - I *think* I understood it. Are you saying then that FM is going to disappear?Alan Slomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17966543499033330765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896552808274455196.post-83093878406977332522012-02-22T11:37:29.564+00:002012-02-22T11:37:29.564+00:00Hi BG!
Oh yes, the lag is a noticeable problem. B...Hi BG!<br /><br />Oh yes, the lag is a noticeable problem. Basically the digital signal has to be encoded, transmitted, a certain number of frames received, then decoded. This entire process can take a few seconds.<br /><br />Whereas an analogue signal generally just has the transmission time to cope with. (*)<br /><br />Having said that, I think the advantages of digital radio are worth the time lag. Then again, I would say that :-)<br /><br />(*) It is, sometimes, more complex than that. Most things sadly are.David Cottonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17662508558674678268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2896552808274455196.post-77611472468752703452012-02-22T10:30:24.656+00:002012-02-22T10:30:24.656+00:00FM has the added advantage of being good for broad...FM has the added advantage of being good for broadcasting time-signals, something that digital does dismally - we have three digital sets here and they each have a significant and different lag (up to 8 seconds) when uttering the BBC's "pips". Ever tried listening to three digital sets playing the same thing? It's audio-carnage!BG!https://www.blogger.com/profile/18025972482224907021noreply@blogger.com