new radio?

I’ve consulted the splendid ‘Radio Listeners Guide’ so I’m getting a few
ideas, but I wondered if anyone here has hands-on experience of the
radio I’m searching for. I want something that I can use as a ‘site
radio’ when I’m working around the premises.
Spec:
Reasonably loud so I can use it outdoors despite traffic noise.
DAB, and able to resolve muxes 25dB below their immediate neighbour.
Wi-fi.
FM, and selective enough not to be wiped out by the FM mast 1km away.
Battery or mains.
Rechargable; ideally it will charge up when on the mains.

Bill

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...p age_o08_s00

--

This email has been checked by GCHQ










"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
I’ve consulted the splendid ‘Radio Listeners Guide’ so I’m getting a few
ideas, but I wondered if anyone here has hands-on experience of the radio
I’m searching for. I want something that I can use as a ‘site radio’ when
I’m working around the premises.
Spec:
Reasonably loud so I can use it outdoors despite traffic noise.
DAB, and able to resolve muxes 25dB below their immediate neighbour.
Wi-fi.
FM, and selective enough not to be wiped out by the FM mast 1km away.
Battery or mains.
Rechargable; ideally it will charge up when on the mains.

Bill

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
I've consulted the splendid 'Radio Listeners Guide' so I'm getting a
few ideas, but I wondered if anyone here has hands-on experience of
the radio I'm searching for. I want something that I can use as a
'site radio' when I'm working around the premises.
Spec:
Reasonably loud so I can use it outdoors despite traffic noise.
DAB, and able to resolve muxes 25dB below their immediate neighbour.
Wi-fi.
FM, and selective enough not to be wiped out by the FM mast 1km
away.
Battery or mains.
Rechargable; ideally it will charge up when on the mains.



Look at
http://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/radi...rtools-_-radio
The first Hitachi looks the best bet despite price.
One thing in most cases not shown or even quoted is the audio output
power. One of them that I researched on the manufacturer's web site
does 0.5Wpc off a 7V supply up to 3.5Wpc on an 18V supply - really not
enough in open air although it may be better indoors. Conversely the
Panasonic and some Milwaukee units do much more power but are only
AM/FM.

Interestingly most of these appear at least to work off a drill
battery and/or will charge such battery when connected to mains so
that may steer thoughts to a radio from the manufacturer of your
favourite battery drill? If you don't have one B&Q (for example) are
doing Makita Li-Ion drills (the trade preferred make) for less than a
ton: Screwfix are also doing the Bosch trade drill (that is blue body
as distinct from the green DIY body) and the Hitachi for similar
price.

Have a read of this:-
http://www.its.co.uk/blog/buying-gui...-buying-guide/


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

Woody wrote:

http://www.screwfix.com/c/c/c/cat830714
Interestingly most of these appear at least to work off a drill
battery and/or will charge such battery when connected to mains

Do any of them actually charge a "drill" battery? I thought most of
them would run off such a battery (or from a wall-wart) rather than
charge it - seems such an obvious feature.

On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 21:31:17 +0000
Bill Wright wrote:

I’ve consulted the splendid ‘Radio Listeners Guide’ so I’m getting a
few ideas, but I wondered if anyone here has hands-on experience of
the radio I’m searching for. I want something that I can use as a
‘site radio’ when I’m working around the premises.
Spec:
Reasonably loud so I can use it outdoors despite traffic noise.
DAB, and able to resolve muxes 25dB below their immediate neighbour.
Wi-fi.
FM, and selective enough not to be wiped out by the FM mast 1km away.
Battery or mains.
Rechargable; ideally it will charge up when on the mains.

Bill

"Build it, and They will Come".

I think you have identified an open niche, Bill. All you need now is a
designer, and a manufacturer. Go for it!

-
Davey.

Hit a similar issue myself with Roberts. They don't seem interested in
supporting their radios once they've sold them. Or perhaps their chipset
manufacturer (Frontier in my WM202) is taking this attitude.

As a software developer myself, I'd love to see a law where hardware like
this is on a 'support it or open-source it' basis. There are plenty of
'hobbyists' who would love to upgrade your radio as much as is technically
possible - just look at the Humax Fox stuff that has been done!

Paul DS.
+++++++++++++++

"Martin" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 07:48:38 -0000, "Kinnell" wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...p age_o08_s00


"Question: Does this radio support the formats HDS, HLS and DASH? The BBC
has
decided to move to DASH for all kinds of streaming. So I want a future-poof
radio.
Answer: This radio does not currently support HTTP live streaming (HLS). It
will
continue to play "live" BBC broadcasts which are now streamed in the
Shoutcast
mp3 format, but will not currently stream "on demand" services such as
podcasts
which now use HLS. I have contacted Roberts to establish if any software
update
is planned It is thought that this change may also affect other Internet
radio
manufacturers
By Ian Rennison on 22 March 2015"
--

Martin in Zuid Holland

On 19/01/16 09:19, Paul D Smith wrote:
Hit a similar issue myself with Roberts. They don't seem interested in
supporting their radios once they've sold them. Or perhaps their
chipset manufacturer (Frontier in my WM202) is taking this attitude.

As a software developer myself, I'd love to see a law where hardware
like this is on a 'support it or open-source it' basis. There are
plenty of 'hobbyists' who would love to upgrade your radio as much as is
technically possible - just look at the Humax Fox stuff that has been done!

100% "like", but it's sadly a dream.

* Lawyers ("them") have things far too sewn up under NDA and patents.

* Business tells Governments recycle products down to metals and
chemicals rather than encouraging creation of alternative use.

* Marketing tells consumers to needlessly spend more money to avoid
market forced obsolescence. Microsoft, Intel, I'm looking at ya. Windows
10. Disgraceful...

We really have to stop them making European laws to ban hobbyists
sharing knowledge learnt from reverse engineering. Otherwise, I'm moving
to China.

What was that thing in the US about makers dissuading home repairs of
cars using copyright?

--
Adrian C

"The BBC decided that the provision of WMA streams was "unsustainable".
Apparently they only gave radio manufacturers 12 months "to comply" with
this. So the arrogant BBC, acting on the whim of IT professionals who
believe that most radio listeners use their iPhones or PCs to listen to
radio, took it on themselves to obsolete most of the Internet radio products
on the market today. This is a disaster for an organisation that is supposed
to be promoting BBC Radio. Edit: I emailed Roberts to ask whether they were
able to update their software and received the following response:

We are working on releasing new software as soon as it becomes available but
unfortunately, this takes time as this issue affects our entire product
range and therefor will have to be thoroughly tested.
The BBC are working on implementing their final plans, using a format called
MPEG-DASH. Roberts is anticipating this change in the near future, and is
working on supporting this format.
Once any updates have been released, your radio unit should automatically
download the required software".

--

This email has been checked by GCHQ










"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 07:48:38 -0000, "Kinnell" wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...p age_o08_s00


"Question: Does this radio support the formats HDS, HLS and DASH? The BBC
has
decided to move to DASH for all kinds of streaming. So I want a
future-poof
radio.
Answer: This radio does not currently support HTTP live streaming (HLS).
It will
continue to play "live" BBC broadcasts which are now streamed in the
Shoutcast
mp3 format, but will not currently stream "on demand" services such as
podcasts
which now use HLS. I have contacted Roberts to establish if any software
update
is planned It is thought that this change may also affect other Internet
radio
manufacturers
By Ian Rennison on 22 March 2015"
--

Martin in Zuid Holland

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:10:27 +0100, Martin wrote:

It's more than a year since the BBC made a change that made existing Roberts
radios obsolete. How old is the Roberts answer?

My Roberts Stream 93 can receive FM, DAB, and thousands of internet
stations. That's hardly "obsolete".

Rod.

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 13:07:47 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:10:27 +0100, Martin wrote:

It's more than a year since the BBC made a change that made existing Roberts
radios obsolete. How old is the Roberts answer?

My Roberts Stream 93 can receive FM, DAB, and thousands of internet
stations. That's hardly "obsolete".

Can it do BBC wifi?

Never tried. It can do what I need, which is enough for me. It can do
FM and DAB so presumably can receive BBC via these methods.

Rod.