They are nuts. I can't imagine they have really scoped the size of the
problem to the consumer. I think you are right, the challenges of putting a
converter in line is significant, and impractical in many cases. Once you
have a digital receiver and tuner and demod, what's the difference between
adding an audio amp or a modulator and little TX. These boxes would be darn
near a radio on their own. Maybe they can have digital radios in all cars by
2014-2015, but are they going to buy you one? You folks have iPods and the
like over there right? They have tuners, and I'm not sure if they are
digital or not (my Zune is, or can be). Guess you aren't expected to travel
outside England with your portable radio, as I don't see other nations
switching wholesale.
Is your radio supported by advertising as it is in the US? Here the populace
would just say, if the radios go digital, I guess I'll stop listening. Don't
think the advertising and music industry would take kindly to that.
"Steve Thackery" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Following on from the earlier thread, take a look here:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8591942.stm
>
> I can't believe this is happening. Doesn't the government realise the
> incredible impact this will have on the public? There must be tens of
> millions of FM/AM radios in use, all of which will be rendered useless
> (but
> see later). Portable radios, domestic radios. Millions of car radios,
> ditto. And all those wonderful radiograms and valve FM/AM receivers will
> never work again, either. My Sony surround sound receiver cost hundreds
> of
> pounds and will have to be scrapped.
>
> This is simply outrageous.
>
> The article talks about "conversion kits" for car radios. I'm reasonably
> savvy when it comes to electronics and techie things, but I can't imagine
> for a moment what the heck such a thing could be.
>
> Bearing in mind that it will have to work with all car radios, the only
> possibility would seem to be the equivalent of the TV set-top box, which
> would work like a digital radio and then present its output as FM on one
> frequency. So you'd leave your car radio on one frequency and use the
> external box to switch between stations.
>
> Yeah, right. So you're going to render the scan up / scan down and
> waveband-change buttons on your steering wheel or stalk useless. Ditto
> all
> the tuning knobs on the radio itself. If an external box could somehow
> "watch" what the radio is tuned to, it could - conceivably - seek out the
> relevant digital station. But as far as I can see there's no realistic
> way
> of doing that.
>
> So you'll have to have some other sort of control panel fitted to your car
> to control the conversion box. Wouldn't you? For god's sake, it would
> look
> a mess.
>
> Expensive analogue domestic receivers like mine could be fitted with an
> external box, just like an analogue telly. But what about all the other
> little radios scattered around people's homes? They're in all sorts of
> things. Bearing in mind the moderately obscene price of digital
> receivers,
> you'll end up spending - what?..... twenty quid? - to convert each
> existing
> radio to digital with an external box.
>
> What a joke. Each external box will need its own batteries. So now, when
> you go jogging, or walking to work, or anything else that involves
> listening
> to your personal radio, you'll have to carry two boxes. Either that, or
> scrap a perfectly good personal radio.
>
> The thing is, radios and televisions are very different. You usually have
> only one, two or three TVs per household. And they are almost always
> static, so an external box is feasible. But for radios, which are usually
> portable, no way! In any case, they almost always have an internal
> aerial,
> so you'd need to add the expense of an RF modulator and transmitter
> (admittedly very low power) to the conversion box. Ridiculous.
>
> Two questions. Firstly, what do you guys think about the government in
> this
> respect? Is it stupid? Or does it understand the issues far better than
> me
> and has good answers for them?
>
> Secondly, can any of you think of a feasible technical solution which
> would
> allow existing analogue radios to stay in service, other than an external,
> digital "pre-tuner" box? Am I exaggerating the difficulties of using
> external boxes?
>
> All thoughts are welcome.
>
> SteveT
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