This is especially relevant as the ABC block will in most areas not be adjacent to the commercial transmission, limiting the potential interference, which is the main justification for the 9C metro multiplexes having the same coverage limitations as the commercial broadcasts.
If anything, I think they should move the proposed SFN to 9D and include the main capital city transmitter in it - and then use 9C as the secondary ABC/SBS allocation for in fill between SFNs- such as on the north coast of NSW in between a Queensland SFN and a NSW one.
That would mean that they wouldnāt have to worry about a commercial multiplex either side of them when it came to interference management.
I donāt know if this has been suggested as a solution, but since thereās only one localised radio service for ABC and SBS (i.e. ABC Local Radio), what if the ABC/SBS just have a statewide SFN and then put the single localised service on the commercial/community mux?
Well Nougat version does not support the dab app. The upgrade did work though. September 2017 security patch. I guess no chance for a dab radio in a phone again given FM radios are slowly disappearing. Unless as what Cranky stated there is a money invested in application development , however from a hardware prospective I donāt think it will go ahead.
Manage to wonder around the house getting my dose of Friday Night footy on ABC grandstand whilst doing my chores. The LG signal did break up similar to my old iriver. I tried my bush pocket radio all good not one drop out . Itās still listenable but I will stick to the Bush radio. Bit disappointed but hey I got a spare phone now.
I rarely get a dropout with mine & love the audio.
Thereās still some things I havenāt yet tried with mine.
I still donāt know how to add favourites in Internet mode.
Some other quirks & small deficiencies/annoyances I have with the radio if I put my āCritical Capā on are:-.
Is a pain to work through the menus to do a simple thing like altering the display brightness. Should have been a dedicated button for this or easier method. Have mine located in bedroom and dimming the display at night is a must.
Itās a pity in FM mode that one canāt sort or label the FM stations. Can only add frequencies to 10 presents.
The radio doesnāt like being disconnected from the WiFi internet as sometimes when working menus or pressing buttons whilst the radio is searching for a WiFi connection it resets itself or locks up requiring one to disconnect power input to the radio or one has to wait longer accessing the menus. Have you noted this?
I think a firmware update could have resolved this & some other quirks.
The company Frontier Silicon donāt appear to answer emails in regard to suggestions for adding podcasts or stations not on their website portal that the radio uses to access podcasts & stations.
If this radio was to be redesigned I would:
A) Add a USB port for the radio to access music files from a memory stick
B) Provide an external antenna input
C) Add another button for dimming display & putting display to sleep if wanted
Easy re Display Brightness:
Hit menu button, scroll to Main Menu, push, scroll to System settings, push, scroll to Backlight, push, now two settings for backlight, one for Standby (eg clock/off) & other for main backlight. 3 brightness settings to choose from.
I donāt have any problems with connection with WiFi or stability. Connection is always good, but I have 2 of the 3 red wave bars as a WiFi signal strength.
In my message I was alluding to the quirky state/problem with radio when I deliberately turn off my router/wifi at times when not needed (eg when only wanting to listen to DAB broadcast in evening prior to sleep).
Sometimes the radio has a problem connecting to some internet feeds, but that is likely to be a remote/internet issue rather than a radio problem. In this case I usually try again & the radio usually connects on 2nd attempt. I suspect the radio has an internal timer, such that if connection not achieved within a certain time frame it gives up attempting to connect.
Hope this helps.
BTW I have read of some folk having issues with WiFi connections with radio, perhaps you can try to orientate your WiFi router antennas differently or change location of radio/router etc. Maybe also change WiFi channels. WiFi apps to see 2.4GHz channels used/free in your neighbourhood might be helpful.
Great. Yes I installed the app last week for the first time. Very handy when in another room to either mute the audio, change volume or change DAB+ station (or other audio source) without need to move.
Nice ācouch potatoā convenience
I recently went searching for a recent ABC Nightlife podcast via direct input of name with the Bush DAB radio. It was there, but came up under ABC RN rather than ABC Local Radio network & showed me a pic of Tony Delroy! Obviously the host streaming computer has some old & incorrect data.
According to ACMAās 5 Year Spectrum Outlook for 2018-22, on page 39, thereās a mention that ACMA will issue the commercial broadcasters DAB+ licence for Hobart sometime between July & October (Q1 2018-19), allowing DAB+ transmisssions of commercial radio services to commence by the end of this year.
I donāt understand the area well enough - but that report also seems to imply reassigning the L-Band spectrum that could be used for Digital Radio away from it.
Most receivers here are VHF only, so itās not much loss - Iāve only seen a few that bother to scan the L Band, to the point where it wouldnāt be a viable place for local services.
I look forward to there being some actual hard decisions made on the regional roll out. I suspect there will be flawed ones to try and get Gold Coast on air ASAP.
Iām in a loan car today - with no digital radio. Itās actually horrifying not having the DAB stations to flick between - MMM GH and CR, Smooth, Easy, The 80s/90s, even Double J. Could barely find an actual song being played on the FMs driving to work. Yuk! Couldnāt live without DAB in the car now. Was scratching around on Rebel, Breeze and River and lucky I have them on FM or I would have switched the radio offā¦
Do you already have an Android-based head unit? By that, I mean an Android head unit that runs Android as part of its own system - NOT Android Auto which requires your phone to be plugged in via USB to run, but the head unit itself uses its own operating system to provide standalone functionality.
You will require one if you donāt, because the way this works is that it plugs into a USB port of a head unit running an Android operating system, and using this requires a separate DAB app to be installed.
My experience with these is that they are basically identical to bog standard USB Digital TV and Radio sticks, but packaged up differently. The problem is that these are very user unfriendly and buggy as all hell.
The one I had didnāt even support preset buttons - you literally had to scroll through every single station on the list to pick the one you wanted - a task difficult enough to do while at a standstill, let alone while in motion.
This was compounded with the bizarre way that the Android head unit worked (which I believe applies to all Android head units.
If you used the radio AND did something else at the same time, all audio output from the Android operating system (i.e. apps like Google Play Music or Google Maps) would cut out or suddenly have a massive drop in audio quality.
It was as if the built-in app that controlled the radio was merely a virtual control layer on top of very old hardware.
I would strongly recommend avoiding that piece of hardware.
Actually, I wasnāt going to get it for my car - for that, Iād actually have to have Android Auto installed, and the crappy MyLink software upgraded. Holden nor the crappy dealership our details were sent to after my original dealership closed wonāt upgrade it, or reveal any information about an upgrade. I am either going to have to get one of these from Kogan or a new headset.
I was going to get it to plug into some surplus Android tablets I have around the house and turn them into expanded radios and TVs. I have the Android tablet/DVD combo that Aldi sold a while back that Iāve turned into a mini TV - works quite well, except that you canāt plug it into a USB power socket and have the TV receiver piece (a DLink Portable TV receiver) in at the same time.
I was hoping to repeat it with a DAB USB device. I have seen video of it working (see below).
Iāve also found this - designed for phones like the TV receiver was:
A good auto electrician interested in audio should do the trick, theyāll have done their homework long before your call and be interested enough to follow all this online, have downloaded the appropriate software if it exists.
This is what the automotive industry is about these days, keeping ahead by learning what you can online and accessing the data you need for your mechanic or auto electrician business.
