Background information
According to statistics, you listen to the radio every day. Is that true?
by David Lee
DAB+: The radio no longer sounds like extraterrestrials are calling
24.5.2018
Translation: machine translated
There's an old radio in my shared kitchen that's annoying. When the microwave is on, nothing works anyway and it sounds as if E.T. is unsuccessfully phoning home. A new radio is needed. Because DAB+ is the new radio standard, I make the wave change.
I have an old analogue radio in the kitchen of my shared flat. It receives radio signals via FM, i.e. ultra-short waves. The FM radio annoys all the flatmates: the sound coming out of the radio is really bad. And there's constant static, no matter what we do with the aerial. It gets even worse when someone has the idea of changing the station: The search takes forever and the noise drowns out every scrap of music that the stupid radio spits out. That's why we can only listen to the radio on one station.
None of my flatmates can answer the question of how old the radio is and where it came from. Apparently, the radio was already there when my flatmate took over the flat from the previous tenants six years ago.
The FM signals will be switched off from 2020 and, according to the Federal Council's plan, the last FM transmitter will be silenced by 2024 at the latest. By then at the latest, we will have to dispose of analogue radios anyway.
The FM transmitters will be replaced by DAB+. DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting, the + for the better audio codec.
Why is my flatmate even bothering with the radio?
There's a Sonos box on the shelf next to our annoying radio. But only its owner uses it, and only when the radio isn't already playing. The rest of us, i.e. my other two flatmates and I, only pair our mobiles with the Sonos box when we're having a party or want to listen to music for a longer period of time.
But why?
But why?
The sound quality of our radio is rubbish. The static could drive you mad. Attempts to improve reception with the extra-long aerial are always unsuccessful. The aerial is so bulky that you could poke your eyes out. Despite all these disadvantages, we always need the radio.
My empirical and highly serious field research in the shared kitchen has shown that we are simply lazy. And that's why we need the radio. The radio is quick to switch on and because we can only listen to one station anyway, there's no arguing. But as soon as the Sonos box is switched on, there's an argument because of the different music tastes.
With the radio and the one station, we don't have to search for anything, configure anything, set anything, we can just let ourselves be entertained. The sound quality doesn't really matter, as long as we get fast sound.
After all, we're not even the only lazy people. According to a study by Mediapulse, over 86% of the Swiss population listen to the radio. And that's around two hours a day. That's quite a lot.
A new radio is needed
We want to continue being lazy, but without the noise. So we need a new radio. It should be the Denver DAB-35 radio.
In addition to DAB+, the Denver radio also receives the old FM standard, like most radios. FM is the English term for FM.
Installing the new radio was as simple as it was boring. Plug it in, then the radio asked me to set the time and the radio automatically started searching for DAB+ stations. If I want to change the station, it's quick and easy at the touch of a button. It takes about six seconds until I can listen to the new station. But the best thing is that the annoying search with the wheel on the radio is finally over. And the static too.
In the small digital display panel, the radio shows me the song name or the latest news. And the radio doesn't need a large external aerial. The stupid antenna adjustment is over.
The microwave test
As is probably the case in many kitchens, we also have a microwave. That was the case with the old radio: as soon as someone started microwaving while the radio was on, the appliance made noises that sounded as if aliens were calling.
So the new radio has to go straight to the microwave test. And lo and behold, the Denver radio passed. The music keeps playing, we've got rid of the aliens. The microwave interference waves can't harm DAB+. Cool!
We are now DAB+
My flatmates are happy with the new radio. There's no more static and we can change the station again. My flatmate thinks so: Listening to the radio without static is almost intoxicating.
The switch to DAB+ was a success for us and was easier than we thought.
I do notice that the sound on our radio is rather flat. But that's probably because our radio only has one (!) watt of power. But the Denver radio was cheap. And the sound quality is not important when listening to the radio in the shared kitchen. The main thing is that it sounds like a radio again.
Conclusion: We gave ourselves a good push and got the new radio so that we can continue to listen to the radio lazily. Without noise. <p
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
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