R4 variations (LW/FM/DAB) and continuity announcers

[Andy Burns]

Twice this week, the 09:45 continuity announcer has said "On radio four
198 long wave and DAB digital radio now, it's time for the The Daily
Service (blah) ... pause ... This is BBC radio four FM where it's time
for our Book of the Week (blah)"

Except both days I was listening on DAB and indeed BoTW did follow.

[Robin]

Post by Andy Burns
Twice this week, the 09:45 continuity announcer has said "On radio
four 198 long wave and DAB digital radio now, it's time for the The
Daily Service (blah) ... pause ... This is BBC radio four FM where
it's time for our Book of the Week (blah)"
Except both days I was listening on DAB and indeed BoTW did follow.

This is Radio 4 so you have to be pedantic :)

They say "..198 long wave and DAB digital radio...". They do *not* say
eg "198 long wave and Radio 4 DAB digital radio. It's a "special" DAB
broadcast. From http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wzfs

"The Daily Service is available on a Radio 4 DAB side channel which is
automatically made available about a minute before the programme begins.
After tuning to Radio 4 DAB, select "Daily Service" (from your display)
with the tuning wheel and press the selector button.

On some radios the side channel can be stored on a preset button and
once it is stored there you simply need to press the preset. We
recommend choosing a well established brand of DAB receiver."

[David]

Sounds complicated Robin.
I do not use my DAB set much, and if I were I doubt I would read that on its
small display.
Regards
David

Post by Andy Burns
Twice this week, the 09:45 continuity announcer has said "On radio
four 198 long wave and DAB digital radio now, it's time for the The
Daily Service (blah) ... pause ... This is BBC radio four FM where
it's time for our Book of the Week (blah)"
Except both days I was listening on DAB and indeed BoTW did follow.

This is Radio 4 so you have to be pedantic :)

They say "..198 long wave and DAB digital radio...". They do *not* say
eg "198 long wave and Radio 4 DAB digital radio. It's a "special" DAB
broadcast. From http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wzfs

"The Daily Service is available on a Radio 4 DAB side channel which is
automatically made available about a minute before the programme begins.
After tuning to Radio 4 DAB, select "Daily Service" (from your display)
with the tuning wheel and press the selector button.

On some radios the side channel can be stored on a preset button and
once it is stored there you simply need to press the preset. We
recommend choosing a well established brand of DAB receiver."

[Robin]

Post by David
Sounds complicated Robin.
I do not use my DAB set much, and if I were I doubt I would read that
on its small display.
Regards
David

I've only ever done it once, for an elderly neighybour whose set, I was
glad to find, did allow me to save it to a preset button.

I only wish they'd treat Thought For The Day the same as the Daily
Service!

[Bill Wright]

Post by Robin
I only wish they'd treat Thought For The Day the same as the Daily
Service!

Thought for the Day is just a parade of Marxists.

Bill

[Brian-Gaff]

On dab mine always flags two, one called daily service and the other r4.
Having said that, I'd never heard anything come on the blank item other than
the id. Very strange.
Also why are so many stations from the bbc in mono on dab while stereo on
fm.
Brian

[Andy Burns]

Post by Brian-Gaff
On dab mine always flags two, one called daily service and the other r4.

Mine has several "sub" stations under Radio4 itself
Radio4 LW
Tennis
Daily Service
Parliament

Post by Brian-Gaff
why are so many stations from the bbc in mono on dab while stereo on fm.

Lack of bandwidth?

[MB]

Post by Brian-Gaff
On dab mine always flags two, one called daily service and the other r4.
Having said that, I'd never heard anything come on the blank item other than
the id. Very strange.
Also why are so many stations from the bbc in mono on dab while stereo on
fm.
Brian

Because DAB is more flexible than VHF FM so they can add more stations
at certain times. Many of the listeners are listening on portable
radios and even in cars they are often listening in mono even they do
not realise it.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Post by MB

Post by Brian-Gaff
On dab mine always flags two, one called daily service and the other r4.
Having said that, I'd never heard anything come on the blank item other than
the id. Very strange.
Also why are so many stations from the bbc in mono on dab while stereo on
fm.
Brian

Because DAB is more flexible than VHF FM so they can add more stations
at certain times. Many of the listeners are listening on portable
radios and even in cars they are often listening in mono even they do
not realise it.

Or to put it the other way round - on FM, there's nothing to be gained
by using mono.

At least, you can't squeeze in extra stations by doing so. There _is_
something to be gained: the signal-to-noise ratio is considerably
improved towards the edge of the coverage area by switching to mono, but
nobody ever does it. I remember when R4 in particular used to only
transmit in stereo when the source material was, but they stopped doing
that (leaving it on stereo all the time), about I think the early 1980s
(I'm sure there are some here who were working for the Beeb at the time
and can pin it down more precisely).

The cynic in me suspects that they were pandering to those who would be
puzzled why the little red light had gone out on their set (in those
days, the majority of stereo FM receivers had a light that indicated
when a stereo signal was being received), but I have no concrete
evidence of this ... (-:

[MB]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
The cynic in me suspects that they were pandering to those who would be
puzzled why the little red light had gone out on their set (in those
days, the majority of stereo FM receivers had a light that indicated
when a stereo signal was being received), but I have no concrete

I know of at least a couple of cases where the tone switched to 19 KHz
prior to a station going stereo because of a fault. People got all
excited that they were getting stereo, none of them seemed to notice
that they were still hearing mono.

[Mark Carver]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
At least, you can't squeeze in extra stations by doing so. There _is_
something to be gained: the signal-to-noise ratio is considerably
improved towards the edge of the coverage area by switching to mono, but
nobody ever does it.

In the case of car radios, mobile phone radios, and other 'personal'
radios, they don't need to, there's a gradual blending of L and R
channels as the signal deteriorates. It is frustrating that most modern
tuners have no facility to switch to mono.

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
I remember when R4 in particular used to only
transmit in stereo when the source material was, but they stopped doing
that (leaving it on stereo all the time), about I think the early 1980s
(I'm sure there are some here who were working for the Beeb at the time
and can pin it down more precisely).
The cynic in me suspects that they were pandering to those who would be
puzzled why the little red light had gone out on their set (in those
days, the majority of stereo FM receivers had a light that indicated
when a stereo signal was being received), but I have no concrete

I'm sure it was because the pilot tone didn't get, or was late, being
activated for some stereo programmes.

By the way, it wasn't just Radio 4 that switched the stereo facility on
and off. Radio 2 did it too. I can recall it going off for some
programmes, and even Capital Radio switched theirs off 3pm to 3:45
everyday for an oldies slot.

[Paul Cummins]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
At least, you can't squeeze in extra stations by doing so. There
_is_ something to be gained: the signal-to-noise ratio is
considerably improved towards the edge of the coverage area by
switching to mono, but nobody ever does it.

The SNR improves at the edge of coverage, but also the coverage area can
be expanded, as there's no power being wasted with Pilot Tone etc.