Ben Hunt: Radio gaga

It’s pretty clear I’m not alone in my disappointment with Digital Radio in general and the Sony Walkman in particular. This issue has prompted more feedback than most, and much of it is negative.

One e-mail sticks out, and seems fairly representative of sentiment. The sender has asked to remain anonymous and also to have his (or her) identity protected further by the exclusion of the place names involved in the travelling – so I’ve covered these up! All of which is pretty mysterious. Anyway here it is:

“I also have a Sony XDR-M1 and find Digital Radio performance to be, at the least, quite disappointing - mainly because the coverage is really patchy across England and Wales, in my experience.

Two or three examples when using the Sony XDR-M1 will perhaps confirm this view.

Personal Effects

Ben Hunt, the FT’s Digital Business editor and self-confessed luddite, has thrown away his Filofax and ditched the dial-up modem and exchanged them for a lifestyle filled with cutting-edge technology.

Read his travails and triumphs here

• Email Ben

1. On the journey from the XXXX Coast to London, I have found that DAB only works satisfactorily in the final stages of the journey - of course with some short losses in deep cuttings - the same as FM radio. Notably DAB is much better inside the station by comparison with FM radio. HOWEVER the same radio once outside the station provides satisfactory performance (93.5MHz for Radio 4 - the comparison service) and ALL for much of the rest of the journey, except in the tunnels.

2. Locally the “Digital Radio Now” (Post Code based) Station Finder (http://www.digitalradionow.com) suggests that my local BBC Radio will be received - it is NOT obtainable! But the location is in the Target Service area and the Sony XDR-M1 easily receives it.

I have asked BBC Reception advice about this and they say it should be OK, so I can only conclude the Sony XDR-M1 does not have adequate

Sensitivity - but I suspect this may be a “six of one and half-a-dozen of the other” scenario.

3. A couple of days ago on a train between Chippenham and Swindon I found reception quite good - obtaining three multiplexes: BBC, Digital One and NOW Wiltshire. So in that case reception would seem to be quite OK. I wonder if that is a terrain related situation where being on a train going across a plain with few local obstructions it helps DAB performance.

In other parts of the country I have found that DAB reception certainly is not too bad BUT reception location within any building is far more critical than with FM radio. So I have to conclude that DAB transmission coverage is not yet set at adequate field strength to match typical radio products abilities (assuming that the Sony XDR-M1 is typical?) and then bring the radio tuning/listening experience to a similar level as FM where a user really does not have to think about technical issues before tuning to a service.”

So there you have it. I shall attempt to pursue this with the BBC.