How many radios?

[iwastooearlytobeayummymummy]

I feel safe here, so want to share

One in the bathroom
two in the bedroom, each side of the bed
one in the dining room
one in the kitchen
one in tne car

usually tuned to radio 4, occasionally BBC London and if DDs around Radio 1 or (the shame) Capital

Am I normal?

Can't even have a pee without turning the radio on.

Is this odd?

be honest, I think I can take it.

Hi, Iwas.

Are you my virtual twin?

2 in bedroom
1 in kitchen
1 in dining room
1 in living room
1 in car

All tuned to R4, R3, Classic FM and in the case of the DAB radio, R7.

Also listen to radio on tv sometimes. And listen-again to the Archers or something on computer when ironing.

Elastic,

Thanks,

never tried R7 what's on?

Blimey, I have just counted 9.

DAB Radio in my office/ spare bedroom.
Battered old ghettoblaster, tape deck broken, still works as a radio, in the kitchen.
Slightly less battered radio in the bathroom.
Old Roberts Radio in the dining-room.
Semi-decent hi-fi in the living-room.
DD's mini-radio with headphones.
DD's CD/radio.
My Walkman.
Plus the computer, on which I do a fair amount of my listening.

We also have a portable 3-in-1 CD/radio/tape unit, which has just given up the ghost but which I hope to coax back into life... it was the only device in the house which can play all three...

but do you listen as you, hmm, use the bathroom?

Iwas - R7 is largely repeats of R4 comedy and drama. Some of it is so old it's positively antique eg Round the Horn.

Sitting room: DAB and TV
Dining room: TV
Kitchen: radio/cassette/CD and laptop
Bedroom: radio alarm
insomnia bedroom: radio/CD *
bathroom: radio/rubber-duck!
walkman portable
car
and the kids have radios, computers and phones.

* = has Long Wave, essential for Jonathan Agnew on TMS and for World Service.

All tuned to Radio 4 (except the kids' radios, and my car when DS highjacks the station)

What are we going to do when it all goes digital? Actually, what is happening to LW: will that get killed off too?

I need to buy some more!

Kitchen which I can turn up and hear in the dining room
Bedroom (radio alarm with a sleep setting)
Kids' room (essential for listening to The Archers while the kids are in the bath)
Car

Glad to see so many FM radios around.

Have seen comments about 100 to 150 million sets in use, yet dumb Digital Economy Act suggests moving national stations like R4, R2, (even R1)to DAB.

Now I'm not a deeply technical hi-fi buff, music critic, or absolute geek, but many seem to say the audio quality for DAB (the one we have is a 20 year old standard and other countries like Australia use a newer version) is poorer than for FM.

There are different sampling rates and R2 uses 128 kbps while R3 uses 192 kbps (a CD is something like 340 kbps, so these lower bitrates are like shifting a CD to an MP3 and losing some of the quality).

There are also hints at having to have some sort of adaptor for car radios (a few million FM/CD sets already in the cars on the road).

The Digital Economy bill was one of the last minute things going through the day the election date was set (March 6th) and was pretty much "on the nod" as part of the "washing up" before parliament was dissolved.

Nearly all my mobile phones have FM radio in them, I have at least 4 other radios in the house (admittedly they are Roberts or Sony or similar sets, that also have short-wave, including the antique 'ghetto blaster' if I can find it in the attic). The garage Ferguson "midi" system has AM and FM and dates back to 1988 but FM still works fine, even if the digital display and remote control are wonky, and both cassette players in it are dead!

I think they should scrap the plans to switch from FM to DAB, or make the change to DAB+ but not start until afte 2020 !

They won't scrap LW - they need that so some nuclear subs can tell if the UK has been wiped out and then they can launch their missiles to ensure the world (not just UK/Europe) is doomed too.

Sorry, am just very gloomy that Trident is not likely to be scrapped / replaced.

Mildly unhappy that FiveLive is calling some "switch to DAB" offer a radio amnesty as if FM sets are too old fashioned.

In case you don't know, some retailers are giving a 10% to 20% discount on purchase of DAB set if you hand in a working radio. Idea is that radios will be refurbished and passed on to African countries. Unclear whether they will be given free or not, but only solar and hand-cranked make real sense else there will be cost and transport of batteries to consider - with no batteries (disposal of acid batteries is not without environmental costs) they are going to be useless in the long term, aren't they!

FiveLive is promoting it to let "dad" listen to the World Cup on DAB while at work home.

2 in my bedroom
1 in DD's bedroom
1 in DS's bedroom
2 in the living room
1 in the kitchen
1 in my car
1 in DH car
mobile phone has built-in FM radio
a couple of old radios tucked into drawers (usually take one of them on holiday with us, along with our old freeview box, so I can get my R4 fix and the kids can see Cbeebies when its raining)

All my radios are tuned to R4, DAB one in the kitchen is also tuned to R7 (when R4 drives me mental).
DH usually listens to Magic and R2.
DC's radios also tuned to R4 so I can listen as I move around the house.

I switch on the radio in the bedroom so I can listen while I wee.

Voice radio is my constant companion.

Fortunately DSG (Dixons Stores Group - so Dixons, Currys) did not have prior knowledge and won't give the discount.

I've got a DAB set, don't get me wrong, but you get higher quality audio from digital TV (Freeview and FreeSat) from BBC radio stations than you do on DAB - they seem to have gone for quantity over (sound) quality by cramming too many into the DAB services.

Maybe that is why they will rename Radio 7 to be "Radio 4 Extra" and then the loss of Radio 6 - aka 6Music {and Asian Network} won't be so noticeable as there will be no "gap" between "5" and "7".

I have one DAB set which was kindly handed down from a family member. But we can't get any sort of decent signal except in one room upstairs, and only then near a window (the signal also regularly scrambles itself and goes into gobbledegook mode). My faithful companion, otoh, is a good old stone-age FM portable which I can take out into the garden, have on in the kitchen when I'm cooking, or upstairs if I so wish.

I'm bloody incandescent every time those ads come on about the superiority of DAB. I live in a big commuter town about 30 miles outside London, ie hardly the back of beyond or the depths of the country. But we can't get Freeview or a DAB signal. So, great - they're going to switch off analogue and plunge radio addicts like me into silence. Why banish something that works?

FFS!

All DAB unless stated:

1 in kitchen
1 in dining room
(Use freeview in Living room for radio)
1 in dd's room
2 in our room
1 in bathroom
1 in spare room/study (analogue)
2 in cars
1 sansa clip FM/mp3

Oh, yes - mostly tuned to R4, plus R5 (DH), World Service, BBC7, BBC Scotland

1 in kitchen dab
1 in lounge dab
2 in bedroom, 1 dab, 1 fm
1 in car fm
Portable earphone dab no one uses.
1 in bathroom dab.
1 in loft as we ran out of rooms

All on R2 or 5 live.

We're fairly rural so all ours are FM, apart from the one in the kitchen which is angled to pick up the DAB reception and MUST NOT BE MOVED.

1 in kitchen
1 in sitting room
1 in playroom
1 portable with LW in bathroom, which gets taken outside for gardening
1 in garage
1 in bedroom
1 in DD's bedroom (she's only 2 so it's mainly for my benefit)
Mobile and mp3 player both have FM which I listen to when going for a walk
1 in each car

Mixture of R4 and Radio 2

Wow NobleFrangipani DAB radios in your cars too! You're really good converts to DAB!

Yes MrsDickens can appreciate your views.

Since R3 has a minority audience (and is the only one given a higher bitrate) I just wonder whether anyone else has noticed audio quality better or worse on FM compared with DAB, please?

I'm no great judge and have some tinnitus in one ear, but know if there are any signal strength problems (I'm south of Liverpool, and have managed (with a static set and careful positioning!) to get Stoke, Manchester and Liverpool stations, but some can deteriorate and sound like they're submerged in a swimming pool (at which point I switch to something else).

Have to say I enjoy bits and pieces from R2, R4, FiveLive (talk not sport) and BBC 7 (comedy and drama).

Sorry - mentioning R3 at higher bitrate then meant I missed main point... anyone listening to music output of R1, R2 (or local BBC if you have them - cannot get R Wales on DAB where I am) - do you notice sound difference quality wise on DAB vs FM?

R4 you mention LW for World Service but don't they have DAB World Service station ? Also for TMS, I think they usually cut DAB R4 to 80 kbps mono and then make a second channel live for TMS broadcasts. Sorry, not a cricket fan (but have noticed drop from 128 kbps stereo to 80 kbps mono)

2 in bedroom
1 in each of 3 kids rooms
1 in kitchen

if in dining room sitting room or playroom listen to radio via tv or computer.

radio 4 on FM radios, radio 4 or 6 music on the computer

DABs: kitchen, 1 bedroom

Others: 1 x lounge, 4 in bedrooms, 1 in car

I prefer R-5 or R-4, Dh prefers R-4, kids go for local music stations.

DH veto'd DAB in car because he wanted MP-Player, and couldn't get both MP-Player AND DAB in a car stereo at the time (sigh).

I feel quite inadequate compare to some of you, though!

Nah, CS, no need to feel inadequate... perfectly fine to have radios in the essential rooms...

I must admit I had one in the bathroom where I lived before - liked relaxing for a warm soak in the bath with some music or a drama on if I could (eg Friday 9pm R4)

Looks like that darn Damazer man will kill off my future chances of a 9pm Friday Play! Just another minor gripe about him.

Oh, no, forgot that cars are analogue! Did have DAB in the car a couple of years ago, and loved it when it worked, but coverage patchy, and it just stopped working at one point.

Have a DAB that migrates between sitting room and bedroom.

Otherwise:
1 in sitting room
1 in kitchen
1 in dining room
1 in study
1 in loo [Iwas, does that answer the question?]
1 in bedroom
1 in spare bedroom
1 in bathroom

Plus 2 small portables for when we go away

Mostly R4. World Service at night. Sometimes R3. DP also likes 5Live (aka Radio Rant). The DAB is for R7 or 5Live Extra. Often R4 LW during Test matches.