• Capital UK has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Shine 879 has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 80 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Heart 4 Counties has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Grt Hits BBH has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

Multiplex Changes

• Herts Beds Bucks:
  • Added: 1047 SUBJAM (DAB 64 Kbps; Other Music)
  • Added: Capital UK (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Grt Hits BBH (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Heart 4 Counties (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Shine 879 (DAB 80 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Smooth 3Counties (DAB 128 Kbps; Easy Listening)

Most DAB radios I find¹ have text-only displays. Some even have no display at all and you must tune in blindly with arrow buttons. Apparently color graphical LCDs increase the cost of the radio enough to omit them from the design.

And yet at the same time people are throwing away quite functional smartphones in mass quantity (thanks to capitalism and designed obsolscence).

Also note that (most?) DAB radios have a USB port for attaching a drive holding music.

Wouldn’t it be sensible to create a DAB radio with no display, but with the possibility to connect a smartphone which runs an app to show station metadata? (Would also be useful if it could connect to the LAN to feed metadata and even accept commands, but that’s another discussion)

I also suspect existing radios could be hacked. That is, radio flashed to decode the signal metadata and (for ease) write it to USB mass storage, which a smartphone can mimick while running an app to display the data that lands on the SD card. The problem would be phones refuse to simultaneously mount external storage that is externally mounted. Could a rooted phone read-only mount an SD partition that is externally mounted? Perhaps the mass storage hack is a broken idea, in which case we would need to invent a protocol for this. Or does a suitable protocol exist?

¹ I say this as a locally buying (usually 2nd-hand) type of consumer. Online consumers might have a different experience.

Channel Updates

• talkSPORT: Added to D1 National (DAB 64 Kbps; Sport)
• BBC Radio 1 Anthems: Moved from BBC National DAB to BBC National DAB (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• BBC Radio 3 Unwind: Moved from BBC National DAB to BBC National DAB (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Arts)

Multiplex Changes

Herts Beds Bucks

Removed:

• Grt Hits BBH

Added:

• Grt Hits BBH (DAB 112 Kbps, Pop Music)
• Shine 879 (DAB 80 Kbps, Pop Music)

Radio Updates

• D1 National:
  • No net changes - Radio X and Gold Radio UK were both added and removed.

DAB Radio Changes

• D1 National:

  • Bitrate increases to 40Kbps (DAB+) for: Heart 80s, KISS, KISSTORY, Heart Dance, Heart 00s, Hits Radio 90s.
  • Removed: Heart Xmas, Magic Xmas.

• Multiplex Changes

  • Hits Radio 00s moved from unavailable to 40Kbps (DAB+) on D1 National
  • Heart 90s moved from unavailable to 40Kbps (DAB+) on D1 National

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/39004447

As someone who pulled the plug on residential Internet, I have naturally clung onto broadcast radio. It occurs to me that tuning into broadcast content gives a rare media source where you are not tracked. There is no digital footprint on your listening.

Tor (along with a couple even more obscure technologies like i2p) are the only viable cloud-sourced ways to escape consumption tracking. Tor is indispensible but it’s not as traceless as tuning broadcast signals. And Tor users are plagued with access discrimination.

Yet broadcast radio must be struggling. They likely lost copious listeners to the Internet. Seems like there is a missed opportunity to promote their stations and privacy along with it. Radio stations should inform people that tracking online is not just to advertise but it’s also used for personalised political manipulation.

Duckduckgo’s privacy theatre demonstrates that privacy promotion works. But DDG relies on trust and it’s rife with scandals. OTA¹ broadcasts do not rely on trust. Promoting privacy would have a long-term self-promotion effect. That is, as listeners come to develop their value of privacy more, their listenership becomes stronger.

Some (most?) stations likely also stream online. But they could still play a different jingle on the broadcast service, no?

¹ OTA: over the air

DAB Changes

• Herts Beds Bucks:
  • Added: Grt Hits BBH (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Shine 879 (DAB 80 Kbps; Pop Music)

Multiplex Changes

• Herts Beds Bucks:
  • Added: SUBJAM (64 Kbps; Other Music)
  • Added: Smooth 3Counties (128 Kbps; Easy Listening)
  • Added: Capital UK (128 Kbps; none)
  • Removed: Grt Hits BBH
  • Removed: Shine 879

Multiplex Updates

• Herts, Beds, Bucks:

  • Added: Capital UK (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Removed: Hits Radio BBH

• Kent:

  • Added: 1047 SUBJAM (DAB 64 Kbps; Other Music)

• London:

  • Added: Heart 4 Counties (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)

Multiplex Changes

• D1 National:
  • Added: Heart 70s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: KISSTORY (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Heart Xmas (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Grt Hits Rad 80s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Grt Hits Rad 70s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Magic Xmas (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Magic Radio (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Heart 90s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Hits Radio 90s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Capital XTRA (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Capital UK (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: LBC News (DAB+ 32 Kbps; News)
  • Added: Smooth UK (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Easy Listening)
  • Added: Gold Radio UK (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Easy Listening)
  • Added: Smooth Relax (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Easy Listening)
  • Added: KISS (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Heart 80s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: UCB 2 (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Religion)
  • Moved: KISSTORYRadio X (from elsewhere on D1 National) (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Rock Music)

Multiplex Changes

• Herts Beds Bucks:
  • Added: Shine 879 (DAB 80 Kbps; Pop Music)

Multiplex Changes

• D1 National:
  • UCB 1 - Moved (Originally removed, then added)
  • GB News Radio - Moved (Originally removed, then added)

Multiplex Changes

D1 National

• No changes. (All removed channels were immediately re-added with the same name and parameters, essentially resulting in no net change.)

Multiplex Changes

• Herts Beds Bucks:
  • Added: Heart 4 Counties (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Moved: 1047 SUBJAM (DAB 64 Kbps; Other Music)

DAB Radio Changes

D1 National Multiplex:

• Added:
  • Heart 70s (32 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Gold Radio UK (40 Kbps, Easy Listening)
  • KISS (32 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Capital XTRA (40 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Magic Xmas (32 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Heart 80s (32 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • UCB 1 (24 Kbps, Religion)
  • Heart Xmas (32 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Hits Radio 90s (32 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Capital UK (40 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • Heart UK (40 Kbps, Pop Music)
  • GB News Radio (24 Kbps, News)
  • Smooth UK (40 Kbps, Easy Listening)

BBC National DAB Multiplex:

• Added:
  • BBC Radio 4 Extra (64 Kbps, Talk)
  • BBC Radio 6 Music (112 Kbps, Rock Music)
  • BBC Radio 5 Live (64 Kbps, News)

Multiplex Changes

• D1 National:
  • Removed: Hits Radio 90s
  • Removed: KISS
  • Removed: Heart Xmas
  • Removed: UCB 1
  • Removed: GB News Radio
  • Removed: Magic Xmas
  • Removed: Heart 80s
  • Removed: Heart UK
  • Removed: Smooth UK
  • Removed: Gold Radio UK
  • Removed: Heart 70s
  • Removed: Capital XTRA
  • Removed: Capital UK

Multiplex Changes

• Herts Beds Bucks:
  • Added: Capital UK (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Smooth 3Counties (DAB 128 Kbps; Easy Listening)
  • Removed: Capital UKSmooth 3Counties
  • Removed: Heart 4 Counties
  • Removed: Smooth 3Counties
  • Removed: Grt Hits BBH
  • Removed: 1047 SUBJAM
  • Removed: Hits Radio BBH
  • Added: Grt Hits BBH (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: 1047 SUBJAM (DAB 64 Kbps; Other Music)
  • Added: Heart 4 Counties (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)
  • Added: Hits Radio BBH (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

Sunrise Radio UK changed from 56 Kbps (DAB) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National    ]

Sunrise Hits UK  added to SDL National     (DAB+ 24 Kbps; Pop Music)

DAB/DAB+ Channel Updates - D1 National Multiplex

New Channels Added:

• Absolute Radio (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Rock Music)
• Capital XTRA (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Gold Radio UK (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Easy Listening)
• Grt Hits Rad 70s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Heart 70s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Hits Radio 00s (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• KISSTORY (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• KISS (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• LBC News (DAB+ 32 Kbps; News)
• Magic Radio (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Magic Xmas (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• Radio X (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Rock Music)
• Smooth Chill (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Other Music)
• talkSPORT (DAB 64 Kbps; Sport)

Digital Radio Changes

• D1 National:
  • Removed: Gold Radio UK, KISSTORY, Capital XTRA, Radio X, Heart 70s, LBC News, Hits Radio 00s, Smooth Chill, Magic Radio, Grt Hits Rad 70s, Absolute Radio, KISS, talkSPORT, Magic Xmas

cross-posted from: https://libretechni.ca/post/321504

MythTV is a great tool for browsing broadcast TV schedules and scheduling recordings. It’s a shame so many people have suckered for cloud streaming services, which have a subscription cost and yet they collect data on you regardless. Broadcast TV lately has almost no commercial interruptions and of course no tracking. It’s gratis as well. If they bring in commercials, MythTV can auto-detect them and remove them.

FM and DAB radio signals include EPG. So the scheduling metadata is out there. But apparently no consumer receivers make use of it. They just show album art.

There are no jazz stations where I live. Only a few stations which sometimes play jazz. It’s a shame the EPG is not being exploited. Broadcast radio would be so much better if we could browse a MythTV schedule and select programs to record.

I suppose it’s not just a software problem. There are FM tuner USB sticks (not great). Nothing for DAB. And nothing comparable to the SiliconDust designs, which are tuners that connect to ethernet.

• BBC Radio 4 moved on BBC National DAB: bitrate changed to 112 Kbps, genre updated to Talk

I have these receivers:

1. TechniSat TechniRadio1 (shitty amp/speaker quality)
2. Envivo Retro (shitty amp/speaker quality; antenna: 66cm)
3. Envivo PO-1585 (good amp/speaker quality; antenna: 90cm)

I won’t talk about receiver ① because it behaves the same as receiver ②. ② & ③ are the same brand but they behave differently. Envivo is perhaps just an Aldi rebranding from different makers.

② finds 101 signals but only “BBC WS” (World Service) from the BBC. Most importantly, it can tune BBC WS at any time.

③ finds 57 or 72 signals (probably depending on weather at the time of the scan). It always finds these BBC stations:

• BBC WS
• BBCAsian
• BBC R6M (radio 6 Music)
• BBC R5L (radio 5 Live)
• BBC R4Ex (radio 4 Extra)
• BBC R3
• BBC R2
• BBC R1
• BBC R1x (radio 1 Xtra)

③ cannot tune any of the BBC stations. It only finds them. Exceptionally, a couple floors above ground it tuned BBC WS, once. Apart from that one time, it either says “connecting…” indefinitately, or “service not available”.

WTF is going on here? It might be normal for one receiver to have a better tuner than another, but in this case one finds many more BBC stations but tunes none of them. We might speculate that the scanning algorithm of the radio that finds more stations just has a lower signal/quality threshold for what it accepts, but the one finding more BBC finds fewer stations overall.

It’s a shame that despite the invasion of the Internet of Shit (IoT), radio makers have not realised it would be greatly useful to be able to attach a radio to the LAN to access tuning info from a PC.

update

③ was bought 2nd hand. I scanned and rescanned many times. It kept finding many BBC stations that apparently do not exist. Then I did a factory reset and a purge (w/out really knowing what purge meant in the context it appeared). The new scan then yielded mostly the same stations as ②, but a subset thereof.

So I’m calling this a software defect in receiver ③. Scanning should not require a factory reset.