Yesterday, I wrote about a 2-year-old open-source hardware ESP32-based DAB+ receiver project, but it turns out there's also a digital radio project for the Raspberry Pi that was released about three weeks ago.

When a daylight savings change occured recently, all my DAB radios failed to update. An alarm clock would have been off by 1 hour. This is apparently because DAB radios only listen to the time signals that come from radio signals they are tuned into, thus only when playing.

All my humidistats and thermometers all had the correct time because they are always listening to time broadcasts.

My smartphones and PCs always have sufficiently correct time despite being offline because they have a locality configuration which implies when daylight savings is expected.

I think all my household DAB radios have alarm functionality, so it’s perhaps a widespread bug. Shouldn’t the radio software be able to detect the locality from the radio signals, and then use that to schedule time changes? Or short of that, it should be able to silently listen to a DAB signal from 1am to 1:15 am to set the clock from the signal.

Imagine as well that when the alarm triggers and DAB plays, the clock is then updated. So you get alarmed at the wrong time but imagine the confusion when the clock gets corrected before you look at it.

I also wonder what a disaster it must be when a DAB signal becomes too weak to make sound. Then what? Does the alarm clock try to wake us up with silence? Is this another case where FM is superior, or are any DAB radios smart enough to switch to a preprogrammed sound when there is no DAB signal?

I mentioned previously that I have 2 DAB radios that can tune BBC World Service, and no other BBC stations. I have several other DAB radios that cannot tune any BBC station at all. So it’s BBC-WS, or no BBC.

I was in the shop (also in Brussels) and came across a Kenwood radio that was tuned to BBC 4. Sounded like a quite interesting program. The UI on the Kenwood was quite clumbsy. I could not make it show me the frequency or any details. I changed stations while fiddling with the non-intuitive buttons. I could never get back to BBC4. It was not in the list! So how was it possible to tune it? I did a rescan, and BBC4 was not in the list.

I think the problem is that apparently all DAB radios are limited to what they can auto-tune. I have never seen one that gave a way to manually tune. I can only guess that the radio must have been in another city when stations were scanned, and it picked up BBC4. But it was cleared in Brussels, even though it received just fine.

Any theories? How can I find out where we can expect to receive BBC4?

Update

This page says listeners outside the UK can get BBC WS and BBC4 by streaming. No mention of radio.

I wonder if it’s down to luck that radio signals reach Brussels. I find no mention of BBC radio broadcasts outside of the UK.

It’s interesting how the UK is broken up in to such small broadcast regions:

http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/BBC_Radio.pdf

Update 2

Wow what a shitshow this is to get information. Wikipedia says “Norkring also broadcasts BBC World Service”. So there is a transmitter in Brussels for BBC WS. But strangely, nothing for BBC4. So I’m still baffled about how I got BBC4 in Brussels for a moment on a demo radio in a retail store.

St Neots’ Black Cat Radio has secured grant funding from National Highways as part of the A428 improvement project’s legacy programme to help expand digital radio coverage across St Neots & Huntingdon.

I have accummulated half a dozen DAB radios. None of them have an antenna jack, thus limited to the stock built-in telescopic antenna. Most of the radios do not pick up BBC.

A Noxon DAB USB stick just appeared at a local flea market dirt cheap. A quick search suggests folks have apparently got it working on linux, and even rasberry pi. It comes with a tiny rubber ducky type of antenna but it’s detachable, so a high end antenna could perhaps replace it.

Also looks like this hardware is ~14 years old, so probably as mature as it’s going to get. Is anyone grabbing album art and scheduling metadata over these USB sticks?

I think in principle these sticks could run off a linux-based phone like PostmarketOS. Perhaps facilitating this idea.

Channel changes on BBC National DAB

BBC National DAB

• BBC Radio1Xtra added (DAB, 112 Kbps; none)
• BBC AsianNetwork added (DAB, 64 Kbps; Talk)
• BBC WorldService added (DAB, 64 Kbps; Talk)
• BBC Radio1Dance added (DAB+, 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• BBC Radio1Anthms added (DAB+, 32 Kbps; Pop Music)
• BBC Radio3Unwind added (DAB+, 32 Kbps; Arts)
• BBC Radio3 added (DAB, 160 Kbps; Arts)
• BBC Radio4 added (DAB, 112 Kbps; Talk)
• BBC Radio6Music added (DAB, 112 Kbps; Rock Music)
• BBC Radio4Extra added (DAB, 64 Kbps; Talk)
• BBC Radio5Live added (DAB, 64 Kbps; News)

## Changes to DAB Multiplexes

*   **BBC National DAB:**
    *   BBC Radio 3 has been removed.
    *   BBC Radio 4 has been removed.

# Channels Removed
- BBC Radio 6 Music has been removed from BBC National DAB
- BBC Radio 4 Extra has been removed from BBC National DAB
- BBC Radio 1Xtra has been removed from BBC National DAB
- BBC Asian Network has been removed from BBC National DAB
- BBC Radio 5 Live has been removed from BBC National DAB
- BBC World Service has been removed from BBC National DAB

• BBC Radio1Dance has been removed from BBC National DAB.
• BBC Radio1Anthms has been removed from BBC National DAB.
• BBC Radio3Unwind has been removed from BBC National DAB.

• 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)

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)

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.

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.)