I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.

>I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
> radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
> Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
> radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.



Depends on when else you use the radio,

Im generally disapointed when i discover that BBC Radio Scotland have put 
different matches on the DAB BBC Scotland and Radio Na Gaidheal services 
from the FM and MW signals (Though it does allow them to cover more scottish 
"football") and find its worth it for the soudn quality

If the only time you lsiten to the radio is on the train then obviously 
whether or not it works there is a massive factor!

Niall

"Niall Wallace"  wrote in message 
news:dcr3lh$qhb$1@nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...

> >I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
>> radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
>> Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
>> radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.
>
>
> Depends on when else you use the radio,
>

Using a portable DAB radio in the Luton and London Area on trains I cannot 
recommend it.  Some types of train are more DAB friendly than others.  The 
MML Meridans are not, but TL,s 319 are ok.

Remember with all digital broadcasts, a good signal or nothing.  DAB for 
music is a non starter.

"paul"  wrote in message 
news:1123092213.213081.124090@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

>I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
> radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
> Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
> radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.


Funny you should ask this.

There's a story on exactly this problem in August's Which.
You can probably read it in the local library if it's not
available on the website to non subscribers [1].

tim

I mainly travel at weekend and it's the football i'm interested in. Why
can't virgin have five live on one of there at seat chanels it would
make those long journeys more enjoyable. i supose they wouldn't be able
to get a signal either.
tim (moved to sweden) wrote:

> "paul"  wrote in message
> news:1123092213.213081.124090@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> >I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
> > radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
> > Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
> > radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.
>
> Funny you should ask this.
>
> There's a story on exactly this problem in August's Which.
> You can probably read it in the local library if it's not
> available on the website to non subscribers [1].
> 
> tim

"C Smith"  wrote:


>Using a portable DAB radio in the Luton and London Area on trains I cannot 
>recommend it.  Some types of train are more DAB friendly than others.  The 
>MML Meridans are not, but TL,s 319 are ok.


I've had a good DAB signal on a SET Electrostar.

Roy
-- 
"Money is a sign of poverty" - old Culture proverb

On 3 Aug 2005 11:03:33 -0700 someone who may be "paul"
 wrote this:-


>I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
>radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
>Five Live and Talk Sport


Is the former not provided on 390s via the sockets at every seat?

Not much use on other trains I know.


-- 
 David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
 I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
 prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen wrote:


> Is the former not provided on 390s via the sockets at every seat?
> 
> Not much use on other trains I know.


That's when the on-board entertainment system is working - on quite a 
few occasions when I've been on a Virgin train, the system has been broken.

-- 
Jonathan Stott
Canterbury Weather: http://www.canterburyweather.co.uk/
Reverse my e-mail address to reply by e-mail

"paul"  wrote in message 
news:1123092213.213081.124090@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

>I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
> radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
> Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
> radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.
>

If you are using Virgin then make do with the 2 earphones and on-board 
radio stations, as the window coatings don't allow a lot of RF through of 
any kind. BTW while listening to the radio between Carlisle and Preston I 
thought it strange to have programmes interrupted by "Traffic Announcements" 
about hold-ups on the M6 etc. Is this a way of telling us we made the right 
decision by going by rail?

KW

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 22:44:29 GMT, "Ken Ward" 
wrote:


>If you are using Virgin then make do with the 2 earphones and on-board 
>radio stations, as the window coatings don't allow a lot of RF through of 
>any kind. BTW while listening to the radio between Carlisle and Preston I 
>thought it strange to have programmes interrupted by "Traffic Announcements" 
>about hold-ups on the M6 etc. Is this a way of telling us we made the right 
>decision by going by rail?


All the on-train audio systems are provided by a stack of bog-standard
RDS car radios and/or CD players mounted in a cupboard somewhere.  The
reason for this is that the RDS can track the signal for a station
like the BBC national FM radio stations where the frequencies vary
through the country, and the technology is cheap, standard and
ubiquitous - but if someone knocks the RDS TP (Traffic Programme)
button on you'll get what you describe until someone notices and
thinks to turn it off.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:16:45 GMT someone who may be
wensleydale@pacersplace.org.uk (Neil Williams) wrote this:-


>All the on-train audio systems are provided by a stack of bog-standard
>RDS car radios and/or CD players mounted in a cupboard somewhere.  The
>reason for this is that the RDS can track the signal for a station
>like the BBC national FM radio stations where the frequencies vary
>through the country, and the technology is cheap, standard and
>ubiquitous - but if someone knocks the RDS TP (Traffic Programme)
>button on you'll get what you describe until someone notices and
>thinks to turn it off.


I have pointed the traffic announcements out to a few members of
staff and they claimed that the system is sealed and they can do
nothing with it other than turn it on and off.


-- 
 David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
 I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
 prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

Off on a tangent slightly, but can you stream web based radio via WiFi?

paul wrote:

> I regually travel on the WCML and I was wondering if anyone knew if DAB
> radios worked on the trains. I like to listen to MW channels such as
> Five Live and Talk Sport and they never work on a standard personal
> radio. Is it worth buying a DAB one?? Thanks.


I've tried a DAB radio on the WCML on both Mk 3 and Pendolinos.

In Mk 3 reception was poor in parts but OK in others - in a Pendo it is
poor almost all the way from London to Manchester.  FM is really bad on
Pendos, unlike on Mk 3.  I like to listen to the radio on this trip and
the Pendo entertainment system hardly ever works for live radio.  As a
result, I end up on Megabus which has good DAB reception on the M1 and
M6.

Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy
(velocityboy@postmaster.co.uk) said:

> Off on a tangent slightly, but can you stream web based
> radio via WiFi?


Depends on what firewalls GNER may have set up. If they only allow port 
80 (websites) then only a limited selection of stations which use this 
will work, but if they allow any port then yes you will be able to 
stream providing there is sufficient bandwidth.

-- 
Andrew

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:23:57, David Hansen
 wrote:

>
>>All the on-train audio systems are provided by a stack of bog-standard
>>RDS car radios and/or CD players mounted in a cupboard somewhere.  The
>>reason for this is that the RDS can track the signal for a station
>>like the BBC national FM radio stations where the frequencies vary
>>through the country, and the technology is cheap, standard and
>>ubiquitous - but if someone knocks the RDS TP (Traffic Programme)
>>button on you'll get what you describe until someone notices and
>>thinks to turn it off.
>
>I have pointed the traffic announcements out to a few members of
>staff and they claimed that the system is sealed and they can do
>nothing with it other than turn it on and off.


It's certainly not sealed (on Voyagers) BUT most staff are not trained
on it.  The systems are set up by Bombardier at Central Rivers to
broadcast the specified stations/CDs on the appropriate channels so,
strictly speaking, there shouldn't be any need for train crew to touch
the equipment.  However, as Neil says, they are fairly standard units
and any person familiar with in-car audio should be able to adjust
them.

Paul Harley

-- 
Remove "eeek" to contact me!