Old radio ham.

That's me. Do you like radio? Is there still life in tuners? What do you think? Here's what I think of mine...

I love radio. I remember getting my first back in the seventies and trying to play it quietly enough in my bedroom that my parents didn't hear it and tell me off. Somehow, putting it under the blankets secured my late-night listening and made it all the more exciting. Having said that, for years I've only had a turntable, the TV, DVD and CD plugged into the NAD amp and Monitor Audio speakers in the front room.

This year my daughter was nine and I thought that since she was as well into music as I am myself, it was time she had a half-decent system to listen to, so that she could play her own music and radio. I bought her a tidy little Pioneer with CD and FM/DAB/DAB+ radio.

I found myself sitting in her room listening to the tuner...goddamn it!

She kept on tuning it to Planet Rock. That was no bad thing. Rock and Punk has always been a favourite of mine. The problem was that I couldn't do the same downstairs.

Now I know that music streaming over the internet is the modern thing but I couldn't be bothered with that. I bought an Onkyo T-4030 DAB/DAB+ tuner. I'm listening to it now. I have to say at this point that the local radio mast is in unobstructed line of sight from my house: the signal is so strong that I could wire the aerial into the toaster and make decent crumpets. Perhaps because of this, I don't have the hassles with DAB that others experience, but the quality is good. I'm falling in love with radio again.

I have no experience of other tuners, so I can't say that this is particularly good or bad. What I can say is that I have just listened to a few tracks on Planet Rock that I know from CD note for note. I am highly critical of music and can tell one make of cymbal from another by ear. Without playing the relevant CDs, I would struggle to tell the difference from the radio broadcast. That's all I really care about.

Apart from that, the Onkyo is smart enough in that typically understated Hi-Fi way, it is intuitive to use. I didn't look at the manual before connecting it up. What more can I say?

Thumbs up from me for the Onkyo T-4030.

What's your opinion? Is radio dead? Does anybody remember the secret thrill of the likes of Radio Caroline?...maybe I am just an old ham.

 

I love radio too. I've had crystal radio sets as a kid, little 9v transistor radios with leather cases and a Sanyo "radio cassette" though my adolescence. My brother had a CB radio - remember those? So much low-fi I can't bear to hear radio through a good system. Complicated even further by the fact that as I get older I get fussier in my music tastes - so I've drifted away from the FM band to a select few radio shows - not talk-back but interviews. My favourite is Phillip Adams (I am Australian) - now I listen to him via podcasts on my mobile as I fall asleep. A big voice through a pair of full-range speakers is too much for me - too intrusive. I like lo-fi for this. Nice topic by the way. Cheers,

 

Well I ought to say G'day to you!

I know what you mean about lo-fi when going to kip. Then again that comes from someone who puts on test match special on my little Sony radio-alarm clock, when the ashes are in Aus and waking up when there is a fifty or a wicket!

I remember the CB craze but was never into it. I remember it more that the bloke with the big masts at the end of the street used to cause interference on everybody's radio and TV.

There is something personal about radio. The DJ talks to you and explains why he/she is playing the next track.

All the best to you mate, but don't expect me to be on your side with respect to cricket/rugby union/rugby league! (Looking forward to the forthcoming four nations rugby league, by the way.)

Long live radio!

 

I always listen to the radio in the car, but never at home. I guess in the car I want to concentrate on driving - let someone else make the hard choices. At home though, I am the master of my own musical fate!