I sometimes get:

Ksh…Ksh…Ksh…Ksh…Ksh…Ksh…

About ½ second spacing. Would not expect this on DAB radio. Surely it must be some kind of interference in an analog signal before digital encoding. I’ve heard it in the past but quite a lot today. Not sure if it’s different stations or just the one. Guess I’ll have to track that.

This is another consideration as one EU nation after another decides to cancel FM.. DAB has its own issues and yet still does not relieve us of static.

Channel has been removed

• Shine 879 has been removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Channel has been updated on SDL National

• Sunrise Radio UK has changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 24 Kbps (DAB+)
• CapXTRA Reloaded has changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Radio X Class Rk has changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Capital Anthems has changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Smooth 80s has changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+)

Channel has been removed from SDL National

• Sunrise Hits UK has been removed from SDL National

SDL National

• CapXTRA Reloaded: Bitrate increased to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Radio X Class Rk: Bitrate increased to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Capital Anthems: Bitrate increased to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Smooth 80s: Bitrate increased to 40 Kbps (DAB+)
• Sunrise Radio UK: Bitrate decreased to 24 Kbps (DAB+)
• Sunrise Hits UK: Removed from multiplex

D1 National

• Heart 80s, Heart 90s, Heart Dance, and Heart 00s: Bitrate reduced from 40 Kbps to 32 Kbps (DAB+)
• Heart Xmas: Added (DAB+ 32 Kbps)

Herts Beds Bucks

• Heart Xmas: Removed

I have some DAB radios with missing remotes and broken knobs. So I was trying to figure out if I am fucked. It turns out some radios have a “Magic M6 chipset” by a company that apparently no longer exists¹ (www.magic-systech.com). I was expecting this page to document it:

https://www.magic-systech.com/doc/M6.pdf

So I tried:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221005051659/https://www.magic-systech.com/doc/M6.pdf

and just get trapped in a loop saying “Error, Failed to load PDF document.”

There is a closed-source proprietary app jailed in playstore. If I did not oppose licking Google’s boots or using oppressive tech, the app is still useless to me anyway because it excludes all those running AOS older than 7.0.

But there are FOSS projects:

• https://github.com/edberoi/python-airmusicapi
• https://community.home-assistant.io/t/is-it-possible-to-integrate-the-m6-m7-platform-from-systech/328904
• https://community.home-assistant.io/t/airmusic-control-by-mediau/388429

A lot of what I read about this Magic M6 platform is focused on Internet radio. I don’t give a shit about Internet radio. I just want to control my DAB radio which happens to have cloud features.

Does anyone know if this M6 stuff can be used to control a DAB radio?

(update)
¹ In Nov.2021, Magic Systech Inc. (Taiwan) was acquired by a British company (Frontier Smart Technologies) that pushes a shitty Cloudflare page: https://web.archive.org/web/20240527194325/https://www.frontiersmart.com/products/

(update) I don’t trust closed-source but I was willing to experiment on an old airgapped phone with this older version which does not need Google to reach:

https://apkpure.com/airmusic-control/air.net.mediayou.AirMusicControlApp/download/5.7

It was an xapk file. So I unzipped it and ran adb install-multiple air.net.mediayou.AirMusicControlApp.apk config.en.apk. It installed without error, but the app instantly crashes. Perhaps it is fussy about having network access and lacks the diligence to give an error msg.

Note that the app needs permission to access the Camera.. so that’s a bit dodgy.

D1 National

Added

• Magic Xmas (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

Bitrate Changes

• Hits Radio 00s: changed from 40 Kbps to 32 Kbps (DAB+)
• Hits Radio 90s: changed from 40 Kbps to 32 Kbps (DAB+)
• KISS: changed from 40 Kbps to 32 Kbps (DAB+)
• KISSTORY: changed from 40 Kbps to 32 Kbps (DAB+)

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/50218987

Karcher DAB radios are broadcasting an SSID for open Wi-Fi access. It doubles as an Internet radio, but AFAICT from the manual it’s only expected to act as a client.

So WTF is going on?

It seems like a really bad idea for consumers to connect this radio to their LANs to use to play Internet radio and podcasts when there is an always available Wi-Fi AP that enables anyone in proxity to connect to the radio. What’s the point? There is no way to disable the SSID broadcasting and it remains on even when the radio is “off” (but plugged in).

The manual shows that there is a remote control. Is the remote using wi-fi? I don’t have the remote so I have no way of verifying. In any case, this design seems like a recipe for disaster. Karcher should perhaps just stick to making pressure washers.

Google and Apple use Wi-Fi SSIDs for navigation. I boycott both companies. As such, I prefer not to have any wi-fi APs. And when I decide to run an AP, I ensure the SSID ends in _optout_nomap to opt-out of giving uncompensated help to the nav systems of Apple and Google.

Does this violate the GDPR? I cannot change the SSID, so it’s like I am being forced to share with the general public the fact that there is a Karcher radio in my home. That does not respect data minimisation.

Channel changes for Herts Beds Bucks (DAB+)

• Added

  • ClassicFM Calm (64erana Kbps – Light Classical)
  • Heart Love (32 KBps – Pop Music)
  • Heart 10s (32 KBps – Pop Music)
  • Smooth 70s (32 KBps – Easy Listening)
    (viewed as 32 KBps for all except the changed entry below)

• Removed

  • Capital UK

• Updated

  • Smooth 3Counties: bitrate changed from 128 KBps (DAB) to 32 KBps (DAB+).

• MKFM bitrate changed from 112 Kbps (DAB) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) on the Herts Beds Bucks multiplex.

But campaigners want the LW masts in Worcestershire to be given listed status.

• Grt Hits BBH has changed its bitrate from 112 Kbps (DAB) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) on Herts Beds Bucks.
• Hits Radio BBH has changed its bitrate from 112 Kbps (DAB) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) on Herts Beds Bucks.
• Absolute 00s has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music).
• KISS DANCE has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music).
• KISS XTRA has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music).
• Hits Radio Pride has been added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music).

• 1047 SUBJAM: bitrate switched from 64 Kbps (DAB) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) in the Herts Beds Bucks region.

Hits Radio BBH changed to Hits Radio BBH [Herts Beds Bucks]

BBC 3CR changed to BBC 3CR [Herts Beds Bucks]

Grt Hits BBH changed to Grt Hits BBH [Herts Beds Bucks]

MKFM changed to MKFM [Herts Beds Bucks]

Shine 879 changed to Shine 879 [Herts Beds Bucks]

Shine 879 changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [Herts Beds Bucks]

Nation 90s added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

1047 SUBJAM changed to 1047 SUBJAM [Herts Beds Bucks]

Nation 80s changed to Nation 80s [Herts Beds Bucks]

Nation 80s changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 48 Kbps (DAB+) [Herts Beds Bucks]

Capital UK changed to Capital UK [Herts Beds Bucks]

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.

• 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)

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.

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

Multiplex Changes

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

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.