On Wed, 04 Jan 2017 09:03:03 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

My present device is now approaching 20 years old, and I am
wondering about getting one which does its tuning using something
more sophisticated than the traditional knob and length of
string.

Hehe. Funnily we were / are looking at replacing our ~30 year old
Binatone Telephone [1] / LED alarm clock / radio (complete with string
g) but haven't seen anything suitable (but not looked that hard).

Considering it was probably cheap (Binatone) I'm amazed it has lasted
so well!

As ever, my life on the edge of the bell curve seems to mean that
designers have priorities different from mine.

The biggest issue I've founds is that they don't seem to take as much
care to make the UI as good as it was in the 'old days'. Easy to find
in the dark analogue knobs and chunky switches may not look 'swish'
(and be expensive to build) but there were / are very easy to use. Now
everything is based on a microprocessor of some sort, all the controls
tend to be Up / Down pushbuttons (with or without a screen and menu)
which whilst being cheap and flexible, aren't generally so easy to
use.

Amongst the desirable attributes I wish to retain a

Large clear LED digits easily read by the short-sighted,
permanently illuminated (no need to reach out and tap anything),
also displayed when the radio is on, but not so bright that they
light the whole bedroom.

(As per our Binatone)

At least two easily selectable alarms.

(As per our Binatone)

Radio when used as alarm to be the same volume as when last
listened, which can be set as low as I want.

(As per our Binatone)

Control buttons easily located and operated without my head
leaving the pillow, ideally on the front.

(As on our Binatone)

Sleep timer with adjustable duration.

Sleep timer but no adjustment.

Mains operated, with automatic clock synchronisation.

The Binatone is mains powered and clocked synched to the AC (if that's
what you meant)?

Setting not requiring navigation through lengthy menus.

(As on our Binatone)

I guess for future-proofing DAB should be included.

I've not really used DAB much as most of our radios are still AM/FM
but for the Alarm clock / radio the radio just needs to output a radio
station of some sort to be better than the built in buzzer (although
if the string gets moved all you get is a buzzer or white noise
anyway). ;-)

Reading reviews, many seem to fail on several of my requirements.

Again, we have not looked hard but those we have seen when browsing
generally seem to fail on some basic point pretty quickly.

Any suggestions?

Sorry no, but I'll be interested to see how you get on. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] Pushbutton phone but only LD. ;-)