"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 08:45 5 Jan 2017, Martin Brown wrote:

On 04/01/2017 22:11, Tim Watts wrote:
OT

I am surprised by the pathetic lack of quality alarm clock
products.

The Philips "wake up to light" ones are good - well made, ring
up an LED light gradually to a very high brightness to help
soften the wake up of people who hate winter. But even that
does not retain time in the case of a power cut or (better)
sync to the 60kHz time signal.

For me, the perfect clock would be:

Soft display - VFD or OLED simulating VFD.

60kHz time sync

There is no point in having 60kHz time sync when the set has DAB
since it can obtain the correct time from the transmission
anyway.

Multiple alarms, with settable "which day" option.

Excellent snooze with light touch to snooze. Should alarm
forever until fully silenced.

Auto dimming display that is bright enough to be seem in direct
sunlight.

Better would be LCD display with backlight for night time.

Proper mains with no wall wart. Should be nice and heavy so as
not to fall off shelf when poked.

Disagree entirely - just makes it a lot heavier, bulkier and
more dangerous with mains voltages inside the chassis.

It should be easy enough to make one work from a 5v USB supply.
(not like you need massive power or anything in an alarm)


I hate those wall warts!

Discrimination of the very worst kind.

I'd have you publicly flogged if you hadn't so obviously enjoyed that the
last time...

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
UK DAB isn't helped by its inability to work in many places without a
significant aerial and even then there is a tendency in bad weather to
get announcers who sound like they are gargling whilst trying to speak.

Despite living in London, much the same applies to FM using the set
aerial. Although just fading and distortion - so not quite so dramatic as
the boiling mud.

Driving down the A1 there are several bad DAB dead spots.

I have a very expensive aftermarket active DAB aerial on the old car, and
in general DAB reception is better than FM. On the stations I listen to
and the routes I use.

--
*If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
Auto dimming display that is bright enough to be seem in direct
sunlight.

Better would be LCD display with backlight for night time.

Don't agree. Too sensitive to viewing angle. LED isn't.

--
*The modem is the message *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thursday, 5 January 2017 11:11:55 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

53N 0W

0430 UTC: BBC Worldservice on local DAB - burbling. On local FM 95.9 kHz -keeps cutting out. On 6005 kHz from Ascension Island - 100% copy.

On 05/01/17 09:49, John Williamson wrote:
On 05/01/2017 09:32, Tim Watts wrote:
As for mains - unless you are planning on pouring coffee over it,
there's nothing dangerous about it. It's more dangerous to have a bulky
wall wart in a socket down the side of the bed where it's covered by
bedding or liable to get hit by the bed frame (on a smooth floor).

Also, I place more faith in a nice solid iron transformer with provable
isolation than some random cheap switch mode PSU.

The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Unless I can vouch for the brand, for a homebuild I'd MUCH rather have a
50Hz transformer from RS. Simple, naff all to go wrong and who cares
about a few watts.


Don't forget, your heavy iron transformer based supply is under the same
cost constraints as the SMPS, so the same corners are likely to be cut.

It should be easy enough to make one work from a 5v USB supply.
(not like you need massive power or anything in an alarm)


That would be a theory - doesn't seem to stop the shop ones comming with
massive wallwarts sadly.

Part of the size of the wallwarts is to provide enough space inside to
safely isolate the mains from the low voltage side of things. Air gaps
are cheap, while space saving plastic mouldings cost money, which is why
the plugtop sized USB chargers cost more than the larger ones. If you
are buying one, then the space saved may be worth the extra, when you
are buying thousands, and are not the end user, the cost savings of
buying the larger ones are considerable.

On 05/01/17 11:51, pamela wrote:

Too many wall warts are so large that they prevent the use of
neighbouring sockets.


That's a major problem in bedrooms.

I put spacers on the bed legs as ours are on hardwood floors and can
easily slide about - the spacers guarantee that the bed leg can never
collide with a 13A plug in the adjacent socket - it will ride over and
past it with clearance.

Now stick a wall wart in and you have a way to dish that and damage the
socket. Unless I make the spacers oversized. How oversized???

On 05/01/2017 11:11, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
Auto dimming display that is bright enough to be seem in direct
sunlight.

Better would be LCD display with backlight for night time.

Don't agree. Too sensitive to viewing angle. LED isn't.

The big red LEDs on the 1989 clock radio on one side of the bed are
still clear and easy to read. The backlit LED one on the other side
doesn't have the contrast required to be readable yet not be too bright.
(ie I agree with you)

On 05/01/2017 12:48, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 09:49, John Williamson wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Now consider how many are in daily use...

Also, when heavy iron was in vogue, what percentage melted after a
while? From personal experience it was a higher percentage than the
number of SMPS wallwarts that fail nowadays.

Unless I can vouch for the brand, for a homebuild I'd MUCH rather have a
50Hz transformer from RS. Simple, naff all to go wrong and who cares
about a few watts.

For homebuilding, yes, but then you have the choice of unregulated with
a ridiculously high output impedance, losing a lot of energy in a
passive regulator or building your own SMPS to do the job.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
On 05/01/2017 12:48, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 09:49, John Williamson wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Now consider how many are in daily use...

Also, when heavy iron was in vogue, what percentage melted after a
while? From personal experience it was a higher percentage than the
number of SMPS wallwarts that fail nowadays.

Unless I can vouch for the brand, for a homebuild I'd MUCH rather have a
50Hz transformer from RS. Simple, naff all to go wrong and who cares
about a few watts.

For homebuilding, yes, but then you have the choice of unregulated with
a ridiculously high output impedance, losing a lot of energy in a
passive regulator or building your own SMPS to do the job.

The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

"John Williamson" wrote in message
...
On 05/01/2017 12:48, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 09:49, John Williamson wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Now consider how many are in daily use...

Also, when heavy iron was in vogue, what percentage melted after a while?
From personal experience it was a higher percentage than the number of
SMPS wallwarts that fail nowadays.

Unless I can vouch for the brand, for a homebuild I'd MUCH rather have a
50Hz transformer from RS. Simple, naff all to go wrong and who cares
about a few watts.

For homebuilding, yes, but then you have the choice of unregulated with a
ridiculously high output impedance, losing a lot of energy in a passive
regulator or building your own SMPS to do the job.

On the subject of wallwarts, does anyone switch'em all off when they leave
the house?
Routers and net stuff as well?
They are a bit of a worry.

On 05/01/2017 14:24, charles wrote:
The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.

That's not a problem for the end user apart from checking the label,
that's a problem for the maker. Home build devices don't need approval.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 05/01/17 14:24, charles wrote:

The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.


Ah - the worthless CE mark...

What testing of the product is done for that? None is what I heard from
an engineer - the complete opposite of FCC certification.

In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Considering the billions in use, not surprising.

Transformers can and do burn out too. Especially cheap ones driven hard.

--
*War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
charles wrote:
The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.

Plenty SMPS seem to be 'universal' these days - 110-240v.

--
*Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Rod Speed wrote:

Chris J Dixon wrote
Rod Speed wrote

I prefer to do that a different way, use the iphone,
just say 'hey siri time' and have it tell you the time.
That way don't even have to roll over and look at
the clock. It does light the screen with the time
displayed when you do that too.

I'm not sure my partner would be impressed!

Surely the alarm wakes her, Shirley.

I suppose that I could separate the functions of displaying the
time, whenever I want to know it, from waking me with the radio.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Considering the billions in use, not surprising.

Transformers can and do burn out too. Especially cheap ones driven hard.

I had a Trio FM tuner (1960s) where the mains transformer burnt out. Went
to Laskys and sked for a replacement. "You don't expect us to sell spares
for things we sell?"

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

On 05/01/2017 14:51, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 14:24, charles wrote:

The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units
can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.


Ah - the worthless CE mark...

What testing of the product is done for that? None is what I heard from
an engineer - the complete opposite of FCC certification.

There are 2 CE marks. One is a European Community approval scheme where
the manufacturer certifies that the item meets the appropriate European
standards. They can be prosecuted of it is found out that it does not
comply. Most of the universal wallwarts also have FCC approval according
to the labels I've checked.

The other, which is only very slightly different in the layout of the
letters stands for China Export, and is put on stuff they have
permission to export from China.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 05/01/17 17:55, John Williamson wrote:
On 05/01/2017 14:51, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 14:24, charles wrote:

The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units
can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.


Ah - the worthless CE mark...

What testing of the product is done for that? None is what I heard from
an engineer - the complete opposite of FCC certification.

There are 2 CE marks. One is a European Community approval scheme where
the manufacturer certifies that the item meets the appropriate European
standards. They can be prosecuted of it is found out that it does not
comply.

Yep - so completely meaningless then - I'd like to see any mount a
prosecution against a random chinese manufacturer.

The other, which is only very slightly different in the layout of the
letters stands for China Export, and is put on stuff they have
permission to export from China.


I always thought that was a joke meaning of CE

It's recently dawned on me that wall-warts don't have replaceable fuses, or
maybe they have no fuses at all. That is not in the spirit of 13A plugs
which all have fuses. Granted they're to stop the wire burning up, but it
doesn't surprise me that some wall-warts burn. It would be prudent not to
have them powered up when unattended.
--
Dave W

On Thu, 5 Jan 2017 08:42:27 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 04/01/2017 20:33, Scott wrote:
On Wed, 4 Jan 2017 20:28:19 -0000, "Woody"
wrote:


"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 18:03 4 Jan 2017, Scott wrote:

I guess for future-proofing DAB should be included.

DAB and DAB+.

Looks like a nice product. Pure have chosen an up-market niche
and although there are diminishing returns as quality increases,
Pure's pricing always seems on the high side.

I would still comment as I did before that IME Pure radios (en bloc)
have a very limited high frequency response and seem to have low
frequencies boosted that makes them boomy.

It is a "feature" rather than a benefit of almost all of the modern
smallish domestic kit. Done I presume for the aging disco ghetto blaster
generation. They probably can't hear the high frequencies anyway.

Japanese makers seem a lot less inclined to shake their box to bits.

I would suggest to the OP that he buys from such as John Lewis so that
he can take it back if it is unsuitable.

Is this definitely a feature of Pure rather than a problem with DAB in
general - compression, low bitrates and an outdated codec?

Pure, Roberts and quite likely most of the others too. DAB basic rate
isn't all that bad unless you put it up against a good FM receiver or
original source material and then the losses are very obvious.

You refer I assume to 80 kbps mono?

On 18:03 4 Jan 2017, Scott wrote:

I guess for future-proofing DAB should be included.


You what??

snip

You refer I assume to 80 kbps mono?

When we bought our DAB radio it was the future. DAB was going to be
better than FM. Now it's about like AM.

And DAB+ won't help. They'll cram even more stations in with an even
lower bitrate until the man in the street starts to complain.

Or switches to internet radio...

Andy

"John Williamson" wrote in message
...
On 05/01/2017 09:32, Tim Watts wrote:
As for mains - unless you are planning on pouring coffee over it,
there's nothing dangerous about it. It's more dangerous to have a bulky
wall wart in a socket down the side of the bed where it's covered by
bedding or liable to get hit by the bed frame (on a smooth floor).

Also, I place more faith in a nice solid iron transformer with provable
isolation than some random cheap switch mode PSU.

The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

Don't forget, your heavy iron transformer based supply is under the same
cost constraints as the SMPS, so the same corners are likely to be cut.

It should be easy enough to make one work from a 5v USB supply.
(not like you need massive power or anything in an alarm)


That would be a theory - doesn't seem to stop the shop ones comming with
massive wallwarts sadly.

Part of the size of the wallwarts is to provide enough space inside to
safely isolate the mains from the low voltage side of things. Air gaps are
cheap, while space saving plastic mouldings cost money, which is why the
plugtop sized USB chargers cost more than the larger ones. If you are
buying one, then the space saved may be worth the extra, when you are
buying thousands, and are not the end user, the cost savings of buying the
larger ones are considerable.

I'm not convinced that there are any real cost savings.
The bigger case will cost more and likely more than a
bit of insulation used instead of an air gap for isolation.

On 04/01/2017 10:53, tim... wrote:


"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
It even has DRM!

http://amzn.to/2hPfDXS

I suspect that fails the "easily read at night" test

tim



It will also probably fail completely after about
a year. Morphy Richards is just an old obsolete
brand name on a bit if chinese tat. Ditto Goodmans.

Try the Roberts Radio Website

In article ,
charles wrote:
Transformers can and do burn out too. Especially cheap ones driven
hard.

I had a Trio FM tuner (1960s) where the mains transformer burnt out.
Went to Laskys and sked for a replacement. "You don't expect us to
sell spares for things we sell?"

Had the mains transformer on a (valve) Quad II burn out too. An expensive
fault in the day. It was the one of the pair which powered all the other
bits, pre-amp, AM and FM tuner.

--
*Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Dave W wrote:
It's recently dawned on me that wall-warts don't have replaceable fuses,
or maybe they have no fuses at all. That is not in the spirit of 13A
plugs which all have fuses. Granted they're to stop the wire burning
up, but it doesn't surprise me that some wall-warts burn. It would be
prudent not to have them powered up when unattended.

But what do you do with things that need to be powered up 24/7? Surely a
PS with a load on it is more likely to fail than one where the load is
unplugged - like say a charger?

--
*The average person falls asleep in seven minutes *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
When we bought our DAB radio it was the future. DAB was going to be
better than FM. Now it's about like AM.

If your DAB really does sound like AM, you need to buy a decent DAB
receiver.

--
*Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Friday, 6 January 2017 00:13:41 UTC, Andrew wrote:
On 04/01/2017 10:53, tim... wrote:


"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
It even has DRM!

http://amzn.to/2hPfDXS

I suspect that fails the "easily read at night" test

tim



It will also probably fail completely after about
a year. Morphy Richards is just an old obsolete
brand name on a bit if chinese tat. Ditto Goodmans.


It is still working in my garage right now as you can see here and it is -5C.

https://youtu.be/-eAMeC6FG3s

On 05/01/2017 20:42, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 18:03 4 Jan 2017, Scott wrote:

I guess for future-proofing DAB should be included.


You what??

snip

You refer I assume to 80 kbps mono?

When we bought our DAB radio it was the future. DAB was going to be
better than FM. Now it's about like AM.

And DAB+ won't help. They'll cram even more stations in with an even
lower bitrate until the man in the street starts to complain.

Or switches to internet radio...


It's not *that* bad - much the same as internet radio much of the time,
at least for me.

But it could have been so much better . . .


--
Cheers, Rob

Dave W wrote

It's recently dawned on me that wall-warts don't have replaceable fuses,
or maybe they have no fuses at all.

No fuses at all with most of them.

That is not in the spirit of 13A plugs which all have fuses. Granted
they're to stop the wire burning up,

There clearly is no mains cable with a wall wart.

but it doesn't surprise me that some wall-warts burn.

The well designed ones don’t.

It would be prudent not to have them powered up when unattended.

But too much farting around to turn everything powered
by wall warts off when you can't attend them.

In article ,
Andrew wrote:
On 04/01/2017 10:53, tim... wrote:


"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
It even has DRM!

http://amzn.to/2hPfDXS

I suspect that fails the "easily read at night" test

tim



It will also probably fail completely after about
a year. Morphy Richards is just an old obsolete
brand name on a bit if chinese tat. Ditto Goodmans.

Try the Roberts Radio Website

aren't they Far Eastern as well?

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

On 06/01/2017 00:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
When we bought our DAB radio it was the future. DAB was going to be
better than FM. Now it's about like AM.

If your DAB really does sound like AM, you need to buy a decent DAB
receiver.

DAB is certainly inferior to FM (and also to the sound channel on any of
TDTV, Freesat TV using either radio or TV channels on them).

It is interesting to do A B switching on the Proms since the satellite
time delay allows you to listen to the same short chunk of music twice.

DAB was almost acceptable until they cut the bitrate down (and would
have been acceptable if they had used the right ie newer codec).

There is nothing wrong with internet radio at all. My "DAB" tuner spends
all its time streaming internet radio these days.

R3 at 320kbps is as near perfect as makes no difference.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 06/01/2017 00:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
When we bought our DAB radio it was the future. DAB was going to be
better than FM. Now it's about like AM.

If your DAB really does sound like AM, you need to buy a decent DAB
receiver.

DAB is certainly inferior to FM (and also to the sound channel on any of
TDTV, Freesat TV using either radio or TV channels on them).

I was replying to it being inferior in sound to AM. ;-)

AM is band limited to approx 4.5kHz and many receivers can't even manage
that.

It is interesting to do A B switching on the Proms since the satellite
time delay allows you to listen to the same short chunk of music twice.

Which isn't a true AB test.

DAB was almost acceptable until they cut the bitrate down (and would
have been acceptable if they had used the right ie newer codec).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

There is nothing wrong with internet radio at all. My "DAB" tuner spends
all its time streaming internet radio these days.

Internet radio in the car?

R3 at 320kbps is as near perfect as makes no difference.

The question was about clock radios. On the tiny speaker(s) most of those
have and the pretty basic electronics, the differences in audio quality
between DAB an FM etc simply ain't going to be noticed. Poor reception on
any of them might well be, though.

I have an audio analogue distribution system to every room in this house.
One very real benefit of using the same source in every room is the same
delay (or whatever) to all. Although I originally installed it due to very
poor FM reception in this part of London making portable radios near
useless.

It has 5 stereo circuits. Four radio tuners - all now FreeView - and the
output of the main system in the living room. 4 radio channels covers
pretty well all I ever want - although there are tuners in the main system.

In my bedroom, I have a pair of Chartwell LS 3/5s ceiling mounted over the
end of the bed. Switched by an alarm.

--
*Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
charles wrote:
It will also probably fail completely after about
a year. Morphy Richards is just an old obsolete
brand name on a bit if chinese tat. Ditto Goodmans.

Try the Roberts Radio Website

aren't they Far Eastern as well?

Yes. They can buy in chassis for a fraction of what they could make them
for themselves. So just concentrate on the cabinet and looks.

--
*Why is a boxing ring square?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
news
On 06/01/2017 00:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
When we bought our DAB radio it was the future. DAB was going to
be
better than FM. Now it's about like AM.

If your DAB really does sound like AM, you need to buy a decent DAB
receiver.

DAB is certainly inferior to FM (and also to the sound channel on
any of TDTV, Freesat TV using either radio or TV channels on them).

It is interesting to do A B switching on the Proms since the
satellite time delay allows you to listen to the same short chunk of
music twice.

DAB was almost acceptable until they cut the bitrate down (and would
have been acceptable if they had used the right ie newer codec).

There is nothing wrong with internet radio at all. My "DAB" tuner
spends all its time streaming internet radio these days.

R3 at 320kbps is as near perfect as makes no difference.

--

+1 DAB inferior to FM

+1 DAB bitrate cut

+1 320Kbps is near perfect - as is 256K realistically and for most
even critical listeners 192K takes some beating.


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
charles wrote:
It will also probably fail completely after about
a year. Morphy Richards is just an old obsolete
brand name on a bit if chinese tat. Ditto Goodmans.

Try the Roberts Radio Website

aren't they Far Eastern as well?

Yes. They can buy in chassis for a fraction of what they could make them
for themselves. So just concentrate on the cabinet and looks.

Looking it up, I find they are now a subsidiary of Glen Dimplex - an Irish
Company.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

On Thu, 05 Jan 2017 14:24:04 +0000 (GMT), charles
wrote:

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
On 05/01/2017 12:48, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 09:49, John Williamson wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Now consider how many are in daily use...

Also, when heavy iron was in vogue, what percentage melted after a
while? From personal experience it was a higher percentage than the
number of SMPS wallwarts that fail nowadays.

Unless I can vouch for the brand, for a homebuild I'd MUCH rather have a
50Hz transformer from RS. Simple, naff all to go wrong and who cares
about a few watts.

For homebuilding, yes, but then you have the choice of unregulated with
a ridiculously high output impedance, losing a lot of energy in a
passive regulator or building your own SMPS to do the job.

The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.

On Wednesday, 4 January 2017 09:03:06 UTC, 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.

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

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.

At least two easily selectable alarms.

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

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

Sleep timer with adjustable duration.

Mains operated, with automatic clock synchronisation.

Setting not requiring navigation through lengthy menus.

I guess for future-proofing DAB should be included.

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

Any suggestions?

Chris

I've had various clock radios and just can't be bothered with them. A traditional alarm clock is so much easier & more reliable.


NT

On Thu, 05 Jan 2017 14:24:04 +0000 (GMT), charles
wrote:

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
On 05/01/2017 12:48, Tim Watts wrote:
On 05/01/17 09:49, John Williamson wrote:
The SMPS will have the same level of isolation as a heavy transformer
based one, it will be more efficient and a lot smaller. They also run
cooler, so are less likely to overheat if covered by bedding.

And yet Youtube is full of videos of exploded and charred wall warts and
phone chargers!

Now consider how many are in daily use...

Also, when heavy iron was in vogue, what percentage melted after a
while? From personal experience it was a higher percentage than the
number of SMPS wallwarts that fail nowadays.

Unless I can vouch for the brand, for a homebuild I'd MUCH rather have a
50Hz transformer from RS. Simple, naff all to go wrong and who cares
about a few watts.

For homebuilding, yes, but then you have the choice of unregulated with
a ridiculously high output impedance, losing a lot of energy in a
passive regulator or building your own SMPS to do the job.

The point that seems to have been misses is getting CE approval. If the
equipment has a mains supply then th whole device needs to be submitted,
otherwise it's only the pwer unit. In addition different power units can be
suppled for different countries without changing the whole device.

I have started a new thread to avoid going too off-topic.

On 06/01/2017 11:44, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 06/01/2017 00:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

If your DAB really does sound like AM, you need to buy a decent DAB
receiver.

There are plenty of tiny tinny DAB radios about.

It is interesting to do A B switching on the Proms since the satellite
time delay allows you to listen to the same short chunk of music twice.

Which isn't a true AB test.

It is plenty good enough to spot what is missing from DAB audio.

DAB was almost acceptable until they cut the bitrate down (and would
have been acceptable if they had used the right ie newer codec).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

ISTR Cutting the bitrate was done after introduction. Using the wrong
codec was a poor engineering decision probably made by beancounters.

There is nothing wrong with internet radio at all. My "DAB" tuner spends
all its time streaming internet radio these days.

Internet radio in the car?

You could do it for about £1.44 @ 320kbps on Threes 123 PAYG tariff or
for free if you have all you can eat mobile broadband. DAB is fine for
in car use since engine noise disguises all its shortcomings. The only
thing that DAB does better than FM is the dead air between programmes.

R3 at 320kbps is as near perfect as makes no difference.

The question was about clock radios. On the tiny speaker(s) most of those
have and the pretty basic electronics, the differences in audio quality
between DAB an FM etc simply ain't going to be noticed. Poor reception on
any of them might well be, though.

DAB invariably has poor reception except perhaps in central London.

I have an audio analogue distribution system to every room in this house.
One very real benefit of using the same source in every room is the same
delay (or whatever) to all. Although I originally installed it due to very
poor FM reception in this part of London making portable radios near
useless.

The flanging effect of different DAB radios in different rooms is
hilarious. Decoder delays vary by noticeable fractions of a second.

It has 5 stereo circuits. Four radio tuners - all now FreeView - and the
output of the main system in the living room. 4 radio channels covers
pretty well all I ever want - although there are tuners in the main system.

In my bedroom, I have a pair of Chartwell LS 3/5s ceiling mounted over the
end of the bed. Switched by an alarm.

That is a fairly hefty alarm sound system with BBC monitor clones.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article , Martin Brown
wrote:
On 06/01/2017 11:44, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article , Martin Brown
wrote:
On 06/01/2017 00:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

If your DAB really does sound like AM, you need to buy a decent DAB
receiver.

There are plenty of tiny tinny DAB radios about.

It is interesting to do A B switching on the Proms since the satellite
time delay allows you to listen to the same short chunk of music twice.

Which isn't a true AB test.

It is plenty good enough to spot what is missing from DAB audio.

DAB was almost acceptable until they cut the bitrate down (and would
have been acceptable if they had used the right ie newer codec).

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

ISTR Cutting the bitrate was done after introduction. Using the wrong
codec was a poor engineering decision probably made by beancounters.

There is nothing wrong with internet radio at all. My "DAB" tuner
spends all its time streaming internet radio these days.

Internet radio in the car?

You could do it for about £1.44 @ 320kbps on Threes 123 PAYG tariff or
for free if you have all you can eat mobile broadband. DAB is fine for
in car use since engine noise disguises all its shortcomings. The only
thing that DAB does better than FM is the dead air between programmes.

R3 at 320kbps is as near perfect as makes no difference.

The question was about clock radios. On the tiny speaker(s) most of
those have and the pretty basic electronics, the differences in audio
quality between DAB an FM etc simply ain't going to be noticed. Poor
reception on any of them might well be, though.

DAB invariably has poor reception except perhaps in central London.

Returning to the original topic, it was only once DAB arrived could I get
solid signal for my bedside clock radio.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England