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Are Receivers still relevant?

losthorizon

losthorizon

Well-Known Member
With the old radio as we used to know it- MW, LW, FM, VHF, etc.- being replaced with digital services like DAB and most of the old wavelengths gone now, how relevant are receivers today? I know I have not used mine to listen to the radio for some time now, mainly because there is nothing there. comments please.
 
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I haven't listened to broadcast radio in years. I'd say for at least the past 3-4 years, any of the Pioneer receivers I've done, the owners weren't interested in the receiver section at all.
 
Here in Cleveland we still have a wonderful classical music station, WCLV. I can listen to it (along with stations from all over the world on my streamer but sometimes the digital stream goes out, so I can listen to it on my receiver. If one never listens to the radio at all, then you don't need a tuner. I tell people this all the time when they say they want a recommendation for a receiver but then I find out they don't listen to the radio. In that case your money is better spent on an integrated amp. You'll usually get a better preamp and power amp for the same money. Lower priced receivers have terrible tuners.
 
I'm assuming the OP is in the UK or Europe. In the US the only OTA digital radio service we have is HD Radio, which is about as popular as week old fish (there's also satellite radio - XM Radio - but that's a paid service). And it was designed as an add-on to analog FM radio, so if FM dies, so does HD. I have seen that most new users on AK specifically mention that they don't listen to FM, but we do have a veteran users that do. I personally don't listen to it any more for music (occasionally NPR) because most radio stations in NYC have been taken over by massive corporations and they play the same things over and over.

I don't know the details of DAB, but I do know it's actual radio, which means it has a tuner that receives signals via an antenna. These days, almost everything in mass market audio is done with ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), all controlled by software/firmware, so at most it probably means the addition of a chip or two, plus circuit board traces to wire it all in. Costs them very little, and this way they don't need to customize the circuitry for different markets where analog radio may be more popular (although you won't see DAB-capable receivers in North America).
 
I listen to and enjoy FM radio on both my systems, depending on which room I am for the time being, pretty much daily.

As a matter of fact, I made my own Dipole/T-antenna today for the Yamaha RX-396RDS stereoreceiver in the one room, replacing some UFO-looking thing that gave ok reception on highest gain, but still not very good.

Now reception is way better making more available + it looks better and more clean. Not sensitive to bumps etc. Antenna is completely hidden from most views and only visible pretty much up in the ceiling corner. Just took a speakercable (sadly, a bit too thick but it was what I had in needed length) split the conductors into a 150cm "T" at the top, smacked on an antennaplug in the other end and that was that.

Have the same type of antenna on the other system, but off-the shelf product.

This is probably the most audio-nerd thing I have done in a while.
Happy with the result though. Roof antenna is not an option in my case. Now I can receive some 14 stations with 100% to around 60% signal strength, and most that send RDS information can also be decoded without issues. Which was not the case earlier, and only some 11-12 stations were received as good or acceptable. None with 100% signal strength.

Residing in south of Sweden.

Edit: added some info about the receiver, what was done in particular and the results before and after.
 

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losthorizon said:
.. how relevant are receivers today? I know I have not used mine to listen to the radio for some time now, mainly because there is nothing there. comments please.
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You might want to clarify you're in England, are you looking for comments from fellow Englanders?

I'd say here in the states they're still relevant, for things like sports radio, ball games, local college radio stations etc
 
Yes. In my garage, I usually listen to WSM.

I also like WDNS.

But yeah, when I want to listen to a station such as WCLG or WMMN, it’s over the internet.

Same for Japanese radio stations and Radio Havana Cuba, which I listened to over shortwave for the Jazz shows.
 
I listen to FM radio everyday, both in the car and at home. We have a great day time classical/night-time jazz station in Detroit, and some halfway decent rock stations too, especially 89x from Windsor.

It's not like the old days though. Everyone responsible for the Telecommunications Act of 1996 should be put on trial for crimes against humanity. Radio was so good before that bill ruined it.
 
I listen to FM in the car and sometimes in the lab. The problem is consolidation by big owners resulting in nothing unique. We have some good college stations but everything else is a bit of a formula wasteland.
 
I use mine all the time. We have a good jazz station and a good classical station local to me. I have not listened to commercial radio in a long time. Can’t stand it.
But my wife and I are buying my folks place which is more rural and in a small river valley. Cell service is pretty much non existent. I have a feeling fm reception is gonna suck too. I know that when I was a kid growing up there we had the tv antenna in the top of a big fir tree. My dad used to have to climb up to the top to fix or adjust it, until us kids got big enough then the job fell to us. I ain’t going there now! So I may be joining the streaming ranks more seriously.
Cheers……………….Todd
 
Higher is better. I wonder if you could put an antenna on a drone and use an RF link to get the signal back down? Or really fine wires? Only good for limited duration programming.
 
I love FM radio, so a receiver is a must for me. I enjoy the music, but nothing takes me back to my youth more than listening to a college football or basketball game on the radio.
 
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