Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

Having seen this thread https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=169799 it came to me that tuning a proper radio with a knob is so much better for finding something you like on a band. I do like my DAB radios but simply "having a look about" doesn't happen.

Re: Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

Unfortunately digital radio isn't very compatible with traditional analogue tuning, whether Freeview, DAB or internet. There are some models and systems that try to simulate it to a degree, but it never really works.

Re: Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

Not discounting what Paul has written, it's really a matter of different horses for different courses. If you're not sure which station is transmitting the type of programme material that you want to listen to, then analogue tuning is best. OTOH, if you know the station you want to listen to, then simply pressing a button is so much easier. Of course, in days of yore, you often had both - thinking about a few Bush radios for example, amongst others.

Al.

Re: Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

Horses for courses.... the imprecision of 'consumer' mechanical dials always annoyed me!

Personally, I like the "Digital" feature of having the station-name displayed - this is particularly handy when there's a lift on and you're trying to ID the stations you're hearing. Great when you're in the car stuck in a traffic-jam and you want to do a touch of FM_DXing but don't want to wait 15 minutes or so before the station you've just heard gives a voice-ident.

One other 'Digital' thing' I'm disappointed never really took-off in the UK was PTY-codes where RDS included a 'program-type' descriptor with the data for each station. This had the advantage that you could tell your radio to scan for "News" or "Rock" and off it would go to find you only stations of that sort. Equally, it's handy when the digital display scrolls the name of the track that's playing.

Re: Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

I suppose things have changed somewhat from the effectively free for all that MW and SW radio AM broadcast bands were, hence requiring continuous adjustment to get the best signal. Nowadays digital channel selection on FM is perhaps logical for the majority of users. It's still not the best option, in my opinion, for the AM bands though. It's useful to move a little in frequency occasionally to avoid the worst of interference. Digital steps may be too big but I can see use in the rapid frequency selection with digital control. Maybe with analogue fine tuning? I suspect such systems exist although I have not got one.

Re: Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

British-made sets had the station names on the tuning dial, of course. Light, Home Third, Luxembourg, Hilversum etc.

Imported sets just have the frequencies but having lived in the Bristol Channel area for nearly fifty years now I know the local ones I listen to.

89.9 Radio 2
92.1 Radio 3
94.3 Radio 4

94.9 Radio Bristol
95.9 Radio Wales

882 Radio Wales
909 Radio 5 Live

Re: Proper tuning dial vs digital.
 

Digital is brilliant if you know what you want to listen to, having an analogue tune round can lead to interesting discoveries.