DAB Radio Issue
Discussion
I have an old (bought about 15 years ago) Yamaha CRX-M170 amp with built in CD player and tuner (inc DAB). The DAB works fine some of the time, but the supplied aerial I think limited it.
Saw online a cheap plug in retractable metal aerial for very little money (like a car aerial) so ordered it.
It turned up so I plugged it in, turned on the system, which was set to BBC R2, and wow, perfect. Brilliantly clear reception, better than ever before. So pleased.
So hit the button for auto tune and the unit comes up "Local Scanning " and it starts to scan at 0%, then climbs up and finished in about 10 seconds, really quick. This was the start of my issue.
Screen ow reads "0.03 CENTREFORCE" with "Pop Music" written underneath. I assume this is the name of the first radio station alphabetically. It has various stations starting with Absolute 00s, Absolute 60s, Absolute 70s etc. Some stations start with a ?, some don't.
Get to BBC and I have BBC World, BBC R1A, BBC R1D, BBC R3U, and that's it. The stations stop at Jazz, nothing beyond J. However, if I then go backwards from J to A and keep going, I get to stations starting Z, Y etc all the way thru, with all the BBC stations. BBC R2 is fine now.
None of the stations starting with ? will play, and some of the others won't either. Overall, it's worse than before. But when I plug in the original aerial, I now get nothing, won't work at all.
Btw, I live in London, not somewhere remote.
Thoughts?
Saw online a cheap plug in retractable metal aerial for very little money (like a car aerial) so ordered it.
It turned up so I plugged it in, turned on the system, which was set to BBC R2, and wow, perfect. Brilliantly clear reception, better than ever before. So pleased.
So hit the button for auto tune and the unit comes up "Local Scanning " and it starts to scan at 0%, then climbs up and finished in about 10 seconds, really quick. This was the start of my issue.
Screen ow reads "0.03 CENTREFORCE" with "Pop Music" written underneath. I assume this is the name of the first radio station alphabetically. It has various stations starting with Absolute 00s, Absolute 60s, Absolute 70s etc. Some stations start with a ?, some don't.
Get to BBC and I have BBC World, BBC R1A, BBC R1D, BBC R3U, and that's it. The stations stop at Jazz, nothing beyond J. However, if I then go backwards from J to A and keep going, I get to stations starting Z, Y etc all the way thru, with all the BBC stations. BBC R2 is fine now.
None of the stations starting with ? will play, and some of the others won't either. Overall, it's worse than before. But when I plug in the original aerial, I now get nothing, won't work at all.
Btw, I live in London, not somewhere remote.
Thoughts?
The Yamaha launched in 2006, and the model ran for a few years. At the time we had plain DAB. In 2016, DAB+ arrived. It uses a new higher-efficiency CODEC. The promise was there for better sound, but in a lot of cases it was used to reduce the channel bitrate and so squeeze in more stations. That's kind of depressing after the failure of plain DAB because of quality complaints, but that's how business works, I guess.
Your Yamaha could be picking up the listings of the DAB+ stations, but without a DAB+ capable tuner it doesn't know what to do with the signal.
The old aerial no longer working could simply be a broken connection within the aerial lead.
Have you thought about expanding your listening selection, and the quality, too? The Yamaha has enough analogue inputs to add a media streamer. (Aux 1, 2, and Tape) Music streamers include internet radio. At this point I have t say that not every UK radio station has a licence to broadcast on the 'net, so it might be worth checking something like the vTuner website before spending any money. LINK If you find enough of your local stations listed, then the next step is to consider a small streamer.
The WiiM Mini is popular because it's just £89 and has a good control app. RicherSounds has a mega deal on the Escape M1 Air at £99 if you sign up to the VIP Club. It's a really good streamer .
Your Yamaha could be picking up the listings of the DAB+ stations, but without a DAB+ capable tuner it doesn't know what to do with the signal.
The old aerial no longer working could simply be a broken connection within the aerial lead.
Have you thought about expanding your listening selection, and the quality, too? The Yamaha has enough analogue inputs to add a media streamer. (Aux 1, 2, and Tape) Music streamers include internet radio. At this point I have t say that not every UK radio station has a licence to broadcast on the 'net, so it might be worth checking something like the vTuner website before spending any money. LINK If you find enough of your local stations listed, then the next step is to consider a small streamer.
The WiiM Mini is popular because it's just £89 and has a good control app. RicherSounds has a mega deal on the Escape M1 Air at £99 if you sign up to the VIP Club. It's a really good streamer .
As it’s broken, nothing to lose by a full reset, then rescan with the original aerial ?
Something like:-
1. Turn the unit off (standby mode is fine).
2. On the main unit (not the remote), press and hold the STOP button.
3. While holding STOP, press the ON/STANDBY button.
4. Keep holding STOP until the display shows something like:
• INIT
• INITIALIZE
• or similar reset wording.
5. Release the button.
The unit should then reset to factory settings.
Something like:-
1. Turn the unit off (standby mode is fine).
2. On the main unit (not the remote), press and hold the STOP button.
3. While holding STOP, press the ON/STANDBY button.
4. Keep holding STOP until the display shows something like:
• INIT
• INITIALIZE
• or similar reset wording.
5. Release the button.
The unit should then reset to factory settings.
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