what kind of radio do I need? ... and TV licence

[chocccie]

Yes I will be immersing myself fully in the French way of life but.... I'm not living without radio four!!

I'll listen to it online, but when I'm in the shed or the pool - what type of radio do I need to pick up radio 4 / world service.  An FM, longway, multi-frequency thimgummyjiggy?  What?

Also.... tv license is now taken automatically - what does that cover me for?  Just one property on the plot?  (others are to be renovated).... and just one tv per building, or is it an all in fee for as many as you want? 

Cheers

[JohnM]

It rather depends where you are.

If you are near the northern coast, you may well be able to listen to Radio 4 FM. However you are more likely to get it on Longwave. Without being too techie, Long wave lengths tend to bend round hills and things better than short ones and travel further, further more it is transmitted using AM which is also more resilient (Radio 4 FM is on the VHF "band" which has quite a short wave length, but of course Radio 4 Longwave is err... Longwave).

My brother in law has managed to hear Five Live (AM on Medium Wave) on his car radio in the Alps, but next day when the car wasn't in quite the same position, he couldn't.

Being boring, AM and FM only refer to the way the signal is sent and not the "band" or position in the band. For example, Radio 4 on 93.5Mhz could be in either AM or FM.

Back to answering your question, have you thought about getting a pair of "Wireless Loud speakers" and connecting them to your PC?

 

[Jc]

Radio 4 is on long wave;world service is on short wave and for this you need a suitable radio(not found on common or garden types).Try Roberts or Sony.

[JohnM]

Err... Yes, but, err... No.

Frequency chart from World Service Web site showing frequencies for West and South West Europe.

FREQUENCIES - SUMMER WEST & SOUTH WEST EUROPE All Times GMT

From  To  Days  Frequency (kHz)  00:00  24:00  Daily  648+  00:00  04:30  Daily  198  04:00  06:00  Daily  6195  04:00  07:00  Daily  9410  05:00  07:00  Daily  12095  13:00  16:00  Sat. only  12095  16:00  19:00  Daily  12095  16:00  21:00  Daily  9410  19:00  21:00  Daily  6195  20:00  21:00  Daily  1296   + North West Europe only during daylight

648 is pretty close to Five Live in the medium wave band and 198 is in the Long Wave band. Yes, the others are short wave, but if you can get it, the most consistent one is going to be Medium Wave.

[JohnM]

But yes, you do need a radio with the right bands on it and that tends to be Roberts and the like.

Something else to be aware of.

Sometimes cheap radios work better than expensive ones. The expensive ones can be very sophisticated and they "decide" whether a signal is good enough for you to listen to. Even if you've pushed the "far off stations please" button (Dx)  if the signal strength doesn't reach a preset threshold, then the Radio will not tune to it. However, a cheap radio will tune where you say and if the signal is weak, so be it.

 

[Simon]

Get yourself a squeezebox and listen via broadband through your own hifi system.

http://www.slimdevices.com/

regards

Simon

[Jc]

If you are in the South then LW tends to be patchy but can frequently picked up on cheap car radios rather than expensive sets.On SW you will need to keep changing bands at different times.

[Btuckey]

The best reception by far is via a satellite receiver.  BBC radio is broadcast unencrypted so any 'free to air' receiver will do.  If you have Sky of course, you have it already.  Only draw back is that it is not portable like a traditional radio.

Brian  11500

[JohnM]

But.... a pair of wireless speakers would be great (no I don't sell them, I don't even own any, but they are on my wish list so that I can listen outside as well)

 

[Mikew]

Apparently Sky are going to do wireless speakers to attach to their box. If and when get someone in UK to get some.

[zeb]

OMG - that all sounds really confusing!

Just go into any electrical place and look for a radio with LW. Tune it to roughly 198 and you can listen to bl*****g cricket all day!

Seriously though, my little Grundig, bought from Geant for about 34 euros, is great for when I'm digging, hoeing, weeding etc. Stops me thinking about my back. Free to air is fine for radio (in the house) but c**p for TV unless you like endless BBC. WE don't, we have TPS (French satellite system) so can watch and learn from French TV and get wall to wall films in all languages!! Plus of course BBC Prime which has repeated No Going Back about that nice family with the fishing lakes FOUR times in the past fortnight. Good old BBC. TPS even has English Premier League football on one of its channels if you are a footy fan.

Ooops, I seem to be way off topic now.

TV Licence - yes, it's being included in the Taxe Fonciere bill so if all your properties are billed separately, you'll have a TV licence fee included in each one or, if you are very lucky and get one bill for all your property/ies - voila - only one TV licence fee. Bit tough on those who have no telly!!

[Deimos]

Short wave for World Service is not good is all areas. For me it has been bad for the last year and a half (ever since I moved to Western France). I have contacted the BBC who say that it is poor and will be for the foreseeable future via SW. They suggested Worldspace. At the time it was free to air but I delayed (thank goodness) as it is now subject to (in my opinion) a rather high monthly fee.

Response I had from the BBC:

--- Starts ---

Reception of BBC World Service short-wave transmissions for western Europe are currently particularly poor because of disruption to the ionosphere (the layer of the atmosphere through which SW signals are transmitted) caused by recent solar flare activity. It may be some time before conditions return to normal.

Unfortunately, you are located just outside the reach of our 648 kHz medium-wave frequency, which carries BBC World Service in English 24 hours a day - although it is certainly worth trying, if you have not already, particularly in the evenings and at night, when medium-wave reception often improves.

The long-wave frequency mentioned in our frequency information for Europe is a frequency used by the UK channel, BBC Radio 4, to reach parts of Britain not served by their FM frequencies, including coastal waters. It is not intended for delivery outside the UK, but can often be heard quite far into France when atmospheric conditions permit, particularly during the summer months. The World Service is carried on it between 0000 and 0530 GMT (0200-0730 CET), with Radio 4 at other times.

If you are based permanently in France, reception by satellite may be an option for you.

BBC WORLD SERVIVE VIA SATELLITE IN WESTERN EUROPE

HOT BIRD 6

BBC World Service (European schedule) is available 24 hours a day, free-to-air from digital Eutelsat Hot Bird 6 at 13° East, transponder 130U, vertical polarisation, 11131 MHz, PID 457. Hot Bird 6 covers the whole of Europe (including the Canary Islands). In stereo.

ASTRA 1H

BBC World Service (European schedule) is available 24 hours a day, free-to-air from digital Astra 1H at 19.2° East, transponder 112, vertical polarisation, 12610 MHz, PID 401. The Astra 1H footprint covers western Europe from the British Isles to the northern Balkan peninsula, including Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Canary Islands. Mono only.

You should contact a local satellite/TV equipment dealer for information about the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) receivers required for reception from Hot Bird 6 and Astra. These work in conjunction with a television set, but you can connect the audio output of the set-top receiver box to a Hi-Fi system for better quality sound.

WORLDSPACE

The West Beam of the digital WorldSpace AfriStar satellite reaches much of western continental Europe, including Greece, western Turkey, the British Isles and the Canary Islands. It carries our West Africa schedule 24 hours a day on channel 904 (with African news programmes at certain times of day and two half-hours of French (BBC Afrique) at 0600 and 1800 GMT).

--- Ends ---

[Gyn_Paul]

Choccie, I've emailed you (or PM'd;  can't remember which), did you get it?

paul

[Missy]

[quote]Radio 4 is on long wave;world service is on short wave and for this you need a suitable radio(not found on common or garden types).Try Roberts or Sony.[/quote]

Problem with Radio 4 on long wave (in UK or in France) you are lumbered with cricket all day long as and when there is play and repeats of the repeats of when there was play yonks ago! Makes commuting to-from work a pain as I am one of those who truly doesn't care a wotsit about cricket ...! Where are the plays?! where is PM at 5pm?!...

In UK I have one radio permanently on France Inter long wave and another radio permanently on Radio 4 FM. I do not move the tuning dial on either only the switch on/off at the wall. In the car I have set it that I can get both but as I live in a very hilly part of the world it is not a very good reception for either channels. And woe betide if any one dares change the settings! My local mechanic knows about it when he re-arranged the thing to Radio ONE!! once when my car was in for its MOT!

No TV! I am a bit of a luddite there. Well there is one in the house but I never watch it unless my kids are home and happen to switch it on...

In France it's Radio 4 FM on the car radio and France Inter LW on my very old (bought in 1986) walkman (radio/cassette). Suffice to say when I have walkman+headphones on, my children are off! as that machine looks SOOOooo UNcool!... The price of that device then was the same as that of their supa-dupa Ipods/MP3 is now!!

And no TV! I only watch it when I am at my parents and even that... I see so little of them that we sit in the garden, which is so nice in the evening, and talk, have an apéro which often ends up with an 'à la bonne franquette' meal with friends and neighbours...

or listen together to France Inter on their radio.

Happy listening!