Most people are familiar with the stick-on-the-windscreen portable sat nav screen, so why not use the same concept for a DAB, digital radio tuner?
Specialist electronics company PURE has picked up on this concept with the Highway digital radio tuner, which apart from having a stick-on aerial and cabling in addition to the usual power lead, has a similar flavour of convenience.
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Price: £70
More info: PURE
Size (WxHxD): 122x70x29mm
Type: DAB tuner with full DAB Band III reception. Compliant with ETS 300 401 and capable of decoding all DAB transmission modes 1-4 up to and including 256 kbps.
Frequency ranges: DAB Band III 174-240 MHz.
FM transmission band: 87.6-107.9 MHz
Input connectors: 5V mini USB DC power adaptor socket (also for software upgrades). 3.5mm aux-in, 2.5mm aerial connector
Output connectors: 3.5mm stereo output for headphones and line-out
Controls: Tune, Select, Lock, Menu, Play/Pause, Rewind, quickSCAN, 4 dedicated one-touch presets, 1 combined preset.
Presets: 20 DAB and 4 FM transmit
LCD display: Green backlit LCD display with 16 x 2 characters, function icons (volume, battery life, time, signal strength and stereo) and clock
In Car Power Supply: 12-24V DC to 5V DC (0.5A) mini USB power adapter
Portable use: Two AA batteries last up to seven hours. Earphone leads form an aerial
Plus points:
Neat solution for anyone looking for DAB reception in the car. Good sound quality considering the FM transmission route to the car's sound system. Good drop-out-free reception in marginal areas
Minus points:
Another box with trailing wires to stick on the windscreen
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There are no connections between the Highway and the vehicle's radio to complicate installation. It transmits the DAB output via a stereo FM signal, and you only need to press the 'seek' button on the car's FM band to find the station 'PURE DAB' to be up and running. The Highway also simplifies this further by automating the selection of the transmitter frequency. There was a time when any device using an FM output had to be 'tuned' to make sure it wasn't transmitting on the same frequency as a radio station (as users of the iTrip, and other devices for connecting Apple's iPod to their car stereo will be aware) but clever software in the Highway enables it to listen and select a silent area on the FM waveband.
Anyone who regularly listens to DAB radio will know that there are quite a few stations on the digital band which are not available on FM. These include BBC 7, BBC Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra and talkSPORT. One of the latest is 'Traffic Info' with constant updates warning drivers of hold-ups throughout the UK.
Highway's features include a line-in jack socket which will accept an audio output from an iPod/MP3 player allowing its use as a simple transmission device to play over the car's radio. There's also a 'ReVu' loop recording system to pause and skip back through a radio programme being listened to. It can also be loaded with batteries and used as a portable.
Performance
There are a lot of people out there who probably listen to only one DAB station such as 6 Music or talkSPORT. This means that the Highway can be chucked into the glove compartment and set on one of the car radio's FM presets and, whenever the DAB programme is needed, it comes up with a prod of the appropriate preset.
Pure claims that the Highway will reliably fire up at the turn of the the ignition key when the cigarette lighter socket is wired (as most are) into the accessory circuit of the car. In my case however, it turned on most of the time but sometimes didn't. The Highway support desk says this is abnormal, but it's probably a good idea to ask for a dem before you buy.
There have been some reports of the auto-tune transmission frequency on the Highway dodging about when it's in a crowded area, like London, where there are lots of localised FM stations. There's a choice of four preset transmission frequencies which would probably overcome most of these problems, particularly on a regular commuter route. Most car radios have at least three FM bands of six presets, one of the bands could correspond to the transmission presets on the Highway.
Anyone who regularly drives in a marginal reception area can improve the sensitivity of the tuner by requesting PURE's additional mag-mount antenna. It's only got a thin wire so it's not a problem to feed onto the roof via the door even though it looks a bit naff. They have experimented with some expensive glass-mount antennas (similar to mobile phone twigs) but these have proved to offer very little extra performance over the stick-on aerial supplied with the tuner.
The antenna supplied with the Highway is very good as long as the mounting instructions are followed. The most important thing is not to stick it too close to the windscreen pillar, as this can seriously affect its sensitivity. Although the mounting instructions show the antenna with the plastic square hanging downwards, it can be mounted so that the wire can be fed from the top of the screen. Most screen trims will allow the thin aerial wire to be gently wedged in around the edge of the screen which tidies up the installation. The PURE technical bods recommend that the antenna is tried in several different positions around the edge of the screen to check it for the best reception. This can be done by using clear sticky tape to fasten it before peeling off the backing.
Other developments that PURE promises are on the way include a less-bright LED for the power plug, a second car kit so that only the tuner head has to be transferred, and possibly a goose-neck holder with a power plug on the end instead of a windscreen sucker. There are quite a few cars which have the space for the tuner on a short holder which would neaten up the wiring and prevent windscreen acne if the owner already uses a sat nav unit.
Depending on the signal strength in the areas used (happily a large percentage of the UK), the Highway is a viable solution for anyone wanting to add DAB to the car. The sound quality was unexpectedly good considering the compromised nature of using an internal FM transmitter in the Highway. Listeners should experience the same quality as a good stereo broadcast from a national FM station.
