factory radio

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <352C01A9.CE0B3FC4@abraxis.com> Elliott Potter writes:

> But did they succeed?  Is the radio really so well-designed?  Where can
> one see what it looks like?

Well, _I_ think it is, but it probably wouldn't suit the US market.

Germany is federal, and each state has its own radio stations - usually
three.  One of these is designated for traffic information, e.g., HR3.

They're on VHF/FM, and because Germany is a bit hilly in places each is
transmitted from up to a dozen main transmitters.

The idea of the MCC is that you programme it for the states you normally
drive in.  It has six "programmes", each of which holds up to ten
frequencies.  Once it's receiving a "programme", it automatically
selects the strongest signal and changes as you drive around.  Thus you
get stereo radio and traffic information without having to keep retuning
the radio.

It has a normal frequency store, too, and can receive the long, medium
and short waves (49m band).  There are very few controls.  The tuning
knob is multi-purpose - turn to tune, flick it round to jump across
the whole band, and push it to search.

The whole idea was to _reduce_ the number of buttons and controls on
the thing, and also make it so that you don't need to keep twiddling
to keep track of traffic information.  These days, RDS has largely
made it obsolete.  It's still useful in the UK, because the BBC reuses
its frequencies across the country.  I can press the "Radio 4" button
here and still be listening to it in Devon - without having to touch
the radio.

It looks very plain - wholly consistent with my "stealth" approach.

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
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