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For better or worse, we're going digital in the U.K. and there may be problems ahead. The point is made that most households may have access to digital reception, but, at the moment, they do not rely on it. DAB radios may be more sensitive to aerial positioning than their FM counterparts. Here in Hampton Wick, our reception is not all that good and many may have to use external aerials to ensure good reception. With digital TV, the situation may be worse. In the U.K. we opted for the 2k system - two thousand hypothetical carriers per channel (multiplex), whereas, the rest of Europe went for 8k, which is more rugged than 2k and may allow reception under poorer conditions. The original Ondigital boxes were 2k only, but modern U.K. terrestrial boxes are dual-standard, so it ought to be possible to change to 8k. This might permit cellular working from local transmitters, with the possibility of using systems on public transport and in public places.

Nokia 9850T

Goodmans GDB3

Goodmans GSR80DAB

Sagem ITD59G Terrestrial Digibox

information on BSkyB digiboxes and the new Freesat service

U.K. cofdm terrestrial digital television, set-top boxes and DAB radios

Nokia 9850T

This STB was supplied to ONdigital in 1998, then to ITVdigital, then sold as Free-To-View as late as 2002. Not really suitable for this latter  purpose, the box locks up on receiving most signals and the front controls do not work. Channel five may allow you to get the on-screen menu by pressing "select". On other channels you may need to do this four seconds after receiving the station. This will not work on many stations - something to do with captions. It has been suggested that you borrow a topuptv card to allow the box to download new software. Nokia have said they are not liable to provide software, which may beg the question as to why they sold the boxes if they knew they would not work. ONdigital used Canal Plus MediaHighway software on top of a hardware abstraction layer. The dual-standard Nokia 9828T used OpenTV software, still available for download, but it is not clear whether this could be used on the 9850T - probably not. The 9828T has a PC port whereas the 9850T has a modem port. The Nokia 9850T STB has a channel display on the front panel, so could be used as a digital radio without using a screen. Should you need to open the 9850T to repair the power supply, you will need to use gas pliers or water pliers to remove the screws, as you may not have the tool for the five-slot screws and ordinary pliers will not do the job.

Goodmans GDB3

I was impressed by the build quality of this STB, made by Vestel in Turkey and badged by Goodmans Industries, Sainsburys and others. It uses a Samsung cofdm tuner and uses a standard IC, the STi 8815. Early reports were of good performance, latterly marred by software faults, possibly caused by the introduction of a 7-day electronic programme guide, but there could be other causes. Symptoms may be loss or break-up of picture, inability to find multiplexes, or sudden indications that there is no signal. Some have reported that Goodmans GDB3 boxes have never been good and have been changed for another STB by their dealer. Goodmans have emphasised the need for a good aerial, yet this may not cure the faults. In any case, reception should not be that critical and old ONdigital boxes can sometimes work on a set-top aerial in fairly poor reception areas. Even if the Goodmans GDB3 is reporting that signal level is good and signal quality very good, it may still be liable to drop out and report �no signal�. I have suggested that the forward error correction � FEC � is resetting from its correct value of 2/3 or that the tuner is being blocked by agc. It may be possible to demonstrate the strength of the aerial by going to manual tuning on the GDB3, tuning to channel 68, then down to the lowest frequency MUX. You should see a brief indication of signal strength and quality before the GDB3 drops out and reports �no signal�. The freqencies of local MUXes can be found at http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/dtt_channels.html or try http://www.DRDB.org and http://www.digitalradionow.com

Goodmans Industries appear to have employed a member of staff to go on the internet with the intention of allowing people to install old, or new software using the serial port on the Goodmans GDB3. If you should wish to do this, you will need to use a straight�through M-F 9-pin modem cable, because the port on the GDB3 is of the DCE modem type, not the PC DTE type. Doing this may not cure the problems with the GDB3. Use the correct software, of around 952KB. Should you mis-lay your remote control, the GDB3 can be operated via a Universal Electronics control using the code SAT 200. The cheap UET609 can give partial control using code SAT/CBL 424. There are several forums devoted to problems with the GDB3 but it should be noted that many customers may have found no fault with their GDB3 STBs. Goodmans have been kind enough to send their latest file, vestel_echo_7day_epg_banka.bin. It installed well and lasted two minutes on BBC Radio3.

 

It is possible for the GDB3 to lose the picture and sound without giving the �No Signal� banner. Sometimes they lose the sound and it may be possible to toggle this using the menu button � when the menu is on the screen, the sound is present.

 

I have been actively involved in electronics for decades and was doing servicing professionally for twenty years. At one time Goodmans Industries had the best-respected name in the business. I have two thirty-year-old Goodmans audio units still in working order, so I am sorry to see the situation that has arisen with the Goodmans GDB3. The customer has now replaced the GDB3 with a Sagem STB. One good thing - Goodmans provide operating manuals in PDF form on their WEB site.

 

Kelada, Hampton Wick 9-Dec-2005

 

Email response to [email protected]

 

Goodmans GSR80DAB

This DAB radio came in from a neighbour, who considered it useless and was going to throw it out and replace it with a different make. On test, the GSR80DAB performed badly, with sound breaking up and unable to find stations. I put in batteries and tested it on the roof of a high-rise car-park. It now performed well but failed completely at home, possibly due to remembering an AGC level. I took out the batteries, left the GSR80DAB overnight and started again. It worked better held at arms-length above my head or standing it on a large, steel, computer case, so I decided on using an external aerial. Luckily, I had two slim spanners, suitable to remove the aerial, which is built on to an F-plug. It is essential to use two spanners to prevent the socket turning, as the aerial may be tight. Do please be careful with this. I used a cable that went from f-plug to co-axial plug and used a co-axial adapter to connect to an indoor VHF vee-aerial, hung on the wall. This produced good results with the GSR80DAB especially with the top element set to 19cm and vertical, and the bottom element set to 100cm and leading horizontally away from the transmitter. This lead me to believe that a small ground-plane aerial may suit us better than a dipole, but this proved not to be so. An excellent feature of the Goodmans GSR80DAB is that it permits you to see signal strength � a great help when adjusting an indoor aerial. I live in a poor reception area in S.W. London so others may not experience my difficulties. Used on an elevated ground floor, the aerial is still only 3.5 metres above the ground and reception is good. Vee aerials may be obtainable at pound shops or similar places. It may also be possible to use an old ITV aerial. My neighbour�s experiences have been varied, with one using the inbuilt rod on a Roberts and another using a special log aerial on a mast. Goodmans are kind enough to provide operating manuals in PDF form on their WEB site. Not all manufacturers do this.

Sagem ITD59G

Many of those who returned defunct GDB3s were given Sagem boxes, which also suffer poor sensitivity. I could not use mine for this reason, but sorted out the remote control codes, as the ITD59G came in without the remote control. The codes and instructions can be seen on my URC22B and UET609 pages.

The Sagem box works from a 12 volt adapter, leading some to wonder if it can be used in a caravan. In my case, the adapter was missing. The box might be damaged by the 13.5 volt surge occuring during charging and LCD screens have been reported to fail for this reason. I had a 13.5 volt charger available, so used a 9 volt adapter, under-running the Sagem. This might account for the low sensitivity. I didn't risk the 12 volt setting as this was straight-through. It should be noted that the co-axial power connector is of the smaller type, as used on Nokia phones. Most PSUs use the middle size, as used on portable TVs. The supply uses the usual positive centre pin, but always check this as some manufaturers do reverse the polarity - makers of music keyboards may be culprits in this respect.