INTEMPO PG-01 DAB RADIO
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This was the first DAB radio that I bought and it turned out to be an excellent choice, and very good value for money - I'd recommend it to potential buyers.

If you are looking for a value for money stereo DAB radio that looks like it could give long service, this could be the one to buy.


A BRIEF BACKGROUND TO DAB TRANSMISSIONS
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Most of used have grown up listening to radio stations transmitted on three wavebands:

AM Transmissions
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Short for Analogue Modulation (the method used for converting sound waves to radio signals in a format suitable for transmission).

AM radio signals are suitable for fairly long wave transmission, but suffer from fairly narrow bandwidth – this presents itself to the listener as a sound that seems to lack the higher frequencies (treble) that you would get form playing a CD through your Hi Fi.

FM Transmissions
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Short for Frequency Modulation (another method used for converting sound waves to radio signals in a format suitable for transmission).

FM radio signals employ a greater bandwidth – presenting itself to the listener as an almost Hi Fi type sound quality.

However, FM signals usually suffer from a more localised transmission (still many 10’s of miles) and require the use of a higher quality radio receiver (this is less of an issue nowadays due to miniaturisation and mass production of circuitry).

LW Transmissions
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Short for Long Wave – a bit more self-explanatory this time as the radio waves have a LONG wavelength (and relatively low frequency).

These signals are also AM (Amplitude Modulated) and have broadly the same properties as AM radio. The advantage is that these signals can often be transmitted over long distances.


All of the wavebands described above are analogue – and susceptible to various types of interference, predominantly due to signals becoming distorted and attenuated in the process of being transmitted from radio masts to our homes.

Digital Radio
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Digital signals suffer from distortion, however, as long as the distortion is not too great, they can be regenerated by the receiver producing a signal that is an exact copy of the original – so no distortion.

DAB – short for Digital Audio Broadcasting is the radio community’s answer to Digital Broadcasting and is proving to be a great success across Europe.

If you own a DAB radio, as long as you are in an area that is able to receive DAB transmissions, you will be able to receive distortion and interference free radio, including many stations that you may not be able to pick up on your traditional receiver.

Currently it is estimated that 85% of the UK population are able to receive DAB radio signals. However, the number and range of stations that can be picked up varies from location to location – generally heavily populated areas will be served better. In my case I am able to receive 30 + stations.

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THE INTEMPO PG-01 DAB RADIO
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS
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Why did I choose this Manufacturer and Model ?

When I initially started looking around for a DAB radio, I was not familiar with some of the manufacturers names this included Intempo.

However, as I am a bit of an ‘Anorak’ at times when looking at electronics specifications (I’m not as bad as I used to be though – I’ve definitely gone past the ‘snob’ stage), I took a little time to compare makes and models, whilst bearing in mind the price. In other words, I was looking for what I would consider best value for money.

On the shelf in the shop, the item looked OK and on further investigation had a reasonable spec, it was also in my price range. Once I was convinced that this was the one for me, I purchased it and took it home.

The item was well packaged in a reasonably attractive box, and more importantly nothing was damaged or missing.

The items dimensions are approximately:

Width 25cm
Height 19cm (including feet & carrying handle)
Depth 12cm (including tuning knob & aerial protrusion)

Weight Just under 1.7Kg

This means that it’s fairly compact and not to heavy to transport.

The case is predominantly polished wood (apparently its beech veneer) with a kind of brushed steel type fittings (Handle, Control panel, back panel) and polished metal controls, feet and aerial. This gives an overall attractive feel, and fits in very well with my bedroom décor.

When switched on, the relatively small (6cm x 2cm) display lights up with 2 lines of darkish blue characters on a light blue background. Characters are easy to read with excellent contrast.

The front panel has 6 sets of 2 push-buttons, one button above the other, these are, from left to right:

Memories 1 & 3
Memories 2 & 4
AT & Alarm
DAB/FM & Sleep
Select & Info
UP & Down (tuning)

The other controls consist of a round on/off button to the left of the push-buttons previously described and a rotary volume control in the middle of the front of the unit (mounted on the wooden panel between stereo speakers).

Control functions are described later in this report.

The PG-01 is mains powered via a separate AC – DC Power adapter which is plugged into the rear panel.

The rear panel also has a stereo headphone socket that accepts a standard 3.5mm Jack plug.


INSTRUCTIONS
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In the form of a very glossy A5 booklet with 6 pages (12 sides) of text and copious black, white and grey illustrations.

The instructions are written in a very readable style that ,makes following them very easy and the illustrations are very good, clearly communicating the text.

The last two sections of the manual include a troubleshooting guide and a glossary of terms including a description of the DAB service.


FEATURES
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~DAB/FM button~

The radio is both a DAB digital receiver and an FM receiver (I think that most, if not all models feature at least these two services).

~Memory buttons~

There are a total of 4 memories for storing favourite stations, one to each of the Memory keys. Like most radios this is easily done by pressing the desired memory button for 2 seconds whilst listening to the station to be stored.

~Info button~

This control scrolls through the options for the lower part of the LCD display, these options are:

+++ In DAB mode+++

+ Scrolling text (messages from the selected station)
+ Programme type (the style of music – I don’t know why this is needed)
+ Ensemble/Multiplex (collections of stations on the same frequency)
+ Signal Strength (how strong received signals are for each station)
+ Time & Date


+++In FM mode+++

+ Radiotext (Scrolling text (messages from the selected station)
+ Programme type (the style of music – I don’t know why this is needed)
+ Signal Strength (how strong received signals are for each station)
+ Time & Date
+ Frequency (as in traditional radios – displayed the tuned frequency)

I tend to keep the display showing the scrolling text option, although, to be honest – I rarely read it.

The Info button also allows the user to enter an ‘advanced’ display mode offering information on the software version installed on the radio, and info on the audio mode – i.e. if the received station is being received in mono or stereo. This is a function that I’ve never needed to use and is probably more applicable to a service engineer repairing your radio.

~AT Button~

AT is the acronym for Auto Tune and is used for tuning in the radio (where required), particularly if you either use it in another area or if you want to look for new channels.

~Select button~ & ~Up / Down button~

The Select button is used to select the channel that you wish to listen to after you have scrolled through available channels using the Up / Down buttons.

~DAB / FM button~

Used to switch between DAB and FM radio modes.

~Alarm button~

Used to select the alarm clock mode in conjunction with the Up/Down buttons and the Select button. It is possible to select the alarm to sound either as the radio coming on or as a beeping sound (annoying).

~Sleep button~

Puts the alarm into ‘snooze’ mode delaying the alarm for 7 minutes (a dangerous thing to do !).

The Sleep button can also be used to programme the radio to switch off after a time period entered by the user – this is useful if you like to go to sleep to the sound of the radio.


EXPERIENCES USING THE DAB RADIO
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On switching on the radio, it performs an auto-tune, finding stations that are strong enough to be received and stored. These are easily accessed by using the Up & Down buttons to scroll through the names of stations that have been found and stored.

Tuning is extremely easy in both DAB and FM modes as is selecting the station of choice. The display is clear enough, showing the station name and other selected information (see description above).

Reception of both DAB and FM signals are good, with most stations showing a mid to high signal strength and giving stable reception.

I have found the sound quality to be very good through the front panel mounted stereo speakers, and if decent earphones are used, they will also give good sound reproduction.

The handbook provided with the radio does not actually give any performance data so I can’t comment on Frequency response, distortion etc. However, I can say that for my range of hearing the response was more than adequate, with quite reasonable Bass (even from fairly small speakers) and sharp treble with clear mid-range – especially voice response.

The controls are not as clearly labelled as they could be, particularly in an area that is not brightly lit. However, they are well laid out, so once they have been used a few times their labelling becomes less of an issue.

The radio has a specified 2 x 5 Watt output from it’s speakers, which in my experience, results in plenty of output – even when my wife is using her hairdryer it is still possible to turn up the volume enough to hear the transmission.

I quite like the overall design of the radio – it is robust and well built with well laid out controls which have a nice ‘feel’ with a positive action (in the case of the buttons) and smooth movement (in the case of the Volume control).

The PG-01 does not include an option to connect an external aerial, so
if you are in an area where reception is usually poor, this model may not suit you (you can check this by going to www.digitalradionow.com).


SUMMARY
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* Good quality sound

* Distortion & interference free reception

* Robust, attractive design with positive ‘feel’ controls

* Easy to use and programme

* Glossy Instruction manual with clear descriptions and illustrations

* Good value for money for a DAB radio with 2 x 5W stereo outputs


An instruction manual for the PG-01 can be downloaded in pdf format from the following web address: http://www.intempo-digital.co.uk/products/pg01/pg0 1_userguide.pdf

A basic specification (more like a flier really) can be found at: http://www.intempo-digital.co.uk/products/pg01/pg0 1_spec.pdf