Week Forty- Five In Which It Is Going To Be A Poncy One

I do have a lovely flouncy, poncy week ahead. Truth is, I am at my happiest working out problems with electronics and testing stuff, rather than poncing about but it is crucial. The first bit is that I am writing this on a Sunday night while X Factor The Results is on, as tomorrow as ever is, I am due to be a minor delegate at the Drive To Digital conference at the BBC. Right at the heart of operations, Broadcasting House, it’s all about getting broadcasters, radio manufacturers and government all in the one place. Of course, the makers, especially the car makers themselves, who are also part of this whole thing, want to know when the FM transmitters are going to go the same way as the old analogue TV ones.
Last year, I asked if any of the £12,000,000 media budget was going to be ring fenced to protect the ‘Digital Radio Tick Mark’ that shall be placed upon ‘known good’ or rather ‘approved and works’ equipment. I referred to the sellers of such counterfeit electronics as ‘Toe rags’ and the dodgy electronics they would sell, as ‘Kak’. This went down a storm and Minister Ed Vaizey referred to it later and I gather it was used in summation at the end of the day. I need to better that this year.
I think I have to refer to having seen whole dens of iniquitous kak vendors since, nestled on airfields and against national treasure stadiums, that have been on TV. And ask if there have been any developments, like rules for instant destruction of unapproved equipment. For I was a CB’er and I think the rules remain the same. It’s only an issue once you stop trading in the stuff and attempt to USE it! Thus trading in it needs to be an offence. No big spend on prison time. Just ban them and kill their kak with fire.
The second major Action-ponceuse will be my compering malarkey at the Mobile Electronics News Awards, in a posh London Hotel on Wednesday night. I have ordered a military green fabric tailcoat with cannons on the buttons (Royal Artillery field dress) to be made bespoke to fit me, with room to move, by a fabulous costumier. Farthingale Costumes link have the most utter expertise. With utter authenticity in construction and supreme knowledge of the history of attire, they get used by not just movie makers but people FAR more picky; re-enactioneers! But if you can think it Maybe it’s time for some of the attention-whore boys to do better at car shows than the cheap party shop rubbish and make a flipping statement!
I have just had two JL Audio home subwoofers through my world (yes HOME SUBWOOFWERS!) and they were stonkeratingly good. I keep on failing miserably to Tweet these things because I am wrapped up in doing it and oddly seem to lack enough urge to be seen to do it. I think it is because I get great lumps of attention myself at shows and do of course love it all. Or I wouldn’t still be at it so long later.
Parrot have got some very sexy new stuff a coming soon but I have to tell you, they also make a seriously clever home speaker as well that I shall be throwing down here. Back at the head units, the 2-DIN Clarion NX302E is in the test rig right now. When installing it in there, I was looking for the special socket or tailing lead to connect the magical DAB302E box to it, to use the digital radio antenna in the office window. But sadly, despite thinking that it had such a plug ‘ole. It didn’t. So the review for DAB 302E will have to wait a bit, since I want to try it on a double-DIN product that does accept the unit, as the graphics are far sexier than on the single DIN unit I recently tested, I have been told.
OK. Cabs to book and X Factor to go rant at&;. I’ll try to do some news from the conference&;
Adam Rayner On Line Editor