DAB was launched in 1995 with the promise of better-than-FM sound quality and fancy graphics, like weather maps, on multimedia radios.

I remember Dixons’s group director of technology development Danny Churchill at a conference urging the industry to “stop talking about DAB data until DAB is established as a better way to listen to radio”.

The industry stopped talking about data, but forgot the better-than-FM promise. Bit rates have been cut to the bone to get more channels. The hi-fi fraternity has long since given up on DAB and listens to FM.

Anyone happy with most DAB stations’ quality will find internet radio a far better way to get far more stations. There are already dongles, such as the one from 3, that make a mobile broadband connection by 3G phone link and connect to a portable internet radio by wi-fi.

Now TV viewers are campaigning to stop Freeview and Freesat HDTV bit rates going south in the same way.

A petition on the government website: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BBCHDPQ/  calls for the BBC to “restore the bandwidth allocated to the BBC HD channel transmissions to the same levels as before they were reduced in August 2009”.

The BBC introduced new encoders on August 5, 2009 and axed the bit rate from 16Mbps to 9.7Mbps.

Petitioner Lawrence Wilkes argues that this caused a “noticeable drop in picture quality” and “despite numerous complaints to the BBC by viewers, the BBC has refused to even acknowledge there is a problem.”

He believes the bit rate was reduced to make it easier for the BBC to simulcast its HD satellite channel on Freeview HD.

The petition was started in December 2009 and 2,385 people have so far signed.

The BBC’s HD controller Danielle Nagler and principal technologist Andy Quested recently met a delegation of complaining viewers.

Afterwards, the BBC gave me a statement. It read: “We replaced our encoders as they had reached the end of their life. The replacement encoders use newer generations of software and are able to work with a lower bit rate of 9.7Mbps. We did extensive testing on the new encoders which showed that they could produce pictures at the same or even better quality than the old encoders at the higher bit rate.”

But this is not the final word – the petition is open until the end of June and the BBC Trust is now officially looking at the complaint.

Wire-free charging remains an unfulfilled dream. But there is now a pretty good alternative.

Last year, UK/Israeli company Powermat talked the talk about an eco-friendly inductive mat on which iPods, PDAs and MP3 players could sit and get charged. The reality was rather different.

The player has to be fitted with a receiver sleeve that inductively couples with the mat. This adds cost, weight and bulk. The mats cost £70 to £80 and the receiver sleeves £30 to £35 each.

Powermat promised a more elegant solution – replacement batteries for portables that have a built-in receiver. Getting approval from the majors cannot be easy, but Powermat promised “more than 10 models from HTC, Blackberry, Nokia, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson will debut at CES” in January.

At CES, Powermat said battery/receivers would be available mid-2010 at around £25 each. There was no clear list of what devices would be catered for and the information put out was very boldly marked: “Please note that this list is subject to change.”

The latest launch promise is for June. Meanwhile, Idapt has grabbed the opportunity created by Powermat’s publicity, with a very respectable compromise – a charging block with three slots for interchangeable tips that variously cope with more than 4,000 different phones, PDAs and music players, as well as pen cell batteries.

Each Idapt comes with six tips covering iPod/iPhone, microUSB and the most common Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones. Unlike “wireless” charge mats, there is no need for special sleeves, boasts Idapt with an obvious dig at Powermat.

Basic cost is €40 for the block with four tips, with extra tips costing around €8 each or €50 for a pack of 10.

The connection is mechanical and the devices rather precariously balance on the tips. But the tips are sprung and so will absorb a fair dose of clumsy handling.