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Analogue radios should not be phased out until its digital replacement is improved, a peer who uses them to scare badgers from his garden has said.
During Lords question time, Tory peer Lord Renton of Mount Harry said there were still "many things wrong" with digital radio.
For the government, Lord Shutt of Greetland told peers there was still "a lot to be done" before the planned switchover in 2015.
He said that the government will be making an announcement within the next couple of weeks on the "road map" towards the digital switchover.
Lord Renton called for assurance that improvements could be made to digital radio "to cope with, for example, excessive cost, poor coverage and the muffled and fizzy noise it makes?"
He told peers: "Can some of this get cured before the analogue radio is finally disappeared?
"I have to confess I have an interest in this matter as I'm a partner in a vineyard where we regularly use analogue radio all night to stop the badgers from eating our grapes."
In response, Lord Shutt said: "I'm led to believe that 75 per cent of the people we ask say digital radio is a better radio in terms of what they can hear."
He added: "Much is being done to work up for the switchover, which is perhaps even more than an aspiration."
Crossbench peer Lord Walpole stated "about 99 per cent of the cars in this country cannot receive digital radio".
Lord Shutt said that the government is working with the industry on the possibility of having "switchover sets" placed in motor cars, not until 2013 will most cars be manufactured with digital radios.
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