DAB radio adds 12 new stations to UK airwaves

[HEXUS]

It's time to retune after UK's second national digital radio multiplex is switched on.

Read more.

[g8ina]

Jazz FM again, bout time too

[abaxas]

Great for the people who can get DAB.. not so for the millions who can't

[g8ina]

If it's UK coverage you mean, its a LOT better than it used to be, most of the UK mainland can get it.



Or did you mean cost of receiver ? This one's 18 quid at Tesco -

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-dr...skuId=297-1843

[Saracen]

Great for the people who can get DAB.. not so for the millions who can't

Is coverage still really that bad?

Most of my listening is either a couple of national BBC stations, on which reception is perfect pretty much everywhere I've been, and two local stations, one about 20 miles away (perfect) and one about 50 miles away (a bit hissy, but okay for a chat station).

Do you mean millions that can't because of signal strengh issues, or because they don't have a DAB radio? If the latter, then the cost of decent DAB radios has dropped hugely, to the point where they shouldn't be beyond the reach of any but the very poorest.

I wonder if this announcement heralds the day they close FM radio down getting noticeably closer? That, I don't agree with, though it's coming.

EDIT. Bother Beaten to it. Again.

[abaxas]

Living in the North East (well more like central uber north now is hard work for DAB.

We have hills, something alien to everyone who lives sarf of Birmingham

[DanceswithUnix]

We have hills, something alien to everyone who lives sarf of Birmingham

Hills? Luxury! We lived in hole in't ground. Had to use two mile of wire to get longwave. We dreamed of FM. Tell that to the youth of today, and they wouldn't believe ya.

(apologies to Python fans)
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I live on the side of a hill, I can't get TV reception other than satellite but I can get DAB. Not sure if that counts as lucky or unlucky in a time when we only really use Netflix.

[LeetyMcLeet]

Coverage map is bs. T'has never worked for me.

[virtuo]

Map seems accurate, I'm in the patchy bit of North Wales and the DAB radio in my kitchen agrees. It'll get a couple of stations, but not all of them. FM is fine, but the cheap (hand-me-down) DAB radio doesn't do both.

[peterb]

Coverage map is bs. T'has never worked for me.

Not bs at all, it's just a digital image. However, if you mean that the information it portrays is inaccurate, why don't you just say so?

[dannyboy75]

I only have DAB in my car, but it means I can listen to Planet Rock and Radio X on the way to work (and the World Service if I fancy something different), rather than have to endure the Top 40 guff on Radio 1 .

It does briefly drop out sometimes, but my biggest gripe with DAB in the UK isn't the coverage, it's the bitrate they use. Most stations stream in 64kbps or less, which is pathetic in 2016. In terms of sound quality that bitrate negates most of the benefits of the digital signal in the first place.

http://www.techradar.com/news/car-te...fix-it-1217586

[Saracen]

Living in the North East (well more like central uber north now is hard work for DAB.

We have hills, something alien to everyone who lives sarf of Birmingham

I have no problem in Nottinghamshire. I spent a while on a job in Durham a year or two back, and had no problem with reception on a "Pure" portable DAB receiver in the hotel room. It's not the cheapest DAB radio, but at about £130, from memory, wasn't hugely expensive, and that was, oh, finger-in-air guess, maybe 10 years ago?? It's an Evoke-2 XT if anyone can put a better age on it than that. It suited because because it was mains and battery capable (ideal for away jobs), but still twin speaker and decent sound. I'd guess prices have dropped a fair bif since, but I haven't checked an equivalent current model.

Is it your geographical region that's causing the problem, or local topography?

Also, if I get a decent signal on a couple of feet of telescopic in-built antenna, would a roof-mounted DAB omnidirectional antenna give you adequate signal? Or even a low-gain beam and, if necessary, rotator system? That would, clearly, up the cost though maybe not as much as you may think, and it'd be a pain to install.

But the time may come when, for radio, it's DAB or nothing. Reading the government tea leaves, I foresee them wanting the extra radio spectrum back for more 'profitable' uses, perhaps sooner rather than later. Personally, I prefer FM, though I also sort-of prefer vinyl to CD. It's hard to say, rationally, why I do but it's .... warmer. Maybe I'm just used to FM and vinyl from childhood.

[Zimano]

Just looking through the new stations and existing ones. Seems there's plenty of music stations to cater for every taste, sports stations and talk stations. I wish someone would release a radio station that just has documentaries on and nothing else. Be nice if it didn't have news updates on it every hour aswell, news (not tech news ofcourse) is never good so dont really want to know it

[Myss_tree]

Personally i do not believe that there should be any religous propaganda stations allowed.

[g8ina]

Back to UK freedom of speech I think

[Mucka]

Is DAB that much of a difference to standard fm?