Cycling UK Forum

How many people here have a DAB+ radio rather than a bog standard DAB. The DAB+ can use a more efficient compression process that could give better quality ( but the few stations I have listened to, just means lower bit rates to get the same quality as DAB)

peetee wrote:We have two DAB radios. Despite them both being decent bits of kit that are located within 6 feet of the outside world (and the aerials get within 2 feet) on the same side of the house the reception is rubbish. Both suffer from audible 'flutter' and neither provides the same choice of stations.

To be fair I never found FM that great (particularly if you want stereo) without a rooftop aerial.
The DAB radios I have work "OK" with the telescopic in the same way FM radios work "OK", the artefacts of low signal are different for both (and possibly worse on DAB) but both really need a rooftop aerial.

100%JR wrote:

mjr wrote:

100%JR wrote:According to my unit I have 92 stations tuned in

How many are available at any one time, though?

Car radios have it easier than ones used in a home but not connected to an external antenna.

I've never gone through them all but as they're listed I presume they're available.I'll make a point of going down the list to see if they all work.
I have 15 pre-sets that are always available.
BBC:-
Radio 1,2,6Music,5live,RadioSheffield
Absolute Radio,80s,90s,ClassicRock
PlanetRock,Heart80s,Kiss,Magic,Smooth,Hallam

In truth though I generally only listen to three of the above regularly.Radio2,6Music,Absolute80s.

Sheffield and Hallam can't always be available. I wonder if your car is keeping lots of locals and short term stations among the 92. Big city probably gets more stations than country market towns anyway.

To answer the question, our only dab radio was upgraded to dab + by plugging it into the computer and sending it a firmware. As I understand it,Jazz FM is on dab + here.

Reception on my dab radio was poor using the supplied indoor wire aerial. I came upon this design using a length of coax cable which works a treat. I hang it vertically behind the curtain so it's out of sight.
http://blog.joostvandermade.com/2018/02 ... b-antenna/

mjr wrote:Sheffield and Hallam can't always be available.

Really why?
Both are 24/7 stations.
BBC Radio Sheffield/Leeds/York all merge through the night but it's still on 24/7.It's announced as BBC Radio Leeds/York/Sheffield and through out Yorkshire.
Hallam is a local commercial station that may also merge with other stations through the night but the jingles still says Hallam
As for a "big city" getting more than a country town most of the stations are national!

My DAB reception is dodgy too despite an outside aerial. When the adjacent coffee machine is grinding the beans the radio cuts out! No such interruptions with FM

Al

al_yrpal wrote:My DAB reception is dodgy too despite an outside aerial. When the adjacent coffee machine is grinding the beans the radio cuts out! No such interruptions with FM

Al

Your aerial/cabling is knackered or your coffee machine is a actually a transmitter.

No way that should happen - even on a shoddy indoor aerial.

100%JR wrote:

mjr wrote:Sheffield and Hallam can't always be available.

Really why?
Both are 24/7 stations.
BBC Radio Sheffield/Leeds/York all merge through the night but it's still on 24/7.It's announced as BBC Radio Leeds/York/Sheffield and through out Yorkshire.
Hallam is a local commercial station that may also merge with other stations through the night but the jingles still says Hallam
As for a "big city" getting more than a country town most of the stations are national!

They're locals. As soon as you drive far away, they'll vanish but probably still appear on your radio.

mjr wrote:

100%JR wrote:

mjr wrote:Sheffield and Hallam can't always be available.

Really why?
Both are 24/7 stations.
BBC Radio Sheffield/Leeds/York all merge through the night but it's still on 24/7.It's announced as BBC Radio Leeds/York/Sheffield and through out Yorkshire.
Hallam is a local commercial station that may also merge with other stations through the night but the jingles still says Hallam
As for a "big city" getting more than a country town most of the stations are national!

They're locals. As soon as you drive far away, they'll vanish but probably still appear on your radio.

Quite wrong I’m afraid.
If say I have Radio Sheffield on it retunes itself to the nearest local BBC station,likewise Hallam.Hallam for instance changes to Viking Radio if I head towards Leeds and Trent if I go to Nottingham.Many of the local stations across the Country must use the same frequency.So although technically not Sheffield or Hallam a station is still available so I still have 15 presets.
As to your earlier question regarding how many work.At least 50.Some of the stored are blanks and some like Absolute 80s have four places which I assume is different regions so signal isn’t lost as you drive up and down the country.All that are named stations work.
There are still some local ensembles I haven’t tried because I got bored.

100%JR wrote:As for a "big city" getting more than a country town most of the stations are national!

"National" except that many country towns only get two multiplexes (BBC and Digital One), not Sound Digital (a "national" DAB+ multiplex covering only 80% of the population, mainly Bauer and Wireless stations) or any of the Now Digital or local multiplexes based in big cities.

100%JR wrote:Quite wrong I’m afraid.
If say I have Radio Sheffield on it retunes itself to the nearest local BBC station,likewise Hallam.Hallam for instance changes to Viking Radio if I head towards Leeds and Trent if I go to Nottingham.Many of the local stations across the Country must use the same frequency.So although technically not Sheffield or Hallam a station is still available so I still have 15 presets.

In other words, it's not Sheffield or Hallam and I'm quite right

100%JR wrote:As to your earlier question regarding how many work.At least 50.

Thanks. I've checked the only DAB set I have and it has 26 working, including at least half a dozen like BBC Cambs which aren't for this area.

For what it's worth, I'm currently listening to VRT 2. It comes into the house via satellite and then the receiver streams it on the house wifi. Works well as long as no-one's watching live TV. Previously, I've used a small FM transmitter connected to the receiver but there's currently some wiring fault with that which I've not yet fixed.

mjr wrote:In other words, it's not Sheffield or Hallam and I'm quite right

OK if you really must be pedantic it's not Sheffield or Hallam once I've left the area
So just for your benefit 99.99999% of the time I can get radio Sheffield and Radio Hallam on my presets.Once I leave the area I still have 15 presets but Radio Sheffield and Radio Hallam become Radio"insert-local-station-here"

kwackers wrote:

al_yrpal wrote:My DAB reception is dodgy too despite an outside aerial. When the adjacent coffee machine is grinding the beans the radio cuts out! No such interruptions with FM

Al

your coffee machine is a actually a transmitter

I am convinced it is " Oi cut it out I'm grinding..." It is Italian...

Al

I tend to stream most stuff these days.

I have Amazon's Alexa in the house and in the car. IN some cases I use the integral speakers, in others I have a couple of Bose portable ones.