I'm mulling over getting DAB radion fitted in my car (not a new tacky head unit, but an integrated system).
Does anyone have one? An example is preview.tinyurl.com/73bxqov although I certainly wouldn't go to Halfords to get it fitted.
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Another option is autodab.com/default.aspx No additional boxes or screens - sounds ideal if a little expensive.
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are DAB radio,s restricted by area? i cant get LBC ( london based) but i can get talksport etc etc....im in the midlands area and the only thing worth listening to is LBC at night, so to listen to it i have to use my PC
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Yes, the available station list will vary by region i.e. what transmitted you are receiving the signals from. There's probably an uo to date list of what's broadcast from what transmitter somewhere on the interweb, but I can't find one at the moment.
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DAB radio in the Merc. Seems to work ok wherever it is but maybe it's clever enough to switch to FM or something if the signal is poor. Dunno.
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Not sure what the advantage (other than size) of the new PURE unit is over the older, cheaper version. Some scrote will probably nick it thinking it's a satnav :-/
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This seems to be the best station listing I can find:-
www.radio-now.co.uk/national.htm
DAB would be fine if they'd just turn the power up so indoor/in car coverage was 'boiling mud' free for most people.
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>> DAB would be fine if they'd just turn the power up so indoor/in car coverage was 'boiling mud' free
>> for most people
As with Freeview telly, the aerial is all-important with DAB.
I've delivered a handful of cars with factory DAB and they've all picked up 30-odd channels fine.
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Thing I've noticed with DAB is that very occasionally, it sort of stutters and if listening to a spoken voice, it "jumps" back to the previous sentence for example. Now the bit I don't get is whether it's just me who is now a half second behind on the broadcast timing after such an event or whether it has happenened simultaneously to everyone listening to that station.
Is it one of WDB's pixie things?
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>> Thing I've noticed with DAB is that very occasionally, it sort of stutters and if
>> listening to a spoken voice, it "jumps" back to the previous sentence for example.
I've never noticed that no my DAB radios so I suspect you've got a fancy radio that constantly stores the last few seconds of broadcast in memory, so it can replay it if there's a glitch.
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>> >> DAB would be fine if they'd just turn the power up so indoor/in car
>> coverage was 'boiling mud' free
>> >> for most people
>>
>> As with Freeview telly, the aerial is all-important with DAB.
>>
The trouble is people are now used to portable FM radios with minimal/no external aerials and not unreasonably expect DAB to perform the same or better.
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I have DAB in the car. Integrated in the MMI.
I wouldn't pay money over FM.
Weak signals in poor weather, between high buildings, indoors, and in the countryside make the reception worse than FM.
When the signal is weak, it sounds like bubbling popping and slurping and when turned up loud, I fear for the loudspeaker's longevity.
The radio falls back to FM when the signal is weak, which proves it has worse reception than FM. The trouble is, due to the compression and interleaving of DAB, there is a ~3 second delay, so when it falls back to FM, it repeats the sentence.
The Audio quality of DAB (when signal is strong) is good on some BBC stations and sounds better than FM. It has more dynamic range, better stereo separation and more detail, but most stations use a low bit rate so sound dull and muddy and the high frequencies are capped at 10Khz.
IIRC you need 192Kbps bit-rate for 20Khz treble (same as audio CD).
Most DAB stations seem to be 96Kbps, which has worse dynamic range than FM.
As a comparison FM has a 15Khz limit for treble.
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>> it sounds like bubbling popping and slurping and when turned
>> up loud, I fear for the loudspeaker's longevity.
I only experience this at work when forced to sit uncomfortably close to colleagues at lunchtime. And it's not coming from the DAB radio.
I agree that the sound quality can be inferior to FM, but rather that than listen to comfortably established stations playing the same tired old songs and people ringing in to complain about next doors cat.
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Citroen C5 II - DAB+ Radio - Dieselboy
