DAB Radio advice.

50Twuncle

My new car has a DAB radio and to be honest - I see absolutely no point in having it - the only stations that it picks up are BBC radio 1 to 5 plus a handful of others "Smooth FM" and "Talk Sport"
Why no local BBC stations ?
I can receive all that I want on "normal" radio

buglawton

Pity the Roberts recording DAB radio has no Bluetooth, this is a nice way to link the internet radio player on a smartphone (and your music collection too) to a radio.

Smartphone WiFi radio is much better - even more stations plus podcasts and BBC iPlayer radio Listen Again. Maybe the BBC iPlayer allows replay of regional footie match commentaries - citations needed!

Mr_Toad

50Twuncle wrote: »

My new car has a DAB radio and to be honest - I see absolutely no point in having it - the only stations that it picks up are BBC radio 1 to 5 plus a handful of others "Smooth FM" and "Talk Sport"
Why no local BBC stations ?
I can receive all that I want on "normal" radio

When you say new car is that new new or new to you?

A friend had a Mitsubishi some 5 or so years ago with a DAB radio and it was absolute rubbish, not many stations like you describe but in addition it always seemed to be searching or buffering and while it did that, nothing. You couldn't listen to it at all. The dealer blamed the area and poor DAB coverage but even a cheap DAB portable could pick up loads of stations.

Fast forward to present and I know several people with DAB radios in their cars and they are superb, no dropouts, buffering, searching or whatever the other one used to do and all the stations are there.

50Twuncle

Mr_Toad wrote: »

When you say new car is that new new or new to you?

A friend had a Mitsubishi some 5 or so years ago with a DAB radio and it was absolute rubbish, not many stations like you describe but in addition it always seemed to be searching or buffering and while it did that, nothing. You couldn't listen to it at all. The dealer blamed the area and poor DAB coverage but even a cheap DAB portable could pick up loads of stations.

Fast forward to present and I know several people with DAB radios in their cars and they are superb, no dropouts, buffering, searching or whatever the other one used to do and all the stations are there.

Its a NEW car and my local BBC radio station has just started broadcasting on DAB and it is truly awful - it drops out constantly - the tone is poor as well - when compared to FM it sounds tinny
I had always assumed that DAB would be good for driving long distances too - the range is limited to "local" rather than being able to "tune in and leave it" - this is appalling !

Mr_Toad

50Twuncle wrote: »

Its a NEW car and my local BBC radio station has just started broadcasting on DAB and it is truly awful - it drops out constantly - the tone is poor as well - when compared to FM it sounds tinny
I had always assumed that DAB would be good for driving long distances too - the range is limited to "local" rather than being able to "tune in and leave it" - this is appalling !

What car is it?

What does the dealer say?

50Twuncle

Mr_Toad wrote: »

What car is it?

What does the dealer say?

A Suzuki Swift - haven't told the dealer

50Twuncle

Update :
Our local BBC station has started transmitting a DAB signal - which I presumed would cover the whole country (without any loss in "signal strength" and without retuning - otherwise what is the point of DAB ?) - It is not as "tonal" to listen to as FM !!
In fact - when I can receive a DAB signal - it is distinctly tinny sounding.
Anyway - we lose the signal after about 10 miles away from home..
Unimpressed is not a strong enough word for it....

GabbaGabbaHey

Mr_Toad wrote: »

He wants a DAB radio with WiFi access to internet stations

Are there any DAB stations which don't also broadcast over the internet?

[Deleted User]

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

Are there any DAB stations which don't also broadcast over the internet?

No, but the OP clearly wants access to stations not receivable over DAB!:)

Mr_Toad

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

No, but the OP clearly wants access to stations not receivable over DAB!:)

Absolutely right.

He wants a portable radio that he can move about the house or garden.

I've seen a nice Pure with listen later function for about £60 that fits the bill nicely.