Head Units & DAB?

JustAnotherSaver

Still not got round to getting a double DIN installed but as I was looking at them last night there was something I wasn't sure about - DAB radio.

Now my extremely limited knowledge of DAB radio in cars (aftermarket) is where you have them unsightly aerials in the windscreen that look like a kids put a load of sellotape on the glass.

To give you an idea of what I was looking at in case it makes a difference:

Pioneer.

Although again, in case it makes a difference, don't stick on that particular model. It's just to give an idea. I also looked at Sony & JVC as examples. It could even be a different one entirely.

Another is I see 2 of them say DAB whereas the other says DAB+. Not sure about that.

So basically if I was to buy a unit like one of these, would the only way I could get the DAB side of the unit working be to have one of those sellotape aerials in the windscreen or is there an alternative way?

TBH I would probably still use my iPod for 99.9% of the time, just that some times I do occasionally use the radio.

Penguin_

I've got one of the ones you refer to as kids putting a load of sellotape on the windscreen & to be honest it is fitted tidily & I only paid £30 from eBay a couple of years ago. The wires are hidden.

JustAnotherSaver

So are you saying that if I was to buy a unit like any of the 3 I linked to above I would have no choice and would HAVE TO have one of those kinds of aerials for the DAB to work?

Or are you just telling me you have one of those aerials and you think it looks ok?

Ergates

You will need a specific DAB aerial, and if your car doesn't have one built in then it'll need to be an aftermarket one.  Most common are the "sellotape" kind, but there are other kinds available  (different kinds of "windscreen" ones that are more solid looking and you can get roof mounded aerials too).  I don't know if specific models of stereo need specific models of aerial - though I guess that would be weird if they did.

I used to have a sellotape type DAB aerial.  It's just a thin black line on the windscreen over on the passengers side, didn't bother me at all.

400ixl

DAB is the 1990's technology that many of the UK stations still broadcast on, DAB+ is the later 2010's technology that some have switched over to and most will move to. In some European countries they they have pretty much already migrated to DAB+. So to future proof yourself you need to have DAB+.

As said, you will need a DAB aerial of some sort if your car doesn't already have one for you to connect to. They are different to the AM/FM ones that you will be using in the existing unit (you will need that aerial as well of course for the new HU). There are different sorts of aerial and you need to understand a bit about the car as well. Some cars have reflective layers in the windscreen which can block the DAB signal, so these need roof aerials. Some can be hidden, some just stick on the windscreen and can look as tidy or untidy as you make them.

An alternative if you will only use it rarely is to use your phone for internet radio (has most of the DAB stations) and feed that into the head unit via bluetooth or aux connectivity. Would mean having a data contract which will suffice though. May even negate the need to change the head unit at all if DAB is the only real reason for changing it.

Username03725

400ixl said:

DAB is the 1990's technology that many of the UK stations still broadcast on, DAB+ is the later 2010's technology that some have switched over to and most will move to....

...An alternative if you will only use it rarely is to use your phone for internet radio (has most of the DAB stations) and feed that into the head unit via bluetooth or aux connectivity. Would mean having a data contract which will suffice though. May even negate the need to change the head unit at all if DAB is the only real reason for changing it.

Point 1 above is worth knowing; if you don't have DAB and DAB+ you won't receive all of the stations that you might want to - e.g. Virgin Radio & Times Radio are on DAB+ but not DAB. Our old kitchen Roberts DAB set doesn't pick up those (and other) stations.

Point 2: If you're a sports fan be aware that BBC local stations are contractually blocked from providing Premier League commentaries on the internet, so - for example - Radio Leicester will broadcast Leicester City PL matches on 104.9 and on DAB, but living out of the TSA if I tune in to R Leic on the streamer or on the BBC Sounds app I can hear normal daytime programming but at football time in its place they play a message on a loop apologising for the lack of the expected programming. For non-PL games, like tonight (as we speak) v Roma in the Europa Conference semi-final, there's no problem and that will be available on DAB, on FM, and streamed on the net and via the Sounds app. Streamed radio isn't an exact clone of the broadcast version.

Norman_Castle

JustAnotherSaver said:

TBH I would probably still use my iPod for 99.9% of the time, just that some times I do occasionally use the radio.

What stations do you listen to? If the stations you like are on FM stick to the radio you've got.

JustAnotherSaver

Norman_Castle said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

TBH I would probably still use my iPod for 99.9% of the time, just that some times I do occasionally use the radio.

What stations do you listen to? If the stations you like are on FM stick to the radio you've got.

In what location?

When I'm in the car and I only have the option of AM/FM?

Or when I'm in the house and there's DAB?

Jenni_D

JustAnotherSaver said:

Norman_Castle said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

TBH I would probably still use my iPod for 99.9% of the time, just that some times I do occasionally use the radio.

What stations do you listen to? If the stations you like are on FM stick to the radio you've got.

In what location?

Given you started this thread about a head unit ... do you use one in the house?

Ergates

Norman_Castle said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

TBH I would probably still use my iPod for 99.9% of the time, just that some times I do occasionally use the radio.

What stations do you listen to? If the stations you like are on FM stick to the radio you've got.

I think it's safe to assume that the existence of this thread indicates the the stations the OP wants to listen to aren't available on FM.

JustAnotherSaver

Ergates said:

Norman_Castle said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

TBH I would probably still use my iPod for 99.9% of the time, just that some times I do occasionally use the radio.

What stations do you listen to? If the stations you like are on FM stick to the radio you've got.

I think it's safe to assume that the existence of this thread indicates the the stations the OP wants to listen to aren't available on FM.

Yep

If there's a situation where I don't have the iPod in the car (rare but happens) then it'll be Radio 1. If it's playing something truly offensive to my ears then it gets switched out for Heart.

And that's about it.

At home it could be anything even if they tend to play the same 10 songs on repeat. Absolute 80s is much better than Radio 1 for a start Although the wife seems to disagree and will switch it out for Absolute 90s despite being older than me (albeit by 1).