Your DAB Digital Radio Is Fast Becoming Obsolete

My DAB radio was obsolete the first time I listened to it.

The UK government said they were turning off the FM signal in 2009, then 2015, and the last I heard they are going to review it in 2030. This beats the record for smart meters, all homes by 2019, then 2020, then 2025 which is now set at most homes by the end of 2030. As for petrol cars being taken off sale by 2030... anyone willing to put money on it?

The DAB Bitrate in the UK is pitifully low resulting in a way under-par listening experience. I think far too many stations have been jammed into the available bandwidth. Low Bitrate on speech can make it sound as though the presenter has a sore throat. A good FM signal is far better in my humble opinion.

DAB = Dire At Best

My Longwave radio has recently gone quiet 😭😭

So much potential, so little bit rate...

Here in Germany we only have DAB+, but we have too many channels per multiplex which severly limits the avaiable bandwidth per channel. So our analog radio stations sound better, by a lot.

I think the main reason DAB never became the revolution its backers thought it would be is because a large percentage of radio listeners just don't need features such as autotune and presets. I suspect I'm fairly typical in that my kitchen FM radio has been tuned to Radio 4 for the last thirty years - and it does what it does perfectly adequately, so there's never been a need to replace it.

The Pure bug looks like a Cadbury Smash man on the old TV advert. 😁😁😁

I find the ability to receive FM compared to DAB from the same transmitter site so much better.

DAB might need lower transmission power, but it needs more receiver power, being decoded in software or firmware. It simply moves the power consumption cost away from the broadcaster and onto the listener. It's quite likely that when you add up the power consumption of all the UK receivers that DAB uses more power overall than FM!

My Mum listened to Classic FM on DAB until they went over to DAB+. Queue a phone call to me saying her radio isn't working! So now she listens to Classic FM on Fm. Progress!

That radio looks like Cartman from South Park 😂😂

1:58 Priceless 😂

The sound was better but the power consumption was ridiculous. Batteries in an FM radio would last for months with continuous use while DAB went flat after 6 hours even in standby mode. Then, there was the synchronisation problem playing two radios in the workplace was a nightmare.

While DAB has its advantages, analog radio (in broadcast and ham radio, too) remains the best way to have wider compatibility, avoid vendor lock-in, avoid planned obsolescence, etc.

I recall some listeners which must have been around year 2000, having a campaign saying 'DAB Sounds Worse Than FM' aimed at reversing the BBC bit rate changes and reduction of audio quality on some DAB services. I suppose nothing came of the campaign.

Argos are still selling a DAB radio that doesn't have DAB+

I've never really believed the 'better coverage' thing. Maybe in a city environment it's OK - but for long distance driving it's actually pretty terrible. Up here in Glasgow, I lose the signal on nearly all DAB stations after driving away from the city for 20 mins or so. FM is still strong much further away - and it's coming from the same transmission site. The problem is that it's 'all or nothing'. You don't get a fainter or weaker DAB signal, you either have the signal at full strength or it's silent. It cuts in and out. Not a good characteristic for driving- it's very frustrating actually. The fading on FM is much more tolerable.

DAB radio sucks. Im loyal to my JVC multi stack hifi which i bought back in 93 and yes it still works perfectly to this day.