As someone who actually makes their living in broadcast - and
is a trained technician; to me DAB sounds appalling! - And
there are technical reasons for that! It's by no means a superior system to FM. - But that's probably a moot point in the great scheme of things.
I'm just outside Edinburgh... to the west of the city about 558ft ASL but in a 40' dip. If I walk 200yds up the hill at the back of the house I can see Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Airport... The Forth Bridges etc. - It's not exactly the 'wilds' of the highlands.
Static DAB reception at the house is almost non-existent - without an external aerial! Portables just won't work. We have no mobile signal inside the house either! Drive out onto the A71 and head up to Dundee via the M90 and the Factory DAB in a 2018 Seat Arona dips in and out... Go either side towards the Fife Coast or West into the 'highlands' and it's hopeless... Same in my Wife's C1 which has an after-market Sony DAB; it may as well not be there.
Why?
The higher the transmission frequency (the RF frequency) the more directional and more-easily blocked by terrain and buildings the signal becomes. This is why UHF TV aerials are (generally) directional YAGI arrays which are typically mounted high up (and preferably outside) pointed directly at the transmitter... There are many parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern England where even FM reception is pretty-much static-only; and this is due to the terrain...
The UK VHF band goes from about 89Mhz-108Mhz ...DAB is up at at 174Mhz-229Mhz with the BBC's main 'national' block being 225Mhz.
Of course it was never going to be great!
The Irish have actually abandoned DAB... as did Hong Kong; just doesn't work in the Mountains of Mourne or among the skyscrapers and mountains of the 'Fragrant Harbour'!
It missed its chance to usurp FM in the Irish market. Now it’s up to Alexa to have a go
www.irishtimes.com
The problem isn't so much with any install in any particular vehicle (you can get two identical vehicles with identical setups; one will work well, the other won't!) - but the fact the DAB (as implemented in the UK) is less-well suited to mobile reception generally, than FM.
- And it's the government money-men (and their cronies) rather than anyone with any real technical/artistic stake in the game, who are driving the Lemming-like dash to DAB. DAB+ renders many older DAB receivers (which aren't that old!) completely useless. - And the system has never worked properly. So consumer trust in the system is pretty dented!
I still have my Mum's old ITT Weekend Automatic (bought in 1973) tuned to radio Scotland next to my bed... And about half-a dozen broken DAB sets in a box in the garage waiting to be stripped for spares! - Or (more likely) just slung! Quite often - 'progress' isn't progress at all. - And I'm afraid that just being 'digital' doesn't make it good! - Personally; I wouldn't give an extra tuppence to buy a radio with DAB; and I would n't touch a DAB-Only set with the proverbial barge pole!
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