DAB radio

I'm sure many in here have a radio on in the background while working in the workshop or doing DIY in the house. My workshop radio and "office" radio are near windows and outside walls. DAB reception is okay. If I move the radios in to a more central position within the house reception becomes bad to the point of no reception, switching to FM sorts that.

We have a Panasonic CD player/DAB radio that we want to stand in an area of poor reception. It has a flexible wire aerial. Is there anything I can do to improve DAB reception other than site it somewhere with good reception?

John

Anything short of satellite reception is hopeless where I am and I resent the costs associated. Whilst internet access via copper lines is limited to less than 10Mb/s it’s still good enough for streaming video for one user or audio for several so the DAB radio we had ended up in a bin. Entertainment is via PC's (several) or smart phones.

pgk

Give it a proper antenna, preferably outside. Though we have mainly given up on broadcast radio, "reception" via the Internet is much more versatile. In fact just selling our quite expensive radio/CD player on eBay as it hadn't been switched on for at least a year.

I've got a DAB radio in the car. Never even tried it I find FM more than adequate.

Roy

Given up on off-air radio and now use a 'Smart Speaker' advantages are that it can find radio, specific music genre, your own choice music etc. Downside is they tend not to be particularly Hi-Fi and you need a good broadband connection and good in-house/workshop wi-fi coverage. Small advantage is that you can talk to them as well, although you often get silly answers. There are quite a few makes but all seem to rely on Amazon, Google, Apple for the source material and 'silly assistant' .

John

The only option to improve reception is an external antenna.

In theory DAB is more resistant to noise and multipath than FM. But, like all digital systems, reception versus signal strength is non-linear. As the signal strength decreases there comes a point where the decoding suddenly fails catastrophically, giving no output.

I never listen to a radio in the workshop. I make enough mistakes as it is, without being distracted.

Andrew

I had similar problems and built a cheap and cheerful antenna based on a bit of coax. I can´t find the recipe I used but this link shows you how* Link * (https://iamjoost.com/2018/02/17/diy-dab-antenna/). You need a bit of tape or shrink tubing to make a tidy job of it and stop the braid unravelling.

Before this I had the normal indoor dipole type which used to come with receivers and people wandering about the room would cause shadowing and fallout. Seems to work (at least here in Bavaria) for DAB and FM The transmitters are about 50km. away.

I always have the local radio online transmission/internet delivery through the computer when I am using it.

When DAB first came out one appeared in one of the offices at work. The reason was that it was no good in the owner's house. It was a bit so-so in an office inside a metal box type factory building but did work in just one location in the office. As a result I have never bought one and I have not heard anyone say recently that FM is going to be shut down soon like the first propaganda regarding DAB claimed.

Martin C

DAB on the car is very variable with many areas locally here in East Sussex where radio goes off when your driving, however at home I have a DAB radio in the workshop, listening to some background distraction helps cope with annoying and loud tinnitus, surprising how much you can hear tinnitus when you have a substantial hearing loss. I frequently listen to stations such as Gold and because of my hearing loss the volume is always high, hoping the insulation in the workshop walls and roof moderates the sound for the neighbours. Dave W

Many of the newer speaker systems or boxes will pick up your house wi-fi and play 'internet radio' It is the way the world is moving and it is more difficult now to buy decent quality 'radios'. Sony no longer make their excellent small one and have left the portable radio market. You also need the newer DAB+ receivers to pick up the reformed DAB transmission bands.

But I still have a DAB+ small radio playing through an old fashioned amplifier and speaker pair in the workshop - sounds reasonable and needs only one plug switch to flick on.

Radio in the workshop? Perhaps Andrew has explained why some of my jobs go wrong

I can still tolerate Ken Bruce and Steve Wright, but the rest of Radio Two is a disaster. Boom Radio is for us older chaps, and Classic if I get all cultural.

Roberts still market some excellent small DAB radios. Dave W

Long Wave works for me.

Martin

Using any type of portable radio inside a building is asking for trouble. Buildings are full of electrical noise and reflections and portable antennas are physically too small to be efficient. The signal to noise ratio indoors is liable to be inadequate unless the transmitter is blasting in. Otherwise, the answer is a good external antenna, ideally a beam on top of a tower with no overhead power or telephone lines within a mile or two! But an outside dipole above gutter height is usually enough.

For communications, SSB has most punch, but it sounds like Donald Duck. Of the entertainment systems available AM is most likely to get through, but it's low-fidelity at best and sounds horrible in poor conditions. FM and DAB perform much the same. How well they work for you depends on local geography more than their technology. Happens DAB works better for me in an area of poor reception but it's not the law: you have to experiment. Shouldn't be difficult because most DAB radios do FM as well.

Try again if you decided DAB is useless years ago. DAB coverage was originally much patchier than it is now.

Much to be said in favour of Internet Radio...

Dave

DAB works fine for me until they put football on. Then I can't get to the mute button quick enough.

Curious how many radio listeners seem not to realise a radio is not just a pop-music box, though I admit that trying to concentrate on a ticklish machining operation with one ear on a science, drama, current-affairs, comedy or indeed music, etc. programme is not conducive to best results from either!

My radios in home and workshop shuttle between Radio Three and Four, very occasionally Two. On FM, as well. Selectively: "channel hopping" is for telly couch-spud blankness. Nothing on to interest me at a particular time? Switch it off.

I won a DAB radio in a charity raffle at work. Read its instructions, re-read them... had a brew... read them again. Packed it all away again. I do not need such a complicated, confusing bit of kit to replace two simple controls. Especially for DAB broadcasts out of sync in time, and reception a gamble.

When DAB was introduced the Government asserted it wanted to end all FM and AM broadcasting - I recall no sensible reason. Luckily it seems to have dropped that.

So how do I attach a dipole aerial to a portable radio which doesn't have an aerial socket? It does have a telescopic (broken) aerial

The Government are going to get rid of all BBC transmitters for internet only transmitting which is why they are trying to supply all households with broadband access for all connections. I don't know if you have noticed the BBC are pushing you to watch programmes on I player all the time to get you used to internet access to TV etc.

David

I quite like radio 2 on FM but my mill VFD effects it & the DRO wipes it out completely.

Tony

Following from David above. The TV licence provides FM radio 'free' but no revenue. Each FM frequency can be replaced with half a dozen DAB commercial signals, all paying for airspace, plus VAT on their advertising revenue, plus employing all those waste of space media studies graduates.

I have a DAB radio to get Test Match commentary on 5LSE but it is a pain to manipulate with all the buttons doing strange things and the display invisible unless the light is just right.

In theory if you place a dipole outside, use coax to get it inside to the problem area and simple put a dipole on that end too it will provide enough signal for a radio that is placed very close to it.

Thanks for the replies. Seems I have two choices, an external aerial or go down the smart speaker route.

I like the aerial option but that would need some work to conceal the cable. Also my understanding of aerial location is that it should, more or less, point at the transmitter. That might be a bit tricky.

I have decided to try a smart speaker, it would seem to be the neatest arrangement.

Again, thanks for the information.

John