According to a report in Radio Today, the regional DAB multiplexes will cease broadcasting next year:

• South Wales/Severn Estuary
• North East England
• West Midlands
• North West England

These regional multiplexes are operated by MXR, which is owned by Global Radio, Real and Smooth, and Arqiva. Shareholders in MXR have decided not to renew the licence to operate regional DAB services. Ofcom has confirm this, and it looks like these regional DAB services will go silent between July and September next year.19 services are currently offered on these multiplexes

We understand that the spectrum used by these services may be made available for additional local DAB services in the future, as part of preparations for the analogue radio switchoff.

The plans are to move regional, national and some local stations from FM and AM over to digital platforms including DAB, Internet and digital TV.

DAB Coverage

One of the big stumbling blocks to a move to DAB Digital Radio is the coverage, which is not great in some parts of the UK – only 66% of households can get local DAB radio stations. The semi-good news here is that up to £21 million is about to be made available to extend local service to 1,250,000 listeners (£14 per person?). New local DAB multiplex will be added to support listeners in the Gloucestershire, Hereford/Worcester, Northamptonshire, North-east Wales, Oxfordshire and West Cheshire areas.

Ed Vaizey, the UK’s Communications Minister’s publicity people had the following words of wisdom to say: “This is a positive and significant step forward for the future of digital radio in the UK. As more and more listeners make the switch to digital, it’s vital that we keep on increasing the areas able to receive a digital signal.”

The FM Switch-off

It’s been made clear that the switchover to digital can’t happen until certain conditions have been met – one of those conditions being that coverage of DAB is equal to that of FM. At the earliest, this isn’t likely until 2015.

Back in 2009, the Digital Britain Report proposed a date of 2015 for the FM and AM radio switchover, but in the announcement made by the Department of Media, Culture and Sport in July 2012 now makes it clear that the Government will be making a decision on the future of AM and FM by the end of 2013.

So, we’ll have to wait and see…

“Could you tell me facts about the difference between a DAB signal and a Freeview Radio signal. I was under the impression that both of these signals were the same.

Is Freeview a better quality than DAB?”

Our Answer

There are two questions here:

1. Is the audio quality better on  DAB or Freeview? Freeview offers better audio quality. See below
2. Is the UK coverage of radio better on DAB or Freeview? More homes are able to get Freeview than DAB. See below

UK Coverage

More homes in the UK are able to get Freeview than DAB. At the time of writing, the UK has just over 100 digital radio transmitters. There are over 1,000 Freeview transmitters and relay transmitters in the UK.

According to a report by Ofcom at the end of 2011, here is how well DAB covered the UK:

• BBC National DAB Station: Reach 92.2% of UK homes
  National Commecial Stations: Reach 84.6% of UK homes
  Local stations: Reach of only 66.2% of UK homes

By comparison, over 93% of UK homes were able to get Freeview, increasing to a much higher percentage at the end of the TV Digital Switchover in October 2012.

Audio Quality

Many think that DAB audio quality is inferior to that of FM and Freeview. This is to do with the way that the signals are encoded and compressed.

The majority of radio stations on DAB are transmitted at a bitrate of between 112 kbits/second and 128 kbits/second. Additionally, some stations are only transmitted in mono on DAB (notably Radio 4 Extra).

By comparison, the BBC national stations on Freeview are transmitted at 192kilobits/second. Radio 4 Extra is in stereo on Freeview.

Summary

Radio stations on Freeview are available to more people, and the audio quality of radio on Freeview is generally better. (It’s not as portable as DAB though!)

 Q. I am about to purchase a FM/Digital docking station for my I Phone and was wondering if this will still work when we have the switchover in 2012? (Susan Jones)

You may be confusing the proposed FM radio switchover with the 2012 Digital TV switchover. The UK Digital TV switchover between now and 2012 only affects analogue TV (and not FM radio).

There are plans to switch off some radio services from FM over to digital from 2015, but as of 2010, no fixed date has yet been set for an FM radio switch-over. Your FM radio will be able to get the normal FM radio stations until at least 2015. 

This book outlines where we are today with DAB radio, some of the decisions that have affected the implementation of DAB, what went wrong, and why the proposed targets for DAB seem, at best, unlikely to be hit. The book follows the story from 2008, up to 2010′s  Digital Economy Act.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the UK radio industry, and DAB’s future, this book is well worth a read.

The book became available in October 2010 – DAB Licensed To Fail, from Amazon.

Q. I have a digital radio, and I notice that the “pips” on Radio 4 are delayed. Why is this?

For many years, the five short pips, followed by a longer pip have been broadcast by analogue radio in the UK to enable people to set their watches accurately. The BBC has broadcast the Greenwich Time Signal since 1924.

Sadly, this precision time service is not so useful on digital radio, due to the delay that happens as a result of digital transmissions.

• DAB Radio: This form of digital radio uses encoding at the transmitter site, and decoding on the radio set. This process can add a delay. The delay is typically close to one second
• Digital TV: A similar encoding and decoding takes place for radio received via a digital TV. In the case of radio on Sky and Freesat, the delay is even longer due to the signal being bounced from an orbiting satellite
• Internet Radio: Here the delay can be several seconds (we’ve experienced a 20 second delay). This is due to the encoding and decoding used for streaming radio, the delay because of Internet traffic routing, plus the “buffering” effect on a PC or Internet radio receiver. The longer you listen, the more “out of step” you can get from live radio

So, what’s the answer?

Well, there isn’t really one as far as digital radio is concerned. The delay is part of the transmission process, and is the same for digital TV.
If you’re after time that’s accurate to less than a second, then there are other ways to get this:

• Use FM or LW radio: Radio 4 on FM and Long Wave is in analogue, and the time signals are accurate. The Government plans to switch stations like Radio 4 from FM as early as 2015, but until the service stops on FM, it’s available in the UK, and it’s not delayed.
• From a radio-controlled clock: These are available quite cheaply and get a signal that’s broadcast using analogue either from Cumbria, or from Germany. These radio-controlled clocks are very accurate, and available at reasonable prices. More on Radio-controlled clocks
  
• From the good old speaking clock. Dial “123″ from a BT landline, to get the precise time “at the third stroke”

More information

• Radio & Telly’s Timelag page

Greenwich Time Signal Waveform

• SaveFM.org
• Your Freedom – Do Now Switch Off FM
• Downing Street Petition (Now Closed)
• Southgate Amateur Radio Club

Know of another petition or campaigning site? Please add a comment below

Existing national and local radio services on FM and AM to be removed, and moved to digital. By 2015 at the earliest.

The background:

In June 2009, the Government announced ambitious plans to move Uk radio listening from FM and AM, to digital. National services such as BBC Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 4 would vanish from FM, and be available only on digital platforms. Thetarget date of 2015 was set, but many think this is unlikely, given the challenges faced in getting a sizable chunk of the UK to switch over.

Digital Radio?

Digital Radio is available in a number of different formats:

• DAB (the new wave of Digital Audio Broadcasting receivers), available on the High Street for upwards of £25
• Internet radio (this could be a dedicated wi-fi radio, radio streamed onto a PC, radio on a mobile phone using a 3G connection)
• TV services -  Many national stations syndicate on the Sky, Freeview, Freesat and Virgin’ Media TV services

Read more about the proposals:

Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, launched the Digital Radio Action Plan on the 8th of July 2010. Here’s a summary of the Plan: http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/hot_topics/7231.aspx

What can we do?

See our Save FM Radio section

Many people think that “going digital” means getting a “DAB radio”. DAB is certainly digital, and probably the most common way to listen to digital radio, but there are others. Here we look at each of the options:

DAB Digital Radio

For around £30, you can buy a DAB radio. Provided your in a DAB radio coverage area, you’ll be able to receive local and national DAB radio stations. At the moment, the DAB signal is generally more ptachy than the FM signal, and you’ll need an aerial to get DAB – Portable DAB radios normally have telescopic aerials, which are fine if you’re in range of a DAB transmitter.

Pictured to the right is a DAB radio from Pure, called the Pure One. A common DAB model, and one we’re happy to recommend.

Internet Radio Set

With DAB, you can expect to get up to a couple of dozen stations. With an Internet Radio receiver, you can get thousands of digital radio stations from all around the world – a mix of professional national stations, to bedroom broadcasters offering highly specialist content.

An Internet radio set can cost around £60, and as the name suggests, it requires an Internet connection. If you have a home wireless (wi-fi) connector, a portable Internet Radio, such as the View Quest 200 pictured here, will give you access to thousands of radio stations. More on Internet Radio

Listen online

If you have a computer with an Internet connection, that may be all you need. Many radio stations offer a “Listen Now” feature on their website. Visit your favourite station’s website to see if they offer a live “streaming radio” service.

Radio on your TV

If you have Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin, TalkTalk or BT Vision, you’ll find those digital TV services also carry radio stations. Listening to radio via your digital TV service counts as “digital listening”, and can be a very hadny way of listening to stations that you can’t get on FM, often in decent quality through your TV or home cinema setup.

Radio on your mobile phone

Although some mobile phones have built-in FM radio, very few have DAB digital radio built-in. In July 2010, the Government expressed a desire to work with mobile phone manufacturers to get more digital radios built into mobile phones by 2013. Portable DAB radio chips can be expensive, and portable DAB raios do require a decent aerial, making it tricky to get a decent DAB radio into a mobile.

A few years back, a Virgin Phone, the oddly-named Lobster, offered DAB and was briefly vaguely popular, but there’s been nothing like it in recent years. This may change in the future of course.

In the meantime, many Smartphones, such as the iPhone and Android phones, do offer digital radio applications, which essentially stream online Internet radio stations. If using these services over a mobile phone network, be careful of the data costs involved!

Digital Radio Mondiale

No, we’re not surprised you haven’t heard of DRM – it’s a pretty niche service that uses AM radio to broadcast a higher quality stereo service. Very few people have heard of it, and it’s not exactly mainstream. But it still counts!