Reply to: DAB deader than a dodo?

[Sysman]

If they haven't got valves in, they're no good to me.

Memories of school homework listening to Radio Luxembourg.

And trying to keep the thing tuned in.

It had a lovely mellow sound though and I was much miffed when it mysteriously disappeared rom the family home, 'cos I wanted it.

[teclo]

Totally useless where I live, yet a mile up the road my mum's works without a problem. I use an Evoke Flow instead and the wireless internet radio. That's great, I can program it with tons of different net radio stations and flip them when ever I want. I've even used Radio Time on the android phone to listen to Marc Riley on the way home from work. It cuts out on the train every so often but better than nowt.

[shaunbhoy]

57 Audi but no LW and no DAB...go figure?

Vorsprung Durch Tragik??

[Muttley08]

Only have a portable Pure one for the cricket...for some reason the car doesn't have LW. 57 Audi but no LW and no DAB...go figure?

[Ruprect]

Yep, have 4 in the house. Swear by them now. Much much much much much better than FM

[shaunbhoy]

The Father-in-Law got Mrs SB one for the kitchen. Pretty useless a lot of the time, and the only time I tend to use it is to listen to Planet Rock when I am breaking stuff..........er I mean doing DIY.

[Doggy Styles]

Can you get Test Match Special on it? Radio 4 seems to have different programs on FM when that's on Long Wave.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Does any of the congregation have a DAB radio? Are they significantly enough better than the alternatives (FM, internet etc) to be bothered with?

I second what Tony English said: if you want rock music, you need a DAB, except where you have access via other digital means in the places where you want to listen. It's not for quality, it's to get the stations at all.

[TykeMerc]

I wouldn't call it flaky on the move in general, but there are several dead spots I'm aware of around Halifax and a couple on the A404M near the M4, the dead spots have good FM recemption so I'd guess it's a lack of DAB transmitters.

I do like the DAB, but not enough that I'd make a special effort to get another one.

[d000hg]

When it works, it is brilliant. More stations, better quality. But since you get the channels on Freeview/satellite/internet too it's not that useful at home and I think it's a bit flaky for on the move? Certainly some people have a big vendetta against it as 'useless' but I never quite saw why...

[BoredBloke]

The very first thing I did with my car was have a DAB radio fitted. I like rock music and there is nothing on normal FM - well not until recently! With the amount of commuting I tend to do there was no way I could stand to listen to the FM stations since all of them play essentailly the same old tulipe with tosser DJ's. I've had a DAB radio in my cars for about 8 years now. The one I have at the moment also plays MP3 CD's so you can fill an 800mb CD with MP3's - A few 12 pence CD's in the car contains a whole heap of music and when they get scratched I just make another copy. For this contract I've bought a tulip car that I leave down south for my jaunt up to the station and back. I miss my DAB radio!

Unfortunately it won't take off though! The recpetion is fine for the BBC stations - the only one I use is 5 Live and for those on the same group as talk Sport, Absolute and Planet Rock. I can't really get the other reliably - lucky I like Planet Rock then!

[CheeseSlice]

I think most people probably listen to the radio in the car, although I also listen to it in the kitchen via a wireless internet radio (Pinnacle Soundbridge). If there are DAB reception problems when driving along, that sounds like a non-starter to me.

In the USA you can now also get a satellite radio called XM in your car. I used this recently and was great for large open spaces and not ever having to retune it. Only problem is I think it is a subscription pay service. Reception was never a problem, unless you drove through a tunnel blocking out the microwaves.

[Pogle]

We have one in every room and I have a small one I take away with me, so I can listen to 6 music.

[Sysman]

Where I live in London FM has become near unusable due to pirates.

I'd forgotten about pirates. In my Paris days they were my only source of decent radio music, but a decade ago I suffered a Turkish pirate channel. This was particularly annoying when I wanted an early night with a local station to drift off to.

[TykeMerc]

I've got a DAB radio in the car (it also does standard radio), it's part of the standard kit in my Mondeo.

The quality is good unless you hit a dead spot when for obvious reasons it just goes silent, but I wouldn't say it was significantly better than FM at least in a car situation.
I wouldn't make any special effort to get a DAB radio although there are some DAB only stations I listen to.