DAB radio

jonosam

DAB radio in Tesco Ballyfermot for €7. It comes with power supply and branded Tesco. It works fine but you know it was €7 but still a good deal

Ron DMC

This in all tescos, do you reckon?

U2Flyboy

Just be aware that DAB radio is only available in a very small area. Mainly the large cities. Rte claim to have 70% population coverage. Yet they only have probably 10% of the land area of the country covered. Compare this to the UK where there is extensive coverage.

The RTE website gives no information as to when we have better coverage. I live in Mayo and bought a DAB radio and get nothing on it. Thankfully it has FM so I can use the radio but a bit of a wasted purchase.

ntlbell

U2Flyboy wrote: »

Just be aware that DAB radio is only available in a very small area. Mainly the large cities. Rte claim to have 70% population coverage. Yet they only have probably 10% of the land area of the country covered. Compare this to the UK where there is extensive coverage.

The RTE website gives no information as to when we have better coverage. I live in Mayo and bought a DAB radio and get nothing on it. Thankfully it has FM so I can use the radio but a bit of a wasted purchase.

Maybe if you looked at the coverage map before purchase you would have seen it wasn't available in mayo

LordSutch

I presume DAB will spread to all areas in time?

I have a Roberts DAB radio in south Dublin and its great, all the extra RTE stations are a big bonus, just looking forward to all the independent Radio stations also making an appearance on DAB, currently its a bit boring with just the RTE stations to choose from )

I'm now on the hunt for a Car DAB/FM radio with an eye to the future . . .

U2Flyboy

Indeed, I should have checked coverage first thats why I posted this to warn others!

I thought as I have perfect FM Radio and Digital TV from Truskmore and Castlebar that coverage was assured. RTE have been broadcasting DAB since 2006 so I think its about time that they rolled out coverage nationwide.

Coverage map http://www.digitalradio.ie/?p=151

Vego

is dab not changing anyway to dab2 or somthing ?

ntlbell

Vego wrote: »

is dab not changing anyway to dab2 or somthing ?

a lot of the radios will support both, but yes you can check before purchase.

brandonviewer

if it's the one i bought in mahon point for €8.50 it eats batteries. although my one works on mains i need to use it with batteries. great sound from it.
is it a clock radio with a detachable mains supply ?

lindtee

I got a Tesco branded one for about €9 last year and it works perfectly.
I am near Cork city though so have a good DAB signal. Actually the fm reception is a lot better than the radio it replaced too.

Oracle

Vego wrote: »

is dab not changing anyway to dab2 or somthing ?

Yeah DAB+ is the new standard .... and guess what.... DAB+ isn't backwards compatible with DAB. New technology fantastic isn't it?? :rolleyes:

millymash12

thinking of getting a new radio for the kitchen. What exactly is dab? Does it enable me to tune in something like BBC radio one or BBC four or does it just improve the quality of the sound for irish stations?

jonosam

Ron DMC wrote: »

This in all tescos, do you reckon?

Not sure, only saw it in Ballyfermot.

Gareth2011

millymash12 wrote: »

thinking of getting a new radio for the kitchen. What exactly is dab? Does it enable me to tune in something like BBC radio one or BBC four or does it just improve the quality of the sound for irish stations?

As far as I know its to listen to stations you can't get on an FM station, mainly RTE stations like RTE gold. My wife loves the station but can only listen to it if she has rte radio player open on laptop cause it isn't in an FM band.

ozmo

millymash12 wrote: »

thinking of getting a new radio for the kitchen. What exactly is dab? Does it enable me to tune in something like BBC radio one or BBC four or does it just improve the quality of the sound for irish stations?

Something UK are pushing to free up more radio bandwidth I think.

Aparently sounds worse than FM (It is a low quality digitally compressed signal), Eats batteries - so needs mains to be useful - and is only available in patchy areas.
It takes time to 'boot' the radio and there is a slight time Lag.
Until recently they were crazy expensive.

Ive yet to see one work indoors in the likes of powercity etc.
Most people who buy them use it in FM mode and dont use the DAB part.

Bad tech to badly solve a problem that didnt exist.

Oafley Jones

millymash12 wrote: »

thinking of getting a new radio for the kitchen. What exactly is dab? Does it enable me to tune in something like BBC radio one or BBC four or does it just improve the quality of the sound for irish stations?

You won't be able to pick up the BBC station and the selection of stations in this country is poor. Sound quality - with a decent system - is however excellent in Ireland and there's a noticeable difference if you were to switch over to FM equivalent in the same set.

lindtee

I have a dab radio in my bedroom and kitchen and have never had a problem with reception, in fact its far better than the fm reception I get. It is only Rte stations at the moment.
But if you have a wireless internet connection at home, and could afford it, I think I'd go for an internet radio over a dab one. Huge choice of stations. I had one before and it was great but its broken A lot of the internet radios also have dab and fm too. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_6?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=internet+radio&sprefix=intern%2Caps%2C174#/ref=sr_nr_p_6_0?rh=n%3A560798%2Ck%3Ainternet+radio%2Cp_6%3AA3P5ROKL5A1OLE&bbn=560798&keywords=internet+radio&ie=UTF8&qid=1328278153&rnid=367776011

ozmo

lindtee wrote: »

I have a dab radio in my bedroom and kitchen and have never had a problem with reception, in fact its far better than the fm reception I get. It is only Rte stations at the moment.
But if you have a wireless internet connection at home, and could afford it, I think I'd go for an internet radio over a dab one. Huge choice of stations. I had one before and it was great but its broken A lot of the internet radios also have dab and fm too.

Suppose it goes by whatever the station is broadcasting at - RTE must be transmitting at a not too severe compression level so....

Ive been following it for a while - and have been less than impressed with the UK reviews.

Many of the UK stations even just transmit in mono - and in old style mp2 (not even mp3 quality)

But as said- Ive yet to hear it for myself - Ive been a few times into the powercity/currys/peats and in Dublin 15 - had a play with them - and none were in a location that could get even one station. Useless :P

http://frequencyfinder.org.uk/DAB_sound.html

for range of channels - agree internet radio is where its at.

Ste-

Android based internet radio!
If your funds can stretch for it I've heard good things about this.

dowtchaboy

All the RTE DAB stations are also available on your Saorview box - excellent quality, especially if you feed the audio signal out to a decent amp and speakers rather than just using the TV. As with DAB there is a noticeable delay - can be annoying if you have the same program on in a couple of rooms (one on FM say).

RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ lyric fm
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
RTÉ Choice
RTÉ Pulse
RTÉ 2XM
RTÉ Gold
RTÉjr
Radio 1 Extra

Apparently Today FM has been noticed on a Saorview "Mux2" test in Dublin in the last wk - so I guess eventually many of the Independent stations may be available on Saorview.

blastman

Oafley Jones wrote: »

You won't be able to pick up the BBC station...

Not entirely true, but it will depend heavily on where you are in the country. I can pick up BBC stations on my DAB radio in north Co Dublin.

Minstrel27

It will be internet radio for me as I don't think RTÉ will be expanding DAB coverage for a long time