UK to switch from FM to DAB

Mr Williams

I wonder how long Ireland will take to swtich to DAB ? Personally I'd rather keep FM.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25366758

Digital radio: switchover from FM and AM to DAB signals

13 December 2013 Last updated at 14:39 GMT
Many thought the UK had completed the "digital switchover" when TV analogue signals were switched off in a plan lasting several years.
But there is another change in the offing - and with most people owning more radios than TV sets - this challenge could be a little harder to convert people from FM and AM to DAB.
On Monday, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey is expected to push back the previously-announced 2015 date. Giles Dilnot reports.

Bebo Rocks

The brits have been talking about this since about 1998 !

end of the road

dab is ****, dab + is what britain should be going for, i hope no switch over happens until dab + capible radios are the norm, do a deal with the industry that they will get automatic licence renewals if they switch to dab +, they did something similar to get the industry to invest in dab, the industry doesn't want to go from dab to dab + i believe so another set of automatic licence renewals should help, if they don't go to dab + then they don't get the renewals

Fresh Pots

Better start installing dab radios in cars so.

Trick of the Tail

There's no need to switch. There's nothing wrong with FM, and there's only 20MHz of spectrum there so it's not worth anything.

However DAB should go ahead as an incremental medium to FM, to allow more smaller-model, niche-programmed stations.

The UK is making the mistake of looking upon DAB as a replacement for FM.

And yes, the future should be DAB+ anyway.

Skid X

Most of Ireland still can't receive DAB. RTE seem to have lost interest in rolling it out.

It will be a long time before FM gets switched off here (and it will probably be replaced be something better than DAB)

I don't think that any of the current digital transmission systems are suited to mobile reception. Unless you packed it with error correction code you will experience dropouts, which are much more annoying than hiss.

Not to mention that it will compromise sound quality as broadcasters get greedy and start using terribly low bitrates as they do in the UK. DAB really needs 256 kb/s to achieve good sound quality but many stations in the UK are running on 96-128. BBC Radio 3 gets a high bitrate because its listenership would not tolerate poor sound quality.

marno21

A lot of Ireland struggles enough with FM (eg. the south west).

DAB would be even worse unless RTE install over 500 relays

craoltoir

BBC reported during the week that FM switchoff in Britain has been postponed indefinitely. Also reported here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524757/No-date-set-digital-radio-switchover-people-given-FM.html

mike65

DAB is the broadcast technology that has never quite made a compelling case for itself.