FáilteDAB: Coverage, Tests and Services

It's somewhat subjective but I find the metallic swirly sound of the low bitrates being used jarring. Just doesn't sound pleasant to listen to for long periods.

Lazer on its temporary FM trial sounded far superior to its DAB+ counterpart. Christmas FM on DAB+ sounded pretty dreadful compared to FM.

The stations sounded reasonable enough back at the start when using 48Kbps - not perfect but listenable - but they were subsequently dropped to fit more in later on and the quality really suffered.

Can I ask what age brackets all three of you are in?

I've driven and been around Dublin long enough to know that even the RTE from Three Rock on FM has coverage issues where the signal is crackling all the time. DAB+ doesn't do that.

The overall problem will be if Ireland doesn't move to DAB / DAB+ the likes of Spotify will catch up and overtake. No real Irish content will be the result, as long as with a smaller and smaller FM listener audience.

Also the RTE would need to have a DAB+ strategy for Ireland to come out of the endless trial phase. Currently there isn't much marketing done for Digital radio, and only few DAB+ radios seem to be sold in electronics markets like Currys, etc…

I’ve honestly never noticed any real issue with FM signals from Three Rock. There’s some areas (Fosters Ave in Mt Merrion or areas of Howth) where they take some damage but the DAB transmission on Three Rock would presumably be the same.

I did take a spin during the week and was impressed with the DAB penetration into the city centre itself; lost it in the carpark but FM signals get severely attenuated there too.

Glenasmole up in the Dublin mountains is another Three Rock blackspot from what I remember. They do have an alternative in the monster signals from Kippure ten minutes up the road!

I was referring to audio quality in my post, regarding coverage FM/DAB+ are effectively the same, the 'non crackling ' DAB+ reception is probably the SFN 'effect' , a good car radio with good AF functionality can ,to a lesser extent, mirror this.

Your point about Spotify is spot on , unfortunately, as it has always been the case, broadcasting in Ireland is about maintaining the status quo.

Short term gains vs long term losses and potential closure of local services.

As ever in Irish broadcasting regulation, everything is reactionary, only when car manufacturers looked set to removing car radios and replace them with pre installed apps did the penny drop.

The broadcasting landscape is changing rapidly and when stipulations around carriage on Mux 2 still exist in 2026 , Irish broadcasting, like DAB+ reception, is on a cliff edge.

I have a DAB+ radio in my car, I'm checking every couple of days when I drive to see if there are any tests in my area ( North Co.Cork), if and hopefully when I get something, I'll report back here. If I end up with a good signal where I live, I'll probably buy a relatively cheap DAB+ radio for playing around with at home, especially seeing as the trial will run until April 27 and maybe beyond, who knows.

Your radio should automatically tune to the frequencies

Any confirmed news on the stations to be carried on 'Mux 2' ?,

Lots of rumours , concerningly if true there wont be as many ' independent 'stations compared to the current Mux

Can independent stations afford the carriage fees for a second muc

Just did a Google check and it said there are 11 independent stations in Munster, 3 in Cork, 1 in Clare, 2 in Limerick, 1 in Kerry, 2 in Tipperary, 2 in Waterford.

Cork has 96FM and C103 but it is considered one franchise and Red FM so yeah you could make that argument for 3 stations in Cork

The other franchises are Limerics Live 95FM, Clare has Clare FM, WLR for Waterford, Radio Kerry and Tipp FM round it out

There's numerous community stations as well but I'd say they're unlikely to make it to DAB

If someone was trying to get it where there might be barely enough reception, it may only be found by MANUALLY entering the frequency channel (such as 10D ) and moving about the radio to try find a spot in the room where enough signal registers.