DAB Radio

[Guest DanDen]

I recently bought a secnd hand DAB car stereo on Ebay and am thinking about fitting it to my boat which is currently radio-less.

Does anyone know if DAB reception is very good on the broads, it can be a hit and miss affair where I live in west Norfolk, some channels coming through without any break up others coming and going (this can be annoying)

Dan

[Boaters]

We live in North Norfolk ,about 10 miles from the broads and get all stations on the sets own arial with no problems.

[Guest]

mbird is your man. He has a DAB unit in his car. I know there are one or two "not spots" but I think it's largely okay. I live in a broadland village and have trouble with it in the house but there are many tons of good old 1970's breeze block around it which probably does not help.

[Jupes]

I am going to sound really really blonde here..... What is DAB radio, as I am just about to get a new car and it has this and I don't have any idea what it means being a techno blonde phobe

[Guest]

Think it stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting Suzanne (may be wrong though). It is normally referred to as "D-A-B Digital Radio" or "DAB" for short. It's basically radio's version of Freeview. Just like the UHF spectrum for terrestrial TV the VHF spectrum used for Frequency Modulation (FM) radio is going to be sold off and before it is we'll all need to have switched over to DAB. It's actually been around for quite a long time but has been very slow to become mainstream - still isn't really. I bet far more people have Freeview than DAB. Reason for that is largely down to car manufacturers having been very slow to adopt it and the reason they've been so slow is that many countries have completely differing and incompatible digital radio systems and the UK one is unique to us. It has undoubtedly been tough for the likes of Ford to work out how the hell to deal with that so largely they haven't bothered and have just stuck with the old fashion familiar and properly portable version.

[mbird]

Hi Dan

I have a Pure Highway in the car, which receives the DAB transmission and then transmits it to the normal car stereo via a suitable FM frequency. The reception around Norwich was pretty good wit hthe windscreen aeriel, but lost it further south on the A11. I bought an external roof mounted aerial and the reception is 200% better.

The reason I mention the car, is that one of our fellow boaters (though not a member of this forum) has a DAM Pure Highway mounted in his boat, and also has the external car aerial on his roof (it's only about 8" long as the bishop said to the actress), and is magnetic so doesn't cause any issues at bridges. He reckoned he got good reception just about everywhere on the norther rivers, but I don't know about the southern end.

Can't beat a bit of Planet Rock as you're cruising around

[Jupes]

Thanks Simon

[Guest DanDen]

Thanks for all the info peoples, I am thinking one of those magnetic aerial doo hickeys will be just the job, all I have to do now is cut a rectangle in the plywood for the 'cage' and work out all the wiring to the ignition or I might just put it on a permanent live to spare switches on the control panel. I do want to make sure \i dont have to reprogram all the presets every tie I go boating. I have heard those dashboard ones are patchy receptionwise in cars so I dont think I'll bother with them.

My boat came with an old telly and a signal amplifier when I bought it but the reception is absolutely pants hence my post about DAB reception.

Dan