Anyone else got a DAB radio and near the border???

sudzs

Just bought a DAB radio thinking I would pick up all the BBCs and other UK DAB stations but alas can only seem to find the RTE selection.

Very disappointed, maybe I could have done more research but I'm sure an article in The Ticket section of The Irish Times a few weeks ago said if you were near the border you pick up all the UK stations....

Anyone having any joy??

Wertz

DAB is just like freeview....if you have a line of sight to the digital transmitter then you'll get a signal, if not, you're f*cked.
In Dundalk the cooley mountains cut us off from the Tx in Belfast that caters for digital broadcasts...if you go down the Louth coast a bit or move to higher ground further inland, then you can usually get a signal. I don't know if that situation is going to change much in the North...they are switching the entire system to digital by 2010, so maybe Txs like Camlough will bounce a signal to the Republic....but AFAIK digital broadcasts have a much narrower "beam" so you don't get the overspill you used to get with analogue signals...

Caddyman

I was in Pete's in Parnell Street last week to buy a DAB radio as I like to listen at night to TalkSport with James Whale et al but I came home with an Internet Radio as I was told that DAB is like FM only worse and that unless you were close to a transmitter you were wasting your time!
I cant tell you yet about the new gizmo as I have yet to tackle setting it up as it appears very complicated to do so!!
Still I'm sure when I do I will be spoiled for choice as there are supposed to be over 10,000 channels on it!!!!
I'll report back when I have it up and running.
CADDYMAN

sudzs

Well fekkit anyway! I should have got an internet radio...

But aren't Argos good about changing things...??!!!


But according to this... http://www.digitalradio.ie/radio_stations.htm I should be getting more than just the RTE DAB stations even if I cant get the UK signal.

Wertz

Which on the list are you not getting? Have you tried mucking about with the aerial? Not sure where DAB is transmitted from...I assume from the same towers that are broadcasting the digital TV trials, so we're well covered here for that....maybe some of the ones like phantom or the other Dub stations are only broadcatsing from the Tx that covers Dublin and not louth

sudzs

But I'm not getting Newstalk either and they're national.

The Clermont Carn transmitter should be transmitting the stations on that website...

flogen

where are you based sudzs?

sudzs

Dundalk!

macplaxton

DAB is a waste of time IMO. I had one in the UK and the reception (30 miles outside London) wasn't much good. It had to be near the window. Being digital, you either get all or nothing. With marginal signals you get gurgling sound like the radio has fallen into a bucket. Reception was much better with a decent outside aerial plugged into it. The sound quality was acceptable, but not all it was advertised to be. They should ban the adverts for being misleading (yes, there's no hiss, but there is no treble and c**p bottom end too). All UK stations are broadcast at 128kbps, which is pants for music (far too lossy). The only one broadcast at a higher bitrate is BBC Radio 3, which is 192kbps. They have gone for low bitrate, many stations, rather than higher quality, fewer stations per multiplex. I much preferred the FM sound from my old Roberts RM50 tabletop box.

Yesterday I got a 99 yoyo Wi-fi Internet radio from Aldi. Works well enough. At very low volumes there seems to be a ticking interference sound (maybe needs a clean filtered mains supply??), but the 44kbps is okay for the Wi-fi. Dead easy to set up and I've yet to try playing stuff from a shared folder on the computer network which it says it can do too. You can also use it to "Listen Again" non-live streams. Has a built in alarm too, so it's my bedside radio to wake up to Wogan, Moyles or whoever else in the UK. Also means I can catch SPL commentary on BBC Radio Scotland. It's not perfect as it can suffer from variations in wi-fi signal and net congestion resulting in drop-out, you need a broadband and wi-fi router (but you've got that already, haven't you?), but as a tool for listening to non-Irish radio, it's the dogs danglies.

DMC

sudzs wrote:

Dundalk!

In brief, Mux 1, which consists of all the RTÉ Radio offerings, is only broadcast from Clermont Carn. Mux 2, which consists of most of Dublin's ILR's, Today FM and Newstalk, is not broadcast from Clermont Carn.

TBH, LMFM and the two national independent stations should be on Clermont Carn, I dunno why Mux 2 isn't fired up.

As for BBC and Score Digital from the North, reception is hit and miss south of the border. It's on low power from Divis, compared with FM, and FM is strongest from Camlough in Dundalk.

Extensive DAB thread here

As for internet radio, a better offering is the Logic IR100 wifi radio from Currys or PC World. But get it up north, its priced €139 down here, but £49 if you reserve and collect on their website and get it in Newry.

sudzs

Thanks for the info! And that link... I'd never have found it!! :rolleyes:

Suppose I'll just have to be patient and wait for more stations.

BrianD

I bought my DAB receiver in one of the multiples in Newry. The guy was quite surprised that I was buying a set not due to the fact that he was unaware that DAB was available "down south" but more due to no DAB stations being available in Newry full stop. So if it's unavailable in south Co. Down, UK DAB is unlikely to get further south.

Interesting to note that we are running a "have you ever listened to DAB in Ireland" poll on both our website and Bebo. I am surprised that approximately 25% of respondents say that they have (though the majority have no idea what DAB actually is).

As regards the sound quality - 128KB is sufficient. The iPod generation is used to this quality level and many people already listen to FM broadcasts on portables or phones that aren't great quality in any case.

RadioCity

I bought the new Roberts RD49 and am impressed with it mostly as it has an FM radio as well as DAB.
DAB is very very very sore on batteries so rechargeables are recommended!

I find it useful in my work, although I only use the DAB where the FM signal is rubbish. Other than that I'd always use the FM setting.