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Digital radio

Radio stations are transmitted on DAB, Freeview, Freesat and analogue FM. The FM broadcasts might, or might not, be switched off in 2015. It all depends whether coverage for cars can be guaranteed and people can be persuaded to upgrade their car radios. Not a cheap or easy job when it is built in to the dash.

Is it worth putting up a DAB aerial, when you can listen to digital radio stations on Freeview or Freesat? As you can see from the table below, the quality of radio channels on Freeview is as good as, or in some cases better than, that on DAB. The higher the data speed, in kbit/s, the better. However not all stations are on Freeview. This changes frequently so only take this as a guide.

Radio stations on Freeview and DAB

Station	DAB	Freeview	Station	DAB	Freeview
	kbit/s	kbit/s		kbit/s	kbit/s
Radio 1	128	192	Jazz FM	128	128
Radio 2	128	192	Kiss 100	128	128
Radio 3	192	192	Asian Network	64	128
Radio 4	192	192	Oneword	64	64
Radio 5 Live	80	96	World Service	64	64
Radio 5 SX	64	96	Smash Hits	128	128
6 Music	128	160	Magic	128	128
1Xtra	128	160
BBC7	80	160

Stations only on Freeview (128 kbit/s)
heat, Kerrang, Mojo, Q, The Hits Radio

Stations on Freeview and DAB at unknown speeds
Clyde1, Kiss, Smooth, Talk Sport, Virgin

Stations only on DAB:

At 128 kbit/s: Asian Sound, BBC GMR, Capital Disney, Capital Gold, Century NW, Core, Galaxy, Heart, Key 103, Life, Planet Rock, Prime Time, The Arrow, Urban Choice, XFM. At 160 kbit/s: Classic FM

Problems with 128 kbit/s or lower

There is more information about this on http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/digital_radio_samples.htm and you can listen to samples of the sound. The authors on that site say that at 128 kbit/s or lower you will notice:

Very poor top-end (high-frequency) response causing dull sound

Muffled sound due to the low bit rates used

Lack of stereo separation so instruments form a messy, muddled "wall of sound"

Swishy vocals

Harsh speech sibilants, so 'ss' or 'sh' sounds lispy

Radio stations on freesat

There are many more stations on Freesat. One notable addition for the cricket lovers is long-wave radio 4. Data rates, and hence quality are always either equal to, or better than, freeview and much better than DAB.

So if you want to listen to the stations listed above that are not on Freeview, install a DAB aerial. Otherwise don't, and enjoy higher quality on Freesat or Freeview.

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Last edit 26 December 2015