DAB changes, new stations

[Russ35]

So the new (2nd) national commercial frequency (Sound Digital multiplex) is due to switch on on the 29th Feb. It will have 18 stations, 3 of which will be broadcasting in DAB+.

It can be received in major conurbations of England, with the initial exception of East Anglia, Cornwall and coastal parts of the South-East. The multiplex will also broadcast across Central Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland and across South Wales and parts of North-East Wales.


The stations are

talk RADIO - News and current affairs

talkSPORT2 - Live sports and sports talk

Virgin Radio - Rock and pop music

Share Radio - Business and finance programmes

Mellow Magic - Relaxing and melodic music

Magic Chilled (DAB+)- A second sister channel from one of the UK’s most popular music stations

Absolute 80s - 80s music

Kisstory - ‘Old skool’ dance tunes and anthems

Heat - Pop music, celebrity gossip and entertainment

Planet Rock - Classic rock music

Sunrise Radio - Asian music and speech programmes

Awarsom Radio - New British Muslim lifestyle, music and speech station

UCB 2 - Christian music

Premier Christian Radio - Christian Music and Speach

Premier Praise -

Panjab Radio - Delivering extra choice for British Sikhs and Panjabi speakers

Fun Kids (DAB+) - National children’s radio station

Jazz FM (DAB+) - Jazz music


So 3 stations are moving from the current Digital 1 frequency, Planet Rock, Absolute 80 and Premier Christian Radio.

With space now being available on Digital 1, a new station Heat Extra will launch on there.



Apparently the test channel being transmitted is called Sound Waves or Sound Waves+ for DAB+ with the sound being the sound of waves lapping onto the coast

[Russ35]

colin_p said:

Will we still be able to get Planet Rock on an old DAB radio ?

It is the only thing that matters.

You should do as it's staying DAB. So as long as you can receive the new frequency you should be Ok.

I tried a rescan in one of my cars last night and the Blaupunkt Woodstock picked up the test stations, although it didn't play anything from the Wave+ channel as the unit isn't DAB+ capable. Will try the other car later with its Pioneer AVH-X3600DAB. This is DAB+ so should have some success. Tried my Cambridge separate earlier and it didn't pick the frequency up, but it is running on the indoor aerial it came with.


Even though there is stuff in DAB+ I bet it will still be mono and low bitrate.

[Russ35]

BBC R3 should be the bets as that is 196kbps Stereo, plus a few other BBC stations are 128kbps stereo.

Of the other national commercial stations I think only Classic is at 128 and Capital Extra at 112 both in Stereo with everything else being 80 in Mono.

I cannot get the local DAB (Central Lancashire) in the house so no idea what they are at.

We are supposed to be getting a new transmitter in Blackpool as part of the expansion, so that should hopefully improve coverage when it comes online supposedly before September 2016.

[Russ35]

My first DAB receiver was a Psion Wavefinder



When it worked it was great, basically only the BBC stations plus a couple of commercial stations all at descent bitrates 256ish. The wave finder was always temperamental (driver issues), but died totally when XP sp2 was released. Think it then worked again under SP3.

Then got the Cambridge DAB500 when that was released in 2004ish. Was a bit of shock to open the box and find that they didn't come with a remote! had to contact Cambridge direct to get one when they actually released one. Still works fine and is used all the time.

Just wish it had stayed as quality over quantity and not the other way around, although I must admit that probably 80% of my listening is to BBC 5live and Talksport so they are a massive improvement over trying to listen to them on MW.