BBC 6 Music - Odd Noise on DAB

[Deleted User] · 08/10/13 - 21:41

It sounds like a burst of static, only for a split second and sometimes only for a few minutes at a time, but it's apparent more often than not.

If you've ever downloaded a corrupt MP3 and played it back, it's that sound you hear. The odd thing is that I can only notice it on 6 Music, not on the other BBC National stations. It's only started recently and I'm getting it nationally, also in areas I know there's a good solid signal.

I can hear this in the car on a factory fit DAB. Has anyone else noticed this?

Gerry1 · 08/10/13 - 22:01

WM1976 wrote: »

It sounds like a burst of static, only for a split second and sometimes only for a few minutes at a time, but it's apparent more often than not.

If you've ever downloaded a corrupt MP3 and played it back, it's that sound you hear. The odd thing is that I can only notice it on 6 Music, not on the other BBC National stations. It's only started recently and I'm getting it nationally, also in areas I know there's a good solid signal.

I can hear this in the car on a factory fit DAB. Has anyone else noticed this?

It's known as 'Boiling Mud', a characteristic of original flavour DAB that comes at No Extra Charge.

More seriously, there might be a local source of interference. Switch off your mobile phone, tune a portable radio to a clear MW/LW channel, set the volume high and leave it on the passenger seat. If you hear interference that coincides with the DAB problem then it may give you a clue.

[Deleted User] · 08/10/13 - 22:22

I'll give the MW/LW radio idea a go. When you say "mud", do you mean the effect you get on a weak signal when to audio frequently drops?

What's odd here is that I can hear the audio fine, the "static" sound is in amongst the music/speech programming. It does not prevent me from hearing what's being broadcast, it is more of an irritant, an audio artefact.

Again, this is only apparent, so I've noticed, on BBC 6Music. I've even had to listed to Radio1 for some time to prove it's unique to one station.

Gerry1 · 08/10/13 - 22:53

WM1976 wrote: »

I'll give the MW/LW radio idea a go. When you say "mud", do you mean the effect you get on a weak signal when to audio frequently drops?

Yes, just having a dig at our 405-line digital radio system...

DAB+ switches much more cleanly.

Do you get still get the problem when the car is stationary with the engine off?

[Deleted User] · 09/10/13 - 02:22

Yes, still does it with the key out and radio turned manually.

vinnielo · 09/10/13 - 02:31

Do you have another DAB radio you could try listening on?

[Deleted User] · 09/10/13 - 03:08

I do and I'll give that a try but it's a pocket portable and imperfections are hard to hear on such a small speaker. That said, if I use earphones...

[Deleted User] · 10/10/13 - 19:44

I've tried a portable radio with earphones, the noise is not obvious on there, but at that same time it wasn't that obvious on the car DAB.

I'll keep listening and try and get an example I can reproduce.

ewarwoowoo · 11/10/13 - 03:34

I was starting to think it was just me!

I'm getting the same, only when listening to 6music - none of the other bbc stations doing it.

Hard to describe, like fm interference but bloomin' annoying.

Nick_G · 11/10/13 - 03:49

Something wrong with the link to the transmitter perhaps?

vinnielo · 11/10/13 - 03:58

Sounds more like an encoder problem.
The BBC had similar issues on their webstreams a few years ago.

WellHiddenMark · 11/10/13 - 11:58

ewarwoowoo wrote: »

I was starting to think it was just me!

I'm getting the same, only when listening to 6music - none of the other bbc stations doing it.

Hard to describe, like fm interference but bloomin' annoying.

Me too. I thought I was going mad when I first heard it. I've got two DAB receivers both connected to an outdoor antenna and I'm just a few miles from Belmont.

There were a couple of short dropouts yesterday around 4.30pm, but it was like a streaming problem where the content continued after the pause. If it was interference, the content would've been "missing" instead.

That made me think it was a encoder issue.

lundavra · 11/10/13 - 14:43

Ideally you need to get it to the attention of someone who can ask the right people. If you report as a fault then the odds are that someone will check on their computer terminal and be told there are no faults and of course the computer is never wrong. Post in a few places read by technical people at the BBC (and their contractors), perhaps EMail some of the programmes on 6Music in the hope the presenter might query it themselves through internal channels. The problem is usually getting past the equivalent of customer service drones who filter complaints.

Shrewn · 11/10/13 - 16:29

I think it's just that awful Paul McCartney record they keep flogging to death

I had similar, also with R4, I just assumed they were working on the transmitter. Seems to come in bursts

[Deleted User] · 11/10/13 - 17:13

I didn't notice the noise on my way to work this morning. Does anyone else think it may have gone?

ahall41116 · 11/10/13 - 17:40

Ate you sure it's not just the new jingles ?

They sound like some bloke down the caf did them at lunchtime as a favour.

Not impressed.

Ash

Inkblot · 11/10/13 - 18:26

ahall41116 wrote: »

Ate you sure it's not just the new jingles ?

They sound like some bloke down the caf did them at lunchtime as a favour.

Not impressed.

Ash

What is it with British radio jingles nowadays?

Even the ones on Italian Coastguard Radio are better than ours.

lundavra · 11/10/13 - 19:15

Inkblot wrote: »

...... Even the ones on Italian Coastguard Radio are better than ours.

Better! Give me 'Sailing By' any time.

[Deleted User] · 18/10/13 - 17:27

My car packed in so now in a hire car, same problem with 6Music, BUT the same radio and speaker system etc.

I'm going to report this to the BBC but I need a little help describing the problem.

I would say the sound is like a split second burst of static or high pressure steam but over the top of the regular audio with the regular audio still there in the background.

Anyone second that?

[Deleted User] · 08/01/14 - 21:02

"Boiling mud"? What a great way to describe it.

I've listened faithfully to DAB for over a year now, I switched stations for a while until I settled on 6Music a few months back.

I don't remember ever having an issue until the switch to 6. I've got two DABs: a dedicated TEAC hi-fi in the livingroom and Sony XDR-S16DBP portable in the kitchen.

The interference doesn't seem to have a connection: it is intermittent and shared by both radios. But it drives me blimmin' mad, in fact it's happening at the moment.

A friend of mine suggested it could be a man-in-van with some sort of signal/tracker blocker (that stops employers finding out when you're using your company vehicle out-of-hours) but I am two floors up!

lundavra · 08/01/14 - 21:07

Have you tried taking the portable radio outside or away from the house, to see if it is something in the house?

There are jammers for tracking devices but I would not expect them to be on Band III. A van would only appear briefly as it went past. Never mind, OFCOM will find him because they monitor for GPS jammers.

[Deleted User] · 08/01/14 - 21:11

lundavra wrote: »

Have you tried taking the portable radio outside or away from the house, to see if it is something in the house?

There are jammers for tracking devices but I would not expect them to be on Band III. A van would only appear briefly as it went past. Never mind, OFCOM will find him because they monitor for GPS jammers.

It's a great idea but unfortunately that Sony model doesn't have a battery facility (the cheapo Tesco one I bought originally did!).

Suppose the only thing I can do is try listening to 6Music for extended periods when I'm at mum's though she's a few miles away.

I'm in a city centre location and my signal is apparently very good.

lundavra · 08/01/14 - 23:00

quirkafleeg wrote: »

It's a great idea but unfortunately that Sony model doesn't have a battery facility (the cheapo Tesco one I bought originally did!).

Suppose the only thing I can do is try listening to 6Music for extended periods when I'm at mum's though she's a few miles away.

I'm in a city centre location and my signal is apparently very good.

You could try turning things off around the home i.e. off at the power socket. If you know anyone with a battery powered portable then have a walk around the area and see if the interference gets stronger anywhere.

Nick_G · 08/01/14 - 23:50

Does this noise only affect 6 Music? If it was interference then I'd expect the whole MUX to be affected, not just one station.

[Deleted User] · 09/01/14 - 13:32

I can only hear the noise on 6Music in the car, 2 cars in fact with the same audio system. I've not been able to hear it on my portable or alarm clock at home but given the speaker arrangements in the car, it's likely that the car is able to better highlight unwanted artefacts such as this "burst of steam".

I wouldn't call it bulbing mud, that's a sound I'm more likely to hear on a weaker signal.

Mr Pringle · 19/01/14 - 17:14

WM1976 wrote: »

I can only hear the noise on 6Music in the car, 2 cars in fact with the same audio system. I've not been able to hear it on my portable or alarm clock at home but given the speaker arrangements in the car, it's likely that the car is able to better highlight unwanted artefacts such as this "burst of steam".

I wouldn't call it bulbing mud, that's a sound I'm more likely to hear on a weaker signal.

Is it always there? Maybe it's some odd problem with your local transmitter/s but you'd have thought someone else would have noticed over many months

Hey there!

Quick Links

BBC 6 Music - Odd Noise on DAB

Comments