The DAB situation in the London Area...

[Deleted User] · 23/02/14 - 09:27

Hi Everyone,

Just out of curiosity, how many DAB Stations are available to those of you living in the London Area, I'm in Belfast and I think at last count we've got 32/33 stations...

Thanks in advance...

moordown66 · 23/02/14 - 09:40

I live a bit north of London and a scan brings in 77 stations but this includes HBB and some of Essex

[Deleted User] · 23/02/14 - 09:43

Woooow....77 stations, that's fantastic...I guess Belfast is still behind the times in many respects....darn it...!!!

meerkat-martin · 23/02/14 - 09:53

I live in North London, just done a scan and can pick up 69 which includes HBB and Surrey and North Sussex.

fmradiotuner1 · 23/02/14 - 10:10

I get all the London muxs and Kent one Essex comes in now and again just.

Inkblot · 23/02/14 - 10:22

Wohnort lists 34 stations on the London multiplexes, 11 standalone BBC national stations and 14 national commercial stations. That makes 59 available across London, of which two, Kismat and Sunrise, are currently silent. So 57 is probably the correct answer.

Yes, it sounds a lot but it is worth considering that relatively few are unique to London, and many are relays of national AM or FM stations.

soulboy77 · 23/02/14 - 10:30

London is unique in the UK for digital radio coverage and shows the possibilities of what DAB could of been. Mind you, it has it's fair share of mono and low bit rate stations.

omnidirectional · 23/02/14 - 11:39

soulboy77 wrote: »

London is unique in the UK for digital radio coverage and shows the possibilities of what DAB could of been. Mind you, it has it's fair share of mono and low bit rate stations.

Across the three London mulriplexes, there are 24 stations broadcasting in mono (at either 64 or 80k). 10 remain in stereo - for now!

KnobTwiddler · 23/02/14 - 12:43

meerkat-martin wrote: »

I live in North London, just done a scan and can pick up 69 which includes HBB and Surrey and North Sussex.

I live in N London and I get 81 stations - that includes the Essex, HBB & Northants and Surrey & N Sussex Muxs. If I move the aerial slightly I can add the Kent Mux which makes a total or 88 stations.

BMR · 23/02/14 - 13:02

Is that 88 unique stations or are some of those duplicates?

Bingethink · 23/02/14 - 13:05

Inkblot wrote: »

Wohnort lists 34 stations on the London multiplexes, 11 standalone BBC national stations and 14 national commercial stations. That makes 59 available across London, of which two, Kismat and Sunrise, are currently silent. So 57 is probably the correct answer.

Yes, it sounds a lot but it is worth considering that relatively few are unique to London, and many are relays of national AM or FM stations.

But that's the same everywhere.

Where I am, the only uniquely local station to Nottingham is BBC Radio Nottingham, with the regionals Gem 106 (it's also on the Leicester MUX) and 7 hours a day of Capital (likewise).

Nonetheless, London has all these stations that we can't get: Heat Radio, The Hits Radio, Kerrang! Radio, LBC News 1152, Magic 105.4, Absolute Radio 70s, Absolute Radio 00s, Amazing Radio, French Radio London, Jazz FM, Panjab Radio, Sout Al Khaleej, Spectrum Radio, UCB Inspirational, Voice of Russia,, Absolute Radio 60s, Absolute Classic Rock, The Arrow, Chill, Desi Radio, Fun Kids, Gaydio, IBC Tamil, Polish Radio London, Premier Gospel, The Wireless.

Mall · 23/02/14 - 13:14

Out here on the East Coast of Norfolk I've got 33.

Mind you, you have to remember, and it had been stated on here many times before, that if you don't live in London you don't really count.

MikeBr · 23/02/14 - 13:40

soulboy77 wrote: »

London is unique in the UK for digital radio coverage and shows the possibilities of what DAB could of been. Mind you, it has it's fair share of mono and low bit rate stations.

Not necessarily because you have to take into account the limited number of channels multiplexes can operate on and the need to avoid co-channel interference.

The area the London multiplexes cover is densely populated and should be able to support more stations in terms of listenership and finance.

meerkat-martin · 23/02/14 - 13:40

KnobTwiddler wrote: »

I live in N London and I get 81 stations - that includes the Essex, HBB & Northants and Surrey & N Sussex Muxs. If I move the aerial slightly I can add the Kent Mux which makes a total or 88 stations.

I live in new build flats my Housing Association didn't bother putting a DAB aerial on the roof, so I'm using the communal FM aerial instead, which as I only listen to 6Music, Classic FM and Jazz FM it works fine.

Inkblot · 23/02/14 - 13:44

Bingethink wrote: »

But that's the same everywhere.

Where I am, the only uniquely local station to Nottingham is BBC Radio Nottingham, with the regionals Gem 106 (it's also on the Leicester MUX) and 7 hours a day of Capital (likewise).

Nonetheless, London has all these stations that we can't get: Heat Radio, The Hits Radio, Kerrang! Radio, LBC News 1152, Magic 105.4, Absolute Radio 70s, Absolute Radio 00s, Amazing Radio, French Radio London, Jazz FM, Panjab Radio, Sout Al Khaleej, Spectrum Radio, UCB Inspirational, Voice of Russia,, Absolute Radio 60s, Absolute Classic Rock, The Arrow, Chill, Desi Radio, Fun Kids, Gaydio, IBC Tamil, Polish Radio London, Premier Gospel, The Wireless.

Wow. When you put it like that we are spoiled for choice.

Except that, and this is more in reply to Mall's comments that if you don't live in London you don't really count, a lot of those stations are aimed at specific communities: French, British Asian, Polish, Arabic-speaking, religious, etc. They're the kind of stations you'd expect to find on FM in a city of over 8 million people, except that in the UK they're on DAB instead.

meerkat-martin · 23/02/14 - 14:09

BMR wrote: »

Is that 88 unique stations or are some of those duplicates?

Some of them will be duplicates. Just in London these ones are duplicated:
Kiss D1, 80kbs mono
Kiss London 1, 128kbs stereo
Smooth D1, 80kbs mono
Smooth London 1, 128kbs stereo

moordown66 · 23/02/14 - 14:12

Of the 77 I can get, about 67 of them are s***!!!

Bingethink · 23/02/14 - 14:21

Inkblot wrote: »

Wow. When you put it like that we are spoiled for choice.

Except that, and this is more in reply to Mall's comments that if you don't live in London you don't really count, a lot of those stations are aimed at specific communities: French, British Asian, Polish, Arabic-speaking, religious, etc. They're the kind of stations you'd expect to find on FM in a city of over 8 million people, except that in the UK they're on DAB instead.

But that's a different conversation. The UK has a unique radio broadcasting history where the BBC's national and local channels fill up great swathes of the FM band, leaving not much left in a densely populated country for minority channels. (That's also not unique to London either, and London has greater FM and AM choice than anywhere else too).

For me, the point is that kids, gay people, British Asians, Christians, Polish people etc also live outside London.

KnobTwiddler · 23/02/14 - 15:01

BMR wrote: »

Is that 88 unique stations or are some of those duplicates?

Yes some are duplicates, I get:

2 x 5 Live Sports Extra
But I think these are two separate secondary channels.

2 x Capital
Both @ 128 kbps on
London 1
Essex

3 x Gold
London 1 @ 112 kbps
Essex @ 128 kbps (this sounds much better than London)
4 Counties @ 128 kbps

3 x Heart (what evil deed did I do to deserve this)
All @ 128 kbps on
London 1
4 Counties
Essex

3 x Kiss on
D1 @ 80 kbps
London @ 128 kbps
Essex @ 128 kbps

2 x Smooth
Smooth Uk on D1 @ 80 kbps
Smooth on London 1 @ 128 kbps

KnobTwiddler · 23/02/14 - 15:24

meerkat-martin wrote: »

I live in new build flats my Housing Association didn't bother putting a DAB aerial on the roof, so I'm using the communal FM aerial instead, which as I only listen to 6Music, Classic FM and Jazz FM it works fine.

Not wishing to advertise, but some have reported good DAB reception on this aerial (I have no connection to the seller) - bear in mind that you could build one yourself for less - just do a search on how to make a Bazooka antenna (Note: not the dipole version).

Inkblot · 23/02/14 - 15:37

Bingethink wrote: »

But that's a different conversation. The UK has a unique radio broadcasting history where the BBC's national and local channels fill up great swathes of the FM band, leaving not much left in a densely populated country for minority channels. (That's also not unique to London either, and London has greater FM and AM choice than anywhere else too).

For me, the point is that kids, gay people, British Asians, Christians, Polish people etc also live outside London.

I don't disagree, but if you compare the choice of radio in the UK outside of London with that in other countries outside their capitals, our regional cities compare unfavourably. So it's not London that's the villain, but the UK radio system as a whole.

Bingethink · 23/02/14 - 15:49

I don't think London is the 'villain' at all - I'd just rather that there was the DAB spectrum capacity - and an economic model that supported it - to get 75+ stations everywhere.

Amara · 23/02/14 - 16:21

Mall wrote: »

Out here on the East Coast of Norfolk I've got 33.

Mind you, you have to remember, and it had been stated on here many times before, that if you don't live in London you don't really count.

Yes and soon we will lose Gold. Certainly an inferior area compared with London.>:(

Hey there!

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The DAB situation in the London Area...

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