Four years ago, the proportion of new cars with digital radio was 0% according to industry body Digital Radio UK.
Now does that mean standard fit in all models or new cars registered as in the previous paragraph? Because I had a company Golf on a 10 plate with DAB.
Considering that we've had DAB since 1995, it's 0 - 60 in 19 years.
And that's only for new cars: for on-the-road cars, it's 0 - 5 in 19 years.
Of course, all this latest spin is simply to disguise that 2013 was (yet another) Tipping Point Year. It was when 100% of new cars were supposed to have DAB as standard, but of course it was another DAB promise that failed to materialise.
I must admit that I assumed the car I had ordered last year had DAB as standard so I didn't ask for it as an option. Not the end of the world but I was slightly disappointed to find it had everything but a DAB tuner. Unless it is mandatory for new UK models to have a DAB radio fitted then it is never going to be voluntarily 100%.
GetDigitalRadio has revamped its listings of car brands that come with DAB radio. After the host of announcements this year the old page was getting outdated. I wonder who that single top-20 manufacturer is who doesn't have DAB. My guess is Renault, it's on its way as a standard fit in Traffic and Twingo but probably not in the showrooms yet.
If you're buying a new car, there are now many manufacturers that offer cars with digital radio as standard, with others offering it as an option. In fact, 19 out of the top 20 UK car manufacturers now have some or all of their cars with digital radio as standard or as an option.
The following car manufacturers have the majority of their models with digital radio as standard:
Alfa Romeo
Audi
BMW
Chevrolet
Ford
Jaguar
Land Rover
Lexus
Mercedes
Mini
Toyota
Vauxhall
Volkswagen
Volvo
And the following have a few models with digital radio as standard:
Aston Martin
Bentley
Chrysler
Citroen
Honda
Infiniti
Jeep
Kia
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Peugeot
Porsche
Seat
Skoda
Suzuki
GetDigitalRadio has revamped its listings of car brands that come with DAB radio. After the host of announcements this year the old page was getting outdated. I wonder who that single top-20 manufacturer is who doesn't have DAB. My guess is Renault, it's on its way as a standard fit in Traffic and Twingo but probably not in the showrooms yet.
I've just got a new Peugeot 308. It has DAB fitted, and it's incredibly sensitive. The aerial is near vertical 300mm long whip on the rear of the roof.
It's a good job the DAB tuner is sensitive, the FM tuner is just as sensitive, but the RDS AF switching threshold is far too low. It will often stick on FM frequencies that are 3 or 4th position down on the strongest available transmitter ! A prime example is using it in Basingstoke, it sticks to Guildford for national services, when Oxford, Rowridge, and the Basingstoke relay are all much stronger. I drove past the relay, with the radio happily tuned to R3 Guildford on 90.3, despite it being blasted by the relay on 90.1 by Radio 2 ! No ill effects, which is good, but it's not the way it should be working ! It totally ignores EON data, which means no BBC LR TA alerts. Instead a second FM tuner jumps in, when it detects another station, presumably while it's scanning up and down the FM band looking for raised TA flags. Rarely anything cuts in, and when it does, it's halfway through a bulletin. Useless.
DAB works very well, however the only station where DAB to FM (and back) handover seems to work is Wave 105. It works brilliantly, and will switch to FM before the DAB signal causes a mute ! It also seamlessly switches between Wave on the Solent and Dorset local muxes. Full marks for that. Zero marks for FM RDS performance !
At the Drive to Digital: NOW conference held by Digital Radio UK and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Ed Vaizey has just announced that 61% of new cars now come with a DAB radio as standard, 75% if you include the cars where it’s an option (here is a nice visualisation). This means that over 1.37 million new cars were sold with a factory fitted DAB radio in 2014.
I am sticking to my earlier prediction that this 61% will grow to 90% by the end of this year. That means about 2 million DAB fitted cars will be added to the UK’s roads this year. That 29 percentage point will partially come from manufacturers that currently don’t offer DAB radios at all but mostly from manufacturers that will extend their factory fitting from just a few models to across a broad range of models. I don’t think we’ll ever reach a 100%, there will always be a percentage of cars that don’t have a radio at all or only with very spartan radios.
Had a courtesy car recently DAB fine around Norwich but 30 miles down A11 could get nothing not even National mux. No wonder car manufacturers are apathetic.
Had a courtesy car recently DAB fine around Norwich but 30 miles down A11 could get nothing not even National mux. No wonder car manufacturers are apathetic.
DAB works very well, however the only station where DAB to FM (and back) handover seems to work is Wave 105. It works brilliantly, and will switch to FM before the DAB signal causes a mute ! It also seamlessly switches between Wave on the Solent and Dorset local muxes. Full marks for that. Zero marks for FM RDS performance !
Interesting. My Peugeot 308 switches fine between FM and DAB on Wave 105, but has to go via FM to switch from South Hants 11C to Bournemouth 11B for Wave. Annoyingly it also switches from FM to DAB on Jack FM- you have stonking FM stereo signal on 106.0, then it switches to the ropey mono DAB version.
Interesting. My Peugeot 308 switches fine between FM and DAB on Wave 105, but has to go via FM to switch from South Hants 11C to Bournemouth 11B for Wave.
Ah yes, mine does the same, doesn't hang around on FM very long 20 secs maybe, and oddly the 'stutter' owing to the time delay is not always noticeable !
Yes, it is stored as FM. I know as well that it is possible to disable the DAB switching, but this is a general function rather than for each station/preset.
Another little irritant is its inability to switch between Smooth Hampshire and Smooth Dorset.
Aside from that it's a very good tuner- it reliably pulls in South Wales on 12C driving through the northern part of the New Forest
Currently digital listening is at 37.8 percent of all listening hours. We expect this to be 50 percent during 2017,
But last Q only went up by 0.1% (due to a decline in radio over TV usage) so unless more DAB car sets are in use the 50% figure will take a long time to reach,
A circle which needs to be broken if a DSO is ever to be reached?
Yes, it is stored as FM. I know as well that it is possible to disable the DAB switching, but this is a general function rather than for each station/preset.
Another little irritant is its inability to switch between Smooth Hampshire and Smooth Dorset.
Aside from that it's a very good tuner- it reliably pulls in South Wales on 12C driving through the northern part of the New Forest
It is, though I've discovered it's very prone to being saturated if you pass by a DAB mast, that's not broadcasting the mux you're tuned to.
Drove past the Cirencester mast recently that only carries the Glos Mux on 10C. Both BBC and D1 were swept away for about half a mile. I thought the 'hole punching' typically only affects adjacent channels ?
I discovered recently mine switches between Heart 'Reading' (aka Hannington) and Heart Oxford, which makes sence because those two areas (ex 2-Ten and Fox) are AF linked on FM RDS. As are S Hants and Dorset I think, yet as you've observed DAB is not ?
EDIT: Not Heart but Smooth, brain fade, I'll try Heart later
But last Q only went up by 0.1% (due to a decline in radio over TV usage) so unless more DAB car sets are in use the 50% figure will take a long time to reach,
A circle which needs to be broken if a DSO is ever to be reached?
This is just going to run & run them ? So what are we looking at 2035 then?.
I just think until theres actually switch over date car maufactures are going to be slow putting DAB in all new cars.
Car manufacturers have stopped being slow quite some time ago.
Many were late to respond but last year most of them suddenly got the message and factory fitting DAB in cars took a massive jump. At the start of last year just 40% of cars sold had DAB, a year later it’s 75% (of which 60% as standard).
The following car manufacturers have the majority of their models with digital radio as standard:
Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes, Mini, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Volvo.
and the following have a few models with digital radio as standard:
Aston Martin, Bentley, Chrysler, Citroen, Honda, Infiniti, Jeep, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Suzuki. Source
All in all, most car manufacturers have stopped being slow with DAB quite some time ago. Most car brands make their money not on the cars but on the new features that they sell as overpriced optional packages. A bit later what used to be an expensive option becomes the norm and they have to move on to find new features. I get the sense that DAB radio’s have now moved from being expensive extras to something customers have come to expect. Hence them moving from optional to standard.
But last Q only went up by 0.1% (due to a decline in radio over TV usage) so unless more DAB car sets are in use the 50% figure will take a long time to reach,
A circle which needs to be broken if a DSO is ever to be reached?
I expect to see the growth accelerating. Last year we saw 1.37 million cars with DAB added to the roads. This year we're likely to add another 2 million, next year probably around 2.2 million.
Considering an estimated 20% of radio listening is in the car and the big radio groups seem to have moved their battlegrounds for listeners from FM to DAB I expect to see the effects of this in digital listenership.
Drove past the Cirencester mast recently that only carries the Glos Mux on 10C. Both BBC and D1 were swept away for about half a mile. I thought the 'hole punching' typically only affects adjacent channels ?
I have not noticed the effect but would think it depends on the quality of the receiver same as with VHF FM or MW when near to a strong signal.
Comments
Oh yeah and a 06 plate Astra with DAB.
Both factory fit.
And that's only for new cars: for on-the-road cars, it's 0 - 5 in 19 years.
Of course, all this latest spin is simply to disguise that 2013 was (yet another) Tipping Point Year. It was when 100% of new cars were supposed to have DAB as standard, but of course it was another DAB promise that failed to materialise.
I've just got a new Peugeot 308. It has DAB fitted, and it's incredibly sensitive. The aerial is near vertical 300mm long whip on the rear of the roof.
It's a good job the DAB tuner is sensitive, the FM tuner is just as sensitive, but the RDS AF switching threshold is far too low. It will often stick on FM frequencies that are 3 or 4th position down on the strongest available transmitter ! A prime example is using it in Basingstoke, it sticks to Guildford for national services, when Oxford, Rowridge, and the Basingstoke relay are all much stronger. I drove past the relay, with the radio happily tuned to R3 Guildford on 90.3, despite it being blasted by the relay on 90.1 by Radio 2 ! No ill effects, which is good, but it's not the way it should be working ! It totally ignores EON data, which means no BBC LR TA alerts. Instead a second FM tuner jumps in, when it detects another station, presumably while it's scanning up and down the FM band looking for raised TA flags. Rarely anything cuts in, and when it does, it's halfway through a bulletin. Useless.
DAB works very well, however the only station where DAB to FM (and back) handover seems to work is Wave 105. It works brilliantly, and will switch to FM before the DAB signal causes a mute ! It also seamlessly switches between Wave on the Solent and Dorset local muxes. Full marks for that. Zero marks for FM RDS performance !
Hyundai and Kia are equally useless, although Kia have stated that their new models will eventually have DAB.
I am sticking to my earlier prediction that this 61% will grow to 90% by the end of this year. That means about 2 million DAB fitted cars will be added to the UK’s roads this year. That 29 percentage point will partially come from manufacturers that currently don’t offer DAB radios at all but mostly from manufacturers that will extend their factory fitting from just a few models to across a broad range of models. I don’t think we’ll ever reach a 100%, there will always be a percentage of cars that don’t have a radio at all or only with very spartan radios.
DAB... the system that promised CD Quality, but in many cases delivers no better than 78rpm mono. >:(
What model car was it ?
Interesting. My Peugeot 308 switches fine between FM and DAB on Wave 105, but has to go via FM to switch from South Hants 11C to Bournemouth 11B for Wave. Annoyingly it also switches from FM to DAB on Jack FM- you have stonking FM stereo signal on 106.0, then it switches to the ropey mono DAB version.
Ah yes, mine does the same, doesn't hang around on FM very long 20 secs maybe, and oddly the 'stutter' owing to the time delay is not always noticeable !
Have you tried storing Jack as an 'FM' station, rather than 'DAB' ?
Another little irritant is its inability to switch between Smooth Hampshire and Smooth Dorset.
Aside from that it's a very good tuner- it reliably pulls in South Wales on 12C driving through the northern part of the New Forest
http://www.radioworld.com/article/commentary-the-uk%E2%80%99s-drive-to-digital/274041 But last Q only went up by 0.1% (due to a decline in radio over TV usage) so unless more DAB car sets are in use the 50% figure will take a long time to reach,
A circle which needs to be broken if a DSO is ever to be reached?
It is, though I've discovered it's very prone to being saturated if you pass by a DAB mast, that's not broadcasting the mux you're tuned to.
Drove past the Cirencester mast recently that only carries the Glos Mux on 10C. Both BBC and D1 were swept away for about half a mile. I thought the 'hole punching' typically only affects adjacent channels ?
I discovered recently mine switches between Heart 'Reading' (aka Hannington) and Heart Oxford, which makes sence because those two areas (ex 2-Ten and Fox) are AF linked on FM RDS. As are S Hants and Dorset I think, yet as you've observed DAB is not ?
EDIT: Not Heart but Smooth, brain fade, I'll try Heart later
This is just going to run & run them ? So what are we looking at 2035 then?.
Many were late to respond but last year most of them suddenly got the message and factory fitting DAB in cars took a massive jump. At the start of last year just 40% of cars sold had DAB, a year later it’s 75% (of which 60% as standard).
The following car manufacturers have the majority of their models with digital radio as standard:
Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes, Mini, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Volvo.
and the following have a few models with digital radio as standard:
Aston Martin, Bentley, Chrysler, Citroen, Honda, Infiniti, Jeep, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Suzuki.
Source
All in all, most car manufacturers have stopped being slow with DAB quite some time ago. Most car brands make their money not on the cars but on the new features that they sell as overpriced optional packages. A bit later what used to be an expensive option becomes the norm and they have to move on to find new features. I get the sense that DAB radio’s have now moved from being expensive extras to something customers have come to expect. Hence them moving from optional to standard.
I expect to see the growth accelerating. Last year we saw 1.37 million cars with DAB added to the roads. This year we're likely to add another 2 million, next year probably around 2.2 million.
Considering an estimated 20% of radio listening is in the car and the big radio groups seem to have moved their battlegrounds for listeners from FM to DAB I expect to see the effects of this in digital listenership.
I have not noticed the effect but would think it depends on the quality of the receiver same as with VHF FM or MW when near to a strong signal.
Yes, it also mutes on all DAB at Southampton Airport, I suspect that's something really powerful just outside of Band III
When I say past, I mean right alongside the terminal building ?
Are you a taxi driver there ? ;-)