why am I getting so much interference on my digital radio?

[geraldinetheluckygoat]

It's driving me crazy, I thought the point of digital was that the reception was better....my radio sounds like its under water most of the time.

Wbat casues this?

Dunno but mine's the same:(

Digital Radio is quite simply not as good as they're making out.

It might sound great in the store, but then you find out the store is legally allowed to have a signal booster fitted to fix any reception problems. So what you hear in store is quite simply not what you will get at home. Actual coverage and reception nationwide is very patchy and problematic.

And then add into the mix that we use an old outdated style of digital radio that isn't as "rugged" as the newer methods.

And as if that's not bad enough the radio stations themselves also have an interest in turning down the quality of their broadcast to squeeze more channels into the same "space".

I'm really not convinced by DAB at all, and neither are most consumers given by it's slow uptake.

When you get that "under water" gurgling it means the signal is suffering a large number of errors. On my DAB set, it shows the error rate from 0 (BBC national stations) up to 100 and for a few, I have had levels above 35 (which is about the time I give up on them).

I'm using a dipole vertically (it's one of those figure-of-8 wires which is split at the end to form a 'T' shape, with some plastic one ould use to put screws/nails through to hold it onto a wall.

I've made the cable from the radio go along a shelf and then at the end, the "T" arms go up and down. Some say they get better results with the aerial arms at 45 degrees from vertical(eg top left to bottom right) but I'm in N Wales and get stations from Liverpool and Manchester (approx 25-45 miles away, or a bit further, but unsure of precise transmitter locations).

Of course I don't get BBC Wales, but can get R Merseyside (error 24) while Manchester is giving an error level of 35+ and is like gurgling mud in the background.

JazzFM which I thought was from Manchester is also giving an error level of 23/24 and has gone from mono to stereo in last 6 months.

I used to get R Stoke (approx 50 miles away) but perhaps the extra wires from my router are screening the aerial a bit and it doesn't get shown on my station list.

There are various indoor and outdoor aerials but you may do well to check whether any neighbours are using DAB before spending extra cash - if someone else is getting better reception then it proves the area isn't a complete 'black hole' for DAB signals so an aerial change could help.

Sorry, y comment about R Wales was a bit flip... Most content seems to revolve around Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea, so the fact there is no DAB reception here in Wrexham (pop ~ 100,000) is just typical in my cynical view, IYSWIM.

Thanks NetworkGuy , I will look into the aerial issue.

See if neighbours are able to receive with indoor aerials, is how I'd start, as that at least proves it can be done. If someone has chosen to use an outside aerial after exhausting their indoor options it starts to get more costly.

Do also remember (if you have rooms with a TV aerial feed) that a cheap 15 to 20 quid Freeview box wired into a music centre or some other type of amp would give you the full range of BBC national radio stations, and possibly in better quality than on DAB.

Similarly multi-room satellite is easy enough (an LNB [piece at the end of the arm] can have up to to 8 cables, so could feed up to 8 rooms, and ways exist to go up to 24 outputs) so with FreeSat a wide range of TV and radio could be fed to rooms indoors. The lowest cost FreeSat boxes are under 75 pounds I think, so could be cheaper than a number of DAB radios anyway !

Using these alternatives blocks listening of 'local' stations (both BBC and commercial) to an extent, compared with DAB, but can give other choices not so widely available on DAB.

Sorry if that's a bit too far off your DAB question, but for people who search for DAB and then find there is poor/no reception if they are shielded by mountains or hills, Freeview and [more likely] satellite are options which can provide greater choice and won't really be 'optional' over time, with the big digital TV switchover taking place over the next 30-ish months.

Of course many people would think twice about using a Freeview box in their kitchen, if it's anything like as small as mine (!) but if someone is keen on 6 Music, Radio 7, FiveLive, or 1 Xtra, for example, then it may work better than DAB and a cheap micro/midi system with speakers could be put on top of wall cupboards, perhaps (thinking back to the cupboards we had when I was a child, perhaps more awkward these days if fitted right to the ceiling).

ah, thanks NetworkGuy, for all that, that's really helpful. You know, I mostly listen when I am working during the day in the living room anyway, and mostly listen to six music....Im going to admit to you now, that I had not really thought about putting it on through the sky box, which is in the same room......thanks for reminding me about that!! I will ask around to see if neighbours are able to get dab radios working too, great idea. My kitchen is probably as small as yours, but there is room on top of the cupboards (if i moved all the other crap off...) so that is another option too.

Thanks again

Just don't do (waste of life of TV) what a local dentist has done and play 6Music via the TV (they have Radio 1 on, with a fairly static display... I suppose they might watch TV news at lunch time but the rest of the time it is a waste of electricity).

It's worth finding a mini / midi / whatever music system so you can have decent stereo sound with a film from Sky or as in this case, just have 'radio' with no need for a picture.

You are hardly alone with not thinking about using the Sky box. For years they have carried audio only services - I was listening during the tests in the early 90s when they used to have a loop when sport was on Five Live (as they were barred from distributing commentary across Europe) and they had Radio 4 and World Service on.

Hardly watched much TV but could always have good quality sound for Five Live, and my other favourite, World Radio Network (now over 10 years old, at www.wrn.org) which carried/carries English shows from many different countries each day - some 15 minutes, some 30, some longer from USA, Canada, Australia.