I just had a quick look at how album art on a per-track basis reaches tuners. In the US, analog FM radio gets it through a side-channel.. a separate signal called HD radio.

And apparently DAB+ incorporates album art into the signal. This seems to be the difference between DAB and DAB+. I guess the question is, does the HD radio side channel approach ever happen with DAB (non-plus)?

Virgin Anthems changed to Virgin Legends [SDL National ]

Mellow Magic St changed to Mellow Magic [SDL National ]

Absolute Rock St changed to Absolute Rock [SDL National ]

Absolute 90s St changed to Absolute 90s [SDL National ]

Planet Rock St changed to Planet Rock [SDL National ]

Absolute 80s St changed to Absolute 80s [SDL National ]

Jazz FM Stereo changed to Jazz FM [SDL National ]

Magic Radio changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Grt Hits Rad 70s added to D1 National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

Grt Hits Rad 80s added to D1 National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

HITS RADIO 90s added to D1 National (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)

KISSTORY changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

HITS RADIO 00s added to D1 National (DAB+ 40 Kbps; Pop Music)

KISS changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Absolute Radio changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

SUBJAM added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 64 Kbps; Other Music)

XS removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Magic changed to Magic Radio [D1 National ]

Magic Classical changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National ]

My DAB+ radio also has an FM function. It stores a favorite set of channels for DAB and a separate memory store for FM. When cycling through the DAB presets, there is a ~3 or so second delay for it to tune and decode. With the FM mode there is no delay. Is my particular model just slow with decoding the first sound byte or is this an inherent DAB shortcoming?

I imagine a well designed DAB radio could theoretically tune the next 2 or 3 presets in sequence simultaneously in parallel so you could avoid the channel changing delay. Has anything like that been implemented?

What about a device that pairs FM to DAB? Some radio stations have both an FM and a DAB transmission. So in principle I would want the device to be aware of the dupes. From there, I should be able to flip through the FM stations and once I settle on a station push a single button to switch over to the DAB signal. It could even deliberately play the FM signal for 4 sec. longer and quickly cross-fade in the DAB signal. Any hardware on the market doing this sort of thing?

Absolute 80s St changed from 40 Kbps (DAB+) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National ]

Absolute 90s St changed from 40 Kbps (DAB+) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National ]

Planet Rock St changed from 40 Kbps (DAB+) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National ]

Scala Radio St changed to Magic Classical [SDL National ]

Magic Classical changed from 40 Kbps (DAB+) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National ]

KISSTORY R&B added to SDL National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

Grt Hits Rad 60s added to SDL National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

Magic Chilled changed to HITS RADIO__CHIL [SDL National ]

HEAT RADIO removed from SDL National

Capital Anthems added to SDL National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

Smooth 80s added to SDL National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Easy Listening)

Capital Chill removed from SDL National

Gold UK changed to Gold Radio UK [D1 National ]

JUST TESTING PLEASE IGNORE changed to Capital UK [Herts Beds Bucks]

HITS RADIO UK added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

Apologies, seems the receiver/bot is not getting good reception of the HBB mux, hence the repeated "this has been added, oh actually it's gone, oh no it hasn't".

When I can get to the antenna I'll reposition it, or put some mitigations in to stop it happening.

HITS RADIO UK removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Cap Taylors Vers removed from SDL National

Capital UK removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Shine 879 removed from Herts Beds Bucks

BBC 3CR removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Heart 4 Counties removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

Shine 879 added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 80 Kbps; Pop Music)

BBC 3CR added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Talk)

Capital UK added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)

Heart 4 Counties added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)

HITS RADIO UK removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Grt Hits BBH removed from Herts Beds Bucks

XS removed from Herts Beds Bucks

HITS RADIO UK added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

Grt Hits BBH added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

XS added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 64 Kbps; Pop Music)

Shine 879 added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 80 Kbps; Pop Music)

XS removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

XS added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 64 Kbps; Pop Music)

Heart 4 Counties removed from Herts Beds Bucks

BBC 3CR removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Heart 4 Counties added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Pop Music)

BBC 3CR added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 128 Kbps; Talk)

MKFM removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; none)

Grt Hits BBH removed from Herts Beds Bucks

Grt Hits BBH added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

MKFM removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

MKFM removed from Herts Beds Bucks

MKFM added to Herts Beds Bucks (DAB 112 Kbps; Pop Music)

HITS RADIO UK changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 112 Kbps (DAB) [Herts Beds Bucks]

Grt Hits BBH changed from 80 Kbps (DAB) to 112 Kbps (DAB) [Herts Beds Bucks]

TalkRadio-TalkTV changed to Talk [SDL National ]

CapXTRA Reloaded changed from 40 Kbps (DAB+) to 32 Kbps (DAB+) [SDL National ]

Cap Taylors Vers added to SDL National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Pop Music)

BBC Radio 3 changed to BBC Radio3 [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 4 changed to BBC Radio4 [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 1 changed to BBC Radio1 [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 2 changed to BBC Radio2 [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 5 Live changed to BBC Radio5Live [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 6Music changed to BBC Radio6Music [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 4Extra changed to BBC Radio4Extra [BBC National DAB]

BBC Radio 1Xtra changed to BBC Radio1Xtra [BBC National DAB]

Sometimes DAB radio stations are playing music that skips like a CD, repeating a short segment like a broken record. It often goes on for quite some time, which is a bit puzzling because surely there is nothing about digital radio tech that would cause this. The skipping never happens during talk radio, only with music.

Are radio stations actually playing CDs? If yes, are these CDs also playing on autopilot with no one at the helm to quickly swap out the disc? Or is it just bad timing.. the CD happened to go to shit while the DJ is literally taking a shit and away from the controls?

The skipping was extremely rare, if ever, on analog radio. So I wonder if DAB has also somehow open things up to very low budget stations with robotic DJs, perhaps due to increased sharable bandwidth or something. Switching from analog FM to DAB tripled the number of stations I can receive.

Why don’t they rip their CDs to FLAC files, then listen to the FLAC files for defects to ensure skipping never happens?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/9179815

Music and radio fans across Bedford are in for a treat with two new DAB radio stations launching this morning (Friday). Community radio station Bedford Radio and commercial station Harpur Radio...

Apparently contains In2beats, Bedford Radio and Angel Vintage.

The BBC has announced plans to launch a new Radio 2 spin-off station focusing on music from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

It is one of four new radio stations the corporation intends to launch on DAB+ and online via BBC Sounds in an effort to attract new audiences.

Grt Hits HBB changed to Grt Hits BBH [Herts Beds Bucks]

Heart 00s changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Classic FM changed from 128 Kbps (DAB) to 64 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Smooth Relax added to D1 National (DAB+ 32 Kbps; Easy Listening)

Heart UK changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Gold UK changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Heart Dance changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Heart 80s changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Heart 90s changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Radio X changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Capital UK changed from 32 Kbps (DAB+) to 40 Kbps (DAB+) [D1 National ]

Heart Xmas removed from D1 National

Great British Radio has ceased trading and will stop broadcasting at midnight following a shareholder meeting today.

The plug has been pulled on the station just weeks after it was due to launch on the national digital radio multiplex.

Great British Radio offered a mixture of music, comedy and speech, created by entrepreneur Charlie Mullins OBE and CEO Mike Osman.

The service announced it was going national from December 4th, but never appeared. It launched in 2021 and has hired a number of well-known names including Cheryl Baker and Harry Redknapp.

The station told RadioToday: “Great British Radio Ltd has today ceased to trade and will no longer broadcast beyond this evening.

“The difficult decision was made by CEO and Director Mike Osman following a meeting earlier today with the company shareholders and investors.”

The station Bruzz has both a DAB (211.648 MHz) and analog signal (98.80 MHz). The DAB signal rarely has enough strength/integrity for the tuner to play it. Sometimes it’s just really choppy, cutting out every ½ second. The FM signal is good enough.. a little static but it’s certainly tolerable, unlike DAB.

So the question: is DAB normally broadcasted from the same transmission point as analog for a given station?