Digital radio how does it work

Sometimes, yes. Having FM, AM, and DAB on your car stereo gives you more options for finding your favourite radio station at the optimal audio quality wherever you are. What is the future of DAB radio? The future may also bring recording and rewind functionality, like with your digital TV receiver.

Stay tuned! It is a radio tuner receiver stick for Xtrons Android 5. To check what coverage of DAB services are available in your locality, please see our Transmitter checker tool. Firstly, poor reception might be down to poor coverage, so it is best to check you are in a DAB coverage area. Use our transmitter tool , which will tell you what national and local DAB services are available in your locality.

Secondly, If you are in a good coverage area, and are still receiving poor DAB reception please try our Problem Assistant for further advice. DAB reception is rarely disrupted by high-pressure weather conditions, but under some circumstances, signals from very distant transmitters can cause reception to break up, or be lost for periods of time.

If you suspect this - particularly if you are also getting interference on FM - wait until the weather changes. The 5 Live Sports Extra schedule is available online. For more information on finding and storing these services, see our Help guide on DAB secondary services.

This is because the power used is lower, and is forced to work outside of its normal operating parameters, resulting in electrical impulse interference. For more information on interference, please see our RTIS site. Coverage and location. If you live in a basement flat, or your building is steel-framed or reinforced concrete, coverage may be affected. Most DAB radios can be tuned easily at the touch of a button.

Sometimes a full scan is required. Portable radios should be tuned in a location in your home where the best possible signal is received. Most DAB radios come with built in signal strength meters which can be helpful. From time to time radios should be re-tuned in order to discover new stations.

Telescopic aerials. Telescopic aerials on portable radios should be fully extended to receive a good signal. Tilting and swivelling the aerial will help to get the best signal. Broken aerials may affect reception. An externally mounted aerial can be attached to many types of DAB portable radio and hi-fi systems.

An indoor aerial may be good enough, but for the best reception use an outdoor one. Ideally, this should be on the roof or high up on the outside of the building, though it may also give good results in the loft. Cables and Connectors. If you have an external aerial, a radio signal will always lose some of its strength as it passes along the cable and through the connectors.

It is important to minimise the loss by using good quality cable and connectors. DAB uses different frequencies from FM radio. We advise you check that your antenna is able to receive DAB, in the majority of cases you will need a new antenna. An exception is "helically wound" FM aerials. See our guide on DAB radio in cars. Qualified Installer. The BBC cannot recommend individual Installers. The CAI Confederation of Aerial Industries is a recognised trade body which will can put you in touch with one of their members in your area.

By using our Transmitter Checker , you can check which DAB radio services are available at your location. It will also show you any transmitter faults. Works and Warnings. Check whether there are any known works or warnings that might be causing the problem.

DAB uses multiplexes to group services together. The BBC network stations, e. Nations and Local radio services are carried on a mix of commercial multiplexes. Try switching your radio on and off. If this does not work, a full re-scan might be needed. Check your radio manual for specific instructions on doing a full re-scan. Portable Radios. Try moving the radio around to see if you can find a better position where you get good reception of all the stations you want to listen to.

In most circumstances the supplied telescopic aerial should be perfectly adequate, and as a rule of thumb DAB aerials tend to work best when vertical and extended at least 35 cm. If your radio reception is poor then you could consider an external aerial for best reception quality. Even in good areas an external aerial will guarantee optimum performance and will also ensure consistent listening quality.

Many Digital radios have a signal strength display which enables you to position the Radio for the best reception usually a number of blocks as a guide of reception quality. Unfortunately, some radios are less sensitive than others and need careful positioning to work reliably. If your radio displays signal strength, use this as a guide to ensure the best position.

Our DAB installation guide provides further information. External aerials. It is important to check the cables and the aerial for damage and that they are operating correctly. Make sure any cables between your radio equipment and aerial are connected securely. For further information see our DAB installation guide.

Damaged Cables. Water can get into external cables and can cause reception problems. To rule this out see our guide on water damage to cables. Car Radios. Radio reception can drop out when on the move due to changes in topography. See our car radio guide for more information. Radio signals can be affected by fine weather including high pressure.

The only solution is to wait for the weather to change, you should not re-tune during this time. Our information on h ow clear skies and fine weather can affect your radio reception may be useful, please see our weather guide. If all other stations are working ok and you have just lost one station.

The problem could be due to a number of reasons, the station may have stopped broadcasting or have moved multiplexes rather than a radio fault.

All of the stations in one multiplex should be behaving the same way. If you are still having problems, it is possible an unwanted signal is the cause. For information on the symptoms of interference see our sister website RTIS. The BBC cannot recommend individual installers. The CAI Confederation of Aerial Industries is a recognised trade body which will be able to put you in touch with one of their members in your area. You may need to contact your car manufacturer to check. The best place to put a DAB aerial is on the roof of the car and as far from the engine as possible, to avoid any interference.

If your car radio is showing no signal or no service for a station you usually receive, this could be down to one of the following things:. DAB Transmitter Fault.

If you know your location, you can use our transmitter checker to see whether there is a problem. If not, then check the radio and the aerial to confirm they are working correctly. Poor DAB reception can also be caused by equipment used in the vehicle. For example, phone chargers or dash cams sometimes cause interference and affect your radio signal.

Try unplugging the items to see if one of them is causing any interference. Delete the presets and re-tune to the services in your area. When travelling in the car, your signal can be affected by natural features of the land, for example, hills, valleys, rivers, etc. The signal should return once you move away from these features. Where can I find them? When Radio 5 Live Sports Extra is on air, you should find it right next to 5 Live on the list of stations on your digital radio.

It can be found next to Radio 4 on the list of stations. When do they broadcast? Radio 5 Live Sports Extra has a dynamic schedule. To see what is available when, the BBC keeps a schedule on the sport website. How to find these services. It is best to re-tune your radio when they are broadcasting, so it will store the station in its memory.

It is worth first checking to see whether the problem is with your own equipment, or the local transmitter. If neighbours are having the same problem it may be that the aerial itself is at fault, or there may be an interfering signal.

In either case, you will need to ask your landlord or management committee to solve the problem. Checking for problems. Check cables and leads within your property to ensure the problem is not a simple installation fault. Please see our Freeview Installation guide for further details.

This will help you to see if there are, or have been recently, transmitter faults in your local area. Electrical interference. There are differences between a reception problem and one caused by electrical interference. See our help guides which explain the differences. If it is potentially interference, your landlord or management committee can contact the regulator, Ofcom, for help with solving the problem, using their contact web form. Since it is a communal aerial, you will not be able to contact Ofcom directly.

Your television can sometimes receive signals from more than one transmitter, which may be transmitting different regional news. This is more likely to occur following a retune of your television. To ensure you are receiving the correct regional news programmes from the transmitter your aerial is pointing towards, you will need to do a manual retune.

Please see our help guide on a manual retune. Please be aware most local news is not currently broadcast in HD at this time so will not be available on HD channels. Please use our Transmitter tool to see if you are in coverage. Following a decision by the Government, some channels used by Freeview, are being reallocated to allow for the future development of new mobile broadband services.

This may be due to two reasons. Firstly, you may have a poor aerial system, so we recommend you checking over your installation by reading our Good installation help guide. Secondly, you may be on the edge of Freeview coverage, and likely have a weak signal. This may be fine during the day, but in the evening, signals from distant transmitters can travel further, and can cause reception problems for those at the very edge of coverage. Use our Transmitter checker tool to see if you are in an area of good reception and for further advice.

For programmes which are pre-recorded, we create the subtitles in advance. For a programme broadcast live, like the News , subtitles will be generated as it is broadcast, which is a complex and problematic process. Audio Description is a live verbal commentary, providing information which describes the key visual information contained on the screen, which a blind or partially sighted viewer may otherwise miss.

To turn AD on or off, press AD on your remote. For more helpful information please see our Audio Description help guide. There are all kinds of aerials available on the market and some which are specific to certain frequencies. A wideband aerial is a popular choice, although there are other aerials available. A qualified aerial installer with local knowledge will be able to advise further. Your aerial should be as high as possible pointing towards the transmitter with the best signal.

Ensure there is nothing in front of the aerial that could block the signal, such as trees. All TV reception predictions assume an outside aerial at a height of 10m from the ground.

Loft and indoor aerials. If you live close to a transmitter or can get a strong TV signal, then it could be possible to use an aerial in your loft or an indoor portable aerial.

However, in both cases the signal will be weakened as it has to pass through various obstructions such as walls, roof tiles, foil backed insulation etc. Even if you are predicted to have good reception, you may have problems receiving services using indoor or loft aerials. Cable and connectors. A television signal will always lose some of its strength as it passes along the cable and through the connectors.

Therefore it is important to minimise the loss by using good quality cable and connectors. These are not recommended unless absolutely required as they can introduce unexpected reception problems.

See our help guide on the different types of amplifiers available. Depending on the transmitter you are using, your aerial elements will need to be mounted flat horizontal or on its side vertical. We cannot recommend individual installers. However the CAI Confederation of Aerial Industries is a recognised trade body which will be able to put you in touch with one of their members in your area. Basic Installation. It is important to check that your installation is intact. For example all the cables between your television equipment and aerial are connected securely and none is damaged.

Further information is available in our Freeview installation guide. Check our Works and Warnings section to see whether there are any known problems. Using our Transmitter Checker , check your transmitter is not undergoing any work. Television signals can be affected by fine weather including high pressure atmospherics and the only solution is to wait for the weather to change, you should not retune during this time.

See how weather can affect Freeview reception. During wet weather, when covered in moisture, all trees can have an appreciable effect on signals. As trees sway in windy weather the screening effect varies, leading to fluctuations in the quality of reception. To rule this out see our guide on cables and water damage. A manual retune is more effective than an auto-retune as it only tunes your television to the transmitter your aerial is pointing towards.

For more information on how to retune manually see our manual re-tuning page. For information on the symptoms of interference see our other site, RTIS , for further information. We cannot recommend individual Installers. When to use an amplifier. A signal amplifier should only be used as a last resort when the television signal is weak. A good amplifier should have a filter built in that only allows the signal you want to be boosted and not any unwanted signals.

Analog technology, on the other hand, conveys data as electronic signals of varying frequencies and amplitudes. Waves of a given frequency carry these signals. Digital radio, therefore, broadcasts radio via a network of terrestrial transmitters. It has no frequencies, which means audio interference does not happen. The system basically discards sounds which the listener cannot hear.

These include very quiet sounds which might be masked by louder sounds.