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| DAB - Digital Audio Broadcasting |
The UK currently has the world's biggest digital radio network, with 103 transmitters, with two national DAB ensembles and forty eight local and regional DAB ensembles broadcasting over 250 commercial and 34 BBC radio stations across the UK.
In the capital of London there are already more than 51 different digital stations available. In addition to DAB, radio stations are also broadcast on digital television platforms, Digital Radio Mondiale on mediumwave and shortwave frequencies as well as internet radio in the UK.
Digital radio ensemble operators and stations need a broadcasting licence from the UK's media regulator Ofcom to broadcast.
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Digital radio in the United Kingdom is being promoted by radio stations and the broadcasting industry on the premise that it provides a wider choice of radio stations, is easier to use, and is resistant to the interference which other broadcast media are susceptible to. However, the price paid for the extra number of stations is that the audio quality on DAB is lower than on FM.
Also some areas of the country are not presently covered by DAB; the BBC says that it may not provide coverage to the final 10% of the population, and may use Digital Radio Mondiale instead.
In 2011, Ofcom published a consultation with the intent to push DAB coverage across the United Kingdom up to the same level as enjoyed by FM broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom Government intends to migrate the vast majority of AM and FM analogue services to digital between 2015 and 2019, subject to targets being met for coverage, listening figures for digital radio and agreements in relation to funding and other decisions related to switchover being made under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, broadcasters and ensemble operators.
In the UK, 29.5% of all radio listening hours in 2012 were through digital platforms, with DAB making up for the majority of digital radio listening (64.9%), and 41.7% of UK households claim to have access to a DAB radio set. |
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| Criticisms of DAB in the UK |
DAB provides low audio quality in the UK due to 98% of stereo stations using a bit rate level of 128 kbit/s with the MP2 audio codec, which provides much poorer sound quality than FM-quality.
Also, a large and growing number of music stations are transmitting in mono. Indeed, the bit rates used by the radio stations on other digital platforms, such as cable, terrestrial and satellite are usually higher than on DAB, so the audio quality is also higher.
For example, all of the BBC stations use higher bit rates on Freeview and satellite than on DAB, apart from the BBC World Service on Freeview.
In addition, Ofcom has said that even after extra spectrum has been allocated to DAB, it estimates that around 90 local radio stations will either be unable to transmit on DAB because there is no space for them on a local DAB multiplex or because they cannot afford the high transmission costs of DAB that the multiplex operators are charging.
However, Ofcom announced in 2005 that it regarded Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) as being an option for the local stations unable to secure carriage or unable to pay the high transmission costs of DAB.
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| DAB+ |
DAB+, a new digital radio standard using the HE-AAC encoding standard and announced by the WorldDAB organisation in 2006, is being considered for digital radio broadcasting in the UK.
HE-AAC encoding is more efficient than the MPEG-2 Layer II encoding standard currently used for DAB in the UK. DAB+ will either allow stations to broadcast at higher sound quality than currently possible with DAB, or allow more stations at the same quality currently broadcast on an ensemble.
The Digital Radio Development Bureau released a press statement in January 2007 in which they admitted that DAB+ will be used in the UK in future. Ofcom have said that the UK will switch to DAB+, but not until the vast majority of radio sets can work with DAB+.
If broadcasters and regulators dropped DAB in favour of DAB+ it is unlikely that current digital radio owners would be able to upgrade their model to receive the DAB+ signal.
Any change to DAB+ would have to be gradual, allowing those with non upgradable receivers to obtain new equipment.
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| DAB frequency plan |
DAB radio stations in the United Kingdom are broadcast on a number of frequency blocks on VHF Band III. The original plan devised in Wiesbaden for the framework of DAB in Europe was to allocate frequency blocks 11B to 12D for UK DAB broadcasting. However, as part of its Review of Radio, Ofcom has expanded the frequency allocations for DAB and has advertised local and a national ensemble licence on blocks outside the original Wiesbaden plan on 10B to 10D and 11A. Block 5A has also been reserved for the launch of local ensembles.
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Block |
Frequency |
England and Wales |
Scotland |
N.Ireland |
5A |
174.928 MHz |
Local ensembles |
None |
None |
10B |
211.648 MHz |
Local ensembles |
None |
None |
10C |
213.360 MHz |
Local ensembles |
None |
None |
10D |
215.072 MHz |
Local ensembles |
None |
None |
11A |
216.928 MHz |
Digital Two |
Digital Two |
Digital Two |
11B |
218.640 MHz |
Local ensembles |
Local ensembles |
None |
11C |
220.352 MHz |
Local ensembles |
Local ensembles |
None |
11D |
222.064 MHz |
Digital One ensemble |
Local and regional |
None |
12A |
223.936 MHz |
Local and regional (except West Wales) |
Digital One ensemble |
None |
12B |
225.648 MHz |
BBC national DAB ensemble |
BBC national DAB |
BBC National DAB |
12C |
227.360 MHz |
Local and regional (except the south coast) |
Local and regional |
None |
12D |
229.072 MHz |
Local ensembles (except the south coast) |
Local ensembles |
Local ensembles |
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| BBC DAB National |
| BBC National DAB is a Digital audio broadcasting multiplex owned and operated by the BBC and is transmitted from a number of transmitter sites across the country; it only carries BBC radio stations. |
Station |
Service ID |
Bitrate |
Audio |
Description |
BBC Radio 1 |
C221 |
128kbit/s |
Joint Stereo |
Youth orientated Popular music and speech. |
BBC Radio 2 |
C222 |
128kbit/s |
Joint Stereo |
Adult-oriented Pop Music |
BBC Radio 3 |
C223 |
160-192kbit/s |
Joint Stereo |
Classic Music |
BBC Radio 4 (FM) |
C224 |
80-128kbit/s |
Joint Stereo |
News & Speech |
BBC Radio 5 Live |
C225 |
64-80kbit/s |
Mono |
Live news and sport |
BBC 6 Music |
C22B |
128kbit/s |
Joint Stereo |
Classic rock Alternative rock Funk Indie Jazz Hip Hop |
BBC Radio 4 Extra |
C22C |
80kbit/s |
Mono |
Comedy, Drama, and Children's programming |
BBC 1Xtra |
C22A |
128kbit/s |
Joint Stereo |
New Black / urban music |
BBC Asian Network |
C236 |
64kbit/s |
Mono |
South Asian orientated |
BBC World Service |
C238 |
64kbit/s |
Mono |
English language version of the BBC World Service |
BBC Guide |
E1C79E5E |
16-32 kbit/s |
Data |
Hidden service, EPG data |
BBC Travel |
E1C79E60 |
16-32 kbit/s |
Data |
Hidden service, travel information data |
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| Part Time Services |
| The BBC National DAB multiplex makes extensive use of dynamic ensemble reconfiguration to allow a number of part time services to broadcast. While these additional services are on air the bit rates of (one or more of) BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5, and data services are reduced. |
| BBC Data Services |
Digital radio text is the scrolling information that is broadcast along with the audio content on DAB.
This can be dynamic programme information, an email address or phone number for a particular show, news headlines and sports results - and on some music networks 'now playing' track information.
Some of the latest DAB products can pick up a broadcast EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) which provides free, useful information programme information for up to 7 days in advance prior to broadcast, allowing users to record a particular show automatically - or even an entire series of programmes.
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| Digital One |
| Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. As of March 2010, the multiplex covers more than 90% of the population from a total of 137 transmitters. DigitalOne are currently exploring the expansion of their network into Northern Ireland. |
| Service |
Service ID |
Bitrate |
Audio channels |
Description |
Absolute Radio |
C1C0 |
112 kbit/s |
Joint stereo |
Adult contemporary music, carries London output during programme splits, but with national news and advertising |
Absolute Radio 80s |
C4C1 |
112 kbit/s |
Joint stereo |
Adult contemporary music from the 1980s |
Absolute Radio 90s |
C4C0 |
64 kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
Britpop, Indie, and Rock from the 1990s, shared space with Absolute Radio Extra |
Absolute Radio Extra |
C0C1 |
64-112 kbit/s |
Mono |
Part-time live Football and concerts, live sport |
BFBS Radio |
C3C0 |
80 kbit/s |
Mono |
Contemporary music |
Classic FM |
C2A1 |
160 kbit/s |
Joint stereo |
Classical music |
Jazz FM |
C0C2 |
80 kbit/s |
Mono |
Jazz music, initial test transmissions labelled as "Karma" |
Planet Rock |
C2C0 |
112 kbit/s |
Joint stereo |
A national Classic Rock station owned by Bauer Radio |
Premier Christian Radio |
C7C1 |
64 kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
Christian music |
Smooth Radio |
C6C0 |
80 kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
Easy Listening |
Smooth Radio 70s |
C3C5 |
80 kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
1970s music |
Kiss UK |
C0C1 |
80 kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
A London based station specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and electronic dance music owned by Bauer Radio |
Talksport |
C0C0 |
64 kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
Sport and talk |
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UCB UK |
C4CA |
64kbit/s |
Mono LSF |
Christian music |
INRIX UK TPEG |
E1C000BA |
16 kbit/s |
Data |
Hidden service |
Traffic Master |
E1C000B8 |
8 kbit/s |
Data |
Hidden service |
What's On |
E1C000B1 |
8 kbit/s |
Data |
Hidden service |
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| DAB Links |
| BBC Digital Radio BBC Digital Radio Information. |
| DAB Ensambles in the UK National & regional ensambles in the UK. |
| Digital One Website of the national commercial digital radio operator, full of useful information about national DAB stations. |
| Digital Radio Now A one-stop guide to DAB in the U.K., coverage, stations equipment and information on in car DAB. |
| Digital Radio Development Bureau The Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) is a trade body funded and supported by the BBC and commercial radio multiplex operators. |
| uk-dab.info Website for DAB digital radio enthusiasts. |
| UTV DAB UTV DAB is responsible for operating a number of DAB Digital Radio Multiplexes across the country on behalf of the following joint venture companies: Switchdigital - (transmitting to Greater London, Central Scotland and Aberdeenshire) and UTV-BAUER - (covering Bradford & Huddersfield, Stoke-on-Trent and Swansea). |
| Wasted DAB Multiplex Capacity The DAB broadcasters often claim that they have to use low bit rates for their stereo stations in order to provide a wide range of stations, but in reality, this claim doesn't stand up to scrutiny. |
| World DAB Source of information on DAB around the world. |
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