Digital radio in Europe

[Cowley]

Evening folks.

We're going on a trip to Europe at the end of the month and earlier in the year the radio in the van packed up so I replaced it with a digital one which is great as long as you're not in a deep Devon valley somewhere.
The question is and I'm hoping someone might know: Do European countries have digital radio stations? It's got FM on the radio but my normal radio aerial on the roof of the van got snapped off by a falling tree branch during a storm a few months ago and I'm wondering if I need to replace it or if I'll be able to pick up some digital stations abroad?
We'll be travelling through France, Belgium, Germany and Austria.

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[TheEdge]

A little Google work seems to imply it should work if it can pick up a station. However it seems that UK DAB stations and radios use Band III (whatever that means) and stations in Europe use Band L (whatever that also means).

So no, a UK radio may not pick it up.

 

[DaleCooper]

Evening folks.

We're going on a trip to Europe at the end of the month and earlier in the year the radio in the van packed up so I replaced it with a digital one which is great as long as you're not in a deep Devon valley somewhere.
The question is and I'm hoping someone might know: Do European countries have digital radio stations? It's got FM on the radio but my normal radio aerial on the roof of the van got snapped off by a falling tree branch during a storm a few months ago and I'm wondering if I need to replace it or if I'll be able to pick up some digital stations abroad?
We'll be travelling through France, Belgium, Germany and Austria.

Any advice much appreciated.

Has the art of fashioning replacement aerials out of wire coat hangers been lost completely?

 

[radamfi]

The most comprehensive guide to DAB worldwide is

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/

DAB in Europe is exclusively on Band III as far as I can tell as I haven't seen anywhere that uses L-Band, even though each country has L-Band allocations. DAB is in its infancy in France but is more widely available in Belgium, Germany and Austria.

The main point is to check that the radio can receive DAB+ as well as DAB. If it is a new radio it probably does, although it is still possible to buy a DAB only radio in a British supermarket. Most European countries use DAB+ whereas only a few stations in the UK are on DAB+ because too many early adopters have DAB only radios in the UK.

Incidentally, if you thought that a DAB radio would mean you could get British radio abroad, that is not the case. You need internet radio for that. Personally, I don't bother with DAB, even in the UK, as internet streaming on 3G/4G is now cheap enough, picks up most British stations abroad (other than a few which are geoblocked) and uses less data than you'd expect, especially if you use economical AAC streams.

 

[Cowley]

Thanks for the above replies guys. The radio was cheap as it was a display model (the last one on display), I think I've got some instructions somewhere so I'll have a look and see if it's digital+/band III etc.
I may just opt for downloading lots of stuff onto my phone to listen to because it's only for the journeys each way that I need it and if we can pick up the radio then all the better.
I didn't realise that there were different formats for digital radio though.
Dale Cooper I don't have any coat hangers as I use a floordrobe system.

 

[radamfi]

Thanks for the above replies guys. The radio was cheap as it was a display model (the last one on display), I think I've got some instructions somewhere so I'll have a look and see if it's digital+/band III etc.
I may just opt for downloading lots of stuff onto my phone to listen to because it's only for the journeys each way that I need it and if we can pick up the radio then all the better.

I was going to suggest trying to pick up a DAB+ station but in Devon you are at the edge of the coverage area of SDL National. If you can get any of the ones on this list labelled as "DAB+ Stereo HE-AAC v2" then you can get DAB+

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/uknat.html#D2

 

[Cowley]

I was going to suggest trying to pick up a DAB+ station but in Devon you are at the edge of the coverage area of SDL National. If you can get any of the ones on this list labelled as "DAB+ Stereo HE-AAC v2" then you can get DAB+

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/uknat.html#D2

Thanks radamfi. I'm going to have a look into it tomorrow evening when I get a bit of time.
When we were over there last time we listened to a lot of Italian radio on FM which was pretty good actually. Lots of classic rock without the swear words blanked out, can't be bad...

 

[Condor7]

Has the art of fashioning replacement aerials out of wire coat hangers been lost completely?

Shame, they worked so well.

 

[dgl]

As has been said digital radio in Europe uses band III almost exclusively with L band being rarely used (Germany + some eastern European countries) and I believe that is only for local broadcasts as the higher frequency of the signal (~1.4-1.5 Ghz ) doesn't penetrate buildings very well.
The radio will need to support DAB+ to work the newer Roberts units do but most of the older ones will not, best to check with the manufacturer as even the same models can be different (e.g. the Roberts Solar DAB 2 supposedly only supports DAB+ on the European model but the one I received has a DAB+ marking on the sticker on the front).

 

[Howardh]

As has been said digital radio in Europe uses band III almost exclusively with L band being rarely used (Germany + some eastern European countries) and I believe that is only for local broadcasts as the higher frequency of the signal (~1.4-1.5 Ghz ) doesn't penetrate buildings very well.
The radio will need to support DAB+ to work the newer Roberts units do but most of the older ones will not, best to check with the manufacturer as even the same models can be different (e.g. the Roberts Solar DAB 2 supposedly only supports DAB+ on the European model but the one I received has a DAB+ marking on the sticker on the front).

I have said Roberts DAB+ (never used it overseas), it's a portable with excellent battery power (rechargeable) and I stick it onto the car's dashboard and the cable goes from the headphone socket to the car's audio in, so the DAB comes clear over the car's speakers! Much easier than buying a specialist kit that requires wires all over the place.
Sad note though - the car is new (66) but didn't come with DAB as standard - or even an extra. Booo, Hyundai - but I knew that anyway and thought car quality more important than the audio setup!! (Especially as it's easy to rig up the portable!!)