DAB radio in the MH

Hi Fatbelly, It's a Bailey MH on a Peugeot Boxer cab with the standard DAB radio installed. It has the volume and on/off knob on the left and a 'Browse' rotating knob opposite on the right.

I think you need to do two things, (I think this is what you need to do - my MH is not at home so I can't double check).

First activate 'regional' and then 'AF' which enables the system to search for the strongest frequency do the following. Press the 'menu' key above the Browse knob. Rotate the 'Browse' knob to find 'Regional' and then press the central 'enter' key.  

To activate the Alternative Frequencies (AF), in the menu turn the browse knob to find AF, then activate or deactivate by pressing the knobs centre 'enter' key.

Hope that helps. It's worth scrolling through the other settings too and  turning them on and off to see what happens. I like the option of automatically increasing or decreasing the volume matching the speed - so that when we pull up at reception the radio volume automatically reduces.

The problems stem from when DAB was first licensed in this country. For a start it was allocated a radio frequency double that of FM radio, so its propagation characteristics are different and it doesn't follow ground contours as well. 

Secondly, the network was designed for static reception, so allowed transmitter powers were matched to that. The transmitter locations weren't too plentiful, so even for static use, reception was patchy.

I believe that in Germany they designed their DAB network for mobile use, so have higher power transmitters and more of them.

I have a DAB radio in my wife's car and it's a dead loss. Reception is so patchy that its always tuned to the FM band now. And we live in a fairly populated area of Hertfordshire.

I'm not going even bother with DAB in our van.

--

Pete

Hi,

I presume u drove down the A49 to Ludlow?

If so U do not have a problem! it is just that you mostly are driving in a valley and the dab signal is in and out depending on location. not good coverage one u pass Shrewsbury, not to bad once you get to Ludlow.

I live there so have the same problems.

Yes we were on the A49 and the coverage did drop once we passed Shrewsbury and did pick up when we got to Ludlow.

We get BBC reception on old fashioned 198 Long Wave on the car radio as far as half way down France. DAB is a non starter over there. 

Yes, there are no signals abroad if you look at the link on page 1 the FAQs give the reasons.

see here