DAB radio tuners

[James]

Hiya ya'll,
I have my car up north now and miss all my favourite radio stations, I noticed a lot of my favourites can be found on digital so I want to somehow get DAB radio in my car. I don't want to change my head unit ( a Kenwood 627) is there any way to add DAB radio to this and are any off the add on tuners any good?

Thanks peeps,
Crammy

[mikeythemini]

You could fit a Kenwood DAB tuner module & it will integrate with your head unit

[James]

thanks mikey, that looks good but seems quite expensive when you can get a freeview tv tuner for less! Have you any experience of the Revo DAB tuner?

[mikeythemini]

Utter s****
I took all the ones I sold back & refunded the customers
The Kenwood one is expensive but very good & remember it all shows up on your existing screen
They are no longer made - I managed to get some by buying up the remains of Kenwood Germany stock.
Most car stereo manufacturers have pulled out of DAB

[PCooperS]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini (original)

Most car stereo manufacturers have pulled out of DAB

Why is that Mikey I thought DAB was the way to go etc ?.

[mikeythemini]

I have a very good contact in the industry - he tells me we will be going onto satelite radio like in USA.
One of the DAB multiplex owners has announced it will be shutting down from what I read recently

[PCooperS]

Can't see my mini with a dish on the roof though it might look a bit odd and slow it up a bit.

[mikeythemini]

Pure have released a sort of portable/car unit - don't know what thats like

Or as mentioned you could get the kenwood freeview kit and get extra radio channels through that - I have fitted one to mine but never tried radio on it - I will & report back

[MiniMatelot]

I drove across the USA last summer with a friend in a red Ford Mustang convertible which had Satellite radio. The receiver was about the size of a box of matches on the boot and reception was fantastic. Got about 100 stations - even Radio 1!! - which was nice when traveling through the southern states. Can't for the life of me remember the make tho.

[mikeythemini]

Sirius is one of them

[MiniMatelot]

That's it! Sirius!

[mikeythemini]

This thread takes me back to when DAB was the future - many years ago - I had a customer who wanted it but it wasn't really available. (He was the owner of a big football pools company)
I ended up managing to get a prototype kenwood unit - very basic but £2000 !!!

[Tunster]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini (original)

This thread takes me back to when DAB was the future - many years ago - I had a customer who wanted it but it wasn't really available. (He was the owner of a big football pools company)
I ended up managing to get a prototype kenwood unit - very basic but £2000 !!!

Blimey! If you've got money, you can get almost anything you want.

The issue on DAB; it's a 15 year old platform and OFCOM have screwed it up by allowing too many stations to join in and overcrowd a multiplex. That's obviously had an effect on the quality on the stations and people have gone back to getting a really good FM system that stomps it. My MINI Boost system gets stations DAB would without any hassle. I did consider the upgrade; for the money, i wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

The only way DAB (or digital radio) will get back on track is if BBC/OFCOM would be honest, say they need to upgrade to DAB+ (a new revision using a more effecient codec) and replace current DAB sets at a small cost.