radio reception

[burbie]

All our television reception will soon change from analogue to digital.
Is this also going to happen to radio frequencies. Meaning we have to replace our old radios.

[Ethel]

Not for a good while

The government has not yet announced a switch-off date for analogue radio.

At present, switchover only affects analogue television transmissions. You will continue to receive analogue radio transmissions on AM and FM, although the preparation work for digital TV switchover is affecting on both analogue and digital radio.

http://www.ukdigitalradio.com/faq/default.asp? number=16&search=coverage&i=true

[vehelpfulguy]

While analogue radio will stay for a while, there are some good arguments for moving to a DAB (digital ) radio.

The signal is digital and therefore clearer and free from interference.

There is no concept of AM, FM, Long Wave etc, so all channels come at the same quality. I listen to TalkSport and Radio 5 Live a lot, but these are "AM" only stations so the signal is not very good, but it is excellent on my DAB radio.

The radios are self-tuning so will pick up all the channels available. The channels then become numbered like TV channels, so you just move the dial round to listen to channel 1, channel 2 etc.

Most digital radios have a small screen so you can see the name of the radio station, also the name of the programme that is on, and also see the name and artist of the music track that is being played.

You can also pick up many radio stations that are just not available on a "normal" radio. Some "radio stations" broadcast on the internet, and these station are often also available on a DAB radio.

[burbie]

Thanks for your replies. The DAB sounds really good, so I may treat myself to one anyway.