digital switchover - will my car radio work?

[Monsieur]

I see that some stores are offering a radio scrappage deal but will the radio in my 2007 audi a4 work anyway or do I need to swap the radio over for a digital one?

[turbine2]

Yes, your radio will still work. If you're worried there are separate DAB units that you can buy which will do the receiving DAB, transcoding and short range transmission of FM.
I can't see radios going the DAB route for a long time yet. Some stations have tried it but found it to be too expensive to run and closed their DAB operations down.

[RickT]

Does the Switchover affect FM & AM Radio


The digital switchover does not affect AM or FM radio – just analogue TV. All that's affected by the switchover is the reception of BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five on a TV aerial on analogue TV sets and recorders.

Will FM and AM analogue radio switch off?


In 2009, the Government's Digital Britain report outlined plans to turn off existing FM and AM National and local services by 2015. This would free up space for a number of "ultra-local" services.

This switch would only go ahead if at least 50% of the UK were listening on digital radio.

The Digital Britain plans aren't concrete, but as it stands, the report recommends moving existing FM and AM services over to digital by 2015. For more on this, see the Radio & Telly FM Switchover pages

Digital Radio Upgrade?

In June 2009, the Government's "Digital Britain" report was published. This reported, commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport outlined a number of proposed changes , including some that will have a huge impact on radio listening. For the full report, following this link to culture.gov.uk
The headline of the Digital Britain report is that there is a proposed "Digital Radio Upgrade" set for the end of 2015.

What does this mean to me?

If the proposals of the Digital Britain report were to go ahead, this would mean that:

• Existing national and local stations currently broadcasting on FM or Medium Wave (AM) will migrate over to digital (i.e. DAB)
• The space freed up on the FM band will be used for what are being called "ultra-local" stations

In order for this to happen, the following two things need to happen by 2013:

1. 50% of listening needs to be on digital radio
2. National DAB coverage needs to be comparable to FM coverage, and local DAB needs to reach 90% of the population and all major roads

Not happy? Have Your Say

When the report was published, we started hearing from our regular readers that they're not happy about the proposed turning off of FM services, forcing listeners to move over to DAB.

• First off - this is a proposal created under a Labour Government. Should Labour not be in power after the next General Election, things might change.
• There is a petition to Downing Street opposing these plans. See petitions.number10.gov.uk/AM-FM-Radio
• Make your views clear to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Government department responsible for. Contact the DMCS
• If you have a comment on these plans for FM radio, you can add a comment to our Blog Post, or in our UK Digital Switchover forum

Take a read here. - http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/fmswitchoff.html




Rick

[Monsieur]

Okay, so within the next 5 years at least 50% of the UK will be using digital radio.
If my car currently has an analogue radio that equates to one car radio not working when the switchover occurs - sometime between 2010 and 2015.

So, in an Audi A4 2007 model, is the radio an analogue radio or a digital radio?

Going over to DAB will be good if they get rid of the annoying DJs on radio 1

[phil miller]

i hadnt thought about this, so does that mean all new cars are fitted with a dab radio, cos surly if there not then would the warrenty have to put it right??

[Ben]

Okay, so within the next 5 years at least 50% of the UK will be using digital radio.
If my car currently has an analogue radio that equates to one car radio not working when the switchover occurs - sometime between 2010 and 2015.

So, in an Audi A4 2007 model, is the radio an analogue radio or a digital radio? Analogue

Going over to DAB will be good if they get rid of the annoying DJs on radio 1 If you think they are annoying, why do you listen? If you didn't listen, you wouldn't know to comment.

i hadnt thought about this, so does that mean all new cars are fitted with a dab radio, cos surly if there not then would the warrenty have to put it right??

This will be on their options list. don't expect them to be standard except on the top of the range models.

[Ben]

Yes, your radio will still work. If you're worried there are separate DAB units that you can buy which will do the receiving DAB, transcoding and short range transmission of FM.
I can't see radios going the DAB route for a long time yet. Some stations have tried it but found it to be too expensive to run and closed their DAB operations down.

No. come switch over, he will have to swap his analogue for a digital.

[turbine2]

No, not necessailly. If the OP wants to continue to listen to an FM station that goes over to DAB then it's an option, but there's also the option of the digital transcoder and short range transmitter.
FM stations will not disappear. New ones may (will probably) turn up (something about local stations AIRI) so there will still be FM transmissions to pick up. Just like there are still AM stations on LW and MW.
It's not going to happen for several years yet though. My money is somewhere around 2015 as being the tipping point unless the government kicks up some more money to make the change. It's also worth noting that any radio station investing in DAB transmitters has to give the golden frequency range away to the BBC even before it starts planning on the area of spectrum to use and DAB transmitters are just not economically viable at this time for most stations.