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DAB aerial recommendations

rizzyk

rizzyk

Member
Having endured patchy DAB and FM reception with a Cyrus DAB 8.0 (front room) and FM7.5 (back room) for years, I have decided once the Naim one-box transition is complete (Uniti2, and SuperUniti2) , a decent DAB aerial might be wise.

DAB isn't going to be a source for criticial listening, but does anyone have any recommendations please?
Indoor/loft/roof mount?

Got a quote a few years back from a local TV aerial guy (after deciding that chimney level DIY atop an extended ladder was not for me) who was quoting about £200ish to supply and fit one, and I might need two!
Plus cabling was additional - maybe.

Any good experiences, with an easy to implement solution?

This might become part of a wider drive to optimise the lesser elements, cabling, positioning etc!

Cheers

Riz
 
First, you need to find out what is possible in your area - you cannot get good reception with anything remotely logical in an area of p-poor reception. Big areas of the UK still have very poor DAB signal.

There is, or was, help online telling you reception strength and as a consequence what sort of aerial you need for good reception. It is not bombproof, it used to work by postcode and it can't allow for massive buildings blocking your signal at your precise address, for instance, but it will be a help, if it still exists, which it ought to.

I am lucky here, although I rarely listen to DAB - a tiny indoor aerial works fine.

For FM, I use an aerial in the loft (my TV aerial is also in the loft). The roof does reduce signal strength (details online), but for me that works fine. I was lucky with that - the conduit carrying the TV aerial cable was large enough to take a second one, so I ran the FM lead down that conduit and fitted a dual outlet aerial socket at the bottom - job done. Took maybe an hour to install.

If you have a good but weak signal, think of using an amplifier. An amplifier cannot make a bad signal, good, but it can usefully boost a good, weak one.
 
If you do have access to a good signal, height may well help almost not at all. A well-chosen aerial, orientated correctly, at modest height, or in a loft (I live in a bungalow) will potentially be fine.
Use a website to work out what an optimum aerial would be - one that gives advice about different designs, even if you don't buy from them. Using too big a gain aerial (at least for FM) is as bad a choice as one with too little.
 
I don’t say this to be annoying (which it might sound), but isn’t internet radio an option? As long as you’re on an unlimited broadband package it’s probably a better option. Obviously a backup solution is good to have, but Classic FM is on, umm, FM, which I’m guessing you could ensure with a good portable (with aux out if required) for well under £200.
 
Whaleblue said:
I don’t say this to be annoying (which it might sound), but isn’t internet radio an option? As long as you’re on an unlimited broadband package it’s probably a better option. Obviously a backup solution is good to have, but Classic FM is on, umm, FM, which I’m guessing you could ensure with a good portable (with aux out if required) for well under £200.
Click to expand...
True, true. Not annoying at all and thanks for responding.
The Uniti2 has iRadio but limited UK stations on there. Might be worth looking at so thanks for the tip. Some of the international jazz, ambient stations look ok though.
I was going for a minimal boxes solution, so just sold my FM tuner :(
 
rizzyk said:
True, true. Not annoying at all and thanks for responding.
The Uniti2 has iRadio but limited UK stations on there. Might be worth looking at so thanks for the tip. Some of the international jazz, ambient stations look ok though.
I was going for a minimal boxes solution, so just sold my FM tuner :(
Click to expand...

Well, I imagine a new or second hand portable FM radio could be purchased for a sensible sum, perhaps homed in the kitchen but also usable in the HiFi (get one with aux or even stereo phono outs).
 
First off, I recommend getting a length of two-core cable, such as some speaker wire, and splitting one end out into a dipole. DAB is broadcast on 225.648MHz, which is a wavelength of 1.33m (52.34") and so you need a dipole of half that = 26" across the whole thing, 13" arms, or about 12" arms accounting for propagation velocity factor in the conductor. Spread the arms out wide and possibly tape them to a wooden rod or something, prop it up somewhere convenient and connect to the tuner. You can rip the feeder cable from a small portable TV aerial and use a chocolate block connector to provide a nice extension coax lead with 75-ohm plug on the end if you want. Try that first and then decide whether it's worth anything more fancy/expensive - if you are in anywhere with even half-decent signal, it probably won't be.
 
@Michael J @cctaylor thank you for the DIY option, and thanks for putting all this information up here. That is definitely doable. I'll try it. Vertically aligned with 12" arms. Brilliant. Thanks
 
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