Why dont thy put radio 5 on fm as well as dab ?

Question

Why dont thy put radio 5 on fm as well as dab ?

Answer 1

Because you need a national network of frequencies to cover the whole country on VHF/FM and there simply isn't the space available on the spectrum to do it.

Plus, being a speech only station it doesn't exactly warrant hi-fi stereo sound does it?

Answer 2

5 would be a national station so it would need more than 1 frequency like radio 2 is 88-91 fm and radio 1 is 97-99. but theres no space left in the public waves for that many frequencies

Answer 3

I think Gavin may be right. Though I was reading somewhere that DAB is going down the tube, quite a few stations have gone off  air.  Five live would be handier on FM, as a lot of cheap radio's are FM only.

Answer 4

There is no capacity left on FM. It has been full to bursting for decades.

Incidentally, Germany has NOT pulled the plug on DAB. You are completely wrong. Germany is using a different system - created here in Britain by the way - which is inferior to what we have.

Not for nothing is the UK a world leader in digital broadcasting technology. Ever heard of PURE radios? No? Google them and perhaps you might learn something.

One other thing - thanks to the BBC and Digital One, going back many many decades, radio listening here in the UK has always been important to people. Elsewhere in Europe, and in the USA, public service broadcasting never really took off. They do not have institutions like Classic FM or Radio 4's Today programme. We are lucky that we do, and we are even luckier to have a digital broadcasting system which allows us to hear in near-CD quality sound.

Answer 5

sadly dab is the way forawrd  inspite of what us,joe public want

regards x kitti x

Answer 6

Simply because there is not enough spare FM capacity across the UK.

Analogue radio signals are not designed to be multiplexed like digital signals.  The signals would over lap, clashing with each other. The result would be hearing white noise (hiss/crackle) as opposed to the radio station you want.

Answer 7

radio fm é muito melhor que am.

Answer 8

I agree FM would be great for 5 to improve the quality especially on my Walkman in the morning when I go for my Jog

Answer 9

I think the Beeb would prefer us to buy DAB instead of FM radios, maybe they get some money out of it? Interestingly, Germany has pulled the plug on DAB radio due to lack of interest.