DAB UPGRADE

[DaveNeedham]

Hi Mike
DAB is a better supposedly clearer signal. Our beloved ‘Govmint’ wanted us all to shift away from FM for several reasons one being interference and the other being the ability to cram in more stations however it all went a bit ‘Pete Tong’ car when manufacturers were slow on the uptake.....no doubt they had their reasons! And the domestic market baulked at the cost of receivers (manufacturers seeing a cash cow ripping off consumers) A bit like the very slow move away from cassette to CD. Plus there are some stations only available on DAB ...Plant Rock is the one it want!
I think another reason was to free up the FM band for other things. The frequencies on FM are limited to about 87 MHz to 108MHz.

Dave

[mike020150]

Hi Dave,
That shows how little I know, I phrased the question badly. It's the difference between DAB and DAB+ I'm confused about. I've only just grasped DAB when it seems to have moved on again! Mike.

[DaveNeedham]

Haha not too certain of the differences either. But I do know now that Jaguar, and others no doubt have had to bring out new tuners!

[mike020150]

I'll remain in ignorance a little longer! Mike.

[DaveNeedham]

What's the difference between DAB and DAB+? DAB+ is a more efficient method of broadcasting music and is based on the AAC codec popularised by Apple's iPod. It's more efficient than the old standard that uses MP2 and means a higher quality signal is possible than before.

There you go Mike .... something I learnt too!
My cables have arrived from Australia. Really well made with all the correct terminations.
I got a Deitz aerial amplifier from EBay (apparently it’s much better than the JLR one)
Just need to order the aerial and the tuner from Jaguar now.
I only want it for Planet Rock

[mike020150]

As you say, we all live and learn! Looking forward to your next post which should tell us if it all works as intended. Mike.

[Jaguar_Enthusiast]

I can add a little bit to this, based on some things I’ve discovered!

There have been a few new radio stations going live in the UK in the past month or so (including the likes of Nation, Boom). I had been scratching my head why I seemed unable to tune in to them all using DAB - both in car and in the house. I’d understood that DAB stations are grouped together in Multiplexes or Ensembles (interchangeable terms apparently..). The reason I was scratching my head was that there were stations I couldn’t get, despite being able to tune in to other stations on the very same Multiplex. Since the multiplex’s stations are effectively broadcast on the same signal this problem didn’t make sense.

Until I discovered DAB+ that is....

So apparently on each multiplex there can be a combination of DAB and DAB+ stations. If you have a DAB tuner older than a certain vintage then you don’t seem to be able to tune in to a DAB+ station. With the examples of the stations I mentioned (both brand new stations), one is DAB the other is DAB+.

In the in-car world therefore you need a modern tuner to get all the DAB+ stations. From my very localised research, my 2014 XK can receive DAB although our 2012 Evoque cannot. This is kind of interesting as the Evoque has a more modern infotainment setup generally.

If this is a bother to you, I’ve seen plenty of references to being able to successfully upgrade the DAB tuners on various JLR cars.

If it’s not a bother to you, please carry on listening to your saucy XK V8 sounds

[mike020150]

Interesting but with the prospect before long of being forced to listen to the high pitched 'milk float' whine of electric cars, I think I'll be ditching my radio in favour of a good V8 bellow while I can! Mike.