DAB radio issues on portable / pocket devices

[Guest]

Has anybody noticed this problem in the area or travelling towards central London? The service has become suddenly very unstable, with my device (pocket one) start scanning and scanning and scanning.... then it offers strange selections of channels like BBC Kent or BBC Surray and others never heard of but other popular channels including main BBC radio not available  - I have checked the BBC transmitters page and it shows they are in Crystal Palace and in Croydon but nothing wrong. Do not understand.  

[Chick]

Buy a new radio, I can give one for free.

[Bic Basher]

The first thing to realise about DAB radio is that unlike FM, it uses various transmitters across the country which enable it to work without having to change frequencies like you have to with BBC national stations if driving across the country using FM.  (London has three multiplexes with transmitters across London and the home counties for robust reception, plus a Trial small scale DAB multiplex with a transmitter in Honor Oak).

The nearest transmitter for the Kent multiplex which has a dozen stations on it including Radio Kent and KMFM is in Wrotham in West Kent which gets into SE London.   If you go to Forest Hill, you can receive Kent DAB stations clearly, but becomes more patchy in ED because the hill blocks the signals from the east and we're also in a valley due to the hills below Palace.   I can get Kent here occasionally, but it's not meant to be for here, so you either get it or not.

Surrey on the other hand, which has stations such as BBC Radio Surrey and Lite Radio uses Crystal Palace as a transmitter to enable reception in places like Epsom, Staines and Weybridge with those of us in London getting the bonus of additional stations.   However there's something called a 'null' to the north of Crystal Palace which means again us in ED get a weaker signal compared to Croydon for example which is to the south.  In this case, move your aerial or DAB radio and it should work properly.

[Chick]

There are several DAB transmitter's at Crystal Palace and South Norwoos.