In the United Kingdom, car manufacturers are driving new routes to assess DAB radio coverage along the country’s roadways. These drive-and-test routes are intended to help DAB receiver manufacturers assess the functionality of their car radios, according to Media UK’s James Cridland.
In theory, because DAB multiplexes use a single frequency network, radios avoid the “scanning” that FM radios must do on road trips. The national multiplexes already do this, but the local DAB multiplexes are required to retune as part of service-following.
In order for radios to receive the digital radio “tick-mark” certification, new DAB sets must be able to do this, and they are being tested on a new route ranging around England. The routes were established by Digital Radio UK, Arqiva and Global Radio.
The manufacturers are also testing the DAB-FM links in the receivers, which are intended to fill in areas (like the Dartford tunnel, which has an FM repeater but no DAB version).