Hello,

I am in the process of moving house and having committed and bought it I now find that I can’t get Radio 4! What am I going to do?
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I have a DAB radio, which after some faffing seems able to get Radio Scotland but not Radio 4. I can get neither on FM. I also quite like Radio 4 Extra and obvoulsy FM won’t help there.
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We have no telly, nor plans to acquire one so listening on the TV via a dish isn’t going to work and the internet is, at best, flakey so that isn’t much help either.
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What I would really like is some sort of signal booster, happy to have a massive aerial and a repeater in the loft if that would work. Does such a thing exist and if so which one would the STW collective recomend? A DAB one would be great but I’m getting desparate and may settle for an FM one.
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We are in the borders, so some large hills around but not massive ones, about 8 miles north of Galashiels and 11 miles from Innerliethen, I suspect the later will mean more to most of you.
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Cheers

First thing, does your DAB radio have a coax socket? If so, then you stand a fairly good chance of getting a signal, but if not, it might be a bit of a phaff.
This might be a help: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/fmanddabradio.html

As much as a bump as anything else really: as I’ve no idea about your location but one of these is as cheap as chips to make and made a huge difference to my R5. So long as the tip to loop dimensions stick to the plan you can put that outside and the length of the run from the loop to the receiver is less important (ime).

http://www.audiobritain.co.uk/DAB.html
That link doesnt seem to working anymore but its where I and thousands of others got the idea from and there are lots of references to the origianal design: eg
http://www.my-gti.com/3691/adding-a-dabdab-aerial-diy

As a backup – and I know this is very retro: but R4 is on LW and MW:

Radio 4 is also available on Long Wave at 198 LW and on Medium Wave in the following locations:

Aberdeen – 1449 MW
Belfast – 720 MW
Carlisle – 1485 MW
Cornwall – 756 MW
Enniskillen – 774 MW
London – 720 MW
Londonderry – 720 MW
Newcastle – 603 MW
Plymouth – 774 MW

Online?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_fourfm

Internet radio. Bin the DAB, get something with Internet radio. Plenty of old school radio looking devices about if you like, plus many other gadgets on top of laptops, tablets, PCs, phone etc, can all get Internet radio.

I use a couple of Squeezebox devices round the house myself. Gets me many thousands of times more potential radio stations than the poor selection of DAB and FM especially in rubbish signal areas. Plus most of these gadgets can access home media servers and on demand music streaming services.

You do of course need an okay-ish Internet connection.

Only limit with Internet radio I find is location rights restricted content on over the air radio is not available. In the main local football matches.

the internet is, at best, flakey so that isn’t much help either.
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Dab aerial from screwfix, about 15 quid IIRC, works a treat.

You could get a Freesat box, with a satellite dish. You don’t need a TV, you can just connect the Freesat box to your speakers.

Freeview is a similar option as also has a bundle of radio channels including Radio 4. Though if your DAB reception is pants then TV reception may be pants also.

Freeview or Freesat, you may need to convince TV Licencing that you aren’t watching TV.

Also would have to find a box that has audio out and ideally a front display so you can see what channel it’s on without needing a TV. Tricky if you need to set it up in the first place and also get into menus from time to time. Though you can get Freeview/Freesat boxes or USB sticks for a PC. Of course you can technically watch TV then so another tricky position with TV Licensing 😉

Other Internet options? Probably too far from civilisation for fibre. Likewise 4G mobile (plus really only works well outdoors and not remote outdoors). Satellite Internet perhaps (expensive).

Or just a bloody big and good quality aerial 😀 . Decent FM aerial perhaps and live with that (if it gets a good signal it’ll be better than DAB anyway 😉 – until they switch off FM. Decades away yet though).

And yeah you can get signal boosters. Need a power supply. Tonnes about and cheap. Type of thing you’ll find in Argos or even a supermarket. Don’t think needs to be anything fancy. If signal is really poor though it may just boost noise.

you may need to convince TV Licencing that you aren’t watching TV.

No, the mercenary aresholes have to prove that you are watching live TV. Just ignore any correspondence from them.

Get the BBC Radio App? on your smartphone? Even with “flakey” internet coverage it’s pretty good.

I think I would look to see if you can connect the radio up (via coaxial socket) to a TV aerial or dedicated FM/DAB aerial. I would try whatever is on the house first. I did this with my old man’s DAB hifi separate and I can confirm it made a huge difference.

If you can’t do that with your current model, look for a radio that has it. A lot of online places will let you return something if not suitable.

Brilliant, thanks Masher, why didn’t I think of that? Got a old radio with LW on somewhere, will dig it out and give it a go. Moving in just over a week so need it fixed by then. Would be the easiest option if that works, a couple more of them. Hope it’s not still full of cricket…
Failing that I will be looking for a radio with a coax socket. Was looking for some sort of repeater gadget but coax seems to be a common suggestion above, guess that means I have decide on a fixed postion for the radios then? Will need one each in the bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. Would that be one aerial and cable each or is there a way to link them all together? Might pop into Maplins at the weekend, they seem to have loads of such things and the staff seem to know what they are talking about.
Been working in the loft and I can get a signal in there so an aerial up there would work. Internet radio not going to work,the internet isn’t up to it and as deadkenny guessed no fibre and certainly no 4G! (no smartphone either come to that…)

There might be some ideas on here: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1370738&page=2
Just found this: https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/hifi-and-home-cinema/one#
Looks very promising, take a shufti at the pic of the rear panel, and at the top left, next to the two USB sockets there is what appears to be a coax socket, marked DAB 50?

DAB seems very susceptible to hollows and hills, ours is OK but round at my mum’s house – just over the crest of a hill from the transmitter I think – it’s all over the place, drifts in and out, drops out.

That’s in the same town, Elgin. hm, 8 miles north of Gala, Stow? (relatives in Gala, stayed there quite a lot in years gone by, ragging up and down the A7)..