We’re pleased to announce that Gaydio has started testing this evening on our Portsmouth DAB mini-multiplex. This means if you rescan your DAB digital radio, and you live in the Portsmouth area, you’ll find the station added to the station list of your radio.
Gaydio will launch with normal programming soon. Gaydio is the world’s largest LGB&T radio station, and already broadcasts on DAB digital radio in major cities in the UK (London, Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Brighton). We are pleased to be able to bring their unique programming to the Portsmouth area.
To rescan your radio, most radio sets have an ‘Autotune’ or ‘Scan’ button, which you press to do this. If you don’t have such a button, you may find this option in the menu.
Remember, older DAB digital radio sets (especially those manufactured before 2007) may require a ‘Full Autotune’ or a ‘Rest of World’ scan to find our services. To do this, simply hold down your Autotune or Scan button for 5 or 6 seconds. If this does not work please refer to the manual of your radio.
Later in October, we will add RedTrain Express from The Jazz UK to our DAB mini-multiplex. RedTrain Express will feature 21st Century Jazz, Funk and Fusion. We’ll let you know when test commence.
We hope to announce further additional DAB digital radio services for the Portsmouth area over the coming days.
I cannot currently receive the DAB UCB UK National digital radio station in the Portsmouth Area (Hampshire – Solent area). I have been listening to this DAB radio station for a couple of years now, and suddenly have not been able to receive it. I have rescanned my 2 different radios and tried positioning it/them in different places but still cannot receive the station. I have phoned the station and they have had other similar complaints, but they are broadcasting, their technical people are looking into it but cannot find out why this is happening.
When I re-scanned my radio, on DAB I found a station called “Information Channel” which broadcasts a recorded message, stating that its website called http://www.Solentwireless, gives information about an Ofcom trial taking place. It says that Portsmouth is 1 of 10 Cities in the UK selected by broadcast regulator Ofcom to take part in a special DAB digital radio broadcasting trial over localised areas. During the trial they are testing technical configuations of 6 local stations.
On the website it is stated that one of the objectives of this trial is to see how small scale broadcasters manage the technical side of DAB transmission. On their website, Solent Wireless appear to state they have been broadcasting their new DAB digital radio services to the City of Portsmouth as part of an Ofcom trial for nearly a month now, and making improvements to 6 local radio station transmissions.
I am wondering if this could be interfering with or blocking current transmissions from national radio stations, such as the UCB radio station that I enjoy listening to. This station is supported financially by the listeners and so it is unfair if transmission is being blocked in this way.
I would be grateful if you could investigate this for me and take appropriate action.
Many thanks
Judith Hooper
Hi Judith, sorry to see you are having trouble with UCB. What part of Portsmouth do you live in? Unfortunately the national DAB stations, such as UCB, are broadcast from a transmitter on the Isle of Wight. The good news is that national DAB services will be broadcasting from a transmitter on Portsdown Hill in a few months time.