ditigal radio/freeview tv box (stupid tech question)

My cheap one gets all the digital channels available through the local mux, and I think most (all?) do.

digital radio stations (like bbc radio 6 etc) are broadcast via freeview and most* freeview boxes have audio out connections for connecting them up to stereos. this isn't quite the same as DAB though and the quality isn't as high (i have loud patches of static in some of my timed recordings i did of freeview broadcast radio)

(* well, mine does)

here's a list of radio stations you can get via freeview:
http://www.radio-now.co.uk/freeview_radio_epg.htm

"last updated: 27th June 2003"

oh um.

The quality of digital radio on Freeview is actually better than DAB (at least on the BBC channels) - higher bitrates. Can't vouch for your reception though, Koogs. The commercial stations (Kiss, Virgin, etc) sound appallingly bad on Freeview however.

mike speaks the truth (as usual):
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/index.htm#bit_rate_table
(poached from http://www.avforums.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-110914.html )

"BBC Radio 1 (DAB = 128kbps) (Freeview = 192kbps)"

does this take into account the additional picture information that freeview must transmit though or is that done by some other magic?

I read something recently that said that despite the higher bitrates, Freeview radio was more prone to dropouts than DAB. Don't know if that's true or not.

(maybe that's an equipment issue, rather than a transmission one)

Good point about the picture info but I assume that's counted separately and, as it's a static image refreshed every 15 sec or so, vanishingly low in terms of bandwidth.

Since I packed all my CDs away (oh, how premature...) I've been listening to the Freeview radio stations on headphones quite a bit. R3 is the only one I can stand for long periods and even that's a bit glassy. R2 is OK but a bit too compressed; I can't get past this everpresent cardboardy acoustic signature on the presenters' voices on R4 that I just start thinking about packing again. The commercial ones really have to be heard to be believed - I know they're not exactly in the vanguard for the promotion of analogue switch-off, but, jeez-louise, they're dreadful. And I sold my NAD 402 on eBay for less than a fiver!

No dropouts with my Sony.