Spot on Ray Dio.... exactly, DAB could have been really good, but as it's the UK, we had to screw it up
The UK has a history, of getting things Completely wrong, (or totally Backwards, to common sense)...
Even years ago, we did technically stupid things in the UK, Remember... despite the fact that 88-108 was
Internationally used for broadcasting, We decided to put....The police, Water services, Gas services etc
with Police on around 98mhz, and Utility services Mobile TX was around 105-106 megs, Using AM...What!
Not only that, but the RX going back to the Van, was 33megs away at 138-139mhz... Why??
(Must have had an Accountant doing the frequency planning)

Another Own goal, with planning was on UHF. Down on the South East coast, PMR kit was installed...
and because the planning Dept, had decided to allocate the RX and TX freqs BACKWARDS to Europe
the Base TX from France, came across the Channel, and was picked up by the High Site in the UK

As for the DAB saga in the UK, Remember the words of Howard Rose (Jay Jackson) he said...
"Beware the Men in Suits"... They Love a Monopoly, (not the game) but Preventing Competition
WHY? was control of DAB given to the Big Boys in Radio??...Did they not see what would happen?
They Priced Access to it, so high, to prevent the Competition being able to afford it.
In my area, our local FM station went on DAB, but had to go for MONO to keep costs down, A joke

So, what's the current state of SSDAB? in the UK....Lots of FM Community stations, thought...
If we set up a SSDAB Multiplex, it will bring lots of money in, to help the community station...wrong
In reality, in many Towns, (Especially Rural areas) ONLY the FM Community station/s, that paid for
setting up the Multiplex are on it, i.e. None, or very few Actual Paying customers on air

Also, (as a former UK.. Manufacturer of DAB Transmitters said to me)... "One of the problems with SSDAB...
is NOT, Getting Paying customers On It, but KEEPING them on it, after several months, when they see
their bank balance going down, they come off it", He also said, that "most of the SSDAB transmitters
that are used, are NOT made in the UK... So if your SSDAB- TX fails, you have to send it to Spain or
Italy, to get it Fixed" (If it's not, a simple Power Supply unit fault) ... Not an ideal Situation

SSDAB.. IS successful in Some UK Urban areas, where the small area, has lots of potential listeners
I wonder? ... how Other Countries have handled DAB? (the ones where it is a mega success)
i.e... Countries that didn't make a Pigs ear of DAB, like we did in the UK

Rod Watts