Many European radio stations are also available with a DAB Digital Radio when abroad. If you’re driving to Ireland or flying to Germany you’ll still be able to listen with your personal radio or in the car.
However, digital radio signals from the UK don’t reach into other countries. You will be able to listen to stations in those countries, such as RTE Radio 1 in Ireland or keep up with news in English with a BBC World Service partner station on digital radio.
If you want to keep up with news and sport from the UK whilst abroad you could install a radio app on your smartphone or tablet. Be aware that using data whilst ‘roaming’ abroad can be very expensive, so ensure you’re only listening on wifi or buy a pre-paid SIM card in the country you’re visiting. Some sport commentaries will also be unavailable due to rights issues.
Countries like Germany and the Netherlands have a comprehensive range of stations with various types of news, talk and music. Kids in the backseat can be kept entertained with SWR3, Fritz and MDR Sputnik in Germany. Adults can take things easy with Sublime.FM or Radio 10 in the Netherlands.
The availability of digital radio varies around the world, and you may wish to search online before traveling.
In which countries does DAB work?
– A Digital Radio Choice Reader
DAB Digital Radio stations are available in dozens of countries. The number of radio stations varies in each country as does the proportion of people who have a digital radio. Digital radio coverage also varies between countries.
Norway has the highest proportion of people listening digitally at 93% and DAB coverage of 99.7% of the population. Switzerland plans to switch to digital radio in the next few years and currently has 99.5% population coverage.
Other countries like the UK, Denmark, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and France also have DAB digital radio. In some countries there is good DAB coverage but low adoption of digital radio. Countries like Sweden and the Czech Republic have full-time DAB+ services and others are currently running trials.
According to WorldDAB there are 27 countries with full-time DAB services and 28 with trials or regulation.
Some countries predominantly use DAB+ while others still have DAB services.
Digital radio is also available in countries without DAB with systems like HD Radio in the United States.