Thankfully we don’t need to remember that to listen to BBC Radio 2! For example, block 12B is used for the BBC National DAB ensemble with the frequency of 225.648MHz. The ‘multiplexing’ of individual services into a single ensemble is what makes the extra choice afforded by digital radio, Freeview, Sky and other systems possible.Įach of these frequencies is assigned a block name that you might see with the ensemble name. This contrasts with digital radio where several radio stations are broadcast on a single frequency. When we tune into analogue radio stations we’re often aware of the frequency – like 95.4 FM for BBC Newcastle or 100 FM for KISS in London. It is worth checking your car radio manual to find out how your particular receiver deals with them. On other car radios reaching the end of a list of stations available in one ensemble will make it look for the next. This action might just be browsing within that ensemble, and to find other stations you might need to hold the arrow button down to make the radio search for the next ensemble.

Some car radios use left and right arrow buttons to choose the station. The exact approach varies from one manufacturer to another. If you can only select a station from a small number it could be that your radio is only offering the stations which are available on the current ensemble.Īs car DAB radios don’t perform an auto-scan and put every station in an alphabetical list you sometimes have to browse stations by ensemble. An in-car digital radio shows a list of ensembles In-car digital radios and ensemblesĭigital radios in cars often make the use of ensembles more apparent than the radios we use at home. When you perform a scan on your digital radio it will check all of the frequencies and store any stations which it finds, placing them in an alphabetical list. Most of the time you don’t need to be aware of these ensembles or know which ones you receive. A digital radio ensemble is a collection of radio stations.

Ford dab radio