UK National DAB Muxes

This page was last updated on 28-03-2026

DAB radio stations in the United Kingdom are broadcast on a number of frequency blocks on VHF Band III. The original plan devised in Wiesbaden for the framework of DAB in Europe was to allocate frequency blocks 11B to 12D for UK DAB broadcasting. However, as part of its Review of Radio, Ofcom has expanded the frequency allocations for DAB and has advertised local and a national ensemble licence on blocks outside the original Wiesbaden plan on 10B to 10D and 11A. Block 5A has also been reserved for the launch of local ensembles.

For more information see: Digital Radio Independent and BBC (PDF)
For more information on DAB see: DAB Ensembles Worldwide
For BBC DAB services see: BBC National DAB
For information on digital radio see: Digital Radio UK

Bitrates & Sound Quality

There is much criticism of the poor flat quality of DAB services in the UK, this is due to a policy of ‘quantity over quality’, even on BBC DAB. This along with the continued use of the outdated DAB technology results in a service that has a far inferior sound quality to FM radio. DAB is far less efficient than the newer DAB+ technology.

Joint Stereo – Audio mode in which two channels forming a stereo pair (left and right) are encoded within one bitstream and for which stereophonic irrelevance or redundancy is exploited for further bit reduction.
Mono LSF (Low Sampling Frequency) – Low bitrate encoding with halved sampling rate.
HE-AAC (High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding) – More efficient high-quality multichannel and stereo audio codec used with DAB+.

DAB
Audio codec: MPEG 1 Layer II
Better than FM quality requires 192-256 kbps
Similar to FM quality requires 160-192 kbps
Acceptable, worse than FM 128-160 kbps
(Based on stereo services)

DAB+
Audio codec: HE-AAC v2
Better than FM quality requires 56-96 kbps
Similar to FM quality requires 40-64 kbps
Acceptable, worse than FM 24-48 kbps
(Based on stereo services)

National 1

Digital One launched in November 1999 and has held the only digital radio licence for national commercial radio in the UK ever since. It broadcasts a broad range of content including traffic data services and some of the UK’s most profitable radio stations.

The company is wholly owned by Arqiva, one of the UK’s biggest communications infrastructure companies which operate across broadcast, satellite and mobile communications markets. Digital One’s head office is in central London alongside other Arqiva businesses.

Digital One is committed to the long-term promotion of digital radio in the UK and beyond. Together with the BBC and the big commercial radio groups, it is active in organisations including Digital Radio UK and WorldDMB (an international partnership of broadcasters, manufacturers and regulators).

Website: www.getdigitalradio.com

National 1
Service	Service ID	Bitrate	Audio	Description
Absolute Radio	C1C0	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Rock Music.
Capital Dance	C9ED	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Capital UK	C5DA	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Capital Xtra	C37B	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Urban & Dance Music.
Classic FM	C2A1	64 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Classical music.
GB News Radio	C4F0	24 kbps	Mono HE-AAC v1	News.
Gold RadioUK	CEE8	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Golden Oldies.
Grt Hits Rad 70s	C243	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Grt Hits Rad 80s	C244	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Heart UK	CFD1	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Heart 70s	CAE9	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	70s Music.
Heart 80s	C1DC	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	80s Music.
Heart 90s	CBE9	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	90s Music.
Heart 00s	C9F3	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Heart Dance	CFE8	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Dance Music.
Hits Radio 90s	C245	40 kbps	tereo HE-AAC v2	90s Music.
Hits Radio 00s	C246	40 kbps	tereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
KISS	C5C0	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
KISSTORY	CFE6	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop music.
LBC	C0C2	64 kbps	Mono LSF	News & Talk. (DAB)
LBC News	C8EA	32 kbps	Mono HE-AAC v1	News.
Magic Radio	C0C6	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Radio X	C4CD	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Rock Music.
Smooth Chill	C9EB	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Easy Listening.
Smooth Relax	C4FB	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Easy Listening.
Smooth UK	C6C0	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Easy Listening.
Talksport	C0C0	64 kbps	Mono LSF	Sport & Talk. (DAB)
UCB1 UK	C4CA	24 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Religion.
UCB2 UK	CBD8	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Religion.
INRIX UK TPEG	E1C000BA	16 kbps	Packet Data	Hidden service.
Multiplex Label: Digital1 Network Operator: Digital One Transmission Standard: DAB+/DAB England, Wales & N. Ireland: Block 11D: 222.064MHz Allotment: G__60001 England I Allotment: G__60002 Wales I Scotland: Block 12A: 223.936MHz Allotment: G__60011 Scotland I Transmitter Sites: Digital One Transmitters On-Air: April 1999
D1 National – CU Allocation D1 National – FIC Datarate D1 National – FIG Statistics D1 National – Ensemble

National 2

Sound Digital, the joint venture company formed by Arqiva, Bauer Media and UTV Media. The UK’s second national commercial DAB digital radio multiplex network will launch on Monday 29th February 2016. Three of them will be broadcasting in DAB+ – Fun Kids, Jazz FM and a new service called Magic Chilled from Bauer.
There is no information on the bitrates that will be used by the various stations at present.

Tuning to Block 11A
The frequency allocated to the second national commercial multiplex lies outside the range of the seven blocks used during the initial UK DAB roll-out. Some older radios may not include Block 11A in their automatic scans. In this case, select the option “Full Scan” in the receiver’s menus. This may also be called a “Rest of the World” scan, as opposed to a “UK” scan.

National 2
Service	Service ID	Bitrate	Audio	Description
Absolute 80s	C1C0	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	80s music.
Absolute 90s	CAC2	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	90s music.
Absolute Country	CCE7	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Country Music.
Absolute Rock	C7C9	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Rock Music.
BFBS UK	C5E0	24 kbps	Mono HE-AAC v1	Pop  Music.
Boom Radio UK	C5EF	24 kbps	Mono HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Capital Anthems	CAFC	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
CapXTRA Reloaded	CCE9	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Fix Radio	CDDA	64 kbps	Mono LSF	Rock Music. (DAB)
Grt Hits Rad 60s	CFFA	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Hits Radio Chil	CEE6	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Kerrang!	C6CF	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Rock Music.
KISSTORY R&B	CFF9	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Jazz FM	CAD7	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Jazz Music.
Magic Classical	CDE6	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Classical Music.
Magic Soul	C3D9	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Easy Listening.
Magic Musicals	CAEA	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Easy Listening.
Mellow Magic	C5D8	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Easy Listening.
Planet Rock	C7D8	40 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Classic rock music.
Premier Christian Radio	CCD8	64 kbps	Mono LSF	Christian music and speech. (DAB)
Premier Praise!	CDD8	64 kbps	Mono LSF	Christian music and speech. (DAB)
Radio X Class Rk	C5F6	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Rock Music
Smooth 80s	CAFB	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop Music.
Sunrise Radio UK	C9D8	24 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	National Music.
Talk	CAEB	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	News and current affairs.
talkSPORT2	C1D8	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Live sports and sports talk.
Times Radio	C0D8	64 kbps	Mono LSF	British Music. (DAB)
Virgin Chilled	C8E6	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop. music
Virgin Legends	C7E6	32 kbps	Stereo HE-AAC v2	Pop. music
Virgin Radio	C3D8	80 kbps	Mono	Rock and pop music. (DAB)
Multiplex Label: SDL National Operator: Sound Digital (Arqiva/Bauer/UTV) Transmission Standard: DAB/DAB+ Block 11A: 216.928 MHz Allotment: G__60004 England II Allotment: G__60032 Isle of Man II Allotment: G__60022 Northern Ireland II Allotment: G__60012 Scotland II Allotment: G__60005 Wales II Transmitter Sites: 45 transmitters across the UK, providing coverage for 73% – 75% of UK households and 63% – 65% of major UK roads. On-Air: February 29, 2016
SDL National – CU Allocation SDL National – FIC Datarate SDL National – FIG Statistics SDL National – Ensemble