Does anyone here have DAB +? I believe lots of new stations are now broadcasting on it-but as we only have the old DAB receiver-I cannot tune into any of them?

Can someone give us some more info? For example the number of stations and what they are.

Is it worth splashing out for????

I don't have a DAB+ receiver yet. But you are right quite a few stations are on it now (in Holland at least). I cannot say anything about the UK. What I do hear for the UK though, is that the sound quality is that low (only 48 kbps) that worse than AM or FM. So if it's worth to buy a receiver.... In Holland it's mostly 128 kbps from what I have heard, so still not much better. What I also have heard that DAB+ is still on low power at the moment so save costs.

Ok, first, at the moment there is very little on DAB+ in the UK and coverage areas are very limited, so, chances are, you might not have anything on DAB+ in your area. If you're looking to buy a new DAB radio, though, you sould certainly ensure it supports DAB+, so it's more future-proof.

As for bit-rates, I believe most planned are quite low. That said DAB uses iirc MP2 encoding. DAB+ uses the much more efficient AAC+ encoding, so a low 48k stream will sound a lot better than a 48k DAB stream. 128k DAB+ should sound very good indeed.

Any chance of Big L getting on to it? Even with limited coverage and availability it would be a great step forward for the station. I know Caroline are on it in certain areas.

You never know, BigJohn. There are obviously opportunities which Caroline have been able to exploit. It's costing the Caroline organisation a negligable amount for carriage. That's an arrangement that can only last for so long, even if the trials are extended. Coverage areas are very limited too, but can only be good and raise awareness of the brand.

As with anything else, it comes down to cost and opportunity.