DAB in Ireland: RTE multiplex closed

johnp

Right, I know nothing about DAB. Are they worth the cash? To be honest, I was only really looking for a clock radio that had a remote (!), but stumbled across this:

http://www.revo.co.uk/digital-radio/revo-uno.php

It ticks my very small list of boxes, but is also DAB.

Anyway, is it value for money?

DMC

So, here we go. Confirmed full service to launch, but no more spending at present on expansion.

RTÉ Radio confirms services in advance of national digital radio broadcast licence
http://www.rte.ie/about/pressreleases/2008/1029/rteradioconfirmsservicoct08.html
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

RTÉ's trials of digital radio services which began in March 2007 come to an end on Sunday, 30 November and the broadcaster intends to have full schedules available for five new services from Monday, 1 December.

RTÉ Radio trialled a selection of services over the past twenty months on the RTÉ NL trial multiplex licence issued by ComReg. The services were evaluated in terms of technical performance, listener appeal and public value. On the basis of these measures and market research RTÉ Radio has decided to proceed with five of these services; three music services, a speech service and a children's only radio service.

The digital radio music services, sister stations to RTÉ 2fm, are RTÉ Pulse, RTÉ 2XM and RTÉ Chill. The speech service, a sister station to RTÉ Radio 1, is RTÉ Choice and the final station aimed at children aged 2 to 10 is RTÉ Junior.

JP Coakley, Head of Operations, RTÉ Radio says,

"Recent EBU and World DMB agreements on European-wide standards for digital radio sets mean that the industry as a whole is now moving together on digital radio. We are keen to make progress but given the present economic climate we have to be patient"

RTÉ's trial digital radio services are currently available to listen to online at rte.ie/radio throughout Ireland and to 44% of the population in the Greater Dublin and North East Coast area, Cork and Limerick cities on DAB digital radio sets available from retailers in those areas. When the schedules go live on Monday, 1 December RTÉ's five new digital radio services will continue to broadcast in those areas and online.

RTÉ has said it intends to roll-out DAB digital radio to 56% of the population over the coming three years however the broadcaster has stated that it will not progress with this roll-out until there is a regulatory framework in place that will allow commercial broadcasters to move to digital radio. This is to ensure that the whole industry moves together for the benefit of the listener.

RTÉ Radio will be providing further information and details of its five new services over the coming weeks.

Foggy43

Thank you DMC for the info. The piece below gets me!

RTÉ has said it intends to roll-out DAB digital radio to 56% of the population over the coming three years however the broadcaster has stated that it will not progress with this roll-out until there is a regulatory framework in place that will allow commercial broadcasters to move to digital radio. This is to ensure that the whole industry moves together for the benefit of the listener.

Commercial! What does this mean? OK, I have been in the UK the last 20 years but keep an eye on what is going on in Ireland. Local Radio has done quite well. The problem is after a very few years these stations must re apply for a license but with the knowledge there is someone competing for that same license. They are not going to be interested in DAB when they may only be around for a few years.

I think the same will apply to Terrestrial Digiital TV. Is Ireland big enough to allow commercial operators make a profit?

barnicles

If this is broadcasting near me how will i pick up dab http://www.millstreet.ie/ltv2_millstreet.htm

L1011

barnicles wrote: »

If this is broadcasting near me how will i pick up dab http://www.millstreet.ie/ltv2_millstreet.htm

I would hope they are not transmitting on Channel J, which has been where our DAB allocations have been for some years now. If their transmission setup is done properly and they're not on Channel J they should not have any impact on (hypothetical at this stage) DAB transmissions.

Antenna

Barnicales,
It seems a good bit in the future before DAB gets to where you are (the Millstreet area)
It is cheap to cover Cork city, but to cover most of County Cork will need dozens of 'fill-in' transmitters as well as Mullghanish (which on its own will not put sufficent signal into most large towns in the county, such as Bandon Youghal Fermoy Cobh Bantry Clonakilty etc). I'd say there is a go-slow on spending further on a DAB network considering the current economic climate.

god's toy

Hope this means South Dublin/Wicklow gets an extra DAB transmitter soon.

barnicles

Antenna wrote: »

Barnicales,
It seems a good bit in the future before DAB gets to where you are (the Millstreet area)
It is cheap to cover Cork city, but to cover most of County Cork will need dozens of 'fill-in' transmitters as well as Mullghanish (which on its own will not put sufficent signal into most large towns in the county, such as Bandon Youghal Fermoy Cobh Bantry Clonakilty etc). I'd say there is a go-slow on spending further on a DAB network considering the current economic climate.

I dont live in millstreet. I live about 17km away. I can pick up that local channel fine all i'm asking is what will happen when dab launches from mulliganish

lucernarian

It's impossible to say how well you would receive DAB without knowing what frequency you're getting LTV2 on. Can you find that out?

barnicles

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

It's impossible to say how well you would receive DAB without knowing what frequency you're getting LTV2 on. Can you find that out?

Audio . 227
Video 222

L1011

Thats Channel J - you will be unable to receive any Irish DAB if that is still there.

However, as its pirate, expect it to be Comreg'ed out of existance well before it becomes a problem.

Antenna

barnicles wrote: »

all i'm asking is what will happen when dab launches from mulliganish

the ltv2 would be drowned out by the digital signal. they would not be able to continue on that channel full stop (though moving down a channel may be an option).

But when Mullaghanish will have any DAB is a big question, what with the cut-backs on spending, and the uncertain future of DAB in most EU countries.

There are many "deflectors" operating on UHF channels that will be used for DTT in those areas before there is any DAB from Mullaghanish, and they are still on air. They will probably only leave those channels when DTT is actually switched on.
"deflectors" in the past for example operated on channels needed for TnaG and TV3, and they didnt move off those channels until the test transmissions for the new stations actually started.

barnicles

Ltv broadcast Channel 4 when not broadcasting . My local deflector broadcasts on 23 26 30 33

The Cush

Mullaghanish Frequencies
DTT 21 24 25 28
Analogue 27 31

The applicable regulation for deflectors (BBC, UTV etc) is S.I. No. 645 of 2006 Wireless Telegraphy (UHF Television Programme Retransmission) Regulations, 2006 issued by Comreg, deflectors will not be licenced after 2009.

The regulation states

(5) For the avoidance of doubt, no Licence shall be granted pursuant to these Regulations after 31st December 2009.

L1011

Communicorp's channels are missing this morning - blank carriers.

DMC

Pedant alert: Today FM is still on, Spin, 98 and Newstalk are blank.

L1011

Good catch.

pre-EMAP takeover Communicorp stations, then.

L1011

Fairly bad automation cockup on RTE Pulse there, was meant to be a repeat of 'Taster' from Friday night (its a trance/tech trance show). About 40 minutes of presenterless house music, mixed, followed by Shannon - Let The Music Play has been played.

We're now in to something that may be the correct show (but not its start)... and may not be.

camcork

HI,

my mother use to lisen to a radio station in west cork on MW not that it MW is gone would she be able to get it n a dab radio? not sure what the station was (maybe Bandon radio)

also would they be easy to use for an older person?

thanks

Big Tone

camcork wrote: »

HI,

my mother use to lisen to a radio station in west cork on MW not that it MW is gone would she be able to get it n a dab radio? not sure what the station was (maybe Bandon radio)

also would they be easy to use for an older person?

thanks

This is a very strange post! You are talking here about a pirate station WKLR which closed down 20 years ago! Weirdo!

TheDriver

He is probably talking about County Sound 103.3fm, not a pirate radio at all

Big Tone

TheDriver wrote: »

He is probably talking about County Sound 103.3fm, not a pirate radio at all

Possibly, though County Sound (now C103) were never on MW, they are an FM only station licenced back in '89, so that makes camcork's post seem rather peculiar.

L1011

The mux is still alive as of 20 minutes ago; DAP All 80s has a message every adbreak telling people to listen on cable or online and a 'we hope to return in Spring 2009' message.

John mac

quick question. is dab radio available country wide yet?

on the 9:00 news last night there was an announcement that rte were launching new stations on dab ..
there was no mention of its availability though.

will we have to wait for a few more years if we do not reside in the east corridor. :rolleyes:


thanks
J

DMC

So there we have it. Digital Radio is officially launched and on the air.

But for the time being, Mux 2, R.I.P.

www.rte.ie/digitalradio has also got a lick of paint.

John Mac, this coverage map is still current. Achtung: not dial-up friendly.

RTÉ's press release from October, stating that...

RTÉ's trial digital radio services are currently available to listen to online at rte.ie/radio throughout Ireland and to 44% of the population in the Greater Dublin and North East Coast area, Cork and Limerick cities on DAB digital radio sets available from retailers in those areas. When the schedules go live on Monday, 1 December RTÉ's five new digital radio services will continue to broadcast in those areas and online.

RTÉ has said it intends to roll-out DAB digital radio to 56% of the population over the coming three years however the broadcaster has stated that it will not progress with this roll-out until there is a regulatory framework in place that will allow commercial broadcasters to move to digital radio. This is to ensure that the whole industry moves together for the benefit of the listener.

L1011

I'm liking the official schedule for RTE Choice (Car Talk, ISIHAC, lots of NPR shows).

Mux 2 was offline by 13:10 anyway.

It doesn't look good for us here in Sligo about receiving DAB from Truskmore.Too close to the N.I. border i suppose!

Bog Butter

I would like to buy a portable DAB player. Are they widely available?

L1011

zorro2566 wrote: »

It doesn't look good for us here in Sligo about receiving DAB from Truskmore.Too close to the N.I. border i suppose!

I'd expect it'll be turned on in due course. Which could be years away. Clermont Carn is far closer to the border as it is...

malman wrote: »

I would like to buy a portable DAB player. Are they widely available?

HMV should have them. Reception isn't the best but I've sucessfully used one for RTE 1 Extra reception while at a football match (for the commentary).

watty

Reception is poor, coverage worse and battery life horrid compared to FM-VHF portable.