DAB Radio - some stations off-air?

Enda Caldwell

MYOB wrote: »

Satellite radio doesn't work in cars with tree cover, bridges, heavy rain - not without a ground repeater network... Back to where we started from. Sirius XM are also losing money like its going out of fashion, the merger was to keep both companies alive (for a bit).

The tone of that post is about the most unprofessional I've ever seen from someone (purporting to be) a respected broadcaster; and your attempt to slag our motorway network rather falls flat assuming that the UK's M4 is solely in London - it runs to Wales.

edit: had written this post before the above appeared...

Satellite radio works in the states, I have been in a car with it working.

Let's cut the BS here MYOB with your HUYA!
I am not effing purporting myself to be anything - I am just a person some random guy off the street ok - never mind my identity. I don't care what you say. I've been slandered before had the most horrible things said about me that were untrue on boards like this over the years by people much like yourself with no real knowledge of me and maybe some axe to grind. That is not my concern.

All I see is over-opinionated rhetoric and almost a sense of naiveity in these discussions re:DAB in Ireland when I have heard different, very different realities from people IN the industry.

SiriusXM will hopefully stay alive and another great reason will be to perhaps just to prove YOU wrong that satellite radio DOES work!

And I am WELL aware of the M4's route as I have driven all of it many times. As a matter of fact to be on air on a station in Wales that is on SKY,DAB and FM owned by The Guardian Newspaper.

And YES, I am slagging the Irish motorway network and the Staaaate of it! - get outta that garden MYOB. Where did you land in from? Mars? Jupiter? FFS

Go.please, please ask the people running the stations in Ireland the truth why they are backing down from DAB. It's all down to things called Euro notes and cents.

L1011

The US has a ground terrestrial repeater network for satellite radio. Without this, it would not work in cities at all.

Enda Caldwell

MYOB wrote: »

The US has a ground terrestrial repeater network for satellite radio. Without this, it would not work in cities at all.

Nevertheless, it works. As will in-car internet radio if you take those rose-coloured blinkers off MYOB!

L1011

Enda Caldwell wrote: »

Nevertheless, it works. As will in-car internet radio if you take those rose-coloured blinkers off MYOB!

The only hopelessly optomistic viewpoint is one that a low latency continous IP connection can be provided to in excess of 2,000 vehicles in a small area - which is what in car internet radio would need.

I'm a network engineer by qualification - not by profession (at the moment, and by choice). I can tell you this isn't possible using current generation technology and will not be possible using what is currently "next generation". We're looking at ten years plus. Possibly by then there'll be enough backbone connectivity and peering costs will have reduced so that say, TodayFM could afford the 14Gb/sec that Matt Cooper's show would require at 64k AAC.

tSubh Dearg

Enda Caldwell and MYOB both banned for a week for ignoring my warning.

garrincha62

Newstalk and some other RTE stations come and go in Drogheda since the weekend..

Fuzzy Clam

tSubh Dearg wrote: »

Enda Caldwell and MYOB both banned for a week for ignoring my warning.

Ahhhhhhhhhh come on tSubh....
Finally some entertainment around here and you ban it.....:mad:

More Music

Who's going to name drop now?

tSubh Dearg

Moderation decisions can be discussed by PM if you like but not on thread.

LarWright

Enda Caldwell wrote: »

stations do NOT wish to continue with DAB as it is expensive and far-off as far as they are concerned.

Rumour has it that RTE offered the second multiplex to the ILR's for less than 10 grand per station and they refused as they don't want to be forced off FM if they go digital, so 10,000 isn't expensive and not a valid argument as far as I'm concerned. A few of the stations are Identing as "Online, on FM and On Digital" (in no particular order) but if they're pulling out of Digital (DAB anyway) why still advertise it? How many people do you know that go home and switch on there NTL Digital to listen to 104 or 98 etc through their TV's??

D'Peoples Voice

sidekick wrote: »

Just received the following response from Newstalk...

Thank you for you email. We have finished our trial on Digital platform at present and we will be reassessing the merits of recommencing this service in the new year.

Can I please redirect you to our live broadcast on 106-108 fm?


Regards

Newstalk 106–108 fm
Marconi House, Digges Lane, Dublin 2.
Tel: + 353 1 644 5100
Fax: + 353 1 644 5101
www.newstalk.ie


Is this news to everyone, that they have stopped their DAB broadcasting?

any update on this?
I was thinking that it was a bit Irish that some of these radio stations would pull their service before almost every house in Ireland purchased a Saorview compliant TV set/set-top box.

LarWright

DTT (Saorview) and DAB are both very different things, meaning different legislation etc... Nobody can decide if DAB is worth adapting as it hasn't really been a huge success in the UK. We'll be waiting another 5 years before any standard of digital radio here!

RTE still have their multiplexes, and Total Broadcast have one in the Sunny South East carrying some of the Independent stations, but again, these are still trials!

Enda Murphy

Nobody is listening to those RTE dab stations, how many listeners does RTE Jr have ? I would guess 5 and RTE GOLD is just an ipod with 500 songs

Solair

There a quite a few problems with DAB:

1) It's obsolete technology.
1a) Relatively poor quality sound compared to even FM in many cases.
1b) No advantage over FM to end user in most cases, Irish spectrum not exactly overpacked.
1c) Very poor and limited choice of receivers. They are still big and power hungry and quite expensive vs FM receivers which are tiny, use almost no power and are available everywhere, built into most mobile phones etc etc.

2) Radio itself is competing with digital media players like the iPod which have vast capacities and much better quality.

3) The existing FM broadcasters won't touch it with a bargepole as it means more competition and big urban stations suddenly being available outside their local markets.

4) Community stations can't afford it and it provides them with no obvious advantage in terms of listenership

All in all, I can't really see the point of DAB.

DTT makes a whole lot of sense for TV, but not really for FM radio. To the end user, Digital TV makes perfect sense - better picture quality, better audio quality, HD and the main thing : many many more channels.

I just think DAB's a bit of a solution looking for a problem to be perfectly honest.

Digital's great, but lets not just get caught up in a 'digital dogma' where a digital technology that has a lot of disadvantages is used to replace an older analogue technology that works quite well.

If we're moving radio to digital, it will have to be a hell of a lot better than DAB or even DAB+

Fran1985

There could be some movement on DAB next year, but more in the direction of DAB+.

Certainly Dusty Rhodes seems to think so, on this podcast

http://techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=17636

Enda Murphy

Fran1985 wrote: »

There could be some movement on DAB next year, but more in the direction of DAB+.

Certainly Dusty Rhodes seems to think so, on this podcast

http://techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=17636

Dusty Rhoeds has a vested interest.

Fuzzy Clam

Solair wrote: »

If we're moving radio to digital, it will have to be a hell of a lot better than DAB or even DAB+

Are radio stations carried on DTT?
If so, all we need in this country are suitable radio receivers. Why roll out DAB when digital radio is already transmitted countrywide.

Fran1985

Enda Murphy wrote: »

Dusty Rhoeds has a vested interest.

which gives him more credibility when talking about it, i would think

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Are radio stations carried on DTT?
If so, all we need in this country are suitable radio receivers. Why roll out DAB when digital radio is already transmitted countrywide.

It's cheaper for stations to go on DAB

Trick of the Tail

Fran1985 wrote: »

It's cheaper for stations to go on DAB

Well it certainly would be, IF the BAI would licence commercial multiplex operators.

DAB+ is the only way we're going to get more diverse, niche programming in this country.

It should be licensed NOW, as an increment to FM, not a replacement.

DAB in the UK was handled badly - costs are far too much. Why would a station pay a mux operator over 100,000 a year? Here, it could be a fraction of that if handled sensibly by the regulator.

And it's NOT old technology, especially if DAB+ is used. Germany is rolling out DAB now, and if they're doing it it can't be long before it becomes an EU policy thing.


A.

byte

Would I be right in thinking DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale, not the mp3 crippler) will never be an option?

Trick of the Tail

Maybe with international broadcasting. There are no real advantages for domestic/local stations.

A.

D'Peoples Voice

are we likely to be seeing a similar trend in Ireland?

http://www.smmt.co.uk/2011/10/industry-drives-184-increase-of-in-car-digital-radio/
Industry drives 184% increase of in-car digital radio
Posted 9:30 Tuesday 18 October 2011

The UK new car market has seen a 184% increase in the standard fitment of digital radio in the first nine months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010, making it clear that the drive to digital is well under way.

The latest data from SMMT and CAP was revealed as SMMT Chief Executive, Paul Everitt, spoke at the UK’s first conference to discuss the switchover to digital radio from an automotive perspective, coinciding with announcements from the BBC confirming that it would build coverage of its national services to 97%, including a focus on improving coverage on motorways and major roads.

Germany cancels in-car DAB legislation & France postpones its plans
http://telematicsnews.info/2011/10/18/germany-cancels-in-car-dab-legislation-france-postpones-its-plans_o2185/
By TNPublished: 18 October 2011

The German government has decided to cancel its plans to introduce the “Digitalradio Fördergesetz (DiRaFöG)” mandate, which would have forced vehicle manufacturers to fit DAB receivers into all new cars from 2014. The law would have been a major boost to the DAB market in Europe, and was expected to lead to other neighboring governments taking a more aggressive approach to digital radio transition.

This decision will not affect the current roll-out of a national DAB+ multiplex in Germany, which is now reaching 50% of the population after being launched on the 1st of August 2011.

Our contacts within the German broadcasting industry have told us that the launch has so far been a success and that DAB radios are selling faster than before.

pipscina1

Can anyone help? I cannot receive newstalk on my new FM radio. i have a Denon receiver RCD -M39DAB. Was geting broken reception until this
week, now nothing. Its my favorite station and I am having to tune into RTE instead. Can anyone help. contacted Newstalk but no reply from them. I live in Fingal.

LarWright

pipscina1 wrote: »

Can anyone help? I cannot receive newstalk on my new FM radio. i have a Denon receiver RCD -M39DAB. Was geting broken reception until this
week, now nothing. Its my favorite station and I am having to tune into RTE instead. Can anyone help. contacted Newstalk but no reply from them. I live in Fingal.

106.00 MHz in Dublin?

pipscina1

Yes, but no reception. Use Denon receiver RCD-M39DAB.

LarWright

pipscina1 wrote: »

Yes, but no reception. Use Denon receiver RCD-M39DAB.

No idea then. I'm sitting in Dublin and have perfect reception on 106.0.

chinwag

Have you tried getting NT in a different location in the house?
Or perhaps try another FM radio (if you have a spare one) in the same location as your Denon and see if you get a reception.
Might be worth a try.

craoltoir

Newstalk is not available on DAB. Only FM. RTÉ stations are available on both DAB and FM in Dublin.

pipscina1

We have a rooftop co axial aerial. Its a mystery. We get BBC 2 , 3 and 4 perfectly.