DAB Radio, is there more stations

dublinbusdude

Hi All,

Is there more stations on the DAB in Ireland or is RTE only the main one

The one I use is the Bush one in the Argos for €90

Thanks

burgess1

There were two music stations called Mocha and All 80s which are off air at the moment. As far as I know, they're hoping to return along with an Irish language station called Raidió Rírá but right now it's just the RTÉ stations.

DMC

No independent stations since December 1st last, when the trial ended. And no prospect at present either of an imminent return.

watty

Get Discone on Chimney and lots of FM stations.

DAB rollout is dead, so useless for even RTE in car. There is no compelling reason for ANY commercial station to go on DAB given the poor coverage and UK track record.

There will be few or no other stations on DAB in Ireland. Any Station looking at it from cost/benefit rather than geekdom factor won't touch DAB.

Elmo

watty wrote: »

Get Discone on Chimney and lots of FM stations.

DAB rollout is dead, so useless for even RTE in car. There is no compelling reason for ANY commercial station to go on DAB given the poor coverage and UK track record.

There will be few or no other stations on DAB in Ireland. Any Station looking at it from cost/benefit rather than geekdom factor won't touch DAB.

I think Independent Stations should be forced to go DAB. Hopefully all new mobile phones/MP3 will have DAB on them to force Indos to step up.

The regulators need to start regulating, they are a joke. This is a new technology and it looks like the Private sector want to lean on public funding before taking a risk.

I also notice the RTÉ's DAB stations are now available on UPC Digital.

Maybe we need some Pirate Digital Stations.

The Cush

The following article was published in the Irish Independent on Thursday.

RTE radio launches stations on digital platform
Thursday April 16 2009

FOUR new RTE radio stations are now available to more than 85pc of the population, after the national broadcaster inked a deal to get the channels onto NTL and Chorus' digital platforms.

The new stations include RTE Choice, a speech-driven channel that compliments Radio 1; RTE Junior, aimed at 2 to 12-year-olds; RTE 2XM, which acts as a sister station to youth station 2fm; and 24-hour dance station RTE Pulse.

The four stations are already available online and can be heard on special digital (DAB) radios in the Greater Dublin area, the North East Coast and Cork and Limerick cities, where RTE's DAB trials continue.

Meanwhile, commercial broadcasters are hoping to get back into the DAB market this summer after leaving RTE's trial last year.

Dusty Rhodes Digital Radio Ltd is pressing ahead to set up his own trial which will include four of his stations plus four commercial stations.

Rhodes confirms that plans are being evaluated by the Broadcasting Commission at the minute, with a decision "hoped for in the summer".

Kensington

Elmo wrote: »

I think Independent Stations should be forced to go DAB. Hopefully all new mobile phones/MP3 will have DAB on them to force Indos to step up.

The regulators need to start regulating, they are a joke. This is a new technology and it looks like the Private sector want to lean on public funding before taking a risk.

I also notice the RTÉ's DAB stations are now available on UPC Digital.

Maybe we need some Pirate Digital Stations.

That'd be a huge mistake. DAB has pretty much failed in the UK. Most of the stations in the UK are FM simulcasts, and quality wise, DAB often sounds worse than the FM equivalent. Most of the stations are a low bitrate audio mess. Reception is unreliable and patchy in most cases, particularly while listening on the move (where I imagine most people listen). Uptake isn't too spectacular either.

Elmo

Kensington wrote: »

That'd be a huge mistake. DAB has pretty much failed in the UK. Most of the stations in the UK are FM simulcasts, and quality wise, DAB often sounds worse than the FM equivalent. Most of the stations are a low bitrate audio mess. Reception is unreliable and patchy in most cases, particularly while listening on the move (where I imagine most people listen). Uptake isn't too spectacular either.

I think it is a mistake that the Independent Radio Stations want to ride on the back of Publicly funded digital innovations while not wanting to be be innovative or entrapenurial they have been given golden chalices by the government and they won't use their money to invest in new technology when it is most required.

Where has DAB worked why look at the UK what about Sweden or Norway etc?

I am guessing when DAB becomes standard on the back of government spending the Indos will only be to happy to get on the platform, while also claiming that RTÉ DAB had a head start and a monopoly.

I don't see why Today FM/Newstalk can pay to be on this platform. They will only pay when it is fully rolled out after years of public funding. Waste of Licence fee money IMO.

Irishoz

The Cush wrote: »

The following article was published in the Irish Independent on Thursday.

Fair play to Rhodes for his entuasim for DAB however I do think it's misplaced. DAB is not going to be picked up nationally for years to come. DAB is supposed to give you inproved sound quality on radio and allows messages to be sent to digital displays on radios etc, well ask yourself this, when is the last time you said you complained about the sound quality of the radio when you were listening to a show (no smart answers, I mean when you have a regualr good reception). People don't want CD quality bitrates when listening to Gerry Ryan or whatever because the quality they have at the moment is absolutely fine. I can see where Rhodes and co are coming from in that DAB should be the next step in radio technology, and it probably will be, analogue goes to digital, however the point is there is no demand for it at present beyond a few radio buffs who are overly particular about broadcasts. My advice to indepedent broadcasters considering or trying to push DAB is, 'look at the times you're in now. Can you really see a proper demand? There is a reason why the BCI are being so slow with pushing it forward. Spend your money on something else and come back to it in 4/5 years. You might have a market then'

watty

DAB doesn't even do CD quality anyway. RDS on FM gives scrolling text. You have the radio to LISTEN.

It's a technology that is too power hungry for pocket radio or mobile phones. DAB isn't the next step in Radio. DRM replacing LW, MW and SW is.

For VHF/UHF/L-Band etc it's not clear if DAB+, DRM+, DVB-t, DBM, DVB-SH or DVB-h is the way forward. DAB as used in UK isn't. Wrong Codec, not enough FEC or robust enough etc.

Then there is Internet Radio. While LTE won't be real broadband, it would make Internet Radio on-the-go / portable more likely than on 3G/HSPA. Even with 3G, Internet Radio at lower quality is just about feasible. I use portable Internet Radio via WiFi on my Archos and Nokia phone a bit. Far more growth and users on that than DAB. Huge choice of stations including streaming music like Spotify.