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DAB Thread

radioguru02

What’s the situation? Heard this “Eirdab” MUX was testing recently. Is that still on and if not is it coming back? What stations are carried? Is it just RTE outside of that?

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rogue-entity

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I don't really see the benefits it will bring, radio is radio, mine in the car only goes bad about 1% of the time in tunnels or multi-story car parks, it's pure wasteful over engineering what we don't need

I don't see any harm whatsoever in allowing other stations the ability to get on air when at the moment there's no reasonable prospect of that happening. We desperately need a change and some choice.

radioguru02

end of the road wrote: »

on what basis are you claiming 3 listeners? i would suggest the fact we still have such services means that a lot more then 3 listeners are listening.

We’ll never know...it’s not included in JNLR, I’d say there’s few more

plodder

rogue-entity wrote: »

As has been stated elsewhere, the primary reason it is not taking off here is because the commercial stations don't want it to take off, and I believe the BAI is a victim of regulatory capture; they've been dragging their feet on DAB for at least a decade now.

As I see it, the FM transmitters have been paid for and are serving their purpose, so there's no incentive for them to move to DAB unless they wanted to launch additional services under their umbrella like e.g. Nova or RTE. If the Government mandated a switch to digital, there are other options that I would expect to be pushed as a way of keeping the status quo not unlike what I had read about the adoption of ATSC or IBoC in the US.

And this is where I have a problem, streaming online is not broadcasting and so it does not cheaply scale. An 300W FM broadcast transmitter will set you back a small bit of cash, at a good site you'll get a wide range of coverage and it won't matter if there's one hundred or one hundred thousand listeners in range, they can all receive it at no extra cost to you.
Broadcasting online, assuming you were using conventional hosting, and you're paying by the Mbit 95th for each 7-8 listeners or you're paying for the total sum of the data transferred (which can be more expensive) so that's going to cost you a lot more than conventional broadcasting.

And then there's the mobile networks, if there was a large uptick in folks listening to streaming services via mobile I'd expect capacity at the networks to be a problem, and they have trouble providing coverage outside of the cities much less capacity so that's a non-runner right there.

I firmly believe that radio broadcasting should NOT be the sole preserve of the wealthy and the well-heeled "media moguls", that it is a powerful tool for reaching and engaging with communities and that they should not be priced out of it nor forced to partner with "a platform" whom ultimately they have no control over - unlike having ones own broadcasting transmitter.

IP multicasting is a better (potential) solution for streaming of live radio. Personally, I think that is the way it will go. I haven't been impressed by DAB. It's more trouble than it's worth due to constant drop outs and switching back to FM.

Mortelaro

I receive 44 dAB channels on my Robert's 94i in Arklow with solid signal from Kippure, aswell as Arfon and preseli in Wales
Mighty handy as 5 live blocks out the sports coverage on wifi

Heres the scan list

https://youtu.be/0FCzWc6x7Dg

prunudo

Mortelaro wrote: »

I receive 44 dAB channels on my Robert's 94i in Arklow with solid signal from Kippure, aswell as Arfon and preseli in Wales
Mighty handy as 5 live blocks out the sports coverage on wifi

Heres the scan list

https://youtu.be/0FCzWc6x7Dg

That looks like a good radio, wonder would it work in my location between Ashford and Newtown? I wouldn't have line of sight to Kippure, good few hills in the way, so don't know how good the reception would be.

Mortelaro

I'd say you'd get Kippure alright,we've the entire mountain range in the way
The UK channels only if you have a sea view or are high up
Its a good set,the 94i roberts,as a wifi radio,has bluetooth,spotify connect has a remote control and a good phone app for controling it
If you buy it on amazon,you can return it,I'd imagine

radioguru02

I’ll be in Cork on Friday and I’ll be very surprised if I pick up this “pirate multiplex” that apparently exists

Ger Roe

jvan wrote: »

That looks like a good radio, wonder would it work in my location between Ashford and Newtown? I wouldn't have line of sight to Kippure, good few hills in the way, so don't know how good the reception would be.

I am in Newtown, and have a Binatone Tranciva IR804 (DAB, FM, WiFi). Argos were selling them about 9 years ago for a steal at €60. The DAB however is useless at this location. The radio is used mostly for internet stations or playback from the home network.

https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/internet-dab-radio-breaks-new-price-low-2732792

DAB here, indoors with the telescopic antenna only picks up anything during high pressure weather conditions and even then it is more likely to be UK services than anything from Kippure. Having said that, an external antenna would obviously be better, but I can get everything currently on DAB through the internet radio mode, so I haven't gone to the bother of experimenting with bits of wire. That might answer the question posed in the original post. I have just scanned for DAB now and it has seen nothing (again).

If I bring the radio 'up to Dublin' it pulls in the DAB services from Three Rock without a bother so location is obviously critical for DAB but at the same time FM and WiFi is always reliable in this particular DAB blackspot.

Mortelaro

It definitely depends on height and coastal distance
In Arklow I'm at 162ft asl and 2kms from the coast but have no view of the sea,so higher ground nearby doesn't seem to be an issue
We also have UK analogue radio on the car radio here with rds,so that matters and can receive UK digital terrestrial

The dab channels are all from arfon here,I checked the frequencies on the Roberts, which is Wales tallest structure over 1000ft high
Most of east Wicklow used get their Welsh analogue TV from there
There will be variations
You'll have a better chance on the UK channels upstairs on a 2 storey rather than a bungalow
Kippure works perfectly throughout my house but Arfon only at the back and upstairs

micosoft

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I don't really see the benefits it will bring, radio is radio, mine in the car only goes bad about 1% of the time in tunnels or multi-story car parks, it's pure wasteful over engineering what we don't need.

The reason the Government and other stakeholders want to move to Digital Radio is to free up bandwidth for other uses (mainly mobile internet). Analogue is wasteful of bandwidth - the switch to Digital TV for example, freed up the 800Mhz range for 4G.
Moving FM channels to DAB allows the 100Mhz range to be used for 5G. In a way it will solve

But you are correct - in itself there is insufficient end user benefit to DAB and it will probably go the way Bluray went - too little benefit and quickly replaced by the internet streaming alternatives. I suspect we will end up moving to Internet based players as cars now come increasingly with permanent internet connectivity.

radioguru02

Dream on boys, no sign of any new DAB mux in city centre today

Franko87

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Dream on boys, no sign of any new DAB mux in city centre today

It's not being recieved in the city . I can receive it on my sdr receiver with an outdoor antenna however I am quite high up??

radioguru02

So is it actually receiveable on a normal DAB radio at all?

Franko87 wrote: »

It's not being recieved in the city . I can receive it on my sdr receiver with an outdoor antenna however I am quite high up??

Franko87

pirateradiohed wrote: »

So is it actually receiveable on a normal DAB radio at all?

If I stand out in my garden I can get it on my pure dab pocket radio if I move around. So yes .I'm assuming what there doing is testing on minimum power. Best to keep an ear out and see if anything develops from it. I did a scan in little island outside the range today and got it in the wife's car .so I'm guessing it's the Southside it's being recieved aswell .might take a drive around and post tomorrow on its rough coverage .

end of the road

pirateradiohed wrote: »

So is it actually receiveable on a normal DAB radio at all?

it will depend on whether the mux is standard dab or dab+ . if dab+ then you will need a radio that supports it which all dab radios don't.
the setup could also be very local with low/restricted coverage so you may have to specifically travel around to look for somewhere to pick it up.

WHL

Receiving in Douglas on my Roberts Play Duo on the telescopic antenna. Signal drifting in and out though

WHL

There is another station called SoulCity also on FREE-DAB.

Franko87

WHL wrote: »

There is another station called SoulCity also on FREE-DAB.

Its seems so its restricted to south side of the city and high parts .interesting ?

radioguru02

I was using a DAB/DAB+ compattable radio. Must be on low power then. Best of luck to all involved, it’s a great idea

paulwilson

Easyradio now added to the list in cork

rayzercork

nrg freedab and soulcity appeared on my radio over the last few days, signal is decent too

Scotty66

How many radio stations are on dab now? My friend in the centre of Cork says he can’t get anything apart from RTÉ and red fm and cork 96. Not even any rds. What frequency is the dab on?

rogue-entity

Channel 5A, it's either on a low power, a low site (or both) because it's only really receivable in a small area.

Antenna

micosoft wrote: »

Moving FM channels to DAB allows the 100Mhz range to be used for 5G. In a way it will solve
.

\

Who is (seriously) making such a suggestion anywhere worldwide?
Its technically unsuitable

Ger Roe wrote: »

so I haven't gone to the bother of experimenting with bits of wire.

An old Band-3 (or Band III) TV aerial (in good condition) would be more effective that bits of wire for DAB.
As used for receiving RTE 1 and 2 analogue TV from Kippure ...

But importantly installed so that the rods are vertical, not horizontal (as was the case with Kippure TV)

Dan Jaman

Antenna wrote: »

An old Band-3 (or Band III) TV aerial (in good condition) would be more effective that bits of wire for DAB.
As used for receiving RTE 1 and 2 analogue TV from Kippure ...

But importantly installed so that the rods are vertical, not horizontal (as was the case with Kippure TV)

Something I've been planning to do is remove a still fairly good condition old Band 3 box antenna and put it on a pole to wave around in the general DAB direction (whatever the closest one is). I've been loathe to get too close to its position on the wall because of the presence of some particularly territorial small black bees.

jrmb

In Bray and Greystones, there's no point in having a DAB receiver.

radioguru02

I’d really appreciate a full list of what’s on FreeDAB if possible, just curious

Franko87

pirateradiohed wrote: »

I’d really appreciate a full list of what’s on FreeDAB if possible, just curious

The freedab multiplex is as follows

NRGradio (dance )
Zenith (rock )
Soul city (soul)
Easy (easy listening )
Global (house station )

radioguru02

Franko87 wrote: »

The freedab multiplex is as follows

NRGradio (dance )
Zenith (rock )
Soul city (soul)
Easy (easy listening )
Global (house station )

Nice lineup.

Franko87

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Nice lineup.

It's a good start . The multiplex is undergoing extensive testing before it launches properly this is to ensure a clean noise free signal and harmonics emissions . So the signal is limited but clean . More information will be added soon .

Regards F.