DAB Thread

Orban6 · 15-02-2025 02:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123173577#Comment_123173577

Ah, my confusion was that Viamux were involved in both projects.

https://www.viamux.com/#anchor%20SUPPLIERS

kazoo106 · 16-02-2025 10:46PM

Interesting - thought Comreg were done with more trial licences, also interesting that they seem to be proposing the frequencies 10B standalone in Louth and an SFN for the other sites on 11B - clever thinking as Mount Oriel could create some "late arrivals" in areas over 74km from that location and creating destructive interference. Something RTE never understood as listeners in the East kildare area would tell you from RTE's tenure.

It would only be a good thing if this came to fruition, I will believe it when I see it though as I feel that the medium is toxic by means of FM protectionism, and you can see that from the many knock downs even here.

Those coverage maps look a bit over generous for 63dBµV/m and possibly more reflects "good" car radio coverage.

Below is the RRC-06 Allocations for IE

12C (227.360) - IRL DAB NAT 1 (old RTE freq)
12A (223.936) - IRL DAB NAT 2
10A (209.936) - IRL DAB NAT 3

Regional
7C (192.352) - IRL DAB REG DONEGAL, IRL DAB REG DUB AREA 2
10B (211.648) - IRL DAB REG NORTH EAST
10D (215.072) - IRL DAB REG MIDLANDS
11A (216.928) - IRL DAB REG CORK
11B (218.640) - IRL DAB REG NORTH WEST, IRL DAB REG DUB AREA 1
11C (220.352) - IRL DAB REG SOUTH EAST
12B (225.648) - IRL DAB REG SOUTH WEST

Local
5B (176.640) - IRL DAB L LOUTH-MEATH
5C (178.352) - IRL DAB L DUBLIN CITY 2, IRL DAB L OY-WH
5D (180.064) - IRL DAB L DUBLIN CNTY 2

6A (181.936) - IRL DAB L DUBLIN CNTY 1
6B (183.648) - IRL DAB L WICKLOW
6C (185.360) - IRL DAB L CAVAN MONAGHAN, IRL DAB L CORK CITY 1
6D (187.072) - IRL DAB L CORK CITY 2, IRL DAB L DONEGAL, IRL DAB L KILDARE

7A (188.928) - IRL DAB L CORK CNTY 1, IRL DAB L CORK CNTY 1
7C (192.352) - IRL DAB L WATERFORD
7D (194.064) - IRL DAB L DUBLIN CITY 1, IRL DAB L KERRY

8A (195.936) - IRL DAB L LIMERICK, IRL DAB L SO-DL-LM
8C (199.360) - IRL DAB L RN-LD-SLM
8D (201.072) - IRL DAB L MAYO

9A (202.928) - IRL DAB L LS-OY-WH, IRL DAB L WEXFORD,
9B (204.640) - IRL DAB L GALWAY
9C (206.352) - IRL DAB L CW-K

10C (213.360) - IRL DAB L CORK CNTY 2

11D (222.064) - IRL DAB L CLARE

12D (229.072) - IRL DAB L TIPPERARY

tinytobe · 16-02-2025 10:57PM

FMScan.org lists the following stations in Ireland on DAB+:

Does anybody know where the transmitter is and how much power is used?

8Radio	1

FM104FitMix	1

FM104HitMix	1

FM104Xmas	1

FREEDOM	1

LMFMCountry	1

LmfmXmas	1

NOVA80s	1

NOVACHILL	1

NOVAROCK	1

Q10280s	1

Q102Xmas	1

kazoo106 · 16-02-2025 11:07PM

Thats just nonsense - there is no such MUX

tinytobe · 16-02-2025 11:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123179069#Comment_123179069

Then the data is incorrect. It first appeared before Christmas, maybe it was just a test before Christmas.

Trick of the Tail · 17-02-2025 12:45PM

The FailteDAB project is interesting. I'd like to know what's different about this network over other trials before.

I tend to think that the DAB ship has sailed, and may now be too far over the horizon to ever come back, but if FailteDAB have found a better technical and/or marketing model, maybe its possible.

It will be interesting to see.

ATotT

kazoo106 · 17-02-2025 04:26PM

Going by the globally accepted indoor coverage parameters for DAB, with a required signal of 63dBµV/m to achieve good indoor coverage. I have run a coverage plot through another software.
The result it spat out are very impressive - a population coverage of 1.77 million persons with indoor coverage.
This trial has the potential to change things and I welcome it, having had time to look at the technicals. I would not like to be paying the ESB on this, however, recon these sites even with high gain antenna stacks will run to €130k a year - assuming the stations run at 88k (like France) this allows 13 stations. Thats €10k a year per station for electric

L1011 · 17-02-2025 06:38PM

Actual mainstream broadcasters involved this time rather than some religious ones is going to be a significant difference - I'd expect the FM stations to plug the DAB sub-brands extensively.

Wireless and Bay both onboard, both have existing online sub-brands and Bay has had temp FM licences.

waywill1966 · 17-02-2025 11:07PM

With all new cars having Dab radios and it being a success in the UK it is inevitable that Ireland would make an attempt to resurrect DAB. Just hope it won’t be a 4 city project and that the whole country from Malin to Mizen will benefit from it and that local radio will welcome competition!

Genghis · 18-02-2025 12:52AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123181178#Comment_123181178

Is that similar to the Leinster range RTE Dab had? I live at one of the edges on your map and as I remember it, when RTE had DAB we could pick it up their stations in our area and right the way up to Dublin and on for the border... but go 10km further down the motorway (South) it would drop.

Deedsie · 18-02-2025 01:19AM

I was always hopeful DAB would be revisited. Hopefully this trial will be a success and the coverage will be expanded into Munster and the rest of Ireland.

JDxtra · 18-02-2025 10:24AM

Looks like everything is in place for this to work, I wish Stephen and the team the best of luck. This may be the last roll of the dice for DAB here.

As it'll be a DAB+ service, it'll be using the HE-AAC v2 codec - which is very good.

Great things can be achieved with modern encoders. My hope is that there is not the temptation to squeeze too much out of it. Music services should be as close to FM quality as possible as listeners need to be lured over and not have any negative experience during the trial.

Common sense needs to be applied to the lineup (easy on the religious stations for example!). It must have mass appeal (no pun intended) in addition to some potentially niche extras.

All the best, thumbs up from me.

Genghis · 18-02-2025 12:32PM

What do we expect in terms of duplication with FM.

Will, for example Nova, Classic Hits or FM104 be one of the Dab channels that Wireless or Bay include, despite those being available in more or less the same transmission area on the FM band?

I guess if the plan is for Failte to ultimately become a national service, the Dublin stations would view it as a way to become 'national services'. Equally, as fully priduced stations they may be needed to balance out more, let's say, playlisted offerungs.

On the other hand, if the scope is to offer choice, then the line-up would actively seek to complement existing FM, bring 13 new options to the airwaves.

I think most cars, for example, view FM and Dab as a single service, i.e. preset from either exist side by side in an 'FM/DAB' menu. So either can be handled gracefully, it's more a question of the net gain from the new services for listeners.

Antenna · 18-02-2025 01:15PM

QUOTE JDxtra "easy on the religious stations for example!"

I stumbled on Spirit radio yesterday morning on carradio, and they were appealing for money from listeners for station running costs , either once-off or monthly donations. Maybe its to raise funds to go on DAB :)

potential ones also are UCB Ireland and Radio Maria ?, which as people know are already both available on the Saorview radio stations, so already have a CnaM licence required. In times past the parent UCB radio station, on satellite as many would recall was available on terrestrial radio for a number of years in many areas of Ireland via unlicenced retransmissions

Schorpio · 18-02-2025 03:45PM

The only shot DAB has in Ireland is to offer niche services, the likes of which are not found on FM. We have already seen proof of that with RTE Gold managing to generate an audience, despite no promotion whatsoever. Regional services going national may have some limited appeal, but most of these are all pretty same-y anyway, so I don't foresee them sustaining the service. I reckon the likes of Bauer understand this well already from the UK market (and all of their Absolute Radio derivatives).

The fact that a CnaM license is required is probably a bad thing. It means that whatever we get, it will just be form of FM duplication.

L1011 · 18-02-2025 04:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123184337#Comment_123184337

CnaM digital services licence is not actually that complicated to get.

Trick of the Tail · 18-02-2025 04:36PM

Since participation as a station in this or any trial, the station would need a content provision licence from CnaM.

Last time, they were very awkward about these, insisting that 5 years be paid in advance even though the trial was only one year!

Of course, the FM stations already have these licences, no no extra expense for them there.

And if the rumoured fee for one year's coverage for indie stations is true, I think it'd be hard for the likes of 80s, 8-Radio, 90s, Zenith etc to justify it, especially when it'd be hard to monetise.

So I would suspect that we'll just hear the existing national, regional and local station on this, probably with some 'other' versions.

98FM Gold? Nova Country? FM104 Irish, etc? ;)

kazoo106 · 18-02-2025 05:47PM

I believe that they have made entry easier for this trial, something close to UK DSP pricing

Former Former Former · 19-02-2025 08:21AM

This is very encouraging;

decent coverage (if you live in Leinster)
credible content providers
official CnaM sanction

so hopefully it does turn out to be a valid trial run and we can learn something from it. It would be great if RTE got on board and if someone else is providing the infrastructure, you'd hope they will.

Charles Slane · 28-02-2025 07:08PM

According to Radio Today - https://radiotoday.ie/2025/02/wireless-ireland-confirms-plans-to-fully-embrace-dab-trial-with-new-services/

"Wireless Ireland is planning on launching “a suite of new digital radio services” on DAB+ this year."

and

"Bauer Media Audio Ireland has also confirmed it will operate services on the DAB+ trial with full details to follow."

They say that the DAB+ trial will operate for 12 months from April by FáilteDAB.

fmfan · 10-03-2025 11:37AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123181178#Comment_123181178

Wonder will put a mux in Donegal or Monaghan in the future. Seems to be no Coverage in the North West of Ireland.

vinnielo · 10-03-2025 11:44AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123250037#Comment_123250037

I see. Thanks for letting us all know.

Antenna · 10-03-2025 12:57PM

As an update to my previous post here, UCB Ireland radio left the Saorview platform last week (now online only) . Do they still have a CnaM digital licence ?

which might indicate if they want to go on DAB

Charles Slane · 14-03-2025 09:20PM

A new Director of Digital at Bauer Ireland.

I wonder if their "ambitious plans for 2025" include DAB+ in Ireland.

https://radiotoday.ie/2025/03/ruth-fitzsimons-appointed-director-of-digital-at-bauer-media-audio-ireland/

hawthorne · 22-03-2025 12:03AM

FáilteDAB - Failte Dab

Wireless Ireland confirms plans to fully embrace DAB+ trial with new services – RadioToday

Orban6 · 24-03-2025 11:13AM

I'm receiving a weak (about -85 dbm) signal on 192 Mhz on my spectrum analyzer in the midlands.

Charles Slane · 24-03-2025 12:12PM

Now with audio tone.

highdef · 24-03-2025 12:22PM

Banned, as in legally prohibited? I'm clearly missing some info on this as I can't imagine how or why DAB would have been made illegal? Too expensive to implement, I could understand but to make it illegal is a whole different thing. This is bizarre!

L1011 · 24-03-2025 12:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123292300#Comment_123292300

It wasn't banned. RTE just gave up on it.

highdef · 24-03-2025 02:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123292306#Comment_123292306

Cheers, the OP is sending out the wrong message then, using words like "banned".

DAB Thread

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