DAB News

dxhound2005 · 30-09-2017 8:01pm

Claude Wilton wrote: »

I have a great selection on DAB. In Donegal near the border. Certainly not from any of the 2RN tx.

Irish DAB has been somewhere on the scale between Neither Fish Nor Flesh and and a Dog's Breakfast. Are 2RN still sticking with the urban TXs? If so, why bother with it? It is either a viable transmission system or it isn't.

Was there any truth in the suggestion that the BBC had offered its stations free of charge to RTÉNL for Irish DAB? If they had taken it up, there was a golden opportunity for RTÉ Radio to be carried as a reciprocal in GB and NI, but the powers that be in Montrose weren't thinking ahead, and much as it pains the more Nationally-minded, having 5 Live on Irish DAB would have driven uptake.

But, to coin a phrase, we are where we are. Nowhere much further than when 'tests' started in 2006.

I am also near the border and I get nothing from the North. DAB in the North is not complete. Large areas in Armagh and Down and elsewhere get nothing. And the Camlough DAB transmitter has only a small number of stations compared to say Limavady. So they probably need to work on that before worrying about us.

The transmitters in the South probably cover an area bigger than Northern Ireland, so that makes them more than what could be called urban.

https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/dab/Limavady

https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/dab/Camlough

The Cush · 30-09-2017 10:19pm

Claude Wilton wrote: »

Was there any truth in the suggestion that the BBC had offered its stations free of charge to RTÉNL for Irish DAB? If they had taken it up, there was a golden opportunity for RTÉ Radio to be carried as a reciprocal in GB and NI, but the powers that be in Montrose weren't thinking ahead, and much as it pains the more Nationally-minded, having 5 Live on Irish DAB would have driven uptake.

Wishful thinking more like, no spare capacity on the RTÉ licensed mux for the BBC services. Any such service would require BAI approval and a Comreg spectrum licence. In reverse no spare national capacity on the UK national muxes.

Antenna wrote: »

Would you reckon it is currently being transmitted from RTE Donnybrook rather than Threerock?

Could it be Kippure, it has been off-air all week?
Is the DAB Ireland Mux 1 still transmitting?

StreetLight · 30-09-2017 11:10pm

Kippure's DAB Mux 1 is still going strong.

In fact, even though Aertel had it listed as having been off the air all week, I never experienced any outages whenever I was tuned into it.

The Cush · 30-09-2017 11:41pm

StreetLight wrote: »

Kippure's DAB Mux 1 is still going strong.

In fact, even though Aertel had it listed as having been off the air all week, I never experienced any outages whenever I was tuned into it.

In the other thread posters mentioned outages from Kippure over previous weeks

The Cush · 01-10-2017 11:36pm

Update on the small-scale DAB+ mini-muxes

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/

October 1st

Two minimuxes have popped up in Dublin on Blocks 5A and 5B. Both are being broadcast with 200w each from Donnybrook. 24 DAB+ services are on Block 5A and 23 on Block 5B, though not all have audio currently. All nine RTÉ services plus all 36 commercial stations across Ireland are expected to be on the two muxes. The multiplexes have been implemented by Viamux, a new company associated with the Manchester minimux operator Niocast.

http://www.viamux.com/
http://www.viamux.com/ireland.html

Viamux provided the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) and the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ with an innovative DAB+ radio network, broadcasting every station on the Irish Radioplayer. Located in Dublin, the system employs two DAB+ multiplexes which carry all 36 of Ireland’s commercial radio stations along with RTɒs nine services. The network also switches listeners seamlessly between the Irish Radioplayer app and free-to-air DAB+.

Viamux and Niocast, the Manchester small-scale mini-mux licencee, are both Niocom Group companies.
RTÉ Radio is to be carried on the Manchester mux once the necessary regulatory issues are sorted.

Niocast Manchester mini-mux

Red represents DAB, Blue represents DAB+

Joe Duffy. · 02-10-2017 12:30am

So what is the point of this trial? Is the goal to have all Irish radio stations available officially on dab+ some day?

end of the road · 02-10-2017 2:42am

Joe Duffy. wrote: »

So what is the point of this trial? Is the goal to have all Irish radio stations available officially on dab+ some day?

i assume so. + to test a minny-mux in irish conditions.

Expunge · 02-10-2017 10:21am

Was it not possible for RTE or the IBI to engage an Irish company such as Total Broadcast to do this work?
Does this mean license fee money going outside of the State for this or not?

jando11 · 02-10-2017 10:38am

Expunge wrote: »

Was it not possible for RTE or the IBI to engage an Irish company such as Total Broadcast to do this work?
Does this mean license fee money going outside of the State for this or not?

It’s possible that the expertise in this relatively new area is not here domestically. DAB has been around for donkeys years but this small scale Linux stuff is new.. I was trying to get some info on it. It seems like it’s mostly software based now and not hardware based.
Linux... eurgh.. tried learning it years ago and failed miserably..
Ruined by windows I am

The Cush · 03-10-2017 12:17am

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2017/10/doing-the-dab-event-heads-for-belfast-next/

Doing the DAB: Belfast will be part of the Belfast Media Festival on 17th November, with speakers confirmed so far including people from the BBC and commercial radio operators in Northern Ireland.

On the list at the time of writing are:
– Local broadcaster John Rosborough
– Stuart Robinson and Mark Mahaffy from Bauer Radio, Northern Ireland
– Michael Tumelty from BBC Northern Ireland
– Larry Deeney from BBC Radio Foyle
– Jimmy Buckland and Peter McVerry from Wireless Group
– JP Coakley from RTÉ
– Bryan Coombes from Arqiva
– Ford Ennals from DRUK

Additionally, the Republic of Ireland’s public service broadcaster, RTÉ, will talk about future plans for digital radio.

The Cush · 03-10-2017 12:39am

Updated channel list, audio is 48 kbit/s DAB+ Stereo

http://www.wohnort.org/DAB/ireland.html#tests

Dublin 1
DAB+ Band III
Block 5A: 174.928 MHz
Allotment:
Operator: RTÉ
Sites: Donnybrook (200w)
On-Air: September 2017

RTE Radio 1
RTE 2FM
RTE Lyric
RTE RnaG
RTE Gold
RTE Radio 1Extra
RTE Pulse
RTE 2XM
RTE Jr Radio
Beat 102103
C103 281A
Clare fm
Classic Hits 4fm
Cork's 96fm
Dublin's 98fm
East Coast FM
Dublins FM104
Galway Bay FM
KCLR
Kfm
Limerick Live 95
Highland Radio
Midlands 103

Dublin 2
DAB+ Band III
Block 5B: 176.640 MHz
Allotment:
Operator: RTÉ
Sites: Donnybrook (200w)
On-Air: September 2017

iRadio
LMFM
MidWest Radio
Newstalk
Northern Sound
Ocean FM
Dublin's Q102
Radio Kerry
Radio Nova
Cork's Red FM
Shannonside FM
South East Radio
Spin 1038 2834
Spin South West
Spirit Radio
Sunshine 106.8
Tipp FM
Today FM
WLR fm
Raidio Failte
Raidio na Life
Raidio Ri Ra

s3rtvdbwfj81ch · 03-10-2017 7:56am

Are those available yet?

I can see both blocks on my radio and I can listen to the RTE output, but not really sure how to get the other stations.

JDxtra · 03-10-2017 10:19am

I can only assume that they are capturing the online streams for the other commercial stations, and re-encoding them for the DAB mux. I can't imagine that all the commercial operators have an independent link back to RTE (especially for a trial), so this is probably the only way they can do it.

Probably doesn't matter much if they are being relayed on the MUX at only 48 kbit/s. DAB+ uses HE-AAC v2 - which is a great codec, but at 48 kbit/s you are going to get some compression artifacts.

The Cush · 03-10-2017 1:48pm

JDxtra wrote: »

I can only assume that they are capturing the online streams for the other commercial stations, and re-encoding them for the DAB mux. I can't imagine that all the commercial operators have an independent link back to RTE (especially for a trial), so this is probably the only way they can do it.

According to the Viamux site there are 2 options

Viamux DAB in a Box

We provide all your head-end equipment (antenna, amplifier, SDR and multiplex server) and install it at the transmission site. A DAB/DAB+ encoder is included for each of your client radio station locations so that audio is encoded at source to maintain the highest quality. Using the internet as the contribution circuit for encoded audio ensures that your ongoing operating costs are kept to a minimum.

Viamux DAB in the Cloud

Your multiplex server and DAB/DAB+ encoders are co-located in our data centre. From here the 'blended' multiplexed stream is sent directly to your 'head-end' equipment at the transmission site using a virtual private network. Using the cloud ensures that your audio encoders and multiplex server benefits from our 24-hour system monitoring and on-site technical support.

Doodah7 · 03-10-2017 2:31pm

Can we listen to these stations yet? I retuned my car DAB radio in Liffey Valley earlier and all that came up were the RTE stations on DAB.

Alun · 03-10-2017 2:33pm

Doodah7 wrote: »

Can we listen to these stations yet? I retuned my car DAB radio in Liffey Valley earlier and all that came up were the RTE stations on DAB.

Surely at only 200W Tx power you'd probably have to be parked in the RTE car park to pick them up?

Joe Duffy. · 03-10-2017 2:33pm

Doodah7 wrote: »

Can we listen to these stations yet? I retuned my car DAB radio in Liffey Valley earlier and all that came up were the RTE stations on DAB.

But does your car radio have dab+?

The Cush · 03-10-2017 2:41pm

Low power transmission (200 W) from an antenna mounted on the side of a building in Donnybrook compared to hi-tower hi-power sites like Three Rock (14 kW) and Kippure (15 kW), Comreg Test & Trial licence most likely.

SimonMaher · 03-10-2017 3:45pm

The Cush wrote: »

Low power transmission (200 W) from an antenna mounted on the side of a building in Donnybrook compared to hi-tower hi-power sites like Three Rock (14 kW) and Kippure (15 kW), Comreg Test & Trial licence most likely.

Even at 200w the coverage should be half decent from Donnybrook but it's really struggling. Even on a test licence they should at least be able to use the main tower with an aerial up top to see what urban coverage can be achieved at that power level.

The previous DB trial was using decent power from a significant height so even a minimux should make the best of its physical location. The Manchester minimux uses the Manchester One tower block doesn't it?

Simon

ITV2 · 03-10-2017 3:45pm

I picked them up in Donnybrook this morning on a €20 radio from Aldi..

JDxtra · 03-10-2017 3:58pm

SimonMaher wrote: »

Even at 200w the coverage should be half decent from Donnybrook but it's really struggling. Even on a test licence they should at least be able to use the main tower with an aerial up top to see what urban coverage can be achieved at that power level.

True. Unless all the "testers" are within the RTE campus!

The Cush · 03-10-2017 4:21pm

SimonMaher wrote: »

Even on a test licence they should at least be able to use the main tower with an aerial up top to see what urban coverage can be achieved at that power level.

Maybe this is being used as a test for sites where a high tower may not be available. These small-scale setups are designed to cover a small geographic area.

More Music · 03-10-2017 5:31pm

The trial is being broadcast from Donnybrook.

It's not yet running at 200W. It's only meant for "on campus" testing at the moment.

At 200W coverage should go beyond the M50.

All stations received a local encoder from Viamux. Linux based Intel NUC box. All settings preset for them.

One of the main objectives is to demonstrate seamless handover from an app (in this case the Irish RadioPlayer) to terrestrial DAB transmissions on a smartphone.

The Cush · 03-10-2017 5:51pm

More Music wrote: »

One of the main objectives is to demonstrate seamless handover from an app (in this case the Irish RadioPlayer) to terrestrial DAB transmissions on a smartphone.

Long term could this be the model for a national rollout?

JDxtra · 03-10-2017 6:13pm

More Music wrote: »

The trial is being broadcast from Donnybrook.

It's not yet running at 200W. It's only meant for "on campus" testing at the moment.

At 200W coverage should go beyond the M50.

All stations received a local encoder from Viamux. Linux based Intel NUC box. All settings preset for them.

One of the main objectives is to demonstrate seamless handover from an app (in this case the Irish RadioPlayer) to terrestrial DAB transmissions on a smartphone.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing that information.

The Cush · 07-10-2017 12:13am

Viamux Éireann, Viamux as Gaeilge - http://www.viamux.com/viamux-eacuteireann.html

Viamux, the company installing and managing the two new small-scale DAB+ muxes has launched its website in 3 additional languages, German, French and Irish.

VIAMUX

n réiteach ilphléach digiteach DAB/
DAB+ raidió iontaofa ísealchostas

Viamux DAB i mBosca

An réiteach ilphléacs 'amach as an mbosca' iomlán

Soláthraímid do gach trealamh ceann-deireadh (antenna, amplifier, SDR agus freastalaí ilphléacs) agus é a
shuiteáil ag an suíomh tarchurtha. Cuimsítear ionchódóir DAB/DAB+ do gach ceann de do láithreacha stáisiún
raidió do chliaint ionas go mbeidh an fhuaim ionchódaithe ag an bhfoinse chun an caighdeán is airde a
choinneáil. Ag baint úsáide as an idirlíon mar chiorcad ranníocaíochta le haghaidh fuaime ionchódaithe,
cinntítear go gcoimeádtar do chostais oibriúcháin leanúnacha ar a laghad.

Viamux DAB sa Cloud
An réiteach 'DAB mar sheirbhís' a bhainistítear go hiomlán

Tá do fhreastalaí ilphléacs agus ionchódóirí DAB/DAB+ lonnaithe i ár n-ionad sonraí. Ón áit seo,
cuirtear an sruth ilphléacsáilte 'chumasc' go díreach chuig do threalamh 'ceannlíne' ag an láithreán
tarchuir ag baint úsáide as líonra príobháideach fíorúil. Cinntíonn an úsáid a bhaint as an scamall go
mbainfidh d'ionchódóirí fuaime agus freastalaí ilphléacs leas as ár gcóras monatóireachta 24 uair an
chloig agus tacaíocht theicniúil ar an láthair.

Chun níos mó glao a fhoghlaim
+44 (0)161 696 7557

Oibrímid le cliant mór
agus beag

RTÉ

Thug Viamux Craoltóirí Neamhspleácha na hÉireann (IBI) agus craoltóir stáit RTÉ le líonra raidió DAB+
nuálach, ag craoladh gach stáisiún ar Radioplayer na hÉireann. Lonnaithe i mBaile Átha Cliath,
fostaíonn an córas dhá ilphléacs DAB+ a chuireann gach 36 stáisiún raidió tráchtála na hÉireann in
éineacht le naoi seirbhís RTÉ. Lascraíonn an líonra éisteoirí freisin gan uaim idir an app Radioplayer
Éireannach agus DAB+ saor in aisce.

Tuilleadh Eolais

niocast
digital

Feidhmíonn Niocast Digital an ilphléacs raidió digiteach is daonra ar domhan. Lonnaithe i Manchester,
Sasana, sheol an 'minimux' ar scála beag Dé hAoine an 28 Lúnasa 2015. Anois tugann sé 27 clár clár
EAGGleictreach agus spreagúil DAB+, tugann an ilphléacs Niocast rogha d'éisteoirí gan choinne riamh
don chathair agus soláthraíonn sé ardán riachtanach d'ábhar nua agus nuálaíocht formáid.

láithreán gréasáin niocast