That’s odd but I think the number of receivers that would actually support it is probably low so probably is on the “don’t bother” list.
I’m still interested to see how “DAB-DAB Link” would work. I think I’ve brought this up before but I’ve wondered if DAB needs a full rescan when moving between DAB regions. If DAB-DAB Link worked (i.e. jumping from ABC Sydney to ABC Central Coast/ABC Illawarra automatically) it would be great but there might be issues with dead zones between regions that might make it not work?
I think the HD Radio model of tuning into an AM station and if the digital signal is strong enough switching to the digital stream is much better and can handle those things a lot better.
Firstly, DAB and FM would need to be in sync (which they are not now), but the difference in sound quality would probably be noticeable when it switches between the two.
I’ve done the same in reverse with Absolute Radio - switched automatically from 105.8FM in London to DAB once the car was out of range from the former.
I didn’t know about that one, will have to look into it.
I know BAI are doing a DRM+ test along with the ABC on the FM band in Albury, but not this DRM test on the AM band one.
It seems like that wouldn’t be an issue, but yes I’m surprised there isn’t a bit more spacing there too.
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On WSFM 80s, song info has been stuck on “Glory Of Love” (Peter Cetera) since Saturday… ARN are usually pretty good at fixing these issues quickly, so I’m surprised it hasn’t been fixed yet.
756kHz AM is listed on the ACMA database but 747kHz is not listed if they are infact testing using that frequency which is only 9kHz away from the primary AM service
DRM is IBOC the same as HD Radio in the USA, so being on an adjacent frequency shouldn’t be an issue.
Theoretically, with digital only DRM, the channels are similar to DVB-T channels so you could have stations in the same area on adjacent frequency.
In the case in question, the analogue is more likely to bleed over & interfere with the DRM signal rather than the other way.
You’ll also notice from the listed info about it, it’s only a 9kHz channel, not 18kHz like the analogue AM service is, so it’s only a half bandwidth channel, for the test they could’ve narrowed the bandwidth of the AM service, to test how it goes being so close to each other?
I’ve written an E-Mail to the ABC on Friday and Yesterday i’ve got a Reply on their Testing on DRM:
The DRM+ service is currently carrying 3 services. We are currently still testing DRM transmissions. Depending on the modulation format used the bit rates available do vary. The services broadcast may change during the test depending on what content is being tested. There is good information on the DRM+ format here https://www.drm.org/drm/
The DRM30 content will also change during the testing period to allow quality assessment of different content types.
Got bored and decided to have a look again at Can I Get DAB+ Radio? - Digital Radio Plus.
If type in Perth I get: Very Good Reception Majority of buildings in suburb will receive good reception.
But if I type in Mandurah I get: Good Reception The building in this suburb may receive good reception, although some buildings may not be covered.
Why the difference? I assume Mandurah is picking up Mandurah DAB+ (not Perth DAB+) in which case it should be Very Good? I notice the same with Darwin and Hobart also being Good (but Canberra is Very Good).