Digital Radio

Radio, Print, and Online General Radio and Digital
1290

Just had a look and there’s only 1 store in Melbourne that has it in stock, and 6 in Sydney - so it can’t be a very popular model for them.
Looks like a nice unit though.

1 Like
1291

WHEN is 2CH going to get with the times and put Song info on Digital Radio? And multi stations would be nice too.

There is no 2nd line text AT ALL… Just 2CH 1170 on the top line and that’s it.

…

2SM does have multi stations with Song into, but oddly the main station is still 100% mono with no 2nd line text either…

Right now 2SM is playing Don McLean’s “American Pie” in MONO… :crazy_face: Oh the horror… It’s like listening to AM radio, that deserves another :crazy_face:

2 Likes
1292

the main 2SM is mostly talk, though; I’d hate to hear how Carter’s country music show sounds (let alone in mono)

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1293

Being talk stations doesn’t seem to stop 2GB, Talking Lifestyle or even ABC Radio Sydney from having at least their studio-based programing in stereo.

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1295

in Melbourne AM community radio station 3CR has its DAB+ digital feed in mono, most of its programming is (left-wing) talk and ethnic but has lots of music programmes as well.

2 Likes
1296

Ausmusic Month - November

ABC Jazz

ABC Jazz will be hitting the road during Ausmusic Month, bringing live music from Wangaratta, a town that has played host to some of the most progressive Australian (and international) jazz musicians for over two decades. Highlights include coverage of the National Jazz Awards on 5 November. ABC Jazz and ABC Music will also release a digital compilation album, Jazz Calls, boasting some of the best recordings made by the network in the past 18 months.

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1297

In Sydney, a new pop up station Christnas Hope has, well, popped up on my radio.

Looks like Hope 103.2 is running this… it’s just dead air at the moment though.

1 Like
1298

Yeah, Christmas Hope has been running on Sydney DAB+ for a few festive seasons now. Obviously from the same people who bring you Hope 103.2 and Inspire Digital.

I suppose it won’t be overly long before ARN brings Elf Radio back for another year.

4 Likes
1299

Melbourne also has Light Christmas every year from the Light FM/Light Digital community group.

2 Likes
1300

Have there been any updates on planning for DAB roll-out to the Gold Coast or other regional areas?
It seems painfully slow…

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1301

Canberra should be straightforward you would think as they have been test broadcasting for over seven years, but nothing has happened.

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1302

Ditto for Brisbane but now with Christmas music.

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1303

Christmas Hope is now playing music here in Sydney as well.

For those interested, it’s on the “DAB+ Sydney 1” 9A multiplex at 48kbps.

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1304

The Brisbane licensees remain in disagreement with the Gold Coast and vice versa. Radiation pattern and timing of implementation remain the points of disagreement + the other market licensees e.g Caralis & Jowitt and others who are not happy at their exclusion.

You also have the ABC and (more muted) SBS who quite rightly argue that they should not be limited by commercial radio licence areas and should have a full OD pattern, this would improve coverage to the west and south. I am in support of this as it would show the full potential of ERP 50kW OD in Bris for DAB+. Remember the current analogue FM allocation is OD and 96kW for the nationals and -9dB and same for the commercials and community Bris RA1.

There’s also the ridiculous 5kW cap on regional allocations. If implemented, creates a costly SFN arrangement with rental of the DTV sites and more across the Gold Coast. If only 5kW from Tamborine, large areas will have poor or no signal. Higher ERP from Tamborine will reduce the number of translators. Remember, the Gold Coast FM signal drops off when you go south of Burleigh ridge as it is.

Canberra is the same, the ABC provided public modelling of what 20kW ERP covers - how it is needed, but instead, -6dB of this is allocated. Capital argued similar. 20kW is very much justified considering the terrain and again, limits the cost of multiple sites.

3 Likes
1305

Kmart have the following DAB/FM for $29… And as I had the “I need another radio” bug again, I bought one! At that price, I thought, how bad can it be?! It’s my first foray into the el cheapo end of radio.

http://www.kmart.com.au/product/fm-and-dab+-digital-radio/1217809

First, the bad:

  • Display is hard to read, particularly outside with sunglasses on, even with mains power connected. This can’t be adjusted unfortunately.

  • Can be quite prone to noise on FM on weak signals, but this can be nulled out to a degree.

  • Sound is a bit too bright, lacking in bass even when using headphones. Not quite loud enough on DAB, though fine on FM.

  • Doesn’t cope well with splatter, no chance of me hearing eg. SWR 999 next to Rhema 99.7 (other radios I have cope better with this).

The good

  • Does pick up fair to strong signals clearly on FM ( though it had issues with 96.1 The Edge for some reason).

  • No issues with DAB reception

  • Has RDS on FM! That was a nice surprise at this price point! Worked well on most stations.

  • Also has a signal strength bar on FM, wasn’t expecting that either.

All in all, not too bad for $29, but wont be using it a lot. The dim display spoils it a bit. Will try it indoors one night and see how it goes then.

2 Likes
1306

Strangely enough, I found myself browsing Kmart’s online catalogue the other night just to see what they had available on the radio front; I did come across that el-cheapo model. I’m glad to hear it actually works :smiley: .

1 Like
1307

Radio 97 missing out on the Gold Coast is similar to C91.3 in Campbelltown not being included in Sydney’s digital radio. Both should have been included in some way, I think.

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1308

I have to say I disagree re Radio 97 and C91.3… both licensees would have paid considerably less than their competitors for their licences and to have the playing field levelled somewhat for free doesn’t seem fair to the Gold Coast and Sydney stations.

Perhaps if they were able to create low power multiplexes on 9D to house the community and commercials that serve each market eg. one in Campbelltown, Penrith, Northern Beaches or Ipswich, Logan, Beaudesert, Tweed Heads without interfering with each other… but that would probably be an engineering nightmare.

4 Likes
1309

And River 94.9 in Ipswich too.

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1310

Yes. And considerably is correct.
Nova 969’s licence and C91.3 were auctioned on the same day in 2000. Nova went for $155 million, while C91.3 only $10 million.

Absolutely, but something needs to be done about these fringe areas (Geelong and Mandurah are other areas that come to mind) as well as overlapping areas (such as Wollongong/Nowra) if DAB+ is going to be successful given that limited number of frequencies available.

I can think of three possible remedies, a result being a combination rather than just one option:

  1. Make the “fringe” stations pay to get onto DAB. Easy to justify given that they’ve never paid to access the full area, but also pose minimal threat to the incumbents given existing overlap does give them a current presence. Obviously whatever fee would consider that DAB is still not the most common form of listening, and a DAB only presence does limit market penetration. They may also no get ownership rights to the local DAB JVs to still give the incumbents greater control.

  2. Ability to use less capacity. Currently stations have been automatically allocated 128kbps with the option to purchase an addition 128kpbs if excess capacity exists. This could be reduced to say 64kbps for the fringe stations - therefore limiting the number of stations they can provide).

  3. A condition that the fringe stations can still only “market” to their original licence area.

  4. DAB coverage would have to extend to cover the full fringe area, so the incumbent stations get the advantage of now covering those areas to soften the blow of a new station being available.

The biggest problem with this (and any other plans) for those areas involving a metro areas with existing DAB is that there is no excess capacity (except for Brisbane) so another multiplex would need to be launched.

Under this plan, no one gets a 100% free run, and everyone gets the opportunity to broadcast on DAB+, but can forfeit that right if they don’t like the fees and conditions involved.

4 Likes