I think you’ll see them all go to 3B at least - same thing happened with digital TV, they initially used a more robust transmission type, and over time all networks changed to a higher bandwidth model.
I’d also say here as usual, that so many stations waste way too much on slideshows that almost no radios support - and SCA in Melbourne and Sydney own spectrum on the opposite multiplex to their FM stations and use none of it. So best they start there on their quest for more bits.
Noticed this afternoon that Nova 100 is now at 112kbps.
Their license is for the Melbourne City RA1 license area. The commercial stations, plus ABC, SBS and the seven community stations are in the Melbourne RA1 licence area, which includes the wider greater Melbourne area, hence the disparity.
I remember getting the frequency’s confused between The Polse 94.7 and Joy but Joy came in rather scratchy on a UHF antenna connected to a Uniden Scanner in Geelong CBD.
It’s the same license area that Lion 96.1, the Jewish TCBL, would have gone under - there’s nulls out toward Geelong to protect The Pulse (and likewise for 96three should that have gone ahead)
CU, or Capacity Units are a constant value - the DAB multiplex has 864CU in total. Which means community radio gets 192CU - 2/9ths of the multiplex.
Neither of the two multiplexes add to that, 9A is over slightly and 9B is under by 32CU, which means they could easily allow other stations onto the platform.
And just to hammer on the point, they all use insane amounts of bits on data, even though for some of the stations it doesn’t even work. There are commercial stations with scrolling text active that use 0.4kbps on data, not 10+kbps that some of the community stations (and the ABC) do.
They could also air old Casey Kasem countdowns; it would be nice to hear them on a local station again. SWR FM aired them for a while but the cost was too prohibitive; 2ST also had them for a while.
Even worse news came today with the Chief Executive in Council deciding to stop digital radio broadcasting in Hong Kong after considering a report reviewing the development of the technology. It also decided that RTHK’s own digital radio service would cease within six months. According to the government’s press release:
The Review pointed out that in the absence of participation of commercial operators, it would not be realistic from a policy perspective to rely solely on RTHK to operate alone on the DAB platform, or to task RTHK to develop a critical mass of audience on its own.
The Review also mentioned that the fast development of the Internet and mobile applications have replaced traditional sound broadcasting services to a certain extent. The wider environment is not conducive to a revival of the DAB market. In fact, since the 1990s, there have been mixed results in the development of DAB services overseas. There has been stable development in some overseas countries, but there are also examples of termination of DAB services after launch.
That makes Hong Kong the latest country to discontinue digital radio after only six years. Very disappointing.
Yes disappointing but I wouldn’t worry too much about Hong Hong or China in terms of DAB. Commercial radio isn’t really a big player there.
A lot more encouraging is moves Indonesia and Malaysia to adopt DAB. And Europe and UK continue to power on in this regard. Australia is close to a critical mass in terms of listenership and crucially it’s becoming more common in cars.
My base model Ford Escape loan car from the service dealership had DAB yesterday
Yeah I went Hong Kong last year and it is not easy to find an am/fm radio let alone a dab radio. Radio is dieing there. When I ask people if they listen most say no. The taxi drivers may listen more. It is huge contrast to the early 00s when I was last there. The internet has taken over.
The kids these days may not listen too much in Australia either. When the 13 years are 30 years old be interesting to see the shape of radio in Australia. The car is probably saving it for now.