Murray Bridge into Adelaide.
Atherton/Cairns/Innisfail
Geelong into Melbourne, many in Geelong listen to Melbourne stations already and Melbourne TV already covers Geelong, just like most in Murray Bridge listen to Adelaide radio and its part of Adelaide TV area
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It seems the test transmissions on 9A are now running at 32k MP2 (The original DAB standard).
I guess SCA havenāt had a chance to test out DAB in the wild for many years, so itās great for them!
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Iāve picked up Perth DAB well past the second service centre on Forrest Hwy, past Pinjarra. I think up to the Old Coast Road turnoff?
If this new Mandurah DAB multiplex is 10kW, that is double the power of 6CST which seems to be 5kW. 6CST and Wave FM get pretty good reception well into Perth, so Iād expect to get Mandurah DAB in Perth. Bunbury should be covered well as well.
Unless Iām missing something fundamental about how this all works, of course.
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Brisbane/Ipswich might need to be looked at. It does seem unfair to River 949 to have Brisbane FM and DAB covering the biggest population area of their licence area - Ipswich and parts of south west and southern Brisbane.
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It was always running in 32k 48khz MP2ā¦ its the standard for the TX Test mode
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You could say the same for C91.3 in Campbelltown & the Macarthur region, where thereās a DAB+ repeater for Sydney stations located within the licence area.
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While I agree that the sub metro stations should be allowed to have DAB+ coverage, it opens up a potential minefield because Iām sure any suburban community stations which cover the same/similarly sized area (such as 2MCR & C91.3) as sub-metro commercial stations will also want to be on Digital Radio so they donāt miss out.
Not including lower powered narrowcasts there are currently 15 (well, 16 if you take into consideration the current situation in the Hawkesbury region but Iāll get onto that in a moment) community radio stations covering different suburban patches of the Sydney metropolitan area.
Although it probably wonāt happen realistically, what Iād like to see happen at some point in the future is a new DAB+ multiplex set up to give each community broadcaster 64kbps to broadcast their services Sydney-wide but with the provisions that they continue to specifically focus on their original listening area. In such a scenario, Hawkesbury Radio & Hawkesbury Gold would share a DAB+ channel like how they share an FM frequency. Any remaining bandwidth would be set aside for a āspecial eventsā service which would be home to temporary stations like 2CR, Voice of Islam & Show Radio when theyāre broadcasting and something inconsequental like a simulcast of the BBC World Service or the Community Radio Network to fill the extended gaps.
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Well done @Chris_Woolley, you were correct!
Some doubted you, most of us appreciated the info.
Imminent switch on of a service within a shared site is hardly a secret with the TX to be installed in the hall and in some cases, a new array up the tower/mast.
HAHAHA the arroganceā¦ sorry but youll find out your WRONG
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Ofcom in the UK have been trialing a series of āsmall scaleā DAB multiples (SSDAB) which give that flexibility - this report has a good summary of how the trial worked; take particular note of the cost-effectiveness of these services, as well as praise for DAB+ over original flavour DAB (which is still the standard in the UK, although newer receivers are able to decode both).
In Australia, this would require a legislative change - DAB specific LAPs that I floated previously in this thread. In a market like Sydney, one multiplex could cover the Blue Mountains and outer west to allow 2BLU, 2WOW and the Hawkesbury stations access to DAB. Under their analogue (FM) licences, they would still be required to maintain a local focus for Katoomba, Penrith/St Marys and Richmond/Windsor respectively, but allows for a more realistic model than firing up 16 DAB multiplexes across Sydney.
Youād also be able to auction the remaining spectrum, which may allow narrowcast and internet broadcasters (such as Vintage FM) access to the platform at a reduced cost. But we all know that the CRA wonāt let it happen.
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Itās quite literally in operation. Testing, sure, but in operation nonetheless.
So the test is not happening? Itās a figment of member imaginations? You should be more specific before casting wide aspersions.
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Dont be stupidā¦ A test transmission is different from the mux being up
Oh right, I didnāt even notice before!
I take it then you work at SCA? Whatās your name? 
All,
It appears me passing on the information I viewed has caused some ruckus within the MediaSpy ranks.
Let me be very clear, this was not the intention.
I feel some responses to me sharing the information I possessed bordering on inappropriate.
By all means if any member wishes to correct another, and debate a topic thats great, but I think this debate has got a wee-bit out of hand.
I was very careful in using the term āactivatedā. In my employment, activated can mean anything from equipment being installed in a rack and powered up, RF testing or full in service status.
It appears the commercial DAB mux (from what I heard today) has been āactivatedā to a certain extent. Testing appears to have begun, with what appears to be a test tone being transmitted.
It maybe weeks or months till that mux begins full service.
On a personal note, @radioengineer as we are all so wrong, would you care to update the forum on potential timelines? Obviously we wouldnāt want you to divulge anything that might be commercial in confidence, but it would be nice to have a rough timeline on when Hobart can take advantage of even more listen options.
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Had Places near Brisbane Had VHF Channels 3, 4 and 5 for TV Prior to Analogue Switchoff?
If weāre talking just before analogue switch-off, no. The nearest ones were ABDQ3 from Darling Downs & SDQ4 from Southern Downs, but they were switched off in the early 90s.
I assume the Perth DAB+ is on 9A and 9B? So what happens with a possible third multiplex for Perth if it is given to Mandurah? And how empty will 8C be with only one commercial station (and how many community?). It would make sense to have the one Category 3 for both Perth and Mandurah (after all all should be the same national service, even ABC Perth vs ABC Regional), then 9C would remain free. This from my limited understanding of DAB allocations are made ā¦