To be technical, DAB+ transmissions in the five main capital cities was rolled out between May and July of 2009.
But I suppose today could be classed as the 10th birthday since the official launch of Digital Radio in Australia because it was on this day in 2009 that all (or most) of the major stations in each market got together and broadcast their breakfast shows together from a central location.
They’re really taking their time with the rollout though, with Canberra & Darwin only recently getting fulltime services after about nine years of trials…not to mention that DAB+ in Hobart only started recently.
Even the rollout of Digital TV was better than this!
I agree. At the very least, you would’ve thought that the major regional markets (eg, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, the NSW Central Coast & Wollongong) would have DAB+ by now!
Although if it’s any comfort to markets which don’t have Digital Radio, you aren’t missing out on too much because most of the stations are so compressed you’d probably be better off with online streaming!
I remember being back in the UK in 2015, I know size compared to Australia’s vastness its a small country but everywhere you drove you had digital radio.
Yep, I know I’m much more the pessimist here compared to some, but I really think it needed to be well bedded-in by now to ever be a success. In 2009 it was iPods with hard cables that was the competition, now it’s streaming services that connect to your stereo or car automatically without you touching a button.
Add to that the very clear spectrum challenges (that were clear to most tuned-in observers from the day it was announced that DAB+ would share DTV’s Band III spectrum), getting a workable form of this in place nationwide will take decades, decades that in my view the entire medium of radio simply does not have (to expand, that is)
Don’t get me wrong, traditional radio will continue to serve a purpose in our lives for a long time to come, but I think the lofty thoughts of some claiming DAB+ would eventually outgrow and supersede analogue radio are well and truly gone. It will at best be a handy supplement to traditional radio, providing some additional choice, for as long as the additional expense of its production and transmission can be justified
That is the problem Dab+ sharing DTV band 3. If the government were to do it properly, and had given the medium every chance of success, they would have cleared band 3. Move all metro tv stations to UHF and free up band 3 for Dab+. But they could not do this because they would loose billions in selling off the remaining UHF spectrum to telcos.
Australia should have done what NZ and the UK did by open up the lower band UHF (22-50) for digital tv. Yes everyone would need new tv’s / set top boxes / antennas etc but there would be enough UHF frequencies for the metros, and the government could still make a buck selling off the rest of the UHF spectrum to telcos.
DAB coverage needs to better 4G coverage in order for the former to be strictly preferred. That clearly isn’t the case now and probably will never be. There is also- for the moment- the data usage issue for streaming radio, but not for much longer as >100 GB plans become the norm.
I’m not one for streaming my local stations as it would betray my DXing sensibilities but the general public certainly don’t have any such qualms. Content however is king; streaming provides both local and international stations, without multiplex limitations.
Maybe it’s just me but I personally find streaming an unpleasant experience. I can’t stand all the drop outs where the stream just inexplicably stops - I can’t stand it. Whether it’s the 4G or the phone or something else I just find it an unacceptable listening experience. And in the car especially I couldn’t be arsed fiddling around with it and drop outs still occur.
I do stream Absolute 80s on the phone at work and it’s better than some, but still not perfect.
Playing around with Qt-dab and an RTL-SDR dongle. The highest bitrate station on 9A in Hobart is the test “Programme 01” they have running at the moment.
DAB+ HOBART ; ensembleId 1380; channel 9A; frequency 202928;
Audio services
program name;country;serviceId;subchannelId;start address;length (CU); bit rate;DAB/DAB+; prot level; code rate; language; program type
7HOFM ; ;1380;1;192;30;40;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Pop Music;
Kix Country ; ;1381;2;228;24;32;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Country Music;
7HO Classic Hits; ;1382;3;252;24;32;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Pop Music;
Triple M HOBART ; ;1390;17;0;36;48;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Pop Music;
Hit100.9 ; ;1391;18;36;36;48;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Pop Music;
MMM CLASSIC ROCK; ;1393;20;72;36;48;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Pop Music;
Hit Easy ; ;1397;24;108;36;48;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;English;Easy Listening;
Programme 01 ; ;13B0;48;288;48;64;DAB+;EEP 3-A;1/2;unknown language;none;
Warragul will certainly demonstrate the downside of DAB - a whole multiplex for one commercial station - I’d also wonder whether regional community stations in that sort of market will be able to go digital, is the Government going to fully fund that everywhere?
I wonder if they will go ahead with plans in Bathurst after the ownership change?
Digital radio, using the 14MHz between 8A and 9D means that there is currently a very slight net gain if you turned off all analogue radio. If you added 1 more TV channel worth of spectrum, then any hope of a positive return of spectrum by clearing the analogue radio band would be gone.
I don’t think it’s the Government’s job to give radio operators endless free spectrum to give them a chance of success - when there’s no return for taxpayers. Digital TV’s transition more than paid for itself through the spectrum auction - Digital Radio won’t and can’t.
Even in Europe they don’t have the whole band to use - the UK’s initial rollout and planning was on 7 frequency blocks (11B-12D), because of the need to not use the same channels as continental Europe and Ireland. It’s just that the UK market is structured in a way that better suited the block structure of DAB - lots of stations licensed covering the same market in a consistent way, they even merged markets to make it work.
Australia’s radio market on the other hand doesn’t suit DAB - you have huge differences in the amount of stations you’re supposed to receive, and lots of markets within listening distance of the others, often with unique operators.
The weak regulator combined with the lack of consistency between markets, and the odd population centres means things like the historical oddity of Brisbane having one more station than Perth meaning that despite plenty of space around Perth, all commercial/community stations are crammed on one multiplex, and in the congested SEQ region, Brisbane has unsold capacity because there was so much left over.
If there was the will to make it work, you could make DAB work with the spectrum available. But there’s too many operators who would lose out if you took a clean sheet approach, so instead you build DAB on top of decades of compromise and protectionism.
In other words, DRM+ or HD Radio were the better choices for the realities of the Australian market.
I’m not sure I entirely agree except the bit about the weak regulator
Brisbane has two more commercial stations than Perth and it’s not really an oddity, when those stations came into being Brisbane was much bigger than Perth, even Adelaide was bigger than Perth.
The biggest mistake was not opening up some DAB spectrum to new operators.
