Digital Radio DAB+ goes live in AU « Visible Procrastinations

Three new ABC music channels are being launched today as ABC Radio goes digital in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. [1]

These channels cannot be picked up using a digital TV receiver (like the ABC and SBS channels radio channels already on the set top boxes), a DAB+ receiver will be required.

DIGITAL RADIO BROADCASTING NOW ON THE AIR [3]
Commercial digital radio was launched recently in Sydney with much fan fair despite having been on the air in many other Australian capital cities for several months prior. In Melbourne we now have: 3AW, 3MP, Fox, Gold, Koffee, Magic, Mix, Nova, Novanation, Pink Radio, Radar, SEN, Sport Radio, MMM, and Vega. From 1 July, we’ll also have ABC (with all usual services like 774, News Radio, RN, Classic FM, Triple J, plus new music stations ABC Dig Music, ABC Country and ABC Jazz), and SBS services.
Australia has chosen the DAB+ standard for broadcast on spare VHF TV channels in Band III (currently using channel 9A). Because of its limited range (similar to FM) it will initially only be available in and around large cities. DAB+ is based on Eureka-147, rather than the DRM standards used on MF & HF overseas. Generally a single transmitter broadcasts a broadband signal containing a number of channels or “stations” and additional data services.
The broadband nature of the transmission is obvious in the spectrum analyser photo of current DAB+ transmissions in Melbourne (see front page). The two relatively rectangular peaks near the centre of the screen are the two commercial transmitters serving Melbourne from Mt. Dandenong. The
narrow peak to the left is channel 9 TV’s analog video carrier, and the peak on the right is channel 10’s video carrier.
…
DAB+ pros:
+ Tuned by station name – never need to look up a frequency.
+ Automatically selects the strongest transmitter – no retuning
necessary while mobile.
+ Noise free reception
+ Text information on current program, what’s on next, news,
weather, 1 week electronic program guide, etc.
+ Pause and interrupt programs for up to 15 minutes without
loss.
DAB+ CONS:
- Poorer audio quality than FM (if broadcaster opts for lower bit
rates, sacrificing quality for more stations).
- Expensive receivers
- Higher power consumption than AM/FM receivers

– page 2, NERG NEWS JUNE 2009 (PDF)