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Digital Radio Times
Momentum behind digital radio seems to be growing once more after some years of inactivity, but will it ever wholly take the place of analogue? Kevin Hilton finds out.
RADIO HAS not been immune to the coming of digital, but analogue, through trusty old FM, remains the most widespread and reliable of transmission systems. Not that broadcasters, developers, governments, and regulators haven’t tried to find and promote a digital successor. Digital radio was conceived as a more efficient way to use spectrum and at the same time offer more channels, better audio quality, and ease of tuning for listeners. While the US favoured
on/in-band systems, which eventually became HD Radio, Europe and most of the rest of the world looked at a completely standalone digital technology. Developed under the EBU Eureka 147 project, DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) was first demonstrated in the late 1980s, promoted as the future of radio, with more channels and better quality than FM (a claim disputed by both audiophiles and broadcast engineers).
TAKING THE LEAP More tests followed, amid debate about the value and validity of DAB. Eventually in 1995, the UK and Sweden became the ‘lead penguins’ – a metaphor for making the first leap into the unknown – and launched DAB networks. Take-up was slow, partly due to the few affordable digital radios available in the early days and no compelling new programmes or channels to draw in listeners. Eventually Sweden leapt
back onto the ice flow and development of DAB networks in the country slowed to the point where only 35 percent of the country was covered by digital broadcasts from public broadcaster Swedish Radio
22 August 2013
(SR). In the UK the BBC pushed on, launching new stations in the early 2000s, which, along with digital-only commercial channels, began to create a new British radio landscape. After years of treading technological water, Sweden is now re-entering the digital radio fray in earnest. At the end of June the Swedish government announced plans for the digitisation of the country’s terrestrial radio networks, with a target of 2022 to end FM transmissions. SR will adopt DAB+, financing the move with a loan from the National Debt Office. Pilot DAB+ transmissions began in 2009, with the 2010 Radio and TV Act allowing commercial radio broadcasters to apply for digital licences for the first time. This led to a 22 percent rise in DAB+ coverage, 16 public service, commercial, and local community radio stations. The plan is now to expand SR’s digital coverage to 95 percent over the course of the 2014-20 licensing period. According to the
Government Bill Culture and Accessibility – Public Radio and Television 2014-2019, the move from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting will bring a variety of advantages, including listeners having access to more radio channels across the country. The plan is to appoint an “industry co- ordinator”, who will work with the Swedish Radio and TV Authority to draw up proposals for the switch. The UK is now also
contemplating a digital switch over (DSO) but with the transmission infrastructure well established and a high proportion of receivers already in homes, it is sticking with DAB. The British
government intends to decide by the end of this year whether to go ahead with a proposal to switch off FM by 2015, although the analogue format will still be available for small-scale local and community stations. A key part of the
consultation process is the Go Digital Project, a trial that took place in the Westcountry city of Bath earlier in the year. Among those taking part were people who were not already fully covered by digital radio or had never used it before. There was also an emphasis on older radio users, particularly those over 75, who are classified as “vulnerable”. According to the recently published findings, before the trial began there was a 46 percent general lack of awareness about the potential DSO, rising to 64 percent among the 65 and over age range. Of the perceived benefits 50 percent thought it would be sound quality, 28 percent ease of tuning and 28 percent the choice of channels. In the final results four in five thought digital
was “a lot or a little better” than analogue. Ease of use was highlighted by 69 percent, with 64 percent saying the additional channels were a benefit. In terms of sound quality, 69 percent thought digital was superior, although the survey does admit that some who made this observation had mistakenly been listening to the radio sets in FM mode. Only five percent of people (seven percent among the over-75s) thought the experience was worse than analogue. The third player in international digital radio is Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), which is intended as a replacement for AM transmission. Like its analogue predecessor DRM has been designed to transmit over both long distances and in difficult terrain, which is why India is currently building up to implementing it. The aim is to switch over to digital by 2017, with All India Radio (AIR) recently launching a website to raise awareness of the move and promote the benefits of DRM.
Like DAB with DAB+, DRM also has an enhanced version. Since the beginning of this year several commercial broadcasters have been testing DRM+, which extends the original system, based around broadcasting bands below 30MHz, into VHF bands up to 108MHz. In France, a trial, overseen by Telecom Bretagne University and using a 300W Harris transmitter in Band II, took place in Brest. More recently Norwegian commercial radio network Venture 21, working with Fraunhofer IIS and RFmondial, ran tests in the city of Trondheim. Signals were broadcast using a Nautel 300W transmitter from a Digidia server, again in Band II. The momentum behind digital radio of all flavours appears to be moving after many years of inertia but, with sales of FM transmission equipment still looking healthy and manufacturers saying that could continue for at least another 20 years, the upstart technology is not having everything its own way just yet.
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