When we lived in the UK (pre 2010) we had a variety of DAB radio around the house and the quality was fine. We gave most of these radios away when we moved to New Zealand as DAB doesn't really exist.

Now, I've got a Sonos speaker is almost every room at home and can pick up radio via the internet from all over the world.

So, to answer your question 'what happened to DAB?'... answer 'the internet'

PolicyGuy:

 

The existing DAB 'trial' which has been going on for years in Auckland & Wellington uses frequencies 'borrowed' from a government agency, that is said to want them back. The existing license permission runs out before the end of 2017, and I'm told the only people really interested in continuing are Kordia, who want to provide the delivery infrastructure.

 

Since receivers are now 'down to only about $400', there is a very limited market to replace the sub-$25 bedside clock-radio (e.g. http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/tv-and-audio/personal-home-audio/alarm-clocks-and-portable-radios/teac-alarm-clock-radio.html).

 

DAB was always IMNSHO a solution looking for a problem to solve, and it has now been overtaken by streaming audio delivered through 4G.
DAB is still-born in the NZ market

 

In the back-blocks, or long distance on the road, AM is and always will be king because its relatively low frequencies travel a long way and go round corners and through obstacles much better than FM.
For example, you can listen to National Radio of 567AM (transmitted from Titahi Bay) all the way from Wellington to past Hawera - by Inglewood you need to change to the New Plymouth frequency.

 

I bought a $30 FM/DAB radio from kmart a while back. Only thing on DAB+ worth listening to (sometimes) is george, and they cant even be bothered to update their text on it or have the clock set right, so its worse than their FM transmission for being neglected. I think the clock may be kordia on that one, but its usually wrong.

Reception on it is great at home, FM inside is worthless and my rooftop FM antenna is broken, DAB works perfeclty with the telescoping thing since it comes from waitarua not the horribly blocked by a hill skytower that FM uses.

But the thing is, even taking the stereo line out from the radio to my actual stereo, it sounds pretty trash. I dont know if they are taking a lower bitrate source and re-encoding it for DAB+ or what, but it sounds like streaming audio back when they thought that 128k MP3 was "CD quality"

I can stream over 3/4G the whole way to wellington almost. I can play my synced playlists anywhere. What does broadcast radio have to offer anymore? Just idiots talking and ad's occasionally interrupted by music.

Whole lot can go die in a fire and I wouldn't care.

I'm  listening to digital radio right now - via Freeview.

RustyViewer:

 

I asked because my VHF aerial blew off the roof, and I decided to chuck it rather than put it back, since TV now only has UHF.

 

The problem is, as a result of this, my FM radios no longer have perfect reception. There's one or two things I would like to record but the quality makes it not worth it.

 

Out of curiosity, are we ever going to abandon AM?

 

 

 

AM has a place. Its superior range and simpler technology make it ideal for getting the latest updates from the national news service when earthquakes bring down the infrastructure and megastorms wipe out the power. Also handy for listening to rock and roll when in the mountains.

I use AM when I drive from Nelson to Blenheim.  In some spots the only option is National on 567 AM.

PolicyGuy:

 

The existing DAB 'trial' which has been going on for years in Auckland & Wellington uses frequencies 'borrowed' from a government agency, that is said to want them back. The existing license permission runs out before the end of 2017, and I'm told the only people really interested in continuing are Kordia, who want to provide the delivery infrastructure.

 

Since receivers are now 'down to only about $400', there is a very limited market to replace the sub-$25 bedside clock-radio (e.g. http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/tv-and-audio/personal-home-audio/alarm-clocks-and-portable-radios/teac-alarm-clock-radio.html).

 

DAB was always IMNSHO a solution looking for a problem to solve, and it has now been overtaken by streaming audio delivered through 4G.
DAB is still-born in the NZ market

 

In the back-blocks, or long distance on the road, AM is and always will be king because its relatively low frequencies travel a long way and go round corners and through obstacles much better than FM.
For example, you can listen to National Radio of 567AM (transmitted from Titahi Bay) all the way from Wellington to past Hawera - by Inglewood you need to change to the New Plymouth frequency.

 

There are plenty of Sub AUD 100 units around

http://www.harveynorman.com.au/headphones-audio-music/sound-systems/radios/bush-horizon-dab-digital-alarm-clock-radio.html

I've seen the Blaupunk unit below being used at a hotel in Wellington which sadly has no DAB transmissions I could test against

http://www.blaupunkt-australia.com.au/product/vienna-dab-and-bluetooth-digital-clock-radio/

richms:

 

have the clock set right, so its worse than their FM transmission for being neglected. I think the clock may be kordia on that one, but its usually wrong.

 

 

 

do not get me started on that - i thought the clock setting would be great - never need to worry about DST again - oh how wrong i was, and on top of that, the radio clock setting could not be turned off - it get a time over the air - will set it to that time, so the clock was never right and would change to another time randomly ever so often so you can not event add x time to get right time.

HOW HARD IS IT TO SYNC TO NTP SOURCE!

bagheera:

 

do not get me started on that - i thought the clock setting would be great - never need to worry about DST again - oh how wrong i was, and on top of that, the radio clock setting could not be turned off - it get a time over the air - will set it to that time, so the clock was never right and would change to another time randomly ever so often so you can not event add x time to get right time.

 

HOW HARD IS IT TO SYNC TO NTP SOURCE!

 

IMO there needs to be a rule that publicly displayed and transmitted clocks need to be accurate. Make it a condition of a license to be allowed to operate a transmitter.

Really seems inexcusable that there is still stations out there lacking RDS even, I would make that a requirement too.

kiwirock:

 

In the states, DAB is working because in some hot markets, some new brands have started out with linear (PCM) libraries.

 

No DAB in the USA. The armed forces use the DAB frequencies. Canada was starting up, but ultimately got shut down because of the US armed forces using the frequencies.

 

One last thing to not forget: CD's produced these days are a smashed up brick wall of sound pushing digital clipping to the point of no return. DAB can't fix this.

 

Many NZ radio stations have close to zero dynamic. Its a loudness war on FM as well, with the music and audio being compressed to hell. Its REALLY exhausting to listen to some of the stations on headphones. I know why its done: 1) You want to sound louder than your competitor and 2) to reduce the noise the listeners hear (the FM buzz) where reception isn't perfect.

But the processing here in NZ is just crazy, if you ask me.

With digital you would be able to do a lot less audio level compression and it would sound better, because you wouldn't have to fight the noise floor. In several DAB markets the various stations have come together to keep at the same level of audio compressions - which has the added benefit that you won't have to change your audio levels every time you change to another station.

Grab a 70's CD, pretend not to notice the noisy transfers

 

A what? A 70s CD? Thats something that has been remastered for CD, which was analog recorded and fist released on LP/Cassette. There were no CDs in the 70s.

 

If DAB did really take off here, I bet half the feeds would come from an FM tuner still. Unless the station has an up to date processor that also does a quality digital processed output for DAB feeds. However, as most stations are networked to a large extent, the smaller centres won't have the latest tech, so a feed from the FM receiver in the studio is likely to end up feeding a DAB transmitter.

 

You should read up on how a DAB network works. You won't feed the various transmitters from FM. You need the feed to be in sync all over the place. Each transmitter transmits a multiplexed signal with all the stations (typically 12-16 stations). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_broadcasting

However, you can't discount smart phone's in every pocket. I don't know how this is working for iHeart though. Most people I see using mobile devices have their own music service or library without advertising, or look it up on Youtube.

The problem with mobile data and radio is that if you want to listen to 1 hour or radio a day, with a 128 Kbit/s stream. You are going to be using 3 GB per month just to listen to radio.

If everyone was to listen to radio at the same time and at that speed in Auckland, the mobile networks would crumble. They are not built to deal with that kind of load.

Radio Spectrum Management asked for feedback on what to do with the unused VHF band 3 spectrum (where DAB could be used). RSM received 21 submissions and can be read here...

http://www.rsm.govt.nz/projects-auctions/current-projects/options-for-174-230-mhz

jarledb:


Many NZ radio stations have close to zero dynamic. Its a loudness war on FM as well, with the music and audio being compressed to hell. Its REALLY exhausting to listen to some of the stations on headphones. I know why its done: 1) You want to sound louder than your competitor and 2) to reduce the noise the listeners hear (the FM buzz) where reception isn't perfect.

But the processing here in NZ is just crazy, if you ask me.

You should read up on how a DAB network works. You won't feed the various transmitters from FM. You need the feed to be in sync all over the place. Each transmitter transmits a multiplexed signal with all the stations (typically 12-16 stations).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_broadcasting

It's possible that the low-quality FM is because they want you to buy the music for proper quality.

When we only had AM, they use to tell us that recording with audio tape is illegal. However, stuff I've recorded in AM in the 70s, I've loved so much I've gone out and bought the LP for proper sound so it actually worked as an advertisement.