101-756: Core was a digital radio station broadcasting across the UK on the Digital One and streamed online. It was aimed at 16- to 24-year-olds with a focus on new music. Core was originally owned by GWR Group (which became GCap Media and then Global Radio after the station's closure). It was launched on the Digital One multiplex on 15 November 1999 at 1 pm (GMT), alongside four other stations, Planet Rock , Classic FM , Talk Radio (now TalkSport ) and Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio ), with other stations joining
202-543: A royalty payment . Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM – not to be confused with Digital Rights Management ) was being considered by Ofcom for introduction in Britain in 2012, on the present MW (medium wave) band. In the present day, transmissions are limited to a small number of broadcasts by the BBC and other international broadcasters. In 2005, tests of DRM on shortwave radio from European transmitters broadcasting into
303-536: A DAB ensemble can be increased by lowering average bit rates, but at the expense of the quality of streams. Error correction under the DAB standard makes the signal more robust but reduces the total bit rate available for streams. DAB broadcasts a single multiplex that is approximately 1.5 MHz wide (≈1,000 kilobits per second). That multiplex is then subdivided into multiple digital streams of between 9 and 12 programs. In contrast, FM HD Radio adds its digital carriers to
404-484: A DAB radio to avoid disappointment. On 24 November 2010, a number of commercial radio operators refused to run an advertisement promoting DAB, one operator stating that it would be "fundamentally immoral and dishonest" until DAB coverage matches that of FM. Commercial radio executives have argued that the BBC should pick up the majority of the cost of expanding the DAB network across the United Kingdom. DAB+
505-530: A DMB video subchannel can easily be added to any DAB transmission, as it was designed to be carried on a DAB subchannel. DMB broadcasts in South Korea carry conventional MPEG 1 Layer II DAB audio services alongside their DMB video services. As of 2017 , DMB is currently broadcast in Norway, South Korea, and Thailand. Fifty-five countries provide regular or trial DAB(+) broadcasts. In spectrum management ,
606-421: A combination of both higher audio quality and more stations. One of the most important decisions regarding the design of a digital radio broadcasting system is the choice of which audio codec to use because the efficiency of the audio codec determines how many radio stations can be carried on a fixed capacity multiplex at a given level of audio quality. Error-correction coding (ECC) is an important technology for
707-564: A consortium formed in 1986. The MPEG-1 Audio Layer II ("MP2") codec was created as part of the EU147 project. DAB was the first standard based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technique, which since then has become one of the most popular transmission schemes for modern wideband digital communication systems. A choice of audio codec , modulation and error-correction coding schemes and first trial broadcasts were made in 1990. Public demonstrations were made in 1993 in
808-468: A digital communication system because it determines how robust the reception will be for a given signal strength – stronger ECC will provide a more robust reception than a weaker form. The old version of DAB uses punctured convolutional coding for its ECC. The coding scheme uses unequal error protection (UEP), which means that parts of the audio bit-stream that are more susceptible to errors causing audible disturbances are provided with more protection (i.e.
909-583: A licence to rebroadcast DAB signals within their stores to demonstrate DAB radio sets. The United Kingdom consumer charity, Which? warned that consumers who could not get an adequate DAB signal could be misled by the in-store sets. The Digital Radio Development Bureau replied to the Which? report stating that stores contain a steel structure which produce a Faraday cage effect where DAB signals are blocked out. The DRDB recommended that consumers should check DAB coverage online with their postcode before purchasing
1010-468: A lower code rate ) and vice versa. However, the UEP scheme used on DAB results in a grey area in between the user experiencing good reception quality and no reception at all, as opposed to the situation with most other wireless digital communication systems that have a sharp "digital cliff", where the signal rapidly becomes unusable if the signal strength drops below a certain threshold. When DAB listeners receive
1111-726: A market research account manager, won. In January 2007 he began presenting a short-lived Monday night show, which was removed in March due to the axing of presenters. Digital radio in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom , the roll-out of digital radio has been proceeding since engineering test transmissions were started by the BBC in 1990 followed by a public launch in September 1995. The UK currently has one of
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#17327983137491212-504: A maximum bit rate that can be carried, but this depends on which error protection level is used. However, all DAB multiplexes can carry a total of 864 "capacity units". The number of capacity units, or CU, that a certain bit-rate level requires depends on the amount of error correction added to the transmission, as described above. In the UK, most services transmit using 'protection level three', which provides an average ECC code rate of approximately 1 / 2 , equating to
1313-404: A maximum bit rate per multiplex of 1,184 kbit/s. Various different services are embedded into one ensemble (which is also typically called a multiplex ). These services can include: Traditionally, radio programmes were broadcast on different frequencies via AM and FM , and the radio had to be tuned into each frequency as needed. This used up a comparatively large amount of spectrum for
1414-467: A nine-month trial, extended to March 2020 by Ofcom at the request of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. In March 2020, the trial licences were extended again until December 2021. The trial multiplexes have mostly been replaced by permanent licences as awarded by Ofcom. By 6 October 2023 more than 230 areas had been identified for SSDAB licenses across six licensing rounds. Digital radio on
1515-466: A number of stations can cover the same area as a number of VHF frequencies which would be required to cover the same area for one station. The BBC carried out successful tests of a single-frequency network in London before launching its national DAB ensemble. DAB audibly, in some cases, provides worse audio quality than FM – perhaps due to greed of Multiplex Operators wishing to create more services within
1616-521: A number of stations have launched on DAB+ or switched from DAB to DAB+. As of September 2016, there were over 30 DAB+ stations being broadcast in the UK. In March 2017 the Brighton multiplex became the UK's first to only broadcast DAB+. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport published minimum specifications for digital radio receivers in the UK in February 2013 which states that a receiver sold in
1717-404: A number of transmitter sites across the country. The BBC's national multiplex carries only BBC national radio stations . Local BBC radio stations are carried on the relevant local DAB ensemble where commercial DAB licences are operating. There are a number of commercial DAB multiplexes operators in the UK who run 48 local and regional DAB multiplexes across the United Kingdom. operators include
1818-409: A number of uses, including terrestrial digital radio. On 16 May 2008, Ofcom declared that Qualcomm UK Spectrum Ltd had won the auction of L band frequencies in the UK. The BBC's national DAB ensemble broadcasts on frequency block 12B (225.648 MHz ) across the United Kingdom, with coverage currently at 96.4% of UK households. The multiplex is owned and operated by the BBC and is transmitted from
1919-614: A period of one month. In March 2014, the BBC announced that it would undertake a trial of DAB+ in the UK later in the year and on 1 September 2014, Folder Media began a four-month trial of DAB+ on the North East Wales and West Cheshire ensemble. In early 2016, two new stations launched DAB+ services on the Portsmouth trial multiplex. Sound Digital, operators of one of the national multiplexes, launched three full-time broadcasting DAB+ services on 29 February 2016. Since then
2020-629: A pilot broadcast started in Bavaria in October 1995. In the UK, commercial stations started broadcasting in November 1999. For various reasons such as high receiver costs and limited reception, adoption of DAB had initially been slow, with the exception of the United Kingdom and Denmark. In the UK, DAB radio receivers were high selling and 10% of households owned a DAB radio as of 2005, helped by local manufacturers creating affordable receivers such as
2121-644: A receiver receives a signal that has been transmitted from the different transmitters that are part of an SFN, the signals from the different transmitters will typically have different delays, but to OFDM they will appear to simply be different multipaths of the same signal. Reception difficulties can arise, however, when the relative delay of multipaths exceeds the OFDM guard interval duration, and there are frequent reports of reception difficulties due to this issue when propagation conditions change, such as when there's high pressure, as signals travel farther than usual, and thus
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#17327983137492222-463: A rectangular byte interleaver rather than Forney interleaving in order to provide a greater interleaver depth, which increases the distance over which error bursts will be spread out in the bit-stream, which in turn will allow the Reed–Solomon error decoder to correct a higher proportion of errors. The ECC used on DAB+ is far stronger than is used on DAB, which, with all else being equal (i.e., if
2323-446: A relatively small number of stations, limiting listening choice. DAB is a digital radio broadcasting system that, through the application of multiplexing and compression, combines multiple audio streams onto a relatively narrow band centred on a single broadcast frequency called a DAB ensemble . Within an overall target bit rate for the DAB ensemble, individual stations can be allocated different bit rates. The number of channels within
2424-721: A result most radio stations on DAB have a lower sound quality than FM, prompting complaints from listeners. As with DAB+ or T-DMB in Europe, FM HD Radio uses a codec based upon the MPEG-4 HE - AAC standard. HD Radio is a proprietary system from iBiquity Digital Corporation , a subsidiary of DTS, Inc. since 2015, which is itself owned by Xperi Corporation since 2016. DAB is an open standard deposited at ETSI. DAB can give substantially higher spectral efficiency , measured in programmes per MHz and per transmitter site, than analogue systems. In many places, this has led to an increase in
2525-452: A signal in this intermediate strength area they experience a "burbling" sound which interrupts the playback of the audio. The DAB+ standard incorporates Reed–Solomon ECC as an "inner layer" of coding that is placed around the byte interleaved audio frame but inside the "outer layer" of convolutional coding used by the original DAB system, although on DAB+ the convolutional coding uses equal error protection (EEP) rather than UEP since each bit
2626-667: Is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world, defined, supported, marketed and promoted by the WorldDAB organisation. The standard is dominant in Europe and is also used in Australia , and in parts of Africa and Asia ; as of 2022, 55 countries are actively running DAB broadcasts. DAB was the result of a European research project and first publicly rolled out in 1995, with consumer-grade DAB receivers appearing at
2727-399: Is a major upgrade to DAB. It is not backwards compatible. The main difference is the use of the more efficient HE-AAC which doubles the number of stations up to about 20 in one bouquet. Most European countries quickly adopted DAB+ between 2015 and 2019. Only a small number of DAB-only receivers had been sold before which became worthless. In the UK, with the early success of DAB, the situation
2828-543: Is a nice step ahead in the digitisation of our radio landscape," commented Benjamin Dalle , the Flemish media minister. Norway was the first country to announce a complete switch-off of national FM radio stations. The switch-off started on 11 January 2017 and ended on 13 December 2017. The 2017 switch-off did not affect some local and regional radio stations. They can continue to transmit on FM until 2027. The timetable for
2929-467: Is achieved without equalization by means of the OFDM and DQPSK modulation techniques. For details, see the OFDM system comparison table . Using values for Transmission Mode I (TM I), the OFDM modulation consists of 1,536 subcarriers that are transmitted in parallel. The useful part of the OFDM symbol period is 1.0 ms, which results in the OFDM subcarriers each having a bandwidth of 1 kHz due to
3030-720: Is being delivered through a specially adapted BBC Sounds smartphone application to trialists. The BBC announced in May 2019 that it would extend the 5G broadcasting trial in Orkney until the end of September 2019. In 2006, the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) announced that it would charge additional royalty fees on UK Internet radio stations if they broadcast outside the UK. Radio stations which stream online including GCap Media and GMG Radio , have implemented IP blocking to prevent listeners outside
3131-399: Is different. In 2020, about half of the stations use DAB+, mostly new services, while the BBC and the big commercial stations continue to use the old DAB standard. DAB+ was first tested in the United Kingdom in 2013 before regular services were launched in 2016. The United Kingdom Government had previously ruled out any transition from DAB to DAB+ for the foreseeable future, a decision backed by
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3232-425: Is easier to use, and is resistant to the interference which other broadcast media are susceptible to. On the other hand, critics say that coverage is not yet sufficient and the quality can be less than that of FM. In the UK, 65.8% of all radio listening hours by the third quarter of 2021 were through digital platforms, with DAB making up the majority of digital radio listening (65.3% of digital radio listening). In
3333-460: Is equally important in DAB+. This combination of Reed–Solomon coding as the inner layer of coding, followed by an outer layer of convolutional coding – so-called "concatenated coding" – became a popular ECC scheme in the 1990s, and NASA adopted it for its deep-space missions. One slight difference between the concatenated coding used by the DAB+ system and that used on most other systems is that it uses
3434-410: Is no space for them on a local DAB multiplex, or because they cannot afford the high transmission costs of DAB that the multiplex operators are charging. Ofcom announced in 2005 that it regarded Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) as an option for local stations unable to secure carriage or unable to pay the high transmission costs of DAB. On 24 January 2009, Ofcom allowed electrical retailers to be granted
3535-522: Is not forward compatible with DAB+, older DAB receivers cannot receive DAB+ broadcasts. However, DAB receivers that were capable of receiving the new DAB+ standard after a firmware upgrade were being sold as early as July 2007. Generally, if a receiver is DAB+ compatible, there will be a sign on the product packaging. DAB+ broadcasts have launched in several countries like Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong (now terminated), Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium (October 2017),
3636-498: Is the data link layer , in charge of statistical time-division multiplexing and frame synchronization . Finally, the physical layer contains the error-correction coding , OFDM modulation , and dealing with the over-the-air transmission and reception of data. Some aspects of these are described below. DAB initially only used the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II audio codec, which is often referred to as MP2 because of
3737-508: Is trialling 5G broadcast radio in the Orkney Islands with the view to provide a digital radio platform across the United Kingdom and in particular, areas which will be unlikely or never covered by DAB via the existing radio and forthcoming 5G transmission infrastructure with Internet Protocol broadcasting being seen as the long term replacement for DAB. The BBC's national services and the local BBC radio service, BBC Radio Orkney ,
3838-700: The American Top 40 , being removed from the station, and the only voice appearing on the station will be the listeners. To encourage interaction, the station used their MySpace account, a new MySpace discussion group, Skype, SMS text, online and a phone message machine to take requests and get audio clips to add to the stations output. The presenter lineup prior to the changes was Allan Lake, Nicola Bonn, Sophie Bruce, Philippa Collins, Nick Ludlow, Tim Cocker, Ben Moss, Val Mellon, Sally Hudson, Ben Glover and Kevin Hughes. The syndicated American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest
3939-647: The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are co-ordinated and administered by the United Kingdom's media regulator Ofcom. The Isle of Man ensemble is granted a broadcasting licence from the Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority . Under a Maastricht plan in 2002, the UK also has L band allocations for local terrestrial DAB, though there are no plans to broadcast any digital radio stations on L band. Ofcom auctioned spectrum in L band in 2008 for
4040-585: The Eutelsat 28A satellite at 28.5° east. Radio stations broadcast free-to-air via the Sky Digital , Freesat from Sky platforms and any DVB-S compliant set-top box . The Freesat platform has all the BBC's national and regional digital radio stations as well as BBC London 94.9 from the launch on 6 May 2008 on the EPG . WorldSpace was planning a subscription based digital radio satellite service on
4141-523: The HE-AAC v2 audio codec (also known as eAAC+ ) was adopted. AAC+ uses a modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) algorithm. The new standard, which is called DAB+, has also adopted the MPEG Surround audio format and stronger error correction coding in the form of Reed–Solomon coding. DAB+ has been standardised as European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TS 102 563. As DAB
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4242-480: The Pure Evoke . In countries where DAB did not take off, efforts were made in later years to "re-launch" it using the newer DAB+ standard: it started gaining traction throughout the 2010s and finally took off in countries like France by 2019. DAB adoption in automobiles became increasingly common during this time, and by 2016 it was standard in most cars sold in the UK, Norway and Switzerland. In October 2005,
4343-555: The UK , and has become a requirement for all new cars sold in the EU since 2021. The original version of DAB used the MP2 audio codec ; an upgraded version of the system was later developed and released named DAB+ which uses the HE-AAC v2 (AAC+) audio codec and is more robust and efficient. DAB is not forward compatible with DAB+. Today the majority of DAB broadcasts around the world are using
4444-706: The United Kingdom . The protocol specification was finalized in 1993 and adopted by the ITU-R standardization body in 1994, the European community in 1995 and by ETSI in 1997. Pilot broadcasts were launched in 1995: the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) launched the first DAB channel in the world on 1 June 1995 ( NRK Klassisk ), and the BBC and Swedish Radio (SR) launched their first broadcasts later in September while in Germany
4545-465: The Wi-Fi signal from a router to stream Internet radio stations within range of a Wi-Fi router. From the latter half of the 2010s, smart speakers have increased in popularity as a device for listening to live and on demand digital radio services. RAJAR reported that in the period October 2016 to February 2017, 6% of BBC radio and 8% of commercial radio is listened to online and through apps. The BBC
4646-626: The World DMB Forum instructed its Technical Committee to carry out the work needed to adopt the AAC+ audio codec and stronger error correction coding . The AAC+ audio coding standard uses a modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) audio data compression algorithm. This work led to the launch of the DAB+ system. Trials for DAB-IP were held in London in 2006, as " BT Movio". It competed with DVB-H and MediaFLO which were also under testing. By 2006, 500 million people worldwide were in
4747-670: The BBC broadcasts the BBC World Service using DRM for one hour a day from the Woofferton transmitting station in Shropshire. The BBC undertook a trial of the digital radio mondiale (DRM) technology, which allowed them to explore digital radio using medium-wave frequencies. The trial broadcast BBC Radio Devon using the new technology in the Plymouth area from April 2007 and closed down on 31 October 2008. In May 2009,
4848-560: The BBC released a report on the trial in Devon. The report gave a number of conclusions about DRM from the trial: In 2006, National Grid Wireless carried out a technical trial of T-DMB and DAB-IP on the Stoke & Stafford (formerly UTV-EMAP/Bauer Stoke) ensemble. The trial assessed the reception qualities of both technologies in urban and rural areas as well as the mobile television and radio services which could be delivered. There
4949-601: The BBC started its first regular domestic broadcast of DAB+ in the Channel Islands and followed later with the start of local broadcasts in December 2021 in Cumbria and north Lancashire. Classic FM changed from DAB to DAB+ on 1 January 2024. Digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) and DAB-IP are both suitable for mobile radio and TV because they support MPEG 4 AVC and WMV9 respectively as video codecs. However,
5050-481: The UK are streaming online. In 2011, the BBC and commercial radio operators launched RadioPlayer which allows over 400 radio stations to be listened to through its website and apps. In addition various radio stations and third parties allow streaming of internet radio stations through their own websites and apps. A number of British firms, including BT Group , Reciva, Pure Digital , Roberts Radio and Acoustic Energy have brought out Internet radio devices which use
5151-413: The UK from listening to their radio stations and therefore avoided the increased fees. In September 2020, TuneIn lost a court case brought by Sony Music and Warner Music Group in the UK's High Court of Justice . As a result of the case, radio stations not licensed by Ofcom in the UK can no longer legally be displayed on an " audio guide service ", listened or tuned into by a listener without paying
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#17327983137495252-457: The UK must be capable of decoding a DAB+ stream of up to 144 capacity units. Radios must support DAB+ to receive the digital tick mark. However this is not mandatory and many retailers continue to sell DAB receivers that do not support DAB+. DAB radio stations in the United Kingdom are broadcast on a number of frequency blocks on VHF Band III . The original plan devised in Wiesbaden for
5353-465: The UK. Digital radio ensemble operators and stations need a broadcasting licence from the UK's media regulator Ofcom to broadcast. In the long term there will be a switchover from analogue to digital radio when the AM and FM services will cease. The government has set criteria on the coverage and proportion of digital listening before this occurs. In 2018 the criteria of over 50% of digital radio listening
5454-552: The United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Malta was the first country to launch DAB+ in Europe in October 2008. South Africa began a DAB+ technical pilot in November 2014 on channel 13F in Band ;3. If DAB+ stations launch in established DAB countries, they can transmit alongside existing DAB stations that use the older MPEG-1 Audio Layer II audio format, and most existing DAB stations are expected to continue broadcasting until
5555-564: The United Kingdom were performed by Virgin Radio , Classic Gold , Premier Christian Radio , Virgin Radio Classic Rock , Asian Sound and CVC. The British Broadcasting Corporation started broadcasting the BBC World Service on shortwave and mediumwave radio for a few hours a day across Europe from Orford Ness in Suffolk and Kvitsøy in Norway, the latter being receivable across England, Wales and Southern Scotland. Today,
5656-467: The United States has reached an agreement with Canada to restrict L-Band DAB to terrestrial broadcast to avoid interference. In January 2017, an updated DAB specification (2.1.1) removed Modes II, III and IV, leaving only Mode I. From an OSI model protocol stack viewpoint, the technologies used on DAB inhabit the following layers: the audio codec inhabits the presentation layer . Below that
5757-439: The audio spectrum that cannot be heard by humans are discarded, meaning less data needs to be sent over the air. This, as well as multiplexing technology, allows a number of channels to be broadcast together on one frequency as opposed to one channel for analogue radio broadcasts. National, local and regional DAB ensembles use the same frequency for the area they cover. Using a single-frequency network , an ensemble broadcasting
5858-573: The bands that are allocated for public DAB services, are abbreviated with T-DAB . In the European Union , "the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) entered into force on 20 December 2018, with transposition into national legislation by Member States required by 21 December 2020. The Directive applies to all EU member states regardless of the status of DAB+ in each country. This means that since
5959-441: The basis of the station after the presenters are removed. The station won three awards for its interactivity : "A Face For Radio" was launched in spring 2006 with the aim to find a new presenter for the station. Friends of possible candidates made nominations, which were then reduced to a final ten. The ten competed in a variety of tasks to demonstrate their presenting skills, whilst gathering friends on MySpace . Each week,
6060-459: The closure of FM signals in 2017 were as follows: SRG SSR , Switzerland's public-service broadcaster, will shut down its FM transmission infrastructure on 31 December 2024. The corporation concluded that maintaining FM broadcasts along with DAB+ and Internet streaming was no longer cost-effective, as due to widespread adoption of DAB+ the share of the public relying exclusively on FM was under ten percent and decreasing. All other FM broadcasters in
6161-589: The country must shut down or convert to DAB+ by 31 December 2026. As of 2021 : DAB uses a wide-bandwidth broadcast technology and typically spectra have been allocated for it in Band III (174–240 MHz) and L band (1.452–1.492 GHz), although the scheme allows for operation between 30 and 300 MHz . The US military has reserved L-Band in the USA only, blocking its use for other purposes in America, and
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#17327983137496262-487: The coverage area of DAB broadcasts, although by this time sales of receivers had only taken off in the United Kingdom (UK) and Denmark . In 2006 there were approximately 1,000 DAB stations in operation worldwide. As of 2018, over 68 million devices have been sold worldwide, and over 2,270 DAB services are on air. In October 2018, the WorldDAB organisation introduced an all-new logo for DAB (specifically DAB+) to replace
6363-547: The criteria. In 2010 the government created a digital action plan which was delivered in November 2013. On 16 December 2013 they announced that "now is not the time to commit to a switchover". An updated report was released in January 2014. Since 2010 Ofcom has produced annual reports on the take-up of digital radio. Subsequently, in 2018 the BBC stated it would keep some FM radio for the foreseeable future. Digital Audio Broadcasting Digital Audio Broadcasting ( DAB )
6464-402: The decreasing signal, providing more effective coverage over a larger area. DAB+ is a " green " platform and can bring up to 85 percent energy consumption savings compared to FM broadcasting (but analog tuners are more efficient than digital ones, and DRM+ has been recommended for small scale transmissions). Similar terrestrial digital radio standards are HD Radio , ISDB-Tb , DRM , and
6565-586: The digital terrestrial platform has 28 radio stations broadcasting nationally from broadcasters including the BBC, Bauer Radio, Global Radio , and Wireless Group , as well as numerous BBC local stations. Unlike North America, the UK does not have a commercial satellite radio service. There are radio stations broadcasting via Satellite to the United Kingdom, however these are aimed at home users for playback through their televisions since these same satellites are also used for television broadcast and usually use SES ' Astra series of satellites at 28.2° east or
6666-882: The digital terrestrial platform started on 30 October 2002 with the launch of the BBC's digital only radio services, BBC 1Xtra , BBC Five Live Sports Extra , BBC 6 Music , BBC 7 and the BBC Asian Network , as well as existing stations BBC Radio Five Live and the BBC World Service . All the stations broadcast on the BBC's multiplex B. On the same day EMAP Radio (now owned by Bauer Radio ) launched three radio stations, Smash Hits , Kerrang! and Kiss . Two other commercial radio stations also launched, oneword and Jazz FM . The BBC later launched BBC Radio 1 , Radio 2 , Radio 3 and Radio 4 FM on multiplex A on 14 February 2003. These channels later moved to Multiplex 1 on 3 October 2007. As of May 2022,
6767-536: The end of 2020, across all EU countries, all radios in new cars must be capable of receiving and reproducing digital terrestrial radio." Following the European Union's obligation in 2020 to include DAB+ receivers in new cars, Belgium has stopped all sales of analogue radio receivers from 1 January 2023. Thus, consumers are no longer able to purchase AM or FM receivers for domestic use. "The obligation to incorporate DAB+ for new cars and domestic radio receivers
6868-556: The final song was "Hey There Delilah" by The Plain White T's. The DAB station was replaced with BFBS . The station created the CoreControl Chart from the most requested songs each day. Core was one of the UK's first radio stations with a presence on MySpace . The station relaunched its website in late 2006 with extra content, a music download service and information on currently playing and upcoming tracks. This aspects will be
6969-531: The first quarter of 2020, 66.7% of UK people aged 15+ claimed to have access to a DAB radio set at home. Experimental transmissions of the DAB Eureka 147 standard from the Crystal Palace transmitting station by the BBC started in 1990 with permanent transmissions covering London in September 1995. With the expansion of its single-frequency network in the spring of 1998, the BBC national ensemble
7070-513: The framework of DAB in Europe was to allocate frequency blocks 11B to 12D for UK DAB broadcasting. However, as part of its Review of Radio, Ofcom has expanded the frequency allocations for DAB and has advertised local and a national ensemble licence on blocks outside the original Wiesbaden plan on 10B to 10D and 11A. Block 5A has also been reserved for the launch of local ensembles. In 2015, additional blocks were opened up for small scale DAB trials for an initial period of nine months. Ofcom reiterated
7171-499: The future which cannot decode and therefore access DAB+ stations. Independent radio analyst Grant Goddard also stated that there was an economic decision not to adopt DAB+ for both the industry and consumers. Despite opposition aired to the government regarding the introduction of DAB+ in the United Kingdom by the industry and experts, Ofcom began testing DAB+ on the Brighton Experimental ensemble in January 2013 for
7272-447: The inverse relationship between these two parameters, and the overall OFDM channel bandwidth is 1.537 MHz. The OFDM guard interval for TM I is 0.246 ms, which means that the overall OFDM symbol duration is 1.246 ms. The guard interval duration also determines the maximum separation between transmitters that are part of the same single-frequency network (SFN), which is approximately 74 km for TM I. OFDM allows
7373-465: The multiplex in the following months. The station gradually built up the schedule over the years, to include more DJs and shows. In August 2006, a breakfast show was introduced, presented by Allan Lake , previously from Capital Disney. However, as of 31 March 2007, the station changed to a jukebox format, known by the station as "Access All Areas." This involves the DJs, apart from Ryan Seacrest, who presents
7474-456: The previous logo that had been in use since before DAB's initial launch in 1995. The term "DAB" most commonly refers both to a specific DAB standard using the MP2 audio codec, but can sometimes refer to a whole family of DAB-related standards, such as DAB+, DMB, and DAB-IP. WorldDAB , the organisation in charge of the DAB standards, announced DAB+, a major upgrade to the DAB standard in 2006, when
7575-560: The problems of interference that are more noticeable through analogue radio. DAB radios also come with features such as station lists, so listeners do not need to retune their receivers, as well as scrolling text, providing information such as breaking news, travel information or the latest track information. DAB has also been marketed as having two major advantages over analogue radio broadcasting in that using MPEG-1 Audio Layer II lossy audio compression technology and more recently DAB+ using High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding , parts of
7676-543: The radio industry and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The chief executive of the DRDB, Tony Moretta, mirrored the calls by the radio industry and experts not to adopt DAB+ in the UK. In an interview with the TechRadar website in 2009, he claimed that DAB+ was a "red herring" and may not be introduced in the UK for the foreseeable future due to the growing number of digital radio sets currently being sold and used in
7777-634: The related DMB . The DAB standard was initiated as a European research project called Eureka-147 in the 1980s. DAB has been under development since 1981 at the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT). The first DAB demonstrations were held in 1985 at the WARC-ORB in Geneva, and in 1988 the first DAB transmissions were made in Germany. Later, DAB was developed as a research project for the European Union ( EUREKA ), which started in 1987 on an initiative by
7878-540: The same bandwidth; by using very low bitrates. In 2020, most commercial stations use only 32–64 kbps (DAB+ with HE-AAC codec) while those stations maintaining the old DAB standard (MP2) have switched to mono with 64–80 kbps. A bit rate of 256 kbps (MP2) has been judged to provide a high quality stereo broadcast signal. The bit rates used by the radio stations on cable and satellite are usually higher. Many internet radio streams also use low bitrates but with MP3 rather than MP2 – providing better audio quality at
7979-409: The same reduced bandwidth (bit rate). On the other hand, an Ofcom survey, which was undertaken due to many consultation responses citing poor DAB quality, found that 94% of DAB listeners thought DAB was at least as good as FM. In 2006, Ofcom estimated that even after extra spectrum has been allocated to DAB, around 90 local radio stations will be unable to transmit on DAB, either because there
8080-430: The signals are likely to arrive with a relative delay that is greater than the OFDM guard interval. Low power gap-filler transmitters can be added to an SFN as and when desired in order to improve reception quality, although the way SFNs have been implemented in the UK up to now they have tended to consist of higher power transmitters being installed at main transmitter sites in order to keep costs down. An ensemble has
8181-416: The sound quality can be noticeably inferior to analog FM. High-fidelity equates to a high bit rate and higher transmission cost. DAB is more robust with regard to noise and multipath fading for mobile listening, although DAB reception quality degrades rapidly when the signal strength falls below a critical threshold (as is normal for digital broadcasts ), whereas FM reception quality degrades slowly with
8282-439: The start of this millennium. Initially it was expected in many countries that existing FM services would switch over to DAB, although the take up of DAB has been much slower than expected. As of 2023 , Norway is the first country to have implemented a national FM radio switch-off, with others to follow in the next years. In recent years, DAB has become the most popular radio listening platform in Norway, Switzerland and
8383-562: The suggestion that DAB would be the future direction of digital radio in the United Kingdom. It states that only when the following conditions are met, a migration from FM to DAB would begin: The original Interim Report of the Digital Radio Working Group published in 2008 specified that the 50% threshold for listening figures should be based on those for DAB. This was subsequently watered down to incorporate listening via any digital platform so as to make it easier to meet
8484-406: The traditional 270 kilohertz-wide analog channels, with capability of up to 300 kbit/s per station (pure digital mode). The full bandwidth of the hybrid mode approaches 400 kHz. The first generation DAB uses the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) audio codec, which has less efficient compression than newer codecs. The typical bitrate for DAB stereo programs is only 128 kbit/s or less and as
8585-451: The transmission powers remained the same), would translate into people who currently experience reception difficulties on DAB receiving a much more robust signal with DAB+ transmissions. It also has a far steeper "digital cliff", and listening tests have shown that people prefer this when the signal strength is low compared to the shallower digital cliff on DAB. Immunity to fading and inter-symbol interference (caused by multipath propagation)
8686-463: The two contestants with the least friends went head-to-head in a challenge to keep their place. Core's Programme Manager, Bern Leckie, decided who stayed in the competition based on their performance. The two finalists were Will Goodhand and Matt Treacy. They each broadcast a two-hour show, appealing for listener votes to decide the winner. Will, a contestant in the UK series of Beauty and the Geek and
8787-513: The two national operators, Digital One and Sound Digital as well as local multiplex operators including NOW Digital, Bauer Media Group , Wireless Group , Switch Digital and MuxCo . Local and regional ensembles cover 77.8% of UK households. An increasing number of small scale DAB multiplexes broadcast in a number of areas across the UK. From what began with ten trial multiplexes (London, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Portsmouth, Norwich, Brighton, Cambridge and Aldershot) with initially
8888-509: The ubiquitous MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III). The newer DAB+ standard adopted the LC-AAC and HE-AAC , including its version 2 audio codecs, commonly known as AAC , AAC+ or aacPlus . AAC+ uses a modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) algorithm, and is approximately three times more efficient than MP2, which means that broadcasters using DAB+ are able to provide far higher audio quality or far more stations than they could with DAB, or
8989-501: The upgraded DAB+ standard, with only the UK, Romania, Brunei, and the Philippines still using a significant number of legacy DAB broadcasts. DAB is generally more efficient in its use of spectrum than analogue FM radio, and thus can offer more radio services for the same given bandwidth. The broadcaster can select any desired sound quality, from high-fidelity signals for music to low-fidelity signals for talk radio, in which case
9090-641: The upper frequencies of the L band, however, Qualcomm beat WorldSpace in 2008, securing the L band frequencies in the Ofcom auction process. A number of digital radio stations also broadcast through digital cable platforms, including Virgin Media and WightFibre . In the United Kingdom, over 350 of the UK's radio stations also stream their stations online, not including Restricted Service Licensed radio stations, Hospital radio stations and stations who solely broadcast online. In total, about 2600 stations from
9191-644: The uptake of DAB has increased since the launch of the BBC national DAB ensemble in 1995. Lower prices, new radio stations and marketing have increased the uptake of DAB radio in the UK. Digital radios were first sold as car radios in 1997, priced around £800, with hi-fi tuners costing up to £2,000 being released two years later. In 2001, Digital One invested in Frontier Silicon to produce a new processing chip which would allow cheaper portable radios to be produced. Roberts Radio , Goodmans and in 2002, Pure Digital 's award-winning Evoke series of radios broke
9292-422: The use of a number of frequency blocks between 7D and 9C for any future roll-out of small scale DAB multiplexes in its final report regarding the small scale DAB multiplexes published in September 2016. The first permanent Small Scale DAB licensed were advertised during 2021 with the trial licenses being awarded to the trial licensees. sub-band The frequency plan and usage of DAB for the crown dependencies of
9393-408: The use of single-frequency networks ( SFN ), which means that a network of transmitters can provide coverage to a large area – up to the size of a country – where all transmitters use the same transmission frequency block. Transmitters that are part of an SFN need to be very accurately synchronised with other transmitters in the network, which requires the transmitters to use very accurate clocks. When
9494-423: The vast majority of receivers support DAB+. In the UK, DAB+ launched in January 2016 following a trial period starting September 2014. Ofcom published a consultation for a new national multiplex containing a mix of DAB and DAB+ services, with the intention of moving all services to DAB+ in the long term. In February 2016, the new national network Sound Digital launched with three DAB+ stations. In August 2021
9595-513: The world's biggest digital radio networks, with about 500 transmitters, three national DAB ensembles , one regional DAB ensemble, 48 local DAB ensembles and an increasing number of small-scale DAB ensembles broadcasting over 250 commercial and 34 BBC radio stations across the UK. In London there are already more than 100 different digital stations available. In addition to DAB and DAB+, radio stations are also broadcast on digital television platform as well as internet radio in
9696-558: The £100 price barrier, and DAB take up has increased since. The BBC and other DAB broadcasters have been encouraging DAB take up by promoting a number of features which are either new or improve upon former technology in their sales literature. The benefit of DAB is that due to the use of multiplexing technology and encoding technology, broadcasters including the BBC and EMAP have been able to launch exclusive digital radio stations alongside their existing analogue radio stations. Broadcasters also state that DAB offers better reception, without
9797-495: Was an ongoing experimental DMB multiplex broadcast in London on L-Band and Cambridge on VHF Band III, used for video, audio and data applications which have since ceased. The Digital Economy Act 2010 has a requirement stating that the United Kingdom must prepare for digital switchover. On 29 January 2009 the UK Government's interim report into digital communication for the future by Lord Carter , Digital Britain , made
9898-473: Was available to 65% of the UK population by 2001, 85% by 2004 and 96.4% by 2015. DAB+ full-time broadcasts began in 2016. The Broadcasting Act of 1996 allowed the introduction of national, regional and local commercial ensembles in the United Kingdom. The first national ensemble licence for DAB from the Radio Authority was advertised in 1998 and one applicant applied for the licence. The licence
9999-474: Was awarded to the GWR Group and NTL Broadcast, who since the launch were renamed Arqiva . The two companies formed the Digital One ensemble, which began broadcasting on 15 November 1999. The Digital One ensemble has grown and is currently available to over 90% of the UK population although an Ofcom report into Digital Radio in 2015 puts robust household coverage at 89.8% of the UK. In the United Kingdom,
10100-546: Was broadcast as part of the weekend line-up. The station left Sky and Virgin Media on 3 July 2007, with other GCap stations Capital Disney , Chill and Classic Gold . In January 2008, it was announced on the website and in email to listeners, that the station was to close on 11 January 2008. The station closed at 23:59 on 11 January 2008. The final song to play on the station was "So Long & Thanks For All The Fish" by Hilary Summers , Kemi Omniyi & The R'svp Voices. The online stream continued to play until 01:07, where
10201-400: Was met which will now require the UK Government to review digital radio in view of a potential switchover. In the same year, the BBC stated it would keep some FM radio for the foreseeable future. Digital radio in the United Kingdom is being promoted by radio stations and the broadcasting industry on the premise that it provides superior quality sound over AM, a wider choice of radio stations,
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