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DAB Archives Last Update: November 21st, 2002 |
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The stories on this page previously appeared on the Latest Updates page. Please send information and observations to: carey@wohnort.org 2001 Stories from 2000 December 28th Teracom, the transmitter network operator in Sweden, has announced it is to scale back DAB transmissions. The reductions will reduce coverage of the country from 85% to 40% of the population. Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö and Luleå will continue to be served. December 28th The new weekday pattern of bitrates on the BBC National DAB ensemble is summarised below, based on observations. Colours as per the Snapshots. |
| 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio 1 | 160 | 128 | 160 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio 2 | 128 | 160 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio 3 | 192 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio 4 | 80 | 128 | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio 4 LW | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio 5 | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 Live Sport | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Service | 64 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BBC Test | 80 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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To clarify a concern evident in the Newsgroups, when Radio 4 LW is not carrying separate programming, the service points to the same audio stream as Radio 4. Shipping Forecasts not shown. Corrections and further information welcome! December 20th It is reported from France that the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) is to allocate the nine available blocks for DAB in Paris as follows: Radio France (2 blocks) and one block each for CLT UFA (RTL) Lagardère (Europe 1) Numericast Seconde generation TDF Towercast VDL December 19th Snapshot of the pilot Netherlands ensemble added. December 18th The data service ProgrammeGuide E has been observed back on the ScoreEDINBURGH ensemble. December 18th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Inverness to Score Digital, a subsidiary of Scottish Radio Holdings, plc.. The ensemble will run on Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. Score Digital propose to begin broadcasting in July 2003 (sic). The Authority says the licence award is conditional on the applicant meeting this date. December 13th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Norwich. The ensemble will run on Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Norfolk. Closing date is Tuesday, 19 March 2002. The Authority expects to award the licence in the early summer. December 13th KISS is soon to appear on the Score N.IRELAND ensemble. December 13th A fourth DAB ensemble is on-air in Taiwan. PC RADIO is broadcasting five services on Block 10C, including e-learn, which is a Public University learning broadcasting service. PC RADIO has a national concession like the other three ensemble operators, BCC, CBS and UFO. Regional concessions are expected to follow. Digital radio may receive a further boost from a buddhist sect which is seeking to broadcast round the clock on DAB. The sect has more than 3 million members. December 13th Corrections and additions to Bayern TII table. December 13th Further correction to UK TII table. December 11th Corrections to UK TII table. December 11th Heart is to be added to the Switch Scotland regional ensemble next month. Heart will occupy capacity vacated by The Rhythm in November. December 11th Two new transmitters are due to go on air in Bayern next month. Deggendorf and Pfarrkirchen will join the SFN of Bayern Digital Radio operating on Block 12D. December 11th During the current cricket broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW, BBC Test ceases. Snapshot of this configuration added. December 11th The data test transmission ProgrammeGuide E has disappeared from the ScoreEDINBURGH local ensemble. Snapshot updated. December 10th MXR North West Snapshot updated. Transmitter details of all MXR SFNs brought into line with updates already given below. December 10th Service dates were recently given by RNE for DAB in the regions of Castilla and León.
December 9th A short postscript to the PC World story below. The Wavefinder offer is being advertised in the press as "this weekend only". It may therefore have some connection with the Videologic promotion scheduled for Wednesday. December 9th The newsgroups today are reporting unusual reception conditions in the UK associated with an area of high pressure. Such enhanced tropospheric propagation normally occurs just after the barometric pressure has peaked and is beginning to subside again. Posters to the groups report not only reception of unusually distant ensembles, but also disruption of local ones. December 7th A new DAB service has begun in Munich. Cityinfo offers live still images from around 10 of the city's major traffic intersections. The pictures are updated every 30 seconds. Cityinfo is broadcasting on Munich's L-band local ensemble. December 7th UK computer retailer PC World is offering the Psion Wavefinder for £49.50 in its stores. This deal may be a prelude to discontinuation, as the Wavefinder is no longer listed on PC World's web site. December 7th MDR, a public-service broadcaster in Germany, has announced a new classical music service for DAB. Working title for the new network is MDR-Klassik. The service is expected to begin April 1st 2002. December 7th Sshhh! DAB is top secret. A digital radio service has been launched in Aberdeen, but the page you're now reading is the first public mention I've seen of it! Not even the Switchdigital site refers to the Aberdeen franchise. Rumour has it Switch are bidding to launch the next US military satellite. A snapshot of the Aberdeen ensemble has been added to the UK listings, but don't tell anyone I told you so! December 6th UK TII table updated. Addition of Carmel. December 5th Snapshot of the West Midlands regional ensemble updated. Since the last observations, Saga 105.7 FM has appeared. The data services were not included in the previous snapshot because of the observation methods. December 5th Snapshot of the Coventry local ensemble updated. Since the last observations, Vibe has disappeared, being replaced by Dance Service which is a test transmission. BBC C&W has capacity reserved on this ensemble but was not active when these observations were made. December 5th Snapshot of the Cardiff/Newport local ensemble updated. Since the last observations, The Storm has disappeared, being replaced by Flix South Wales. BBC Cymru and BBC Wales have capacity reserved for them on this ensemble but were not active when these observations were made. December 5th Snapshot of the Bristol & Bath local ensemble updated. Since the last observations, Vibe and The Lounge have disappeared, being replaced by Dance Service and Easy Service. BBC Bristol has appeared, as has a student radio service, SBN. December 4th Snapshot of EMAP Humberside added. December 4th Switch London Snapshot updated. December 4th UK TII table updated. December 4th The MXR SFN in South Wales is now complete with the introduction into service of the remaining transmitters at Aberdare, Ebbw Vale and Abergavenny. The Alnwick transmitter recently went live in the North East SFN. This leaves just Blackpool and Pendle Forest outstanding in the North West. December 4th Not yet written that letter to Santa? Videologic's new portable DAB receiver is about to go into the shops and is available at a special promotional price of just £99. Full details at the GrabOneQuick site. December 4th Videologic's DAB tuners can now be purchased online at the Videologic site. This is a handy source for anyone in the UK who wants the dual-band version, the 602ES. This "European" version is supplied with the continental mains connector. Online price is £371.81 ex VAT. November 30th BBC Bristol is broadcasting on the Bristol NowDigital ensemble. New Snapshot in due course. November 30th Digital Audio Broadcasting has begun in Rheinland-Pfalz. The Band III SFN is on-air on Block 12A from three transmitters: Donnersberg, Heidelberg und Hohe Wurzel (Taunus). Further sites will be added in 2002. L-band transmissions are due to begin in the New Year. November 30th Saga Radio has replaced The Lounge on the Switch London ensemble. New Snapshot to follow. November 30th New Snapshots for Edinburgh local and Central Scotland regional ensembles. November 30th Snapshot added for the overnight condition on Digital1 Network when --> ITN News --> and Oneword are absent. November 29th The Rhythm has disappeared from the Central Scotland regional ensemble. No replacement has yet appeared. New Snapshot upcoming. November 29th KISS has appeared on the Edinburgh local ensemble, replacing THE STORM. New Snapshot upcoming. November 29th The Humberside local ensemble has begun broadcasting on Block 11B. BBC Radio Humberside is reported to be on the multiplex from the outset. EMAP Humberside will be transmitted initially from three sites, High Hunsley, Bridlington and Grimsby. It is proposed to extend coverage subsequently by the addition of transmissions Scunthorpe (Trent View Flats). November 29th Two new DAB transmitters have been brought into service in Bayern. Hoher Bogen and Hohenpeißenberg raise the coverage of Bayern by 3% to 83% of the Land. November 23rd Two new transmitters have gone on-air in Hessen at Krehberg (Darmstadt) and Habichstwald (Kassel). At at stroke, coverage of the Block 12C ensemble rises from 32% to 78% of Hessen. In the next few weeks, new transmitters at Fulda and Dünsberg (Gießen) will also be brought into service. November 21st MXR Update:
The UK Radio Authority has turned down a request from a multiplex operator to lower the Protection Levels on an ensemble. This would have freed capacity to allow more services. Reducing the resilience of the signal in this way would have effectively reduced the service area. The Authority was mindful that the coverage area was one of the statutory criteria on which the licence applications had been judged. The Authority felt that the integrity of coverage was important and "holes" should be avoided wherever possible. The operator, which has not been named, has been invited to submit alternative proposals. November 21st The UK Radio Authority has approved a change to the Switch London ensemble. Spectrum Radio is to replace Big-London. November 21st The UK Radio Authority has received two applications for the Leicester local digital franchise, from EMAP Digital Radio, a subsidiary of EMAP Performance Ltd., and from Now Digital (East Midlands) (Now Digital [GWR], Sabras Sound Ltd., Capital Radio plc and Chrysalis Radio Ltd.). The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Leicester. EMAP proposes a dynamic ensemble in which some of its capacity would be used to provide additional services (children's, sports, student radio) at the weekends. EMAP proposes to begin broadcasting in November 2002, using six transmission sites (at Copt Oak, Waltham, Skeffington, Boundry water tower, Empingham, and Barwell water tower). NDEM proposes to begin broadcasting in November 2002, initially using two transmitters, at Copt Oak and Waltham. A third transmitter, at Skeffington, would be introduced during the first two years of operation. NDEM has identified a further two transmitters, at Boundry water tower and Empingham. Their introduction would be reviewed during the licence period. The Authority hopes to announce a decision early in the New Year. November 21st UK TII table updated. November 21st The Band III transmitters in Rheinland-Pfalz will radiate TII codes when DAB begins in December. German TII table updated. November 21st BBC Radio Shropshire has popped up on Now Digital's Wolverhampton ensemble. Saga has popped up on MXR WestMidlands. New Snapshot to follow. November 20th UK TII table updated. The new layout indicates which ensembles are broadcast from each transmitter site. November 19th The ORB services Radio 1 and Antenne Brandenburg, which have been testing on the Band III ensemble, have now entered official public service. Block 11C serves north-east Brandenburg, Block 12D the Greater Berlin region. November 19th Correction to Brandenburg listings. November 16th The service BBC Test is currently running 80 kbit/s Mono. November 13th A new transmitter has been added to the UK Digital One SFN. Caradon Hill brings DAB to East Cornwall, parts of Plymouth and West Devon for the first time. November 13th BBC "Standard" Snapshot updated. The new snapshot reflects the diminishing "space" made available to the World Service. BBC World Service is currently seen running at 64 kbit/s. November 13th UK TII table updated. November 13th A new L-band transmitter has been brought into service in Baden-Württemberg. Langenbrand replaces the transmitters Woerth, Kronau and Pforzheim-Ispringen. Bruchsal becomes a repeater. Simultaneously with start of Band III transmissions from Raichberg and Waldenburg, the transmitters at Moetzingen and Stuttgart-Funkhaus were shut down. November 13th Germany TII table updated. November 13th The Spanish Local digital frequency plan (Nov. 6th) is also available for download in HTML format. November 12th The BBC has said that it intends to extend DAB coverage. By the end of this year 65% of the population will be covered. This should rise to 80% by the end of 2003 and 85% in early 2004. The announcement was made by Jenny Abramsky, Director of BBC Radio, speaking at the World DAB General Assembly, Brussels November 11th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Peterborough to Now Digital Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the GWR Group. The ensemble will use Block 12D (229.072 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Now Digital expects to begin broadcasting in August/September 2002. November 8th While this site is concerned principally with DAB, it is worth noting that tests are continuing with a complimentary system intended for the long, medium and shortwaves - DRM. In Sachsen-Anhalt, the transmitter at Burg, near Magdeburg, has resumed transmissions on 531kHz. An audio programme and data services are being broadcast. These should also be receivable in Halle. November 8th Some broken links in UK listings repaired. November 8th New transmitters were added last month to the SFN in Sachsen-Anhalt. The new transmissions from Jerichow and Salzwedel extend coverage into the northernmost part of the Land, the Altmark. November 6th A comprehensive frequency plan for local DAB broadcasting in Spain was published in today's Boletín Oficial del Estado. The plan, including preamble, runs to 20 pages which are available for download in TIFF format from the BOE site. November 6th Two new transmitters are to be added to the SFN in Baden-Württemberg in April next year at Feldberg and Witthoh . At the same time, the power of the Heildelberg - Königstuhl. transmitter will be increased from 215w to 800w. A new transmitter is to be added to the local L-band SFN serving Stuttgart. Güglingen is scheduled to enter programme service in the new year. November 6th The World DAB Forum recently reported the following developments:-
Snapshot of the UK Digital One national ensemble updated. Virgin Radio is being broadcast in Joint Stereo. November 5th Landeswelle Thüringen is now being broadcast on the Block 12B ensemble in Thüringen. November 3rd The UK Radio Authority is to advertise the local digital franchise for South Hampshire this week. The ensemble will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Solent. The closing date is February 12th 2002. The Authority expects to award the franchise in the spring. November 3rd Listings and Snapshot updated of the Teesside local ensemble. October 31st Applications have been filed with Canadian regulators for DAB broadcasts to begin in Ottawa early in 2002. Digital radio is already available from 55 DAB stations serving 10 million people in Vancouver, Toronto, Windsor, and Montreal. October 31st Finland listings updated. October 31st A new transmitter was recently added to the UK Digital One SFN. Beacon Hill extends national coverage into parts of South East Devon and the East Devon coast. October 31st Today's Journal Officiel publishes the process by which the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) will allocate frequencies in Paris for DAB. The frequencies themselves are confirmed by this Decision. There are nine blocks in L-band, Blocks LA to LI. After the months of waiting, the pace now hots up for potential franchisees. Applicants have eight days from the appearance of today's JO to make known in writing which Block or Blocks are being sought. There will then be a preselection. Once they have been notified of their preselection, the Applicants then have eight days within which to make known the characteristics of their proposed transmission sites. These will then be submitted for technical verification before a final decision is reached by the CSA. The proposals for Paris will mean a three-fold expansion in the frequencies available. Three ensembles are currently broadcast on a provisional basis, on Blocks LB, LE and LI. October 26th A new service has appeared on the Wolverhampton local ensemble. SBN is a student radio service which is currently on test. New Snapshot added. October 26th Snapshots and listings updated for Saarland. The Band III and L-band ensembles appear to be identical, apart from Transmission Mode of course. October 26th Snapshots and listings updated for the Band III ensemble in Hessen and the L-band ensemble for Frankfurt (Main). It is likely that the other L-band ensembles in Hessen correspond to the new situation in Frankfurt. It is ironic that the start of the official public service in Hessen now sees fewer services than ever being broadcast in DAB. When observed, the L-band ensemble was reduced to just two. Hessischer Rundfunk, the public service broadcaster in Hessen, has declined to participate in these DAB broadcasts. October 26th Snapshots and listings updated for Thüringen. Only changes since the last observations are subtle alterations to the Ensemble and Service Labels. October 26th Snapshot and listings updated for West Sachsen. Snapshot and listing added for the Ost Sachsen ensemble. The eastern ensemble appears to be the western ensemble transported in its entirety. Note that the Ensemble Label in the east also reads Sachsen K 12A, although it is broadcast there on Block 5C. October 26th Snapshots and listings updated for Berlin and Brandenburg. Radio Melodie was observed not to be on BERLIN/BRBG LI any more. WDR 2 has replaced WDR Funkhaus Europa on 8C. On LI, the English and French services of Radio E were not observed. Radio E-deutsch had expanded in their places to 192 kbits/s Stereo. SFB TMC-Daten was observed as a Secondary service of SFB 88acht. In the daytime, MultiKulti.IFA has been observed as a Secondary service on the SFB/DLR ensemble. Elsewhere there have been changes to Service Labels and audio modes. October 26th Snapshots and listings added for Sachsen-Anhalt Band III and Magdeburg L-band. October 26th Snapshots and listings updated for Hannover. October 26th Snapshots and listings added for København. October 26th Snapshots and listings added for Malmö. October 26th Snapshots and listings added for Stockholm. As well as the publicised national and regional ensembles, there is a third, test ensemble on Block 12A, carrying Service Labels Radio Agneta, Radio Benny, Radio Björn and Radio Frida. Haha! One receiver is known to display this ensemble's Ensemble Label with an accented "y" in place of the "ä" in "Teracom Testnät". It is not known for certain at the moment whether this is a transmission or reception issue. There is also an ensemble in L-band broadcasting IP datagrams. October 26th Snapshots and listings added for Göteborg. October 26th Snapshots and listings added for Oslo. The national ensemble was observed to be radiating TII. The regional ensemble was not. October 14th Digital Radio Südwest, the network operator in Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg has announced December 10th as the date for the start of official DAB broadcasting on VHF in Rheinland-Pfalz. The first transmitters will be Donnersberg, Heidelberg und Hohe Wurzel. Test transmissions should begin before that date. The official service date for DAB transmissions in L-band is January 1st 2002 from Weilerskopf and Ludwigshafen. October 14th Two new transmitters have been brought into service in Baden-Württemberg. Raichberg und Waldenburg become part of the SFN on Block 12B. October 5th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Bradford & Huddersfield to TWG Digital, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Wireless Group Holdings Ltd. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Leeds. TWG Digital proposes to begin broadcasting in September 2002 from three sites, Holme Moss, Westgate Hill and Keighley. October 5th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Exeter & Torbay to Now Digital Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the GWR Group plc. The ensemble will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Devon. Now Digital proposes to begin transmissions in the second quarter of 2002, using three transmission sites, at Beacon Hill, Exeter (St. Thomas) and Stockland Hill. It estimates that these will provide 'outdoor coverage' of 77.8% of the adult population of the Exeter & Torbay 'primary protected area' (PPA), which may be reduced to 75.2% by incoming interference. It is proposed that a further two transmitters, at Tiverton and Sidmouth, would become operational when digital radio listening accounts for one-third of all radio listening. October 5th The UK Radio Authority has advertised a local franchise for Bath, Swindon & West Wilts. The advertisement effectively combines the Swindon and West Wilts franchise with a previously untimetabled Bath licence area and accelerates the franchising programme. The result could be not unlike an ITV dual-region, since the use of separate Blocks will enable different programming in the two areas from a single franchise-holder. Unlike the dual region, however, the advertisement leaves it up to the applicants to propose the service line-up. The Authority Press Announcement merely states that separate programming "will be technically possible". The ensembles will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz) in Swindon and 12D (229.072MHz) in Bath and West Wiltshire. Capacity is reserved for the BBC local radio service Wiltshire Sound. Closing Date is 15th January 2002. The Authority expects to award the licence in the early spring. In view of the fact that the result could be either a single ensemble running on two blocks or two different ensembles, this site will continue to list them as separate areas for the time being. October 4th Entry updated for the Central Lancashire local ensemble. October 4th Entry updated for the Northern Ireland local ensemble. BBC Radio Ulster is now on the ensemble. Classic FM is being broadcast at 128 kbit/s, compared with 160 kbit/s on the Digital1 Ensemble in Great Britain. The bitrate of 3C, Cool Country is reduced from 160 to 128 kbit/s since the last observation. October 3rd Entries updated for the West Midlands regional and the Birmingham and Wolverhampton local ensembles October 2nd A new DAB transmitter has been brought into service in Bayern. Brotjacklriegel becomes part of the SFN on Block 12D and extends coverage along the Danube from Deggendorf to Passau and in the south-eastern part of the Bavarian Forest. October 2nd Second Snapshot of the Central Lancashire local ensemble tests added. October 2nd 3C, Cool Country has replaced RITZ COUNTRY in the Liverpool local ensemble. New Snapshot added. October 2nd Snapshot added for the Central Lancs ensemble test transmissions. October 1st Snapshots updated for the Leeds, South Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear local ensembles. The Teesside local ensemble could not be received on the afternoon of October 1st at any of the observation locations within the service area, whereas EMAP T&W was receivable south of Middlesborough. The Teesside ensemble is assumed to have been down. September 28th There have been two test services on the BBC National DAB ensemble. BBC Test carried Radio 5 Live at the reduced bit rate of 48 kbits/s (Radio 5 Live itself is usually between 80 and 96 kbits/s). BBC Test 2 carried the same programme at 48 kbits/s but half rate sampling. These new tests are a clear pointer to the direction in which the BBC ensemble is headed. September 28th The price of DAB receivers is falling. UK computer retailer PC World is advertising the Psion Wavefinder for £99.00 inc. VAT plus £3.25 delivery. September 27th UK TII table updated. September 25th A test transmission of the Central Lancashire local ensemble is reported to have popped up briefly today on Block 12A. As with other ensembles, individual transmitters will likely be tested separately before being tested together as an SFN. These are, if you like, pre-test transmission tests. September 25th The MDR, public service broadcaster for the German Länder Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen, is to renew its involvement in DAB. The MDR had until 1998 participated in a pilot project in Sachsen-Anhalt. In its modern broadcasting centres, MDR radio programmes are already produced digitally, but currently only transmitted (terrestrially) in analogue form. According to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, under consideration is the introduction of a service, available only on DAB, as a means of making digital radio more attractive. A classical music service co-produced with the Bayerischen Rundfunk is being considered. September 25th DAB coverage in Sachsen has been extended with the introduction into service of a new transmitter at Zittau. The new transmitter becomes part of the SFN operating on Block 5C in east Sachsen. In the west of the Land, the ensemble operates on Block 12A. This arrangement would permit the future regionalisation of services on the ensembles. September 22nd Last week's interactive drama, "Wheel of Fortune", broadcast on Radio 3, Radio 4 and the Internet, was accompanied by an unusual ensemble configuration. For the duration of the broadcast, there was an extra Service label in the ensemble, Wheel of Fortune, which appeared to point to one of the existing audio streams. Radios 3 and 4 were identified as Secondary Components of this Service. Correspondingly, Radio 4 and Wheel of Fortune were identified as Secondary Components of Radio 3 with Radio 3 and Wheel of Fortune as Secondary Components of Radio 4. September 21st New Videologic products added to Receivers page. September 20th UK manufacturer Videologic has announced two new DAB receivers. The DRX-601EX is a digital radio, featuring integral amplifier and speaker drive units and maple or cherry real wood veneers. The DRX-601ESM has the same features as the existing 601, sized to match mini or midi hifi systems. September 19th Digital One, the UK national commercial operator, has announced the next phase of its transmitter programme to the end of 2002. The programme means the extension of DAB into areas currently unserved or largely unserved by digital radio... Cornwall, East Anglia, North Wales and up the east coast of Scotland. The full list is posted on the Digital One website. September 15th BBC Sheffield is confirmed to have appeared on the South Yorkshire local ensemble. September 15th The Northern Ireland local ensemble, operated by Score Digital, has been observed radiating on Block 12D from two transmitters (this is not to say that others are not operating) with TII codes 19/02 and 19/06 hex. (25/02 and 25/06 decimal). Snapshot added to UK listings. These are test transmissions and may be liable to interruptions, periods of reduced power and other odd effects. September 13th The UK government's Culture Secretary has approved BBC plans for new DAB radio services. Five "new" services are proposed:- Network X (working title) A black music, news and speech service aimed at a young audience. Network Y (working title) Popular music from the BBC archive. Network Z (working title) A new speech-based service, which would include children's programming, of drama, comedy, readings and story telling for all the family. Five Live Sports Plus Supplementing the sports coverage currently offered on Radio 4 and Radio Five Live. BBC Asian Network Currently broadcast only in the Midlands, this service would be extended to the whole of the UK. Of the five, Five Live Sports Plus is already on DAB. The BBC Asian Network is currently only on analogue and DSat. There is space reserved for it on the forthcoming West Midlands regional ensemble, but presumably this reserved capacity would be relinquished once the service was accomodated on the BBC national ensemble. September 12th BBC Radio Merseyside has popped up on the Liverpool local ensemble. The ensemble Snapshot has been updated. The BBC has agreed terms for the carriage of their local services by EMAP on their ensembles in the north of England. BBC Radios Sheffield, Newcastle, Cleveland, and Leeds should be on the air soon, if not already. It is expected that BBC Radios Humberside and Lancashire will be on the respective EMAP ensembles from launch. September 12th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Dundee & Perth to Score Digital. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved on the ensemble for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. Score expect to begin transmissions within 26 weeks. September 12th The UK Radio Authority has received one application for the Peterborough local digital franchise from NOW Digital, a wholly owned subsidiary of the GWR Group plc.. The ensemble will use Block 12D (229.072 MHz). Capacity is reserved on the ensemble for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. NOW proposes to commence its service in August/September 2002, using three transmission sites, at Peterborough, Hitchingbrooke and Stamford. The Radio Authority expects to announce a decision about the franchise by the end of the year. September 3rd An Engineering Consideration Document has been published by the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development detailing the results of a consultation process prior to the adoption of standards for DAB. The Document recommends:
The Dutch DAB ensemble is now labelled DAB-test. The service Nozema1 has disappeared. A data service PRBS has appeared. September 2nd The Dutch DAB ensemble has popped up again on Block 12C. There are currently three audio services, two of which carry the same audio: Radio 2 Radio 3 Nozema1 (same audio as 'Radio 3'). The pilot transmissions ended 11 months ago to protest a lack of government policy. The resumption of DAB broadcasting in the Netherlands may be a sign that the government's position is about to become clearer... or it may just have been preventive maintenance of the transmission plant! September 1st The pilot DAB transmissions operated by BCC in Taiwan were launched as a full public service on August 1st. Their web site illustrates some of the DAB receivers available on the island. BCC is taking a pro-active approach, offering receivers for sale through its web site. August 30th Say goodbye to the DAB module sitting in your boot! Grundig's new Challenge 530 car stereo boasts cassette playback, FM radio and digital radio reception from a single, integrated unit. Use your boot for luggage! August 30th Ensemble Label added to MXR North West snapshot. August 29th The German government has announced a preferred shutdown date for analogue services. Speaking at the International Funkaustellung in Berlin, Chancellor SchrÒder said that the current analogue radio transmissions should be replaced by digital by 2015 "at the latest". August 29th The Atlas Digital Radio, issued by the Technischen Kommission der Landesmediananstalten, has been updated with revised sections for Hessen. This document is a comprehensive overview of DAB in Germany and is an indispensable download for anyone wanting to know the full picture. The Atlas is divided up into sections so that only the newest updates need be downloaded. August 29th The UK Northwest Regional ensemble popped up today from Winter Hill on Block 12C (227.360 MH). Up to now, the transmissions had been from Moel y Parc only. Snapshot added to UK Listings. These are test transmissions and will be subject to interruptions, reduced power and other odd effects. Official service date is scheduled for September 25th. St. John's Beacon and Blackpool Tower will not now be used. An alternative to Blackpool Tower is being sought. The additional site of Morecambe Bay will be used. Lancaster, Pendle Forest and Sutton Common should come on closer to the official service date. August 24th UK TII table updated. All the UK transmitters affected by the TII code changes are now believed to be radiating the new codes. August 24th The UK West Midlands Regional ensemble continues testing from all transmitters, although The Wrekin is currently off-air. August 24th The UK Northwest Regional ensemble is reported to have popped up on Block 12C (227.360 MH). These are test transmissions and will be subject to interruptions, reduced power and other odd effects. Official service date is scheduled for September 25th. St. John's Beacon and Blackpool Tower will not now be used. An alternative to Blackpool Tower is being sought. The additional site Morecambe Bay will be used. August 24th Stand by for a new DAB tuner from Videologic. The DRX-602ES is a "European" version, matching the 601ES in appearance and features, plus:
This model is not expected to retail in the United Kingdom. August 21st Digital Radio Südwest, the network operator in southwest Germany, has announced that DAB broadcasts in the Land Rheinland-Pfalz will begin in December this year from the sites Donnersberg, Heidelberg und Hohe Wurzel. Further transmitters, including Koblenz, Trier and the Eifel region will come on later. August 21st The Atlas Digital Radio, issued by the Technischen Kommission der Landesmediananstalten, was updated today with revised sections for Länder Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz. This document is a comprehensive overview of DAB in Germany and is an indispensable download for anyone wanting to know the full picture. The Atlas is divided up into sections so that only the newest updates need be downloaded. August 21st UK TII table updated. August 21st The UK Radio Authority has received one application for the Bradford & Huddersfield digital franchise. TWG Ditigal (The Wireless Group Holdings plc) proposes to begin broadcasting in September 2002 from three sites, Holme Moss, Westgate Hill and Keighley. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Leeds. TWG proposes seven commercial services, The Pulse, BIG AM, Sunrise FM, Flix, Asian Sound, KISS plus another to be confirmed. The Authority hopes to announce a decision in the autumn. August 21st The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Leicester. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Leicester and the BBC Asian Network. Closing date is Tuesday, 20 November 2001. The Authority expects to make an award early in the New Year. August 21st Receivers page updated with the new DT26 DAB tuner from the Arcam FMJ range. August 17th Layout of the UK and Germany pages has been modified with the intention of improving accessibility. The notes to the listings are now at the foot of the page. August 17th Hessen listings updated. August 16th Scot FM, the Central Scotland regional FM service is to be rebranded Real Radio. Scot FM was purchased by Guardian Media Group from The Wireless Group in June. Scot FM is broadcast digitally on the Central Scotland Regional Ensemble, Switch Scotland. The Real Radio brand is already present on the regional ensemble in South Wales, and on local ensembles in Leeds, Liverpool, South Yorkshire, Teesside and Tyne & Wear. August 10th Digital One, the UK National Commercial operator, has announced the next extensions to its transmitter network. The next sites will be at Pendle Forest and Purdown. Brighton is also planned, subject to international frequency clearance. August 9th The test ensemble operated by NTL from Croydon has moved to Block 11C. This releases 11B, which is allocated to the Greater London 3 ensemble to be operated by DRg. August 9th Listings for Saarland and Sachsen updated. August 9th Frequency Tables added. August 8th Receivers page updated with Clarion in-car DAB receiver. August 8th It is interesting to note the total lack of uniformity in the labelling of the DeutschlandRadio services around the Länder. Deutschlandfunk, for example, is labelled variously as Deutschlandfunk, DEUTSCHLANDFUNK, DeutschlandFunk, DLF-Koeln, DLF. "Wenn ich nur Intendant des DeutschlandRadios wäre..." August 6th Snapshots added and listings updated for Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen. August 6th The listings are being modified in order better to indicate which fields represent the actual text content of Service Labels observed or reported, e.g. R-WIEN * DAB, and those listings where the the entry is based on other data or is the name of a Service which may or may not correspond exactly with the Service Label, e.g. P4 København. It is a convention in computer literature and on other DAB sites to represent a space, " ", as an underscore, "_". However the underscore is a computer character in its own right and exists within the character set from which Service Labels may be formed. Furthermore, the underscore has been observed actually in use in Service Labels, e.g. PICCADILLY_KEY. Therefore, this site will use the convention that a space represents a space, and an underscore always represents an underscore. Please let me know if any listings here are at odds with this policy. August 6th Belgian Snapshots updated. August 6th The Sweden TII table was observed not to display correctly under Netscape. Corrected. August 2nd TII codes are radiated in Berlin by the three transmitters of the SFN on Block 8C run by SFB and DLR. German TII table updated. Although there is no national numbering scheme in Germany, no conflicts have yet been found among the codes which are known. July 30th A table of German TII codes has been added to the TII page. So far as is known (by this site anyway) the Länder Baden-Württemberg and Bayern are the only ones to have implemented TII. Information about other Länder would be gratefully received! July 30th Four new transmitters were brought into service this month in Saarland. The sites at Saarbrcken, Riegelsberg, Tholey und Blieskastel raise the coverage across the Land from 65% to 95%. July 27th The West Midlands regional ensemble popped up today on Block 12A from Sutton Coldfield. A Snapshot has been added to the UK Listings. Ensemble Label and any data subchannels are not included in this Snapshot. These are test transmissions and will be subject to interruptions, reduced power and other odd effects. Official service date is scheduled for August 28th. July 26th Receivers page updated with the new DT81 DAB tuner from the Arcam Diva range. July 26th Is it a phone? Is it a PC? Is it a radio? From Taiwan company Apexcom comes a telephone/PC/modem/DAB combination which proves that the man who has everything.... no longer has quite... everything! July 26th A number of errors crept into the recent German listings update. These have now (mostly?) been corrected. July 25th The UK Radio Authority has received one application for the Exeter/Torbay local digital franchise, from Now Digital Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the GWR Group plc. The ensemble will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Devon. Now Digital proposes to commence its service in the second quarter of 2002, using three transmission sites, at Beacon Hill, Exeter (St. Thomas) and Stockland Hill. It estimates that these will provide 'outdoor coverage' of 77.8% of the adult population of the Exeter & Torbay 'primary protected area' (PPA), which may be reduced to 75.2% by incoming interference. It is proposed that a further two transmitters, at Tiverton and Sidmouth, would become operational when digital radio listening accounts for one-third of all radio listening. The Authority hopes to announce a decision in the early autumn. July 25th Correction to yesterday's Snapshot for Stuttgart L-band ensemble. The service "Infoservice" is a Secondary Component to the Service "Stadtradio". This is believed to be the first implementation of a Secondary Component in Germany. July 24th UK TII table updated. July 24th MXR's coverage plans for the North West regional ensemble have changed since the franchise was awarded. St. John's Beacon will not be used owing to a prediction that the transmissions on Block 12C would punch a hole in BBC coverage on adjacent Block 12B. MXR will however use an additional site at Morecambe Bay. The MXR web site has a coverage map which includes these changes. Test transmissions should begin August 28th. The use of Blackpool Tower is in question. Lancaster is still affected by Fout and Mouth restrictions. July 24th An ensemble is reported to be operating on Block 11C in the Spanish region of Galicia. Operated by Retegal SA, the ensemble is reported to carry only three services currently, including RNE 1 and Radio Gallega. July 24th London Snapshots updated. July 24th Major update to the German listings. New Snapshots added for ensembles in Baden-Württemberg, Bayern and Hessen. Frequency details of the L-band ensemble in München corrected. Two other Band III ensembles were observed to be operating in München. Details and Snapshots added. July 24th SWR, the public-service broadcaster for the Länder Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg, has proposed a new speech service to be broadcast exclusively on DAB in order to support the new medium and make it more attractive to listeners. The new service will showcase reports and features drawn from the other SWR networks in combination with regular news and analysis. A launch date for the new service has not yet been announced. It seems likely that the new service will have to be accomodated within SWR's existing capacity on the ensembles and mean a bit rate reduction for one or more of the existing SWR services. July 19th On the ScoreEDINBURGH ensemble, KISS has replaced the service THE STORM. New Snapshot to follow. July 18th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Inverness. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. Closing date is Tuesday, 16 October 2001. The Authority expects to make an award "at the turn of the year". July 17th On the Greater London 1 ensemble, the service NEWS DIRECT has been relabelled ITN NEWS DIRECT. July 16th MXR, the regional digital franchise operator in England, has announced the progress of its rollout programme as follows:- North East: Test transmissions have begun from all transmitters except Alnwick. Official service (ex. DNN) is scheduled for 30th July. North West: Test transmissions should begin at the beginning of September. Official service (inc. DNN) is scheduled for the end of September. Some sites are affected by Foot and Mouth restrictions. Severn Estuary & South Wales: Test transmissions have begun. Carmel should come on in the next few weeks. Official service (ex. DNN) is scheduled for 30th July. Abergavenny, Aberdare & Ebbw Vale are to be added in the coming months. West Midlands: Test transmissions from all sites should begin at the end of July. Official service (ex. DNN) is scheduled for the end of August. In all regions, DNN is expected to launch at the end of Seprember. July 15th Snapshots updated for Bristol and Cardiff local ensembles. Snapshot added for Severn & South Wales regional ensemble. July 12th The size (and price!) of a digital radio looks set to fall even further with the news that Radioscape and Texas Instruments have together developed a cheaper and smaller component and software set for future DAB receivers. The £100 barrier looks set to be broken soon! News story from BBC Online Press Release July 10th The Staatskanzlei Rheinland-Pfalz has announced the allocation of capacity on the Land's DAB ensembles. The decision permits four programmes from the public service broadcaster, SWR1-RP, SWR2, SWR3 and DASDING to be transmited in Band III and the regional programme SWR4 in L-band. SWR 2 and SWR4 will broadcast at 192 kbits/s, the remainder at 160 kbits/s. The national public-service broadcaster DeutschlandRadio will be accomodated on both ensembles. In Band III at 160 kbit/s and in L-band at 192 kbit/s. This site believes this allocation implies that the service Deutschlandfunk will probably be in Band III and DeutschlandRadio in L-band. The majority of the private services will be in L-band. The plan envisages that RPR 1 and RPR 2 will be accomodated in Band III. The L-band ensembles will initially be brought into service running a single multiplex. A decision on a date for the regionalisation of the L-band is still to be made. The launch of DAB in Rheinland-Pfalz is planned for the fourth quarter of 2001. July 10th Digital Radio West, the DAB operator in Nordrhein-Westfalen brought three new transmitters into service at the end of June. The new transmitters are Bielefeld, Siegen-Süd and Viersen. The roll-out programme will bring more than a dozen DAB transmitters into service during the second half of 2001 alone. The programme is described in full in the Digital Radio Atlas. July 10th The test ensemble operated by Loughborough University has begun radiating TII. UK TII table updated. As well as providing a platform for training and experimentation, the University ensemble also provides a digital outlet for the local ILR station, Oak FM, thereby being possibly the smallest digital radio service in the world. July 10th The BBC has warned that it may halt investment in DAB if the Government does not approve its plans for five new digital radio services. The proposals, described below, require approval from the Culture Secretary, who has asked rival broadcasters for their comments on the BBC's plans. Speaking at the Radio Festival in Manchester, the BBC Director-General said that only digital technology would allow radio to continue growing as a medium. July 10th The Digital Radio Atlas compiled by the Technischen Kommission der Landesmediananstalten has recently been updated. This document is a comprehensive overview of DAB in Germany and is an indispensable download for anyone wanting to know the full picture. The Atlas is divided up into sections so that only the newest updates need be downloaded. July 8th The Videologic DAB receiver (the 'E' version) is being discounted in several Central Scotland stores, bringing it down to £249 in a promotion to coincide with the launch of the Central Scotland regional ensemble. The offer will run from the 2nd July until 17th August 2001. Retailers already involved in the promotion include Dixons, John Lewis Department Stores, Currys, Miller Brothers, Hi-Fi Corner, Glasgow Audio, Sounds Perfect, Laser Audio and other leading hi-fi and specialist retailers. July 8th Snapshots added of the Leeds and Teesside local ensembles. Snapshot updated of the Liverpool local ensemble. July 8th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Ayr to Score Digital Ltd., a subsidiary of Scottish Radio Holdings plc. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved on the ensemble for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. SCORE Digital proposes to commence broadcasting four of its services by December 2001, from three transmission sites, at Darvel, Troon and West Kilbride. A fourth transmitter, at a site yet to be selected, will be added in year five of the licence period. July 8th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Bournemouth to Now Digital Ltd., a subsidiary of GWR Group plc. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved on the ensemble for BBC Radio Solent. Now Digital Ltd. proposes to commence its service by March 2002, using three transmission sites, at Nine Barrow Down, St. Catherines Hill and Winterbourne. July 3rd The BBC Annual Report was published today and reiterates the corporation's plans for the future of its digital radio services. Five "new" services are proposed:- Network X (working title) A black music, news and speech service aimed at a young audience. Network Y (working title) Popular music from the BBC archive. Network Z (working title) A new speech-based service, which would include children's programming, of drama, comedy, readings and story telling for all the family. Five Live Sports Plus Supplementing the sports coverage currently offered on Radio 4 and Radio Five Live. BBC Asian Network Currently broadcast only in the Midlands, this service would be extended to the whole of the UK. Of the five, Five Live Sports Plus is already on DAB. The BBC Asian Network is currently only on analogue and DSat. There is space reserved for it on the forthcoming West Midlands regional ensemble, but presumably this reserved capacity would be relinquished once the service was accomodated on the BBC national ensemble. In view of this it must be unlikely that the Asian Network will in fact ever appear on the West Midlands ensemble. It is worth noting that the proposals do not speak any additional transmission capacity and that the new services would be accomodated within the finite space of the existing ensemble. The future of BBC Digital Radio must therefore mean lower bitrates across all the services, including existing ones. The Service "BBC Test", running at 112 kbits/sec Joint Stereo and rebroadcasting BBC Radio 2 at the moment gives an idea of the shape of things to come. July 3rd The ever-increasing size of this list has forced a re-organisation into smaller sub-pages. This move was resisted as long as possible, since the whole purpose of the site was to gather together as much information as possible into one place. Hopefully the inconvenience for users of having the lists split into several documents will be outweighed by the advantages of smaller and faster downloads. A large number of links have had to be changed throughout the site as a result. Please let me know if you should spot any loss of functionality. July 3rd The Leeds local ensemble is confirmed on-air with the following services:- 96.3 Radio Aire Ridings FM Magic 828WYorks X F M Classic Gold Real Radio KISS July 3rd China listing updated. July 3rd UK TII table updated. July 1st Snapshot updated of the Central Scotland regional ensemble. July 1st It is reported that the service "Ritz 1035" (a country music station in London) has replaced "MFM - The Mix" on the Liverpool local ensemble. New Snapshot to follow. June 30th Snapshot added of the North East regional ensemble. June 30th Snapshot updated of the Greater Manchester local ensemble. June 30th UKRadio.com reports that the Teesside local ensemble has been launched. This could not be confirmed by observations 29th June. June 28th UKRadio.com reports that transmitters for the Severn Estuary and the North East regional ensembles have begun testing. This initial phase involves testing the individual transitters in the SFNs. Full test transmissions should begin 2nd July with official programme service 30th July. June 27th The UK Radio Authority recently updated its online Digital Licence Area map. The new version includes for the first time frequency details of future franchises that have not yet been timetabled. The Ensembles List has been updated with this info. June 26th Four new Services have appeared on the Central Scotland Switch ensemble. 'The Lounge' is broadcast at half sampling rate. Snapshot updated. These are test transmissions initially and may be liable to interruptions or other odd effects. Official public launch is scheduled for July 5th. June 25th Service Labels on the VRT ensemble no longer include a "*" which previously denoted them as DAB versions of the services in question. June 25th Belgian German-language broadcaster BRF has been added to the RTBF ensemble. June 24th The pilot L-band DAB ensemble in Hong Kong was switched off on June 12th, well after the end of the official test period. The two-transmitter SFN was broadcast from Mount Gough and Beacon Hill, providing coverage in Kowloon, the north side of Hong Kong Island and Aberdeen and surrounding area on the south of the island. A lobe to the north of Beacon Hill provided coverage along the Shatin valley. There are now no DAB transmissions originating in the SAR itself, however it is understood that the Band III ensemble in Guandong province on the mainland is sometimes receivable in the west of the territory. This was not achieved when attempted this month. June 24th The Landesmedienanstalt for Hessen has announced the service allocations for private broadcasters on the DAB ensembles as follows:- Band III (Landesweit): Hit Radio FFH, F.A.Z. Business, planet radio, RTL Radio L-band Nordhessen:- HNA News Radio, digifun, Harmony.FM, Sky Radio, DAB-Antenne Magic L-band Mittelhessen, L-band Region Vogelsberg & L-band Osthessen: Harmony.FM, Sky Radio, DAB-Antenne Magic L-band Frankfurt (Main): News Aktuell, Frankfurt Business Radio, Harmony.FM, Sky Radio, DAB-Antenne Magic L-band Wiesbaden & L-band Darmstadt: RTL Oldie Radio, Frankfurt Business Radio, Harmony.FM, Sky Radio, DAB-Antenne Magic These new services are clear to begin broadcasting on the ensembles as soon as contracts with the DAB network operator, Hessen Digital Radio, are concluded and necessary programme links are in place. Applications from non-commercial private broadcasters (Freies Radio Kassel e. V., RAdAR e. V. Radio Darmstadt, Radio RheinWelle 92,5 e. V., Radio Unerhört Marburg e. V. (RUM), Radio X Mix e. V. Frankfurt and Radio Quer, Mainz) were rejected because their financing for additional DAB transmissions were not secure. In announcing the allocations ahead of the official start of DAB services in Hessen, Winfried Engel, Vorsitzender of the Landesmedienanstalt, regretted that the Hessischer Rundfunk, the public service broadcaster, had declined participation in the project. Digital Radio could not be introduced by the private broadcasters alone, he said. Herr Engel pointed out that not for nothing had the HR received an additional income from Licence Fees specifically for digital broadcasting. He described the HR as being under an obligation. Hessen is believed to be the only German Land where DAB is being introduced without the partcipation of its public service broadcaster. June 24th On the UK Digital One ensemble, the bitrate of the Virgin Radio service has been reduced to 160 kbits/s. Snapshot updated. June 24th Snapshot updated of Central Scotland ensemble Switch Scotland. All Services now at Protection Level 3. June 24th Snapshots updated of Glasgow and Edinburgh local ensembles. June 24th In its assessment of the Greater London III franchise award, the UK Radio Authority noted that the applicant awarded the franchise has proposed lower protection levels in order to accomodate more services. The result for the listener would likely be less robust reception in parts of the coverage area. June 24th The UK Radio Authority received two applications for the Dundee/Perth local franchise. Score Digital Ltd. (wholly-opened subsidiary Scottish Radio Holdings plc.) Switchdigital Scotland Ltd (The Wireless Group plc; Clear Channel International Ltd.; The Carphone Warehouse) In addition to the services BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, both of which are reserved space on the ensemble, both applicants propose to broadcasting existing local ILR services Kingdom FM, Tay AM, Tay FM and Wave 102. Switchdigital would additionally broadcast existing local services Heartland FM and RNA FM. Score would include Bridge FM. Score would introduce to the area 3C, Cool Country while Switchdigital would introduce The Ministry of Sound, Ritz Country and The Lounge. This site notes that Score proposes seven services while Switchdigital propose nine. The Switch proposal presumably means either lower bitrates or lower protection levels. Score propose broadcasting within 26 weeks of an award of licence from five transmission sites, at Angus, Purin Hill, Perth Kirkton Mailer, Pitlochry Faire Mhor and Kinross. Switchdigital proposes to commence broadcasting all of its services in May 2002, using four transmission sites, at Angus, Kirkton Mailer, Purin Hill and Pitlochry. June 13th In Hessen, only two services are currently being broadcast in the Band III ensemble - Deutschlandfunk and DeutschlandRadio. Coverage has recently been extended and with the addition of transmitter Krehberg, the ensemble is now receivable in Mannheim, across the border in Baden Württemberg. Listings for Hessen updated. According to Hessen Digital Radio, in addition to the Band III Landesensemble, L-band ensembles are currently operative in Frankfurt (Main), Darmstadt and Wiesbaden. Further ensembles for Kassel, Giessen, Alsfeld and Fulda will follow. June 11th Minor alterations to Ensembles List, removing an outdated link and adding links to Spanish coverage maps. The RNE site shows coverage details for Valencia. There are reports from other sources that an Ensemble is on-air in Galicia. Further information would be welcome! June 7th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the third Greater London digital franchise to The Digital Radio Group (London). The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). DRg proposes to commence broadcasting all but one of its services in December 2001. At the time of their application, DRg were forecasting to implement the transmitter at Croydon eight to ten weeks after licence award, with transmitters at Alexandra Palace, Bluebell Hill, Guildford, Reigate, Zouches Farm, Hemel Hempstead and Kemsing on air by 22 weeks after licence award. June 7th UK TII table updated. June 7th Switch Scotland, the Central Scotland regional ensemble, popped up today on Block 11D. Five Services are currently being broadcast. A Snapshot has been added to the Ensembles List. These are test transmissions initially and may be liable to interruptions or other odd effects. Signal strengths may not match the final levels during these tests. Official Service date is scheduled for July 5th. Switch Scotland is the first of the UK regional franchises to come on-air. Next up: MXR in North East England, who at the time the franchise was awarded forecast being on-air by June 2001. June 6th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Peterborough. The ensemble will use Block 12D (229.072 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Closing date is Tuesday, 11 September 2001. The Authority expects to award the licence towards the end of this year. June 5th The Snapshot format has been modified slightly to represent Conditional Access services more clearly. As always, this site would like to know about Conditional Access services which are not listed here. June 5th A number of minor modifications and corrections to the Taiwan listings, including the addition of the Ensemble Label to the UFO ensemble. June 4th The French Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel is reported to be studying the British experience of DAB and in particular the role the British regulator has had in the implementation of a roll-out strategy. The CSA is to hold talks this month with the UK Radio Authority, HMG's Department of Culture as well as with UK manufacturers and multiplex operators. In comparison with neighbouring countries, the introduction of DAB has been patchy in France - limited to L-band ensembles in the major connurbations and without the broader coverage in Band III to be found in the UK, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. However, France may be close to seeing its first DAB transmissions in Band III, with reports that an ensemble may air soon in Lyon. These developments may also assist the roll-out in Britain, since frequency co-ordination would be required and could facilitate transmissions along the UK south coast. June 4th Maplin Electronics have added to their range two Maxview aerials for DAB. The aerials may be ordered online already by quoting the reference numbers below, although it does not yet seem possible to navigate to them through the site menus. QN54J is a simple rod antenna for £12.99. QN55K is a 3-element aeial for £19.99 June 4th The Central Scotland regional ensemble, Switchdigital, is scheduled for official launch on July 5th. Test transmissions should begin a week or two before then. June 3rd The two Score ensembles, ScoreGLASGOW and ScoreEDINBURGH appear to be broadcasting EPGs - "ProgrammeGuide G" and "ProgrammeGuide E" respectively. June 3rd The student radio station "RaW-RadioWarwick" has appeared on the NOWCoventry local ensemble. This week's quiz question: "How many students can afford to buy a DAB receiver?" May 31st Snapshot of Niedersachsen ensemble added. MPEG modes not known. May 31st Student radio station "RaW" is set to appear on the local ensemble for Coventry, making it the first digital student radio service in the country. RaW currently uses a low power AM frequency, and its 24hour service is run entirely by students of the University of Warwick. May 31st UK website ukradio.com reports that the local digital multiplex for Leeds has appeared on Block 12D. May 29th The national UK operator Digital One has added Idle in West Yorkshire to its transmitter network. As well as Bradford, coverage takes in parts of the Aire Valley including Dewsbury, Pudsey, Shipley, Yeadon, Batley, Guiseley and parts of Halifax. May 22nd Bitrates added to Sachsen-Anhalt listings. May 21st Dover and Hastings added to UK TII table. May 21st The UK Radio Authority has released details of changes to the TII codes for certain transmitter sites. The changes are designed to optimise TII usage and will apply to both BBC and commercial sites. They are to be phased in by the end of June. Sites affected are Hannington, Waltham, Oxford, Bow Brickhill, Sutton Coldfield, Winter Hill, Turners Hill and Zouches Farm. The UK TII table has been updated to include both sets of codes. May 21st The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Bradford & Huddersfield. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Leeds. Closing date is 21 August 2001. The Authority expects to award the franchise in the autumn. May 18th The UK Radio Authority has received one application for the Bournemouth local digital franchise from Now Digital Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the GWR Group plc.. Now Digital propose to begin broadcasting in the first quarter of 2002, using three transmission sites, at Nine Barrow Down, St. Catherines Hill and Winterbourne. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Solent. The Authority hopes to announce its decision about the award of this licence during the Summer. May 17th On the Edinburgh local ensemble, ScoreEDINBURGH, the services Forth FM and Forth AM have been relabelled Forth One and FORTH 2. Snapshot and listing updated. May 17th The values for Ensemble Label have been added to the Snapshots of the Spanish ensembles. These values are based on data supplied by RNE rather than actual observation. May 16th Entries for Bayern revised. In Bayern, the Land-wide ensemble in Band III is supplemented by local ensembles in L-band. Local ensembles are already operating in Augsburg, Ingolstadt, München und Nürnberg, each one delivering a digital signal for local stations already established in their markets. The next phase is to install local ensembles in Bamberg, Landshut, Regensburg, Rosenheim und Würzburg. The final phase, beginning 2004, will complete the network, with local ensembles in Ansbach, Aschaffenburg, Bayreuth, Deggendorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Hof, Kempten, Memmingen, Schweinfurt und Weiden. Full details and maps are at the Bayern Digital Radio website. May 15th The German digitalradio-info.de site has been redesigned and the coverage prediction maps have moved. The links in the Ensembles List have been updated. May 15th Schhhhh! DAB is top secret! Any information you have found on the Net must have slipped out accidentally and will probably get deleted by the DAB Police Ensemble before you have a chance to actually read it. Most secretive of them all are the manufacturers. Specifications? Ask a question and the response is usually "Who wants to know?" or "It would help us if you could tell us a bit about your background." Friends of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will appreciate that, compared to DAB manufacturers, the Planning Department were being paragons of openness when they posted Arthur Dent's Demolition Notice in a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the leopard". If you have anything that you really would like kept secret, just inform the publicity department of your local DAB manufacturer. The broadcasters, too, complain that take-up has been "sluggish". But when was the last time you heard digital radio promoted on the analogue services? ORF's website makes absolutely no mention whatsoever of DAB. (Please, please, prove me wrong if you can!) A personal enquiry at the reception at Argentinierstr. produces a well-meant but unhelpful brochure about ORF Digital (the combined radio/TV bouquet on Astra). Doubtless, these same bodies that put out no information will be the ones that moan that the public aren't interested and be the first to pull the plugs. Then there are the sites that publicise DAB and make it sound very attractive, but must be afraid they will scare the public out of their wits if they should go into any, er, details. The YLE site is very nice, very clean, but... where are the facts & figures? What frequencies are used? Which transmitters are operating at the moment? Which parts of Finland are served? All very basic questions, but conspicuous by their absence. Our DAB Gold Medal goes to Germany, whose many sites are informative and thorough. Outstanding among them is the German DAB "Bible", the DAB Atlas produced by the TKLM. Other countries please note - this is the way to do it! So remember: DAB is top secret. Please don't tell anyone I told you so! May 14th Section on Spain completely revised with new observations and Snapshots added for Catalunya. The situation observed in Barcelona is completely different from that seen a year ago. In view of the differences on the "RNE" ensemble between Madrid and Barcelona (admittedly the observations were two months apart), these ensembles are now listed separately for each area. It is possible that the ensembles are constructed locally from available feeds rather than transported as a complete ensemble. (Anyone?) On the Block 11D ensemble, two Service Labels appear to point to the same Capacity Units. Two of the four ensembles in Barcelona were observed to be radiating TII, both using the same code for Collserola . Further information about TII in Spain would be most gratefully received! May 14th Broadcast Asia 2001 takes place this June in Singapore from the 18th to the 22nd, and digital broadcasting will be foremost in everyone's minds. The Asia DAB Committee will host a session on the afternoon of June 21st entitled "The Business of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) - Opportunities for All". Speakers at the event will come from the UK, the USA, Singapore and Taiwan. It is likely that ISDB-T will be represented at Broadcast Asia 2001 also. May 11th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the Southend & Chelmsford local digital franchise to Now Digital Ltd. The ensemble will use Block 12D (229.072 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Essex. Now Digital proposes to commence its service in January 2002, from four transmission sites, at Southend-on-Sea, Benfleet, Bakers Wood and Colchester, and to implement another two, at Sudbury and Harlow (Rye Hill) during the first 24 months. May 10th South Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear local ensemble Snapshots updated. May 7th Liverpool local ensemble Snapshot updated. May 7th Receivers page updated with products from Cymbol, Grundig and Sony. May 3rd Bosch PCI card added to Receivers page. May 3rd Car radio from TMC (Taiwan Microwave Communication) added to Receivers page. May 3rd VDO Dayton added to Car Radios section of Receivers page. May 3rd A second DAB product from Terratec has been added to the Receivers page. MP3 On Air is a PCI card for Band III and L-band in all four transmission modes, permitting real-time recording of DAB audio as WAV, mp2 or mp3. The card has optical and coaxial digital outputs and an RDI interface. The other DAB receiver from Terratec, the DR Box 1 requires 12v dc power and can work alone or over a USB link to a PC. The spec describes an optical digital audio output only. May 2nd TII information for RTBF added to the Belgium chart, courtesy the site DAB Belgique. The two broadcasters, VRT and RTBF, have adopted their own numbering schemes for TII. Currently there are no number conflicts. Those sites, for example Wavre/Waver, which transmit both ensembles have a TII for each broadcaster. May 2nd The DAB operator for Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz is present at the Fachmesse Multimedia Market currently taking place at Stuttgart-Killesberg. Promised on display are hifi tuners, car radios and PC cards for stationary and mobile DAB reception. Digital Radio Südwest GmbH is in Hall 5, Stand 280, May 2nd - 4th. May 2nd On the Liverpool and South Yorkshire local ensembles, the Services "Big..." have been replaced by a service labelled "Real Radio". April 26th Two new transmitters, Dover and Hastings, were added to the UK Digital One network in April. A third transmitter, Chillerton Down, had its power increased following agreement with the French authorities. Dover will operate at reduced power until similar clearance is obtained. April 25th The price of DAB receivers is inching steadily down. Dixons are offering the Psion Wavefinder for £199.99 plus £3.25 carriage in the UK. Please send details of other DAB offers! April 25th The Receivers page has been updated with two new DAB-capable models from Tag McLaren. The beautiful Roberts Radio model is still in development and not yet available. Transmission Mode info has been added to more receivers. April 24th The UK Radio Authority has received two applications for the Ayr local digital franchise:- Score Digital Ltd. (Scottish Radio Holdings plc.) Switchdigital (Scotland) Ltd. (The Wireless Group plc; Clear Channel International Ltd.; Capital Radio plc; The Carphone Warehouse) SCORE Digital proposes to commence broadcasting within 24 weeks of an award of licence from three transmission sites, at Darvel, Troon and West Kilbride. A fourth transmitter, at a site yet to be selected, will be added in year five of the licence period. Switchdigital proposes to commence broadcasting all of its services in March 2002, using two transmission sites, at Darvel and Brown Carrick Hill. A third transmitter, at Largs, will be added at a date to be announced in the future. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. The Authority expects to award the franchise in the early autumn. April 20th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Exeter and Torbay. The ensemble will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Devon. Closing date is 24th July 2001. The Authority expects to award the franchise in the early autumn. April 19th Lintec DAB antenna added to Aerials page. April 17th Swedish TII table corrected. April 17th A new ensemble is on-air in Lyon. Numericast is radiating on Block LE with four audio services, NRJ, RIRES, NOSTALGIE and SCOOP. April 17th The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel in France announced recently its agreement to a new ensemble in Lyon to carry the services of Radio France. There are suggestions that this ensemble will operate in Band III, which would be a first in France. More when known. April 17th The UK Radio Authority has released a revised timetable for the roll-out of local and regional digital franchises. The Ensembles page has been updated with these latest dates. April 11th Two UK companies, national digital operator Digital One and Imagination Technologies, have announced a partnership which it is expected should reduce the price of digital radios to below £150 within a year and below £100 thereafter. Also envisaged is the development of personal stereo digital radios in addition to the existing hi-fi and in-car systems. The two companies are to work together on the development of a low-power, low-cost digital receiver module which will form the heart of the new radios. More info... April 6th UK Digital One Snapshot updated. Classic FM is currently being broadcast in Joint Stereo. April 6th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the Aberdeen local digital franchise to Switchdigital (Scotland) Ltd.. The ensemble will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. Switchdigital proposes to commence broadcasting all of its services in December 2001, using three transmission sites, at Meldrum, Durris and Mormond Hill. April 6th UK TII table updated. Sweden TII table added. A full list of Swedish DAB transmitters, including their frequencies, ERPs and TII is maintained by Teracom AB. Coverage maps are downloadable from the same site. April 4th One application has been received by the UK Radio Authority for the Southend & Chelmsford local digital franchise. The applicant is Now Digital Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the GWR Group plc. Now Digital proposes to commence its service in January 2002, initially using four transmission sites, at Southend-on-Sea, Benfleet, Bakers Wood and Colchester, and implementing another two, at Sudbury and Harlow (Rye Hill) during the first 24 months. The ensemble will use Block 12D (229.072 MHz). Capacity is reserved for the existing BBC local radio service, BBC Essex, The authority expects to announce its decision within two months. April 3rd The quality of audio being transmitted on DAB has been commented on in these pages already, but a recording made recently in Taiwan is worthy of special mention. Error-free reception of the service VHBN on the Block 11D ensemble resulted in a recording of which the following 30-second clip (636kb) is typical. Just about everything is here - a high noise floor, impulsive noise which appears to be modulation dependent and faint "birdies" in the background. It is frequently the practice to derive off-air feeds from an FM service when an ensemble is launched, just to get the service up and running, but the example here would alienate anyone sampling DAB for the first time in a showroom or a friend's home. Listen! April 3rd The introduction of DAB into New Zealand is under consideration and to that end the Ministry of Economic Development published an Engineering Consideration Document with an invitation for comment by January this year. That plan proposes the allocation of 13 channels in L-band on the same raster as Canada and corresponding to Channels 8 to 20 in the Canadian raster. Band III is allocated to television and unavailable for DAB. April 2nd Information on Sweden updated. March 31st Swiss TII table updated. March 31st Regional ensembles added to Sweden. March 30th UK TII table updated. March 26th Arcam are promising a new DAB tuner with improvements to hardware and software. The DT81, part of their DIVA range should be available in "the late spring". March 23rd The price of DAB receivers is inching steadily down. Richer Sounds are offering the Technics DAB tuner for £299.95 plus £8.50 carriage. Please send details of other DAB offers! March 23rd The price of DAB receivers is inching steadily down. A new floor is set by the price of the Videologic receiver from unbeatable.co.uk of £284.99 (not including delivery). Please send details of other DAB offers! March 23rd The pilot DAB transmissions in the Dublin area have ended. There are currently no DAB ensembles on air in the Republic of Ireland. March 23rd A new PC DAB receiver has been announced by TerraTec at this year's CeBIT. The DR Box 1 will work over a USB connection to a PC or independently into a HiFi system. Real-time mp3 audio recording is one of the features promised by this newcomer. More info... March 23rd The Kenwood car receiver, KTC-959DAB is discontinued. A new model is promised for this year's Funkaustellung. March 16th On the BBC SFN, the service formerly labelled "BBC 5Live Sport+", a Secondary Service to BBC Radio 5 Live, and also a Primary Service in its own right, has been relabelled "R5L Sports Extra". March 16th In Germany, the Technischen Kommission der Landesmediananstalten has published the most complete overview to date of the DAB situation in Germany. The 140-page PDF Atlas Digital Radio Deutschland 2001 has been broken up into sections, so that the Atlas may be selectively downloaded. March 16th In France, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel has published details of the candidates to run the DAB services in the Paris and Ile de France region. Most proposals are encouragingly realistic, but others do not bode well for the quality of audio to be broadcast on the new ensembles. If accepted, one candidate apparently proposes to run as many as 20 audio services per ensemble. At a Protection Level of 3 that would mean a bit rate of 56 kbit/s for a music service! It is to be hoped that the Conseil will be impressed more by the quality of applications rather than the number of services proposed! Radio France's proposals, if accepted, would mean the welcome appearance on DAB of the service France Culture, which has been sorely missed by this writer! The full list can be found at the site of the Journal Officiel. March 16th With the size of the main Ensembles document now over 250k, it is necessary to try to split it up into smaller units. This move has been resisted as long as possible, since the whole raison d'être of the site was to present the world's ensembles in one location. The first and most obvious move is to present the TII data on a separate page. Future sub-divions of the ensembles list will probably be by geographical area. March 16th Snapshots added of the three ensembles broadcasting in Madrid. March 13th The UK Radio Authority received three applications to run the third Greater London digital franchise:- The Digital Radio Group (London) Ltd. (GWR Group plc; The Wireless Group plc; SMG plc; Matsushita Electric Europe Ltd. ; RMG (Ritz Media Group) plc; Carphone Warehouse plc; Asian Sound Ltd.; Clubmend Ltd.; Channelfly plc; Time Out Ltd.) London Digital Radio Ltd. (SCORE Digital Ltd.; Saga Regional Digital Radio Ltd.; Forever Broadcasting Digital Radio Ltd.; Etheraction UK Ltd. ; The Radio Development Company Ltd.; Somethin' Else Sound Directions Ltd.; Indigo Technologies Ltd.) MXR London Ltd. (Chrysalis Group plc; Soul Media Ltd. ; Capital Radio plc; Guardian Media Group plc; UBC Digital Ltd.; Spectrum International Radio Ltd. ; Ford Motor Co. Ltd.) The ensemble will run on Block 11B (218.640 MHz) DRg proposes to commence broadcasting using eight transmitters, six months after award of the licence. The transmitter at Croydon would be implemented eight to ten weeks after licence award, with transmitters at Alexandra Palace, Bluebell Hill, Guildford, Reigate, Zouches Farm, Hemel Hempstead and Kemsing on air by 22 weeks after licence award. LDR proposes to commence its services from the Croydon transmitter eight weeks after licence award, followed by the implementation of transmitters at Alexandra Palace 18 weeks after licence award, Bluebell Hill, Guildford, Reigate, Zouches Farm, Hemel Hempstead and Kemsing 24 weeks after award, and High Wycombe, Brookmans Park, Hungry Hill and Clackett Lane Services 28 weeks after award, subject in each case to frequency clearance. MXR London proposes to commence broadcasting its services, initially from the Croydon transmitter, around eight weeks after the licence award, subject to frequency clearance. Additional transmission sites at Alexandra Palace, Bluebell Hill, Guildford, Reigate, Zouches Farm, Hemel Hempstead and Kemsing will be operational from October 2001, and at Brookmans Park and High Wycombe from November 2001. Another three sites, at Bagshot (Hungry Hill), Harlow (Rye Hill) and Stevenage (Pin Green), will be added subsequently. The Authority hopes to award the franchise in the early summer. March 13th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Dundee & Perth. The ensemble will use Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Closing date is June 19th. The Authority expects to award the franchise in the early autumn. March 12th Coming up: Central Scotland and Leeds ensembles expected May. March 12th Snapshot for Tyne & Wear added. Snapshot for South Yorks updated. March 12th An embarassing error in the Greater Manchester Snapshot corrected. Thank goodness no one noticed!!! March 12th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the regional digital franchise for North West England to MXR Ltd. (Chrysalis; Capital Radio; Guardian Media Group; Jazz FM; UBC Digital; Soul Media; Ford Motor Co.). Their ensemble will use Block 12C (227.360 MHz). MXR expect to begin broadcasting by the end of September 2001 from Winter Hill, Moel y Parc, the Sunley Building (Manchester), Blackpool Tower, Lancaster, Pendle Forest, Sutton Common and St. John's Beacon. March 6th New Snapshot for Edinburgh created. March 6th BBC Radio Scotland has popped up on the Edinburgh local ensemble at 128 kbit/s, Joint Stereo. March 6th The Liverpool local ensemble launched last month minus the advertised "BIG Liverpool". It is likely that this is connected to the dispute reported by The Sunday Times. March 6th New transmitters have recently been added to the SFN in Switzerland. In Suisse Romande, La Dôle and Chasseral. In German-speaking Switzerland (DRS), Feschel, Ravoire and Riffelalp in Wallis (Valais) and Rigi in Zentralschweiz. March 6th UK TII Table updated. March 6th VideoLogic have announced a new version of their DAB tuner to follow on from the DRX601E. The DRX601ES will feature a silver anodised aluminium front panel along with silver finish casework and controls. Further enhancements include cool blue LED indicators and an easy to read blue/white display. It is claimed the new version will improve upon the audio quality of the DRX-601E with optimised PAC(tm) Technology for psycho-acoustic compensation March 6th Ensemble Labels added to the new Snapshots. Unlike the rest of the Snapshot, which is based on observations, these values are derived from official data. Please let me know any discrepancies. March 4th Snapshots added for new UK ensembles in Bristol & Bath, Cardiff & Newport, Coventry, Liverpool, Loughborough and Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury. February 28th In Singapore, the MediaCorp ensemble includes Conditional Access services which are broadcast on behalf of Rediffusion as a replacement for the closed circuit coax system in the city state. The Receivers page has been updated to include the receivers available from Rediffusion which are equipped to decode these CA services. February 28th In South Yorkshire, Classic Gold has been added to the Emap ensemble. February 28th The British newspaper The Sunday Times recently reported disagreements between digital franchise holder Emap and service providers GWR and The Wireless Group. The dispute centres around the terms under which services are carried on Emap's ensembles and has led to the disappearance of services. In South Yorkshire, BIG - South Yorks has disappeared from the Emap ensemble. It is likely that BIG - North East has been pulled from Emap's Tyne & Wear ensemble. February 27th The UK Radio Authority has received two applications for the Aberdeen local digital franchise: SCORE Digital Ltd (wholly-owned subsidiary Scottish Radio Holdings Ltd.) Switchdigital (Scotland) Ltd. (The Wireless Group plc; Clear Channel International Ltd.; Capital Radio plc; The Carphone Warehouse) The Radio Authority expects to award the franchise in the Spring. The winner will use Block 11C (220.352 MHz). SCORE proposes to commence broadcasting all of its services no earlier than October 2001 and no later than June 2002, using one transmission site, at Durris. It proposes to extend coverage subsequently by the addition of transmissions from Granite Hill and Mormond Hill. Switchdigital proposes to commence broadcasting all of its services in December 2001, using three transmission sites, at Meldrum, Durris and Mormond Hill. There is space reserved on the ensemble for two BBC services, Radio Scotland, and the Gaelic language service, Radio Nan Gaidheal. February 28th The new ensemble for Liverpool has popped up on Block 11B: 218.640 MHz. This will be a test transmission initially and may be liable to interruptions and other odd effects. February 27th The "snapshot" format has been modified to include Conditional Access. Currently, only two CA services are known, broadcast on the MediaCorp ensemble in Singapore on behalf of Rediffusion. Please let me know of any other CA services. February 27th A new 500w transmitter in Coburg has been added to the SFN for Bayern. Coverage of the Band III Landesensemble now stands at 76% of the population. As well as improving coverage within Bayern, the new transmitter will have the effect of extending coverage outwith Bayern towards Erfurt. February 27th Observations and Snapshots added for Taiwan. February 27th Snapshot of Singapore ensemble added. The Radio Corporation of Singapore is now known as MediaCorp. Accordingly, the Ensemble Label has changed to "MediaCorp SR". February 27th In Hong Kong, the test DAB ensemble continues to be broadcast on Block LJ, in spite of the Government's decision last year not to introduce regular DAB services into the SAR. The service FM 104 Select is now known as Metro Finance. February 10th UK TII Table updated. February 10th The London test ensemble operated as part of the DRAFFT project is now known as "NTL Experimental" February 9th The UK Radio Authority has awarded the West Midlands regional digital franchise to MXR, a consortium of Chrysalis Group, Capital Radio, Guardian Media Group, Jazz FM, UBC Digital and Soul Media. MXR proposes to begin broadcasting by the end of August 2001, subject to frequency clearance being obtained, from eight transmission sites - Sutton Coldfield, Turners Hill, The Wrekin, Bromsgrove, Daventry, Ilmington, Shilton and Pye Green. There is currently capacity reserved on this ensemble for BBC Asian Network. However, it was one of the BBC's proposals for the future of digital radio that the Asian Network should be included on the BBC ensemble. It remains to be seen whether the reserved capacity continues to be a requirement. February 8th A potential new pitfall is emerging for would-be buyers of DAB receivers: the car radio control unit that brags "DAB" on its panel and "DAB control" in its publicity. This doesn't mean of course that for the price you see you will necessarily have included the (separate) DAB tuner! Caveat emptor!! February 8th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the local digital franchise for Bournemouth. The ensemble will operate on Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Solent. Closing date is May 15th, 2001. February 8th Entry for Loughborough University revised. February 6th Entry for Italy updated. Since the last update, an 8th transmitter has been added to the SFN operated by RAS serving Alto Adige (Südtirol). February 5th The Croatian ensemble of HRT serving Zagreb is reported to have returned to air today. February 5th The Loughborough University test ensemble will be operating on Block 11B (218.640 MHz). January 31st 18 groups have applied for DAB franchises in the German Länder Berlin and Brandenburg. On offer are Blocks 12D, 11C and 8C for the entire Länder, as well as regional franchises in L-Band on, respectively, Blocks LE, LB, LA, LC, LA and LI. January 31st Possibly the world's smallest DAB service has just been announced. Loughborough University's Department of Computer Science is to run a DAB transmitter to research and test new DAB applications. However the ensemble will also include Oak FM, Loughborough's local commercial radio station, enabling digital broadcasts to an area within a five mile radius of Loughborough. January 30th The absence of DAB signals in Croatia, observed on 27.01.2001, was apparently due to a transmitter failure at Mt. Sljeme. I hope to report here when the ensemble is live again. January 30th The new ensemble for Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury has popped up on Block 11B: 218.640 MHz. This will be a test transmission initially and may be liable to interruptions and other odd effects. January 30th The extension of DAB coverage into the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland, Ticino, has been postponed. It will not now take place until the summer at the earliest. January 29th The entries for Croatia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have been revised. The information here now directly contradicts the World DAB Forum's web site, however the entries are based on direct observations in the first two cases and information from the broadcaster in the third. January 29th Observations in Budapest added. January 29th Observations in Vienna added. January 29th The UK TII table amended. January 29th The new ensemble for Bristol & Bath has popped up on Block 11B: 218.640 MHz. This will be a test transmission initially and may be liable to interruptions and other odd effects. January 29th The UK Radio Authority awarded the regional digital franchise for South Wales and Severn Estuary last week. MXR Ltd expects to begin broadcasting on Block 12C (227.360 MHz) in July 2001, using ten transmission sites which will be brought into service progressively between July and November 2001 at Mendip, Dundry East, Christchurch, Wenvoe, Bath, Abergavenny, Ebbw Vale, Aberdare, Kilvey Hill and Carmel. January 22nd In Finland, YLE has begun a new Swedish-language service on DAB. X3M+ compliments the existing service X3M and will run as an alternative to the main service to cover sports events. There are now two DAB services for Finland's Swedish-speaking population. January 22nd The BBC has revised its proposals for new digital television and radio services and extended the public consultation process to February 28th. January 22nd Last year's updates moved to a new Archives file. January 21st New observations in Paris added. January 21st ORF transmitter sites for Wien added. January 19th "Snapshot" of RTBF ensemble in Belgium added. January 19th Frequency planners meeting in Geneva last week discussed the reallocation to T-DAB of some L-band frequencies currently assigned to satellite radio. Such a move would free spectrum for the development on new, localised DAB services. According the World DAB Forum:- * Sales of the Psion WaveFinder, a multimedia radio receiver for PCs, has more than doubled the total number of all sets in the market place since its launch in November. * French Minister for Culture and Communication, Mme Tasca, has appointed radio expert Ann Coutard to carry out new research on the digital radio market - terrestrial, satellite and the interaction with GSM mobile telephony. The report is due in March 2001. * There 450 different DAB services now available across 20 different countries, reaching a potential 300 million people. * More than 55 stations are on air in Canada covering 37% of the population. This will rise to 55 per cent by the end of this year. January 19th Texas Instruments in Houston this week announced a new LSI chip for DAB receivers which is claimed to be "40% cheaper" and consume "60% less power". Production quantities are expected in April. "TI will make portable digital radios a reality.", says their press release. Full Story January 19th The UK Radio Authority has advertised the Ayr local digital franchise. The ensemble will operate on Block 11B (218.640 MHz). Capacity is reserved for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal at 128 kbit/s each. The closing date is April 24th 2001. January 17th The February issues of UK hifi magazines HiFi Choice, HiFi World and What HiFi all include reviews of various DAB tuners, between them covering the Sony, Technics, Videologic and new Arcam FMJ DT26 models. HiFi World makes a valid point about the number of radios and tuners on sale today boasting themselves to be "digital" but which in reality are nothing more than digital readout. The UK "Observer" newspaper recently described how a lad in one London store tried to convince its reporter that they were selling "digital radios" for £39. Caveat emptor! January 17th Further to my comments from January 16th, I'm advised that the Technics ST-GT1000, the Clarion DAH9500z and the Blaupunkt D-FIRE 01 all permit manual tuning also. January 17th Australia began official broadcasting of DVB-T in the five mainland capital cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth) on January 1st. Band I is being used. The bouqets include "radio" services and it seems this mode of delivery may be preferred to DAB. DVB-T has been proven to be capable of mobile reception. The choice of this platform for radio services would mean, however, that any car radios and portable receivers would have to be manufactured specifically for Australia. It will be interesting to see how the choice of Band I affects the TV performance. UK memories of greater susceptibility to electrical interference and unusual propagation in the summer are still very vivid. Digital Broadcasting Australia web site. ABC Digital web site is "undergoing refurbishment". January 17th Entries and Snapshots for Lyon updated. The Numericast ensemble is not broadcasting in Lyon at the moment. January 16th: In Lyon, BFM has replaced RCF on the TDF ensemble. "Snapshot" of VDL ensemble added. January 16th: The UK Radio Authority has received three applications for the North West England regional digital franchise: The Digital Radio Group (Wireless Group; GWR; Emap; SMG; Carphone Warehouse) MXR Ltd (Chrysalis; Capital Radio; Guardian Media Group; Jazz FM; UBC Digital; Soul Media; Ford Motor Co.) North West Digital Radio (Forever Broadcasting; Saga; SCORE Digital; Radio Development Co.) The Radio Authority expects to award the franchise "in the early Spring". The winner will use Block 12C (227.360 MHz). DRg proposes to begin broadcasting October 2001 from Winter Hill, Moel y Parc, Holme Moss, Pendle Forest, Morecambe Bay and Lancaster. MXR proposes to begin broadcasting August 2001 (assuming a licence award in March or April), using eight transmission sites (at Winter Hill, Moel y Parc, the Sunley Building (Manchester), Blackpool Tower, Lancaster, Pendle Forest, Sutton Common and St. John's Beacon). NWDR proposes to begin broadcasting October 2001 from Winter Hill, Sutton Common, Moel y Parc, the Sunley Building, Blackpool Tower and Pendle Forest) initially, and two others (at Lancaster and Morecambe Bay) from November 2001. January 16th: During a tropospheric lift January 14th, reception of the VRT ensemble in Belgium was reported in the Welsh borders, along with the Greater London local ensembles. We are in an interesting period for DAB DX. With relatively few blocks occupied, the way is clear for signals to pop up during enhanced propagation in the way some of us will remember used to be possible in Band II. As more ensembles come on air, these opportunities are likely to diminish. For this kind of DX, a tuner which permits manual tuning through the bands is essential. One tuner known for this capability is the Sony 777ES. The Arcam, on the other hand, which uses the Search & Store method, is not really suited to this kind of reception. I'd be interested to hear which other DAB receivers permit manual band-scanning. January 16th: Information about Croatia added. January 16th: Since October, the ORF has been transmitting an ensemble covering the Inn valley in Tirol. Transmitters are at Patscherkofel and Seegrube. The goal is to complete coverage along the corridor from Bayern to the Brenner pass. Innsbruck is thus also served by digital radio. January 14th: One of the questions most frequently asked in the Newsgroups is "What aerials are available?". A new page has been added to the site which surveys those aerials specifically intended for DAB reception. It is not exhaustive, and I would be grateful for information about aerials not covered. January 11th: The ensemble operating on Block 12A in Sachsen is for West Sachsen. A future ensemble will cover Ost Sachsen on Block 5C. January 11th: Three new transmitters have been added to the SFN operating on Block 12C in Sachsen-Anhalt: Naumburg, Kulpenberg bei Sangerhausen and Dolle Gardelegen/Haldensleben. These additions increase coverage by 500,000 in Sangerhausen, Nordhausen and Naumburg. 2.5 million people are now served by the DAB transmissions in Sachsen-Anhalt. January 10th: Singapore ensemble frequency added. A second ensemble is understood to be planned later this year. January 8th: Hong Kong policy on digital terrestrial broadcasting, including DAB, is set forth in a discussion document on the SAR government web site. January 8th: In Bayern, additional transmitters for the Landesensemble SFN have been brought into operation at Alzenau, Herzogstand, Kinberg and Kreuzberg. Coverage for Bayern has now reached 83% of the territory and 75% of the population. January 7th: Travel Now, on the Greater London Switch ensemble, continues as a test service, referring to a future, unspecified opening date. January 3rd: The snapshot format is being modified to represent Ensemble Label where this is known. January 2nd: Expected this month: Ensembles in Bristol & Bath, Coventry, Wolverhampton. Liverpool is expected to follow in February. 01.01.01: The UK Radio Authority advertised the Southend & Chelmsford local digital franchise before Christmas. The ensemble will operate on Block 12D (229.072 MHz). Capacity is reserved for the local BBC radio service, BBC Essex. Closing date is April 3rd. The Authority expects to award the franchise in the early summer. 2000 December 19th: The South China Morning Post has reported that the Hong Kong Government has decided to adopt the DVB-T standard for digital television broadcasting in the SAR. Between three and six licences are proposed to be awarded as early as 2002. However the Government does not recommend the introduction of regular digital radio broadcasts, citing the high cost of receivers and what it calls a "limited business potential". A test DAB ensemble is being broadcast in the SAR and test transmissions have recently been conducted of the competing Japanese ISDB-T system. (Currently, only Japan has adopted ISDB-T.) December 18th: BBC GMR has appeared on the Greater Manchester local ensemble. BBC Radio WM has appeared on the West Midlands local ensemble. December 18th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the North East England regional franchise to MXR Ltd. MXR proposes to commence broadcasting by June 2001, initially using five transmission sites at Bilsdale, Burnhope, Fenham, Haining and Alnwick. The ensemble will use Block 12C. No capacity is reserved for BBC services on this ensemble. BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Cleveland are reserved capacity on the local ensembles for Tyne & Wear and Teesside respectively. December 18th: In November, the UK Radio Authority provisionally awarded the Humberside local franchise to Emap Digital Radio Ltd, subject to resolution of certain transmitter concerns. The Radio Authority has now confirmed the licence award. Emap proposes to commence its service with three transmitters at High Hunsley, Bridlington and Grimsby. It has been agreed that once household penetration of digital receivers reaches 31%, an additional transmitter at Trent View Flats in Scunthorpe will be considered. The ensemble will use Block 11B. December 14th: In Belgium, the Service Label for international VRT service "RVI" has been modified to "RVi" December 14th: In Belgium, the services "Prg FM1" and "Prg FM21" have disappeared from the RTBF ensemble. These test services used to rebroadcast FM transmitters. This move is a likely prelude to the appearance of commercial services on the ensemble. December 14th: A draft standard for the system proposed for digital radio broadcasting in Japan, ISDB-T, is available for download from DiBEG, the Digital Broadcast Experts Group. December 14th: The UK Radio Authority received three applications for the West Midlands regional digital franchise. The Digital Radio Group, MXR and West Midlands Digital Radio will be competing to run the ensemble (Block 12A). The Authority expects to announce the winner early in the New Year. The BBC Asian Network has capacity reserved for it on the ensemble. December 11th: The BBC is running a test EPG service, "BBC Test Guide", on its national UK ensemble. December 11th: Score Digital is running a test EPG service on its local ensemble in Glasgow. December 11th: The snapshot format is being modified to represent Transmission Mode and Service Protection Levels where this is known. December 9th: The local UK ensemble for Tyne and Wear went on air this week. Six services are being broadcast from the Burnhope and Fenham transmitters. BBC Radio Newcastle is allocated capacity on this ensemble, but this is not currently active. December 6th: In Belgium, the VRT classical music service, Radio 3, was renamed "Klara" (abbr. Klassieke Radio) on December 2nd. December 5th: Snapshot for Hong Kong added. November 26th: The UK Digital One ensemble is now transmitted from the Ridge Hill transmitter, extending or improving coverage to 829,000 people. Digital One is now available in Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, parts of Gloucester, Monmouthshire, the whole of the M50 corridor and parts of the M5. November 26th: United Kingdom TII table updated. Transmitters added. November 24th: The new edition of UK computer magazine "Computer Shopper", dated "January 2001", contains a survey of DAB receivers, including various car radios, hi-fi tuners, antennae and the PC adaptor from Psion, "Wavefinder". The reviews note that the Arcam tuner is one of the more sensitive receivers of the units reviewed. There is plenty of useful information there, and links to manufacturers' web sites. Take care if ordering antennae, however. The captions and photos seem to have gotten mixed up. I do like the idea of trying to fit an 8 foot Yagi to a car rooftop! Conversely anyone wanting the Yagi would be equally disappointed when the car aerial arrived! November 24th: Observations for Paris updated. The data service "LoCoMoTV", inaugurated for the "Mondial de l'automobile", is still being broadcast on the Block LI ensemble which previously broadcast NRJ, Cherie FM, etc. The services "Autoroute FM" and "Independants" were not seen on the Block LE ensemble on this occasion. November 23rd: The data services BBC Vision Radio and BBC Travel are reported to have been dropped from the UK national BBC ensemble. This has not been confirmed. Nor is it known whether this change is permanent. November 23rd: The UK Radio Authority has advertised the third Greater London local digital franchise. The frequency will be Block 11B (centre-frequency 218.640 MHz). Closing date for applications is 30 April, 2001. November 19th: The sections for Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen have been updated. November 16th: The sections for Berlin and Brandenburg have been updated using data from the site of the Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Rundfunkversorgung mbH (GARV). The "Semi-Snapshots" which have been added have been inferred from this data rather than being actual observations. November 16th: The following changes have been noted on the UK Digital One ensemble: Bit rate for Classic FM reduced to 160 kbits/s. talkMONEY is now Bloomberg Radio. New Snapshot added. November 16th: Two applications were received by the UK Radio Authority for the Severn Estuary digital franchise. The Digital Radio Group will compete with MXR Ltd. DRg proposes to commence broadcasting all of its services in September 2001, using ten transmission sites (at Mendip, Wenvoe, Dundry East, Kilvey Hill, Pontypool, Mynnyd Machen, Llanelli, Bath, Aberdare and Ebbw Vale). MXR proposes to commence broadcasting its services by July 2001, using ten transmission sites (at Mendip, Dundry East, Christchurch, Wenvoe, Bath, Abergavenny, Ebbw Vale, Aberdare, Kilvey Hill and Carmel), coming on air between July and November 2001. November 14th: Closing date for the UK Severn Estuary digital franchise was today. November 14th: BBC Parliament is no longer being broadcast on DAB. November 14th: The UK Edinburgh local ensemble is now in official programme service. BBC Radio Scotland is not yet on the ensemble. November 5th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the Humberside local digital franchise to Emap Digital Radio, subject to resolution of some technical coverage matters. November 4th: Observations and Snapshots of the South Yorkshire and Birmingham ensembles added. November 1st: The Capital Digital ensemble for Cardiff and Newport has gone on air. November 1st: The "Travel Now" announcements loop running on the Greater London 2 (Switch) ensemble now says a full service will begin in January. The loop is reported to be refreshed each Saturday. October 29th: During the midday Shipping Forecast, the BBC configuration becomes one which is not normally encountered at other times. This "snapshot" had been added to the listings. October 26th: Test transmissions of the South Yorkshire local ensemble continue. Six services are currently labelled "3G Service 1", "3G Service 2" etc. October 26th: Test transmissions of the Edinburgh local ensemble continue. The service "THE STORM" now carries test announcements and music. BBC Radio Scotland, which has capacity reserved for it, has appeared on the ensemble, but this is only a test transmission and not yet an official service. October 26th: Sections referring to the German Länder have been updated to include plans for the rollout and extension of DAB coverage where these are known. Links have been added to coverage prediction maps which exist on the Digitalradio Info site. October 25th: Links added to Transmitter Lists and Coverage Maps of the Swedish DAB Transmitter operator Teracom. October 25th: The Mode IV L-band tests in Karlsruhe in September were abandoned early because of technical difficulties. A shorter test transmission was undertaken in Mannheim on September 25th and 26th. It has been established that certain DAB receivers, particularly those distributed during the Pilot Project Baden-Württemberg, did not support Mode IV. Receivers falling into this category can receive a firmware upgrade from the DAB Pilotprojekt October 25th: TII information added for VRT in Flemish-speaking Belgium, courtesy of DAB Belgique. October 24th: Emap Digital Radio are reported to have begun testing the South Yorkshire local ensemble on Block 11C. Official programme service is scheduled to begin October 31st. October 24th: Score Digital have begun testing the Edinburgh local ensemble on Block 12D. All services carry programme material except "THE STORM" which is radiating tone. On-air announcements identify the "Saga Radio" service as "PrimeTime Radio" and when observed, the programme was a stereo version of the mono "PrimeTime Radio" service on the Digital One national commercial ensemble. Ensemble "snapshot" added. Where the Glasgow and Edinburgh service areas overlap, an average of 30 digital radio services are now available. This impressive total will increase still further when the Central Scotland regional ensemble is activated next year. October 24th: Score Digital have added a new service, "Saga Radio", to the Glasgow local ensemble. On-air announcements identify the service as "PrimeTime Radio" and when observed, the programme was a stereo version of the mono "PrimeTime Radio" service on the Digital One national commercial ensemble. Ensemble "snapshot" updated. October 24th: The UK national commercial operator, Digital One, have added a new transmitter to their SFN. The Naish Hill transmitter, operated by NTL and located just outside of Melksham, went on-air last week (October 12) serving the towns of Devizes, Calne, and Chippenham, as well as Melksham itself, and parts of Trowbridge, Malmesbury and Bradford on Avon. The transmitter allows a total of 408,000 people in West Wiltshire to receive the Digital One services. October 24th: UK TII codes amended and updated. October 23rd: Links added to transmitter lists for Baden-Württemberg. October 22nd: BBC GMR has still not appeared on the local ensemble for Greater Manchester. October 20th: An interactive digital radio service has been announced for the Isle of Man. A joint venture, involving Virgin Radio, Manx Telecom and Crown Castle has begun discussions with the Isle of Man Communications Commission which licenses and regulates broadcasting on the Island, and the UK Radiocommunications Agency. The service, named "Manx Choice", proposes to allow listeners to select playout using 3rd-generation mobile technology. This would be the Isle of Man's first digital radio service. Further info October 17th: BBC data services added to ensemble "snapshot". October 17th: The UK Radio Authority has received 3 applications to run the North East England regional franchise. October 17th: Audio coding information added to Nordrhein-Westfalen listing. October 16th: The UK Radio Authority has advertised the Aberdeen local digital franchise. Closing date is February 13th, 2001. October 12th: TII information for Switzerland added. October 12th: Information for Italy updated. October 12th: Information for Switzerland updated. October 12th: Information for Belgium updated. October 12th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the digital franchise for Northern Ireland to Score Digital. Score also hold the franchises for the Glasgow and Edinburgh ensembles. October 12th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the digital franchise for Central Scoland to Switch Digital. Switch currently operate the London 2 ensemble. October 5th: The BBC has begun a public consultation exercise with the announcement of new digital radio services. Three completely new digital services are proposed: * A black music and news-based station aimed at young people * A station that draws on the BBC's unique archive of musical performances, concerts and interviews focussing on the music that shaped popular culture over the last thirty years * A speech service built on BBC Radio's tradition of offering stimulating drama, comedy and readings for all the family, including children's programming, it will mix original programming with classics from the BBC's archive. The BBC Asian Network is to be added to DAB. This service, based in Leicester, is already available on FM transmitters in several British cities and has been broadcast on Digital Satellite since last November. The announcement also proposes two other services which, in fact, have been present in the BBC DAB ensemble for some time: BBC World Service and BBC Radio 5Live Sports+. Not announced is whether these new services would use new capacity or share existing. Their incorporation into the one BBC DAB ensemble would likely mean a reduction in the bitrates of the network services already there. Full details are on BBC Online. October 5th: Two new transmitters have been added to the Digital One network, the UK's national commercial DAB franchise holder. Crabwood Farm transmitter, 2 km west of Winchester, went into service last month covering Winchester City Centre, parts of Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford, Romsey, north Southampton and the Test Valley. On October 3rd, the transmitter at Toot Hill, off the M27 near Romsey, also began transmissions. Parts of Bournemouth and Portsmouth will also be served for the first time by digital radio.This extension to the network brings Digital One to parts of England where the BBC DAB services are not yet available. October 2nd: Information for Niedersachsen updated. October 2nd: "Travel Now" is now broadcasting travel and traffic announcements on the Switch ensemble in London. October 1st: The Dutch DAB ensemble went off the air during the course of today. The Netherlands is now the only country in Western Europe without DAB transmissions. September 30th: There have been changes to the local ensembles in London. "Travel Now" has appeared on the Switch Digital ensemble and "Century London" has been added to the CE Digital line-up. "Switch Test" has gone. September 29th: Paris observations updated. A new service, "Autoroute FM" was observed on the ensemble on Block LE. This service has been granted a temporary licence by the CSA to coincide with the "Mondial de l'automobile", taking place in the French capital September 30th to October 15th. The services previously listed on Block LI - Cherie FM, NRJ and Rire & Chansons - were not found on this occasion. In their place, occupying the same Block, an ensemble whose entire data space is taken up by just one service, "LoCoMoTV". It is possible that this is also a special transmission to coincide with the "Mondial de l'automobile". Any information about "LoCoMoTV" would be welcome! September 29th: Observations in Saarbrücken added. "Radio Melodie", whose previous listing on this page was drawn from World DAB Forum documentation, was not observed to be on the ensemble. September 26th: In France, the CSA has advertised the franchise, to last five years, to run a DAB ensemble in Ile-de-France. Closing date is December 1st. Journal Officiel September 25th: DAB broadcasting in the Netherlands will cease on October 1st. In a Press Release, the Dutch DAB Foundation, which has been running pilot transmissions since 1995, expressed frustration with the lack of a clear Dutch Government policy on digital radio. When the DAB transmissions end, The Netherlands will be the only country in Western Europe without DAB broadcasts. Press Release This development was the lead story in the Radio Nederland programme "Media Network" of September 21st. The programme is available for download in RealAudio and mp3 formats from the Radio Nederland web site. September 23rd: The UK Radio Authority has advertised the North West England regional franchise. Closing date is January 16th, 2001. September 15th: Digital Radio Südwest GmbH, the operator of DAB services in Baden Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz, will conduct test transmissions in Karlsruhe in L-band using Mode IV on September 18th and 19th. September 14th: The DAB ensembles in Switzerland carry TII codes for Transmitter Identification. Such details as have been observed have been added. September 14th: Some of the DAB ensembles in Germany carry TII codes for Transmitter Identification. Others do not. It is not known yet whether the TII codes have been organised on a Federal or a Länder level. Such details as have been observed have been added. September 14th: The UK Radio Authority has received one application for the Humberside local franchise from Emap Digital Radio. September 12th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the Central Lancashire local franchise to the sole applicant, Emap Digital Radio. September 11th: Observations in Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart added. August 27th: United Kingdom Transmitter Identification codes updated. August 23rd: United Kingdom Transmitter Identification codes updated. August 22nd: United Kingdom Transmitter Identification codes added. August 21st: Paris ensemble observations updated. August 18th: The UK Radio Authority has received one application, from Switch Digital (Scotland), to run the Central Scotland regional ensemble. August 18th: The UK Radio Authority has advertised the franchise to run the West Midlands regional ensemble. August 15th: Information on French ensembles in Lyon and Marseille added. There is an ensemble operating to cover Autoroute 10 between Poitiers and Tours. Details added. August 15th: Graphics added for Toulouse ensembles. Sites info added. August 15th: Information about Austria revised. August 14th: Greater London 2, Switch Digital entry corrected. August 11th: The Score Digital local ensemble in Glasgow is now carrying BBC Radio Scotland programmes. At the moment, this is officially considered to be a test transmission. August 10th: The service label for BBC Radio Scotland has finally appeared on the Score Digital local ensemble in Glasgow. The service is currently radiating tone. August 4th: It has been learned that alterations will be made to the UK Digital One national ensemble on August 7th. The new configuration, described as a "temporary fix", is expected to ameliorate difficulties which certain DAB tuners, notably the Arcam, were experiencing. August 1st: ITN News is the new Rolling News service on the UK Digital One ensemble which was launched today. July 30th: Information about the Switch Digital ensemble in London added. It appears that some of the services on the ensemble may have two labels associated with them - a generic title as well as the official service name. July 30th: VRT graphic for Belgium revised. July 30th: Information about Italy updated. July 27th: Observations of the Greater London CE Digital ensemble added. July 27th: ITN News has begun testing on the UK Digital One national ensemble. July 27th: A tropospheric lift last week provided evidence that DX reception of DAB can occur. During the period of enhanced propagation in Band III, it was possible, at a location in the Netherlands, to receive additionally the UK Digital One ensemble, the NRW K12 ensemble from Nordrhein-Westfalen and the Belgian RTBF ensemble. Normally only the Dutch and VRT ensembles are receiveable at that location. July 26th: The UK Radio Authority has received one application, from Score Digital, for the local Northern Ireland ensemble. July 25th: The UK Radio Authority has advertised the regional ensemble for South Wales and the Severn Estuary. July 25th: The first Spanish DAB ensembles entered official programme service today. According to an announcement by Radio Nacional de España, an ensemble operating on Block 9D in Madrid carries two RNE services, Radio 1 and Radio 5. A second ensemble, service Barcelona on Block10A carries RNE Radio 1 and RNE Radio 4. Both ensembles carry other services from COPE, Grupo Recoletos, El Mundo and Intereconomía. It is not clear whether this announcement contradicts an earlier announcement which is still on the RNE Web Site and which states: "In and around Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and San Sebastian, Retevision S.A have a network of five transmitters (Torrespaña, Navacerrada, Collserola, Picayo, Jaizkibel) operating on channel 11B." This ensemble was identified as a test ensemble and may no longer be in service. More likely, it is still operating as a test ensemble. During observations in June, an Arcam DRT10 revealed ensembles receivable in Barcelona on Blocks 11A, 11B and 11D. Any further information and observations would be gratefully received! July 25th: In order better to distinguish between UK Regional and UK Local ensembles, the two groups are now listed separately. July 25th: Information on Sachsen-Anhalt added. July 22nd: The Dutch ensemble on 12C will be changed in September and will become the NOS ensemble with wider coverage:- Radio 1 news, sport & info Radio 2 light music Radio 3FM popmusic Radio 4NL classical music Radio 5 education & culture Concertzender classical music & jazz July 21st: The BBC local radio service for London, BBC London Live has appeared on the Switch Digital multiplex, using capacity reserved for it. July 21st: talkMONEY is a new financial service from Bloomberg on the UK Digital One national ensemble. July 20th: There is little information to hand about the structure of individual ensembles. Where this is known, the configuration is now represented graphically. July 19th: L-band ensembles are reported to be operating in four Dutch cities: Amsterdam, Breda, Eindhoven and Helmond using six transmitters in total. Broadcasters on the air are Salto Anderstalig, Salto Informatief, Radio Amsterdam, Amstel Radio, New Dance Radio, City FM and World Radio Network. July 18th: UK Digital One national ensemble updated. July 12th: UK Greater Manchester local ensemble updated. July 12th: The Band III DRAFFT Project test transmissions in London from Croydon have moved from Block 12A to 11B. There is now also a test transmission in L-band on Block LP from Crystal Palace. July 12th: The service X F M has been added to the Glasgow local ensemble. July 11th: Information for Niedersachsen added. July 11th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the Coventry local ensemble to Now Digital Ltd. July 8th: UK National Ensembles operated by the BBC and Digital One updated. July 8th: Following the end of Euro2000, 927live has disappeared from the VRTN Ensemble serving the Flemish community in Belgium. July 4th: Entries have been added for Korea, Luxemburg and Malaysia. July 4th: Singapore entry updated. June 30th: Transmitter sites added to Israel listing. Seven stereo services are being transmitted. June 30th: Australia information revised. June 30th: Service names added to Finland listing. June 29th: The UK DRAFFT Project is running test transmissions on Channel 12A in Greater London. Info added. June 29th: UK Bristol and Bath entry revised. June 26th: Observations of Barcelona and Toulouse added. June 21st: The UK North East England regional ensemble has been advertised. June 21st: One application has been received for the UK Central Lancashire local ensemble. June 13th: The UK London 2 local ensemble is understood to have begun tests. June 11th: Bit-rates for 927live (Flanders) added. June 11th: The UK Radio Authority has awarded the local digital franchise for Bristol & Bath to Now Digital. June 10th: A new service has appeared on the Flanders ensemble in Belgium. It is expected that 927live will carry coverage of Euro2000. Web site: http://www.927live.be/ June 7th: General Revision. Bit rates added to many entries. June 7th: Information about Saarland added. June 7th: BBC Radio 4 LW is the "long-wave" version of Radio 4 that carries live cricket commentary on the national BBC ensemble. June 7th: KISS Glasgow added to UK Glasgow local ensemble. June 5th: Observations of the UK Greater Manchester local ensemble added. May 31st: Test transmissions of the UK Greater Manchester DAB ensemble are understood to be taking place as follows: KEY MAGIC BIG XFM KISS LOUNGE May 31st: Test transmissions of the UK Birmingham DAB ensemble are understood to be taking place as follows: BRMB HF Tone only Capital Gold Normal Programmes KISS Normal Programmes Magic Normal Programmes XFM Normal Programmes Radio XL Normal Programmes May 26th: UK Radio Authority advertises digital multiplex covering Humberside. May 19th: Transmitter sites and bit rates added to Landesensemble in Bayern May 18th: Test transmissions of the UK Greater Manchester local ensemble are understood to be taking place. May 18th: Future Swiss services added. May 18th: Norwegian bit-rates added. May 18th: UK Radio Authority's timetable for future franchises added. May 17th: Results of Paris observations added. May 17th: Nordrhein-Westfalen information updated. May 9th: Bit rates added to Austrian information. May 7th: United States information added. This site first appeared in the Spring of 2000. There aren't any archives earlier than this! |
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