New DAB+ trials to commence in Ireland - 2025

Back in March of 2021, the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ announced that their DAB digital radio service was ceasing. More details in my previous post HERE

It has just been announced that a new DAB+ trial will commence in the east of Ireland in the late Spring of 2025. This time, the trial is being conducted by a company called Foothold Communications under a ComReg DAB+ trial license. 

In the press release, Stephen Foley, Managing Director of Foothold Communications said... “Today marks a major milestone in Irish broadcasting as we work alongside ComReg to develop DAB+ services. With 80% of radio listening happening in vehicles, and all cars sold in Ireland since 2021 equipped with DAB+ as standard, the time is right to expand and enhance this technology to reach a wider audience. We appreciate the opportunity to roll out this critical DAB+ service, which aligns with Ireland’s Broadcasting Services Strategy. This trial will showcase the immense potential of digital audio broadcasting for both listeners and broadcasters.” 

According to their website, the licence from COMREG for the DAB+ trial will operate for 1 year from the April 2025. They go on to state... "It is intended that user feedback along with in depth analysis, will give useful user experience and technical information to aid in the process of future licensing of DAB+ in Ireland."

Analysis... The coverage area is shown on the map above and the black dots show the associated 6 transmission sites with high power assignments. A 20kw transmitter in Three Rock will cover Dublin, along with a number of 8kw and 10kw sites, giving coverage along the east coast.

This area covers the capital Dublin and the surrounding counties with an estimated population of about 2-million people.

It's a surprise to me to see the re-appearance of DAB radio in Ireland and it'll be interesting to see what the interest will be like. I think most people thought the DAB wouldn't reappear for a very long time.

For a lot of people, they no longer listen to actual radios but get the programmes instead via smart speakers and apps. Why go to the trouble of tuning into DAB+ when you can just stream the service online instead.

On the other hand, a lot of new cars in Ireland have DAB+ in their entertainment systems and it's no great effort to do a scan and find the new signals. There are a lot of stores which are common to both the UK and Ireland and DAB radios often appear in Ireland even though there were no signals.

There is very little information at the moment as to who will be on the platform for the trail and as always, content is king. So far, Radio Nova and Classic Hits Radio have expressed an interest in taking part in the trial.

At least this time, the trial will be on a commercial basis and it will show if there is a demand for a DAB+ service in Ireland.

Links...

1) https://failtedab.ie/

Ongoing DRM tests at 86.5 MHz in Copenhagen - 2022

I came across an interesting news report recently about an Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) test that is currently taking place on 86.5 MHz in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

While several countries have DAB systems up and running, some are carrying out test in or around Band 2 (88-108 MHz) and seeing if digital DRM signals could co-exist with analogue FM signals.

The DRM test in Copenhagen started on the 13th of October 2021 and runs until the 1st of August 2022. There is an option of extending this to the 30th of August 2023.

This is a collaborative project organised by Open Channel, an independent Danish network operator in Copenhagen, with Canadian Nautel (transmitter), German RFmondial (DRM modulator & measuring instruments) & Fraunhofer IIS (Content server) and Swedish Progira (network planning).

The project is supported by Gospell, NXP, partners in Denmark and other non-DRM Consortium members like Bauer Media (supplying content) and Kathrein (antenna).

The frequency allocated is 86.5 MHz and with a bandwidth of 200 kHz, which makes room for two DRM signals. Each DRM signal has a capacity of 186.4 kbps (16QAM, CR 5/8) and accommodates three audio channels and multimedia services, so for the 200 kHz a total of six digital radio stations can thus be broadcast. Further down the line there are ambitions to involve the Öresund region (commonly known in English as the Sound, a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border) and possibly collaborate with another FM station on the Swedish side.

The height of the antenna is 88m and the terrain elevation is 8m (more details below). In phase 1, Open Channel will test single DRM channel with 120 Watt ERP. The coverage probability for mobile reception in Greater Copenhagen is illustrated in the picture below...

The trial on the 86.5 MHz frequency has also been approved by the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency. The fact that the experiment is done a bit below the regular FM band (band II 87.5-108 MHz) is due to the fact that there is no space in this dense region. The new receivers for FM/DRM can handle 64-108 MHz.

“We are working on expanding the FM band in Denmark from 85 – 87.5 MHz, so that the Danish FM band goes from 85 to 108 MHz and thereby create more space to introduce digital radio on the FM band”... says Kenneth Wenzel, project manager and director of Open Channel.

“This DRM field trial offers a unique opportunity to showcase the versatility of DRM-FM by packing two DRM signals within a single FM channel allocation demonstrating optimal spectral efficiency for DRM using a Nautel VS transmitter.”... says Philipp Schmid, CTO at Nautel.

Source... https://www.drm.org/drm-for-fm-in-the-heart-of-europe/