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November 5, 2020 5:29 pm  #1


Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

Question: what do the following countries all have in common? Britain, Norway, The Czech Republic, Australia and Germany – just to name a few.
 
The answer is they all have some form of Digital Audio Broadcasting or DAB, which as some here will recall was a spectacular failure when it was tried in Canada a few decades ago. Why is it working for them when no one here cared?
 
I’m not sure of the exact answer, but it does appear to be spreading. Switzerland announced on Thursday it will be turning off all FM broadcasts in less than two years.
 
The UK has almost nothing but DAB right now. And countries across Europe seem to be latching on to the idea at a record pace.
 
And North America? Well, we’ve tried AM Stereo (a bust), Quadrophonic stereo (a bigger bust), DAB (a disaster for its backers) and now the FCC in the U.S. has okayed experimental Digital AM, which most here seem to think is nothing but a gimmick that will never take off.  
 
Bell seems to be increasingly invested in Smart Speakers, and is giving them away on some of its stations, like CFRB (no doubt hoping listeners will use up data over the Internet, which it also controls.)
 
Talk about two different worlds. If you were able to travel to Europe, you wouldn’t be able to take a normal radio with you and hear anything in some places, because all those normal AM & FM signals no longer exist. And someone from over there wouldn’t hear anything over here.
 
So who’s right? Are they on the right track taking radio into a digital future, allowing them to launch hundreds of new stations? Or are we better off sticking with something we know works, albeit on an increasingly crowded dial?
 
DAB failed spectacularly here. And yet it seems to be working overseas. Is there any chance it was just ahead of its time and is worthy of another try? Or are we forever tied to traditional AM and FM for our radio system, while the rest of the world seems ready to move on?
 
Personally, I’m happy with our system and wouldn’t want it to change. But there are certainly arguments in favour of the newer technology. I certainly wouldn't want to have to buy new equipment and I can only imagine the long transition period for cars, although it would certainly be years in the making.

 

November 5, 2020 5:38 pm  #2


Re: Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

With the whole streaming radio and stations always using the line "stream us on your smart speaker" the whole analog and their frequency number is almost seeming to be a "backup" now in terms of listening.

 

November 5, 2020 6:30 pm  #3


Re: Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

Hey RadioActive, I travel to Europe frequently.   No sign of DAB in Italy, could not find a single DAB receiver in Italy's largest big-box electronic stores.   Same situation in Spain.   Although there is some DAB in France, I've never been in a new or older taxi in Spain, Italy or France that had DAB or in all cases cabbies were listening to one of the dozens of FM stations.  I spend a lot of time just outside of Rome.  Take it from me, there are dozens of FM stations which are highly competitive, originating out of Rome and surrounding cities.  Same thing for Bologna,  in the North, Tuscany, and right down to the tip of Italy in Puglia.  FM rules!!!!  I've never found a DAB radio in a home, hotel or other place of business in those 3 countries.  Sure DAB may exist in large numbers in consumers homes and cars somewhere else in the EU, but I've never seen them.  

So, to the extent that DAB penetration stands at about 65% in England, DAB is probably a success, but there's millions of vehicles with FM radios that are still in service.   Last point and I've made it a number of times on the yellow board.  The "Canadian" DAB was a technical joke, up in the L-band - microwave frequencies.   Bad propagation.  Wouldn't penetrate metal-clad buildings.   Although Duff Roman and a few others at CHUM were very much in favour of DAB, most CHUM execs had never been "hands on" even at the time of Canadian DAB's demise.  One evening I took my "personal telecom" (which seemed to be a rushed to market) headpohone-only DAB radio that I bought at Radio Shack (not the "Source") over to a friend's home.  The alcaline batteries lasted about an hour to 90 minutes when the radio was in use - and it did not work well with, at that time - NI-Cads.  He was a VERY senior exec in the CHUM Radio organization.   He was shocked at how poorly the radio worked in his home, and couldn't receive CHUM's FM or AM signals reliably in his home, even on his deck where we had a direct line-of-sight to the DAB antenna on the CN Tower.   The execution of DAB in Canada was awful and L-Band DAB deserved to die.   L-Band was a bad choice and to my knowlege L-Band microwave was only chosen by Canada.  The folks at Industry Canada who had secured the L-Band spectrum for DAB in Canada were to be blunt cluleless.  Even at the most senior levels of IC, back in the early 2000's they had no idea of how satellite radio worked, and believed that satellite rado could/should be adapted to be compatible with L-Band DAB.  Canadian DAB on L-Band was also a spectrum pig, given that XM and Sirius each consume only around 4.5 MHz, with around a hundred audio channels.   Hey I know people will gripe about audio quality of Sat Radio..but that's a lot of content in a very small amount of spectrum, with an enormous footprint.  very spectrum efficient.

 Europe uses lower frequency spectrum, (often below 220 MHz) with great propagation/reception and a network of rebroadcasters.  Eurpoean DAB signals can penetrate buildings. Canadian broadcasters wouldn't even invest in a network of repeaters, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor or the Toronto-Barrie 400 corridor...or in BC.  There were offers by companies to do the build out at a very low cost/risk to the Canadian broadcasters...but they passed.

So on a good day you might have had (CDN) DAB reception for a couple of KM, from the transmission sites.   The only DAB radio for cars that I ever saw was at Kromer Radio - made by Blaupaunt.  It was an after-market item that I think cost around $600 plus installation.  They did not recall having sold more than an handful.  I asked the store manager one day.

I could write a first-hand expose of the demise of DAB...not hearsay. because I had first-hand discussions with the senior execs of the automobile makers.   I would lay the blame at the feet of the Canadian broadcasters....they had no concept of what was needed to make a "consumer product" viable.  No idea whatsoever.   They believed "if you put DAB on the air" radios will appear magically... in Canada.   It doesn't work that way.   Asian consumer electronics manufacturers are in business to make a profit and don't introduce one-of consumer products into a tiny market (Canada), on hopes and prayers of the Canadian broadcasters.   

FYI, this seems to be an accurate snap shot of DAB in the UK
In the UK, 50.9% of all radio listening hours by the first quarter of 2018 were through digital platforms, with DAB making up for the majority of digital radio listening (72.3%), and 63.7% of UK households claim to have access to a DAB radio set.

 

Last edited by tvguy (November 5, 2020 6:44 pm)

 

November 5, 2020 6:54 pm  #4


Re: Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

Tvguy, another fascinating post, as always. So their DAB and our DAB weren't the same. Interesting. 

I suppose it depends on which country you're in. England is one of the leaders, but Norway and now Switzerland are or soon will be FM-less. (Is that a word?) As I understand it, the transition will be a lot like our HDTV change here - it took over a year before the analog signals were gone for good to give everyone a chance to adapt. I'm sure the countries involved must have had extensive conversations with automakers because having an FM radio in your car without any FM stations left to get obviously would be unworkable. 

How well do those signals propagate? Would a DAB conversion destroy DXing? Are the stations ranges far more limited in their own listening area? Yes, there are advantages to the new system - hundreds more radio stations could be created in a few months, which is what happened in the U.K. (Ironic, considering at one time, there was only the BBC and private radio was outlawed, leading to the rise of legendary pirates like Radio Caroline. Now they potentially have more choice over the air than we do.)

I'm guessing there's absolutely no interest in any conversion here, no matter which system they might pick. And that suits me just fine. I'm not heading to Europe anytime soon with this pandemic and I would never buy a DAB capable radio in any event. But I sure would be curious to see how it works and how it sounds. 

     Thread Starter
 

July 21, 2021 9:58 am  #5


Re: Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

I'm resurrecting this old thread because it appears not everyone overseas is ready to let go of traditional radio. A petition has been launched in Switzerland - which is scheduled to turn off all analog broadcasting in favour of DAB by 2023 - demanding the deadline either be extended or called off. 

Turns out, a lot of people don't think digital audio broadcasting is the "radio wave" of the future. 

Many complain that hundreds of thousands of radios would become obsolete overnight, cutting countless people off from the medium. Others worry it would lead to a burst of electronics thrown out into the landfill, leading to more pollution. And some just don't like the new technology and would prefer to stick to the tried and true. 

Every time I read about this, I am grateful the no-so-great DAB experiment in Canada never came to pass. It was hard enough to replace all my TVs when HDTV came in. I'm not sure I could afford to buy new radios, too. 

Petition lodged to slow the shelving of FM radio 

     Thread Starter
 

July 21, 2021 12:19 pm  #6


Re: Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

I don't think anyone has mentioned this - it's an article from 2017

Norway became the first country to ban FM radio broadcasting. The northern county of Nordland on 11 January 2017 stopped radio broadcasting using analogue frequencies. The primary reason behind banning FM radio broadcasting is government's endeavour to offer a better radio service to the whole population.Jan. 12, 2017

 

July 21, 2021 7:37 pm  #7


Re: Europe's DAB Vs. North America's Analog: Whose Radio System Is Better?

US military's use of L Band killed DAB in North America plain and simple.