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I clearly recall in the late 1980s when the Sydney Harbour Tunnel was constructed that repeaters/transmitters for AM Stereo were installed to cater for those using the tunnel. AM Stereo was officially on air for three years.
DAB+ has officially been on air since 2009. More vehicles are installed with AM/FM/DAB+ infotainment systems. More than one million vehicles have an AM/FM/DAB+ receiver, source https://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/vehicles-with-dab .It wouldn't be too hard to put a repeater/transmitter? It has been achieved in Europe with emergency services utilizing DAB, page 19, https://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=1fdb68fe-ffbb-4429-bf34-438ff036582a
Seamless operation between receiving the DAB+ signal outside and inside the tunnel is possible without having to reconfigure the car's radio receiver, https://www.vdl.fr/media/file/ds_trs2_en_v2.pdf .
The signals from the multiplex are received, filtered and retransmitted throughout the tunnel. The tunnel management can override the incoming signal with emergency messages.
Why stop at Harbour tunnels? Why not include the Metro-West tunnels where passengers can listen to their particular DAB+ services?
The technology to re-broadcast/transmit tunnels is available why not have these facilities installed?
Thank you,
Anthony from thinking Belfield
As someone who often still has to drive in Sydney, I'll admit I seldom tune to DAB+ on our new car radio because it is so hit-and-miss - usually at a critical moment in a news bulletin. But please bear a thought for those of us living in rural and regional Australia, for whom DAB+ remains no more than a far-off pipe dream. We have the cars and the DAB sets in our our homes but not a hope in hell of making use of them in the foreseeable future. I remember more than two decades ago taking part in industry planning committees for the introduction of DAB. We were excited, energised and even drew up our own network schedules for the great new digital radio age. What a waste of time that was. Even the best networks in Australia still run only a fraction of the programming DAB should enable and it is still unavailable altogether outside the major cities. Yes, web radio, streaming and podcasting on mobile devices have made DAB less attractive, but we are now heading towards a situation where whole generations of Australian radio listeners will have skipped from terrestrial analogue to Internet-delivered mobile digital radio without ever once tuning in their DAB-ready sets. It's 8-track, Betamax and DAT all over again. We should all be ashamed.
Norway decommissioned all analog radio in 2017. For their huge number of tunnels they use http://www.paneda.no/break-in-systems-for-tunnels/
which are coupled with leaky RF cable down the length of the tunnel as used for FM.
Dingram, the coverage area of capital city DAB+ broadcasts has been made by using spot checks. They need to find the black spots by using the ACMA
s software www.myswitch.gov.au but with the European Broadcasting Union's requirements for reliable reception. There are quite a few metro TV translator sites which also require DAB+ repeaters. A repeater receives and transmits on the same channel.
Nigel, the reason why the Canadian DAB failed was that it was on 1.4 GHz band not 200 MHz and also it was the old DAB which has poorer error correction and inefficient audio compression.
For regional Australia DAB+ does not have a large enough coverage area and there are only 8 transmission channels available. A much better option is Digital Radio Mondiale in the vacant TV channels 0 - 2 ie 47 - 50, 54 - 68 MHz. The free space loss through the air is 1/12th of that of DAB+ and 1/4 of FM. There is a 6 channel modulator which can carry all 18 ABC/SBS digital programs on one transmitter. DRM can also carry noise free, no distortion, stereo sound on the high frequency (SW) band to cover the whole of Australia from a high powered transmitter in the centre of Australia.
Poor DAB+ reception in tunnels could cost lives? Bit of hyperbole, methinks. It's more likely preserve our sanity by cutting out some of the drivel fromshock jocks.
But seriously - if DAB+ is available in a car, then so, most likely, is the ability to connect to streaming via mobile internet. Streaming's also available in areas not served by DAB+ or even decent FM reception.
I don't drive through tunnels much, but I use DAB+ and streaming almost exclusively in the car. I'd rather have a DAB+ signal which cuts out momentarily than marginal FM reception.
DAB+ was a European solution to a European problem. Next to worthless as a distribution option for most of Australia. Its best application was in urban environments such as Sydney yet what do we find today??
Canada correctly identified the fragility of DAB+ in a broadcast space with similar population dispersal and densities.
Data networks for the mobile market will ride rough shod over DAB+ in CBD & town and the ultra regional folk will continue to enjoy AM while it lasts.