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DAB section?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:51 am
by Polecat
Interesting discussions on Pirate DAB in Ireland and a DAB build in the Netherlands are amongst other topics. Wondered if DAB deserves it's own section?

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:55 am
by g33ky
Does pirate DAB exist in the Netherlands? Pretty sure it's all legal there, other than possibly some sproadic tests.

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:08 pm
by teckniqs
There's been about 3 threads related to it in the last 5 and a half years!

....So in a word, no.

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:06 pm
by SD-E1102
It's a good question, however it's a no from me.

The radio subsections are all regional and already cover all bands - apart from the internet radio section so adding a sole DAB section might cause some confusion.

Re: RE: Re: DAB section?

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:53 am
by Polecat
g33ky wrote:Does pirate DAB exist in the Netherlands? Pretty sure it's all legal there, other than possibly some sproadic tests.
According to the Dutch poster, his rig is set outside the legal freq band so yes.

Re: RE: Re: DAB section?

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:55 am
by Polecat
teckniqs wrote:There's been about 3 threads related to it in the last 5 and a half years!

....So in a word, no.
2 in the last few weeks so it's become vastly more popular over that time lol

Re: RE: Re: DAB section?

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:57 am
by Polecat
SD-E1102 wrote:It's a good question, however it's a no from me.

The radio subsections are all regional and already cover all bands - apart from the internet radio section so adding a sole DAB section might cause some confusion.
Thanks, makes sense. I didn't consider the regional structure of the board and DAB is just like FM in that respect.

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 3:31 pm
by drumandbasshead010
Absolutely think there should be a section for DAB radio generally. Perhaps have a layout like this for the list of main forums:
London pirate radio
UK Pirate Radio
Irish Pirate Radio
Legal FM Radio
DAB radio
and all the forums below (international etc) remain as they are.

Re: RE: Re: DAB section?

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 2:38 am
by Albert H
Polecat wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:53 am
According to the Dutch poster, his rig is set outside the legal freq band so yes.
[/quote]

No - what they've done (and I've got running at a few milliwatts here) is to put on an extra "bouquet" of stations. DAB has six "bouquets", each about 6 MHz wide. Each of these is crammed with stations. Most cities use four out of the possible six, so pirates put on an extra bouquet, to "fill in the gap". They're using "legal" frequencies (a DAB radio will only tune to the limited band of discrete centre frequencies for the bouquets) - putting a bouquet adjacent to the "legal" stations might work with some receivers, but it's unlikely.

The other huge problem with DAB is getting people to re-tune their receivers to find the "extra" signals. It's not like spinning the dial on FM and hearing an extra station between the legitimate ones.

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:26 am
by Polecat
Thanks for explaining that Albert.

I'm not familiar with the licencing rules. Are you saying that makes it a legal station?

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:46 am
by duncanorak
There are more than 6 ensembles (bouquets) available. There are 7 transmitting in London alone
3 x London 11B, 12A, 12C
2 x National 11A, 11D,
1x BBC 12B
1x London small scale trial 9A
and from my location in North London I can also hear the Herts/Bed/Bucks, 10D so making 8 ensembles.
A pirate in London could easily use channel 7D which is currently being used by the small scale trial DABs in Cambridge and Portsmouth, without causing interference unless they are going to run kilowatts.
The London small scale DAB currently uses 2 sites each with 800w transmitters to cover an area inside the M25. The coverage of the 800w transmitter is probably similar to that of a 100w FM transmitter, which seems not very cost effective until you realise you can run 20 or more stations on the one 800w transmitter.

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 3:03 am
by Albert H
When I started working on DAB, there were only 6 bouquet frequencies available. I suppose they've added more now.

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 9:09 pm
by djdavis526
Yes i think there should be a part for DAB!

Re: DAB section?

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 6:58 am
by teckniqs
There isn't even a section just for "FM" and DAB is still very new when it comes to pirate, no point in putting a whole column for DAB when it's only spoken about once in a blue moon.