Digital technologies

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)

With the growth of technology comes a new form of radio which is digital audio broadcasting DAB for short. It is used in several countries and still expanding, in 2006 a survey showed that approximately 1,002 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format.

DAB offer more of a range of radio programmes over a specific spectrum then FM radio. DAB hasn't as much interference however the DAB reception quality falls rapidly when the signal strength falls below a certain amount, unlike FM were the quality falls slowly with the decreasing signal.

Digital radios now have screens showing you information about what you're listening to, whether you're looking for the artist who's singing the song, the name of the song, news headlines, or the latest sports results. This is a great advantage for radio and for the listeners ow ever a disadvantage with the new DAB is that old generation cars cannot access this type of radio due to the fact they don't have the specific technology.

DAB digital radio networks already cover most of the major towns and hundreds of motorways and major roads. Both digital one and the BBC are currently reaching out to 8 out of 10 people in Britain which is also expanding.

Advantages of DAB

- Good constant reception
-Less interference problems
- More stations available
-Good sound quality
- LCD display


Disadvantages of DAB

- The reception can drop very fastly in hilly areas
-Coverage is not great
-Heavy battery consumption
-some cars can not receive the transmission due to the fact they don't have moder technology installed in the car.

In my opinion i think that radios should continue to broadcast FM, AM and digital due to the fact that some homes wont be able to access digital so therefore to cater for everybody, radios should include all three topics. Most people are use to AM and FM and therefore might not like the big change into digital radio and therefore radios could offer the choice instead of just using digital broadcasting.



DRM Digital Radio Mondiale

The new DRM broadcasting system has been designed by broadcasters, for broadcasters. Its been designed as a high quality digital replacement for the AM and FM radio broadcasting. It can now include more channels then AM by using various codecs.
DRM has a strong signal then AM and FM and due to the frequency that it uses. There are many advantages and benefits about DRM such as..

Listeners

Easier tuning
Better quality sound
Would now be able to access pictures and data


Manufactures

Increase market potential
New areas of interest
Replace receivers with new digital receivers


Broadcasters

Can reduce the power consumption to up to 40%-50%
It will allow multiple programming allowing more data to be transmitted
Increases opportunity for revenue