(1) Every major commercial and ABC (state broadcaster) network has got on board, with simulcast services in the five major markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth);

(2) Tangible promises of even more stations to come, with the community sector guaranteed to have a share (currently in Sydney – where I’m writing from – you get a choice of around 30 stations);

(3) Major retail chains such as Harvey Norman and Dick Smith getting right behind sales initiatives for sets;

(4) Masts for DAB+ stations being placed at the top of very high FM / TV towers, guaranteeing optimum reception (even though, yes, you get the odd “Max Headroom” effect for those of us who remember the stuttering 80′s TV icon);

(5) Reception often being better for AM’ers in DAB+ mode than in AM mode (we all know of the experience of storms ruining our AM reception – not with DIGITAL!!!);

(6) Promotional days being held in public spaces such as Sydney’s popular Martin Plaza, featuring pop bands and gorilla suited men to win over the kids to the new band;

(7) Announcers freely talking about the technology and inviting callers with DAB+ sets (like me) to ring them and bore everyone silly by going on about how much choice and quality these new stations have;

(8) The new anticipation of markets being excitingly challenged and new stars being made out of the technology (such as Gorilla brekky announcer Mike Goldman); and

(9) The chance to contour reception footprints more fully, and get around FM bands being totally full (as they pretty much are in the five major Aussie radio markets!!!)

DAB IS HERE TO STAY!!! AND ITS FAST GAINING FRIENDS IN THE LAND DOWN UNDER!!!!!!!!!!!

This is not a purely subjective point, as the DAB supporters will pretend. The digital bit rates in the UK are very low, especially for the pop stations. It doesn’t have to be so bad – but so long as commercial interests put profit before quality then it won’t improve.

Sad, but there it is.

My colleagues and I here at RadioScape have come up with a number of proposals to deliver the capability for community Radio to access the technology – but have to date not received the backing to continue.

The feed back I received being that there was not sufficiant interest.

Probably best that if you have any allegations, you publish these yourself, rather than use my blog.

I don’t agree with a Grant’s views, but that’s no excuse for some personal attacks.

TPEG uses many three letter abbreviations (TLAs) and these are given with full explanation in the TISA (Traveller Information Services Association) Guideline (TAWG 09030)titled: “TPEG Nomenclature and Abbreviations – April 2009″. This publication is intended for Members only, but I can give a sneak post-view comment from it, having authored the content!

TPEG = Transport Protocol Expert Group (pronounced “T-Peg”)

Currently published TPEG applications (Binary data physical format)include:
TPEG-RTM = Road Traffic Messages
TPEG-LOC = Location referencing for applications
TPEG-PTI = Public Transport Information
TPEG-SNI = Service and Network Information
TPEG-TEC = Traffic Event Compact

TISA is currently working on a number of new applications:
TPEG-PKI = Parking Information
TPEG-CAI = Conditional Access Information
TPEG-FPI = Fuel price Information
TPEG=SPI = Speed Information
TPEG-WEA = Weather Information
etc

TISA has a number of Use Case Proposals for yet more TPEG applications, which will be developed in the near future.

Maybe that helps to see that TPEG is quite wide ranging in its focus for applications.

IsoRadio = using a single frequency FM channel on autostrada from multiple transmitter sites

The trouble with the radio industry is they keep giving him a platform. When will it learn?

Roger: I can’t pretend I see eye to eye with all of Grant’s views; however, from this viewpoint, much of what Grant says is true – not substandard nor flawed. It does occur to me that his challenges might contradict each other – compare challenge 8 (“people don’t want choice”) with 12,13,14 (“there isn’t enough choice”). The point is that the technology isn’t at fault here – it’s the industry. And I hope the people here understand that.

Certainly #15 is spot on for the voluntary sector of radio, £50k+ (if memory serves me correctly) is simply too much compared to approx. £2k for an FM community/LPFM license.

I agree with you James on #19, it allows for a possible switch-off of FM in the future but allowing easy migration to DAB.

As for #16 as soon as Apple make an iPod DAB radio remote… sorted!

#21: the voluntary/community sector. Since OFCOM started licensing FM/AM frequencies for community stations it’ll be a brave person to then force them to jump to DAB transmission considering the new (and more expensive) outlay for equipment.

I’ll save my thoughts on the other points because he’s missed the biggie: car radio. I don’t see radio switching over to digital until there’s significant (50%+) in-car switchover… and it would also be nice to have one single digital radio standard in the EU.