DAB Radio in Canada

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by CamDAB

Here in Canada, DAB is being broadcast from Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver.

Are they still testing DAB here in Ottawa? In the recent license renewals Toronto and Vancouver were mentioned (I can't remember if Montreal was in it), but Ottawa was absent.

[CamDAB]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Are they still testing DAB here in Ottawa?

Yup. I heard the CBC when I was there over Christmas.

Cameron

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by CamDAB

Yup. I heard the CBC when I was there over Christmas.

Ahh. I found their license renewal (Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2009-264 for those who are interested). It includes renewals for CBC Transitional Digital Radio Undertakings in Windsor, Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. The one I was looking at was for other stations.

[CamDAB]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Windsor, Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. The one I was looking at was for other stations.

You can scratch Windsor. :-) It's been off for a LONG time, and no plans are in the works to revitalize it.

Cameron

[CamDAB]

CBC handed back to the CRTC it's licenses for it's DAB transmitters in Montreal.

CRTC notice here:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-381.htm

Don't know about Vancouver's status re: DAB broadcasting.

What's left is Toronto.

How long will that last?

Cameron

[downbeat]

If CBC has given up on using DAB for its largest French market and the second-largest city in Canada, that's not a good sign for the system.
On the up side, the decision will affect very few people because DAB never really worked anyway. I know because I used to live there and tried to use a DAB radio for a few weeks before returning it to the store in frustration.

[bryston]

For sale soon one Arcam Alpha 10 DAB Tuner. 10 Years old in good condition, lightly used the past few years.

[stampeder]

Someone recently mentioned a scarcity of further load bearing capability on a CBC-owned tower, so I'm wondering if the CBC is being pragmatic about making room for money-making renters? DAB is great, but it does nothing for the CBC's bottom line like renting out space to Global or other TV and radio broadcasters.

[L'inquisiteur]

This is the end of DAB in Canada.

[bryston]

Canadian DAB 1999-2010.

[CamDAB]

Toronto ensembles are still transmitting.....

One ensemble vanished a few years ago, another has only 1 audible station on it with 4 stations silent, another has 2 silent stations along with one mislabeled station and of those 2 have out of phase audio.... Only one ensemble remains with all 5 stations on it, and even there 1 has audio on the right channel only.

And yes, the CBC is still up and running.

The 64 cent question is, for how long..... :-)

Truly abysmal from my perspective.

Cameron

[downbeat]

Why all the long faces?
I am genuinely shocked the DAB experiment in Canada lasted as long as it did.
Digital radio through low-power DAB on the L-band traded marginal improvements for severe impairments. L-band signals didn't travel as far as AM; they didn't seem to penetrate buildings as well as FM. Audio quality was somewhere in between — if you could get a signal.
I used a Perstel portable DAB device for about a week way back in the early '00s before I brought it back to the store. I lived in Montreal at the time.
Here are the many faults, as far as I can remember:
• Coverage was bad, even if you had line of sight. Places where FM and even AM could be received, L-band DAB was not tuneable.
• Reception was spotty inside any kind of building, regardless of building material, even if the device was immobile and the signal-strength bar was maxed out.
• Audio quality was only fair. You could hear tinny audio compression artifacts even at high bit rates.
• The volume was low and uneven as you tuned from station to station.
• That particular device drained battery power like no one's business.
• Of Montreal's two-dozen-plus radio stations on the air at the time, only a handful had DAB operations.
Why would anyone give up decent reception on FM/AM for all that?
Just my two cents' worth.

[CamDAB]

Originally Posted by downbeat

Why would anyone give up decent reception on FM/AM for all that?
Just my two cents' worth.

All your points are perfectly valid considering the effort that Canada put into DAB.

The Perstel radio had it's problems all right. I'm still using mine regularly.

My first one I took back as it never received anything well. The second one, although had warts, it worked for the most part OK. Battery drain was one of it's real bugbears. At times I think it needed a direct connection to a power plant to feed on. :-(

The setup of the ensembles in Toronto defy logic and simply suffer from truly abysmal engineering.

For instance, LC (as displayed on the Perstel while tuning), or as Industry Canada labels it, L3, has 5 stations that are labeled, but only one (EDGE 102) have any audio. Been like that for a couple of years now.

L4, has 5 stations, and has 2 mislabeled, and one with almost all of it's sound on the right channel.

L6 has the CBC on it, and has radio 1 (EN and FR), radio 2 (EN and FR) and two data streams for CBLT and RDI respectfully. All sounds OK. However, when the bitrates were higher, it sounded even better.

L8 vanished several years ago without a word but had 5 stations on it.

L9 has two stations with no audio, 2 stations with out of phase audio, and one mislabeled station with really well done audio.

Personally, I feel there is absolutely no reason for this to be occurring. The system, when it's done right, sounds great. But what's being broadcast is a travesty.

Cameron

[dael]

MIX 99.9 - THE FAN - CFMX - CFRB - CIAO - CIRV - CJMR - CJYE - THE EDGE - EZ ROCK - AND JAZZ FM All working with a strong signal and reception.

CHUM FM - 1050 CHUM - 680 - and CHFI have a strong signal but no transmission.

CBC R1 - CBC R2 - ESPACE - PREMIERE - no signal which is odd as these are always working. Maybe down for service.

Received on a Roberts Solar portable DAB radio at Bayfront Park in Hamilton, not in a high rise building on Sept. 30th, 2010.

[CamDAB]

Originally Posted by dael

MIX 99.9 - THE FAN - CFMX - CFRB - CIAO - CIRV - CJMR - CJYE - THE EDGE - EZ ROCK - AND JAZZ FM All working with a strong signal and reception.

From our apartment, I get using a Perstel DR-101LF pocket radio:
MIX 99.9 OK
THE FAN OK
CFMX OK (out of phase audio)
CFRB OK
CIAO OK (audio of Proud FM)
CIRV OK (audio out of phase)
CJMR (no audio)
CJYE (no audio
THE EDGE OK (severe clipping on audio peaks)
EZ ROCK OK (audio mostly on right channel)
JAZZ FM OK (audio ONLY on Left channel)

Signal strength fine.

Originally Posted by dael

CHUM FM - 1050 CHUM - 680 - and CHFI have a strong signal but no transmission.

Same here...

Originally Posted by dael

CBC R1 - CBC R2 - ESPACE - PREMIERE - no signal which is odd as these are always working. Maybe down for service.

Receivable here, but very weak.

Originally Posted by dael

Received on a Roberts Solar portable DAB radio at Bayfront Park in Hamilton, not in a high rise building on Sept. 30th, 2010.

Did you bring that Roberts radio over from the U.K. or get it domestically?

The commercial DAB stations were off for almost all of the summer, with the CBC being the lone broadcaster. The weak signal of CBC is a recent anomaly that I hope gets fixed soon.

Cameron