Month: March 2008

  • Listening Tests

    We recently attended some listening tests hosted by NGW to demonstrate a new codec for producing MPEG-2 audio for DAB, We also had the chance to listen to some DAB+ audio.

    It was a very enjoyable experience although I admit I have never been very good at listening tests. I can’t always distinguish subtle difference in audio as easily as the eagle eared engineers, in part due to the fact that my hearing isn’t very sharp. In any case we have to be very careful when discussing subjective opinions about audio.

    Listening to the audio from the different codecs, however, I could tell the difference – just. One was more lean and rangy – more treble, basically.

    Now here is why subjective listening tests are to be viewed with caution. If you’re turning out jangly guitar rock you might quite like the sound quite lean and rangy. If however you’re running a talk service or playing a lot of acoustic numbers then that lean and rangy treble might be less welcome.

    In addition, whatever we provide in terms of baseline parameters can be totally masked by a station’s processing – or lack of, and the quality of the same. There is excellent and disastrous unprocessed audio and the same goes for various types of processing. How a radio station presents its audio is very much up to them. So for us as multiplex operators, just picking one codec over another alone does not guarantee a subjective improvement for you the listener.

    Luckily there is hard data we can refer to – data that demonstrates the actual frequency range that each codec achieves. A greater range gives services a broader platform to stand on. So subjective listening is valuable but is only part of the decision making process.

  • The Eagle has Landed

    Sorry to all those film buffs who thought I might do a review of the excellent 1976 film.  However, I really wanted to talk about the 96.4 variety and landed a slot on local DAB.  Today MuxCo, working with UKRD Group, has submitted an application for the Surrey & North Sussex multiplex.  Whilst we won’t be featuring Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland or Donald Pleasence, the multiplex will feature the heritage stations of County Sound, Mercury FM and BBC Southern Counties Radio, as well as 96.4 Eagle Radio.

    This is MuxCo’s tenth application – and what a busy year it has been.  However, we remain true to our beliefs of enabling DAB expansion in an efficient and viable manner.  We continue to ensure a wide variety of new choice is carried.  NME Radio will provide a new perspective on the rock scene, whilst Easy Radio’s easy listening mix will now be available to a significantly larger audience across the Home Counties.  Shuffle is a new service for the area comprising music and listener-generated content for teenagers and young adults, whilst Traffic Radio will provide an up to date traffic and travel service.  If successful with our bid, we would hope to make some further announcements of additional services before our proposed launch.

    Onwards and upwards, and now down the M4 and M5 to Somerset.

  • Student Radio and the Mid and West Wales Win

    Apologies for the slight delay on writing this post but yesterday I was at the Student Radio Association‘s Conference in Bath, talking about digital stuff on a panel with Nick Piggott from GCap, Will Jackson from Ofcom and Ben Perreau from sky.com. It was a really good session with some excellent questions from the students. Indeed, student radio is probably the first sector to truly engage about which platforms they need and should be on. Most of their listeners are now broadband enabled and their traditional distribution is limited to low powered AM or short-term RSLs.

    Talking about DAB with them was quite fascinating and it was great to hear how Xpress Radio felt about simulcasting their FM RSL on DAB. It sounded like they had been overwhelmed with positive reaction from new local listeners across Cardiff and Newport and that it’s really made them think about the scope of the station. They also felt that being next to XFM on the dial also helped too!

    Anyway, hopefully they’ll be more opportunitites for a variety of broadcasters as Ofcom awarded the Mid and West Wales DAB Digital Radio multiplex to MuxCo Wales Ltd yesterday, something which we were obviously pleased about. As I talked about when we submitted the application, this multiplex is still very much work in progress, but we’re looking forward to developing our offer over the coming months.

  • Launching DAB Multiplexes

    I am excited to have joined the team at Muxco and have spent some time over the last couple of weeks getting up to speed with the forthcoming launches, which I will be overseeing. Matt has suggested I post on here periodically to keep those who are interested up to speed with the process.

    As a priority I shall be getting to know the service providers on our planned multiplexes and ensuring they are informed and happy about the process to launch. There are some regulatory loose ends being tied up too, to ensure we are making the best use of the available spectrum.

    I have overseen lots of DAB multiplex launches but the regulatory and industry landscape changes every year (or every month at the moment), and no two multiplexes are exactly the same. Having said that, if these launches are anything like the ones that have gone before, I am fully expecting the following – speaking generally:

    • The first wave of work will be a flurry of requests for maps, contact details and contracts.
    • There will be an agonising wait to build a key transmitter, as local councillors argue whether its marginally more pointy tip significantly bespoils the local landscape.
    • There will be some sort of wait on International Clearance on a transmitter which mildly oversteps the boundaries of the Reserved Assignment List as our European chums decide to sit on our request in return for the fact they didn’t get as many complimentary pens as the British at RRC06.
    • Just as the radio stations are all hooked up there will be a last minute change of address for one of our services meaning a wheelbarrowful of equipment will need to be run around the corner and reinstalled at midnight.
    • There will be anxious posts on forums wondering why test transmissions haven’t started. The minute they do, the fact that the services are not in alphabetical order on the ensemble will be noted.
    • There will be a typo on the configuration documents which will be spotted before it goes live, saving a Country Music service from having a contracted 8 character name which breaks the broadcasting code and offends my mother.

    You are welcome to email me with any queries and I will do my best to respond as we go along.