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DIGITAL RADIO

© Asif Iqbal

Imagine this. You are on your way home after a hectic day at your office. You have your evening all planned out. You look forward to getting home and sitting front of your television set and watching that really exciting soccer match you've been waiting for. Filthy luck, the traffic's a mess. You've been stuck in traffic for the past hour and you know that the match has started. You honk your horn as if the simple act of punching your steering will make the traffic move any faster. Well, no such luck. You say to yourself, the match is surely over by now so why not tune into the news and hear the results. You eagerly try to find the news channel and after much searching you finally find it. You wait for the news about the match after all you have a put little money on your team. The speakers blare out the title of the 6 'o' clock sports news. The newscaster finally comes to your match . . .

"In an exciting match today, Brazil beat . . . hishhhh squeak hisss . . . The first goal was scored by . . . bzzzzzz squeak drrrrrrr. . . followed by a great move by . . . hisssssss . . . and now the business news."

That's what happens when you are listening to the news on your AM/FM car radio, while driving through a congested area. Don't you just hate it. Well, you need not pull your hair out any more. Digital Radio is here!!!

Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, is the latest advance in radio technology since the revolutionary introduction of FM Stereo radio ages ago. DAB is a digital radio system, which was developed by the Eureka 147 Project. DAB gives listeners interference free reception of high-quality sound, easy to use receivers, and an unlimited potential for wider listening through many additional stations, services and developments. It offers CD-quality sound, more stations, additional radio and data services and therefore wider choice of programs, the ease of tuning and interference-free reception for the listener, plus the information potential of data, graphics and text. For the broadcasters, DAB means attracting listeners like you, with distortion free, CD-Quality sound, and the ability to offer additional revenue creating services, cheaper transmission rates and unlimited expansion horizons.

DAB is broadcast on terrestrial networks, but can easily be adopted for Satellite broadcasting. The best thing about DAB is that it can be received by using a tiny non-directional stub antenna, meaning that you can receive CD-quality radio programs in your car. DAB radio is designed for the multimedia age: DAB can carry not only audio, but also text, pictures, data and even videos. In short, DAB is meant for the Digital Age.