I'm browsing offerings of DAB radio tune ... / 2011-08-11

I'm browsing offerings of DAB radio tuners. Not because a lot of radio services are available already, but I am interested in transmission technology and somebody has to be the first.

Currently I should be able to receive the public radio stations and a thematic station (Radio Top 2000) according to T-DAB netwerk van de Publieke Omroep. Frequencies have been allocated for the commercial radio stations and they will use DAB+ according to T-DAB+ netwerk van de publiek regionale, de landelijke en niet-landelijke commerciele omroepen

There is not a lot on offer. Nothing in the physical shops I see, some offerings in webshops. But technical details are really sparse in the webshops. A simple detail like 'DAB+ support' which is needed to be a bit future-proof, or which frequencies can be received. Licenses have been given out in the Netherlands for Band III VHF (174-240 MHz) and L band (1452-1492 MHz). There is a frequency allocation for local radio stations in the L-band, but it will take years before anything happens there. If I invest any money in this experiment, I want it to be future-proof.

I looked at the following:

• Acoustic Solutions SP111 DAB FM Tuner met RDS on marktplaats. Searching and searching for specs finds Acoustic Solutions SP 111 DAB / FM Tuner which lists the bands received, but I miss DAB+ support. Which seems to be the issue with most second-hand equipment.
• Sangean DAB radio draagbaar DPR 99 conrad which has DAB+ but only Band III support.

Lots of information about DAB at Digital Audio Broadcasting - Wikipedia

Ideal would be to have an interface for my laptop to receive DAB/DAB+ metadata and audio so I can scan services even at other locations, but there is nothing available at the moment. It seems the hardware developed for DAB receiving and monitoring hardware with Linux support has been discontinued.

Maybe I need to get involved with Hx2 radio and work to add a DAB transmitter for the next hacker conference in the Netherlands on an 'event' and/or 'experimental' license. There is a complete toolchain for generating DAB/DAB+ radio streams using Linux at Open digital radio. Funny: transmitting DAB+ with Linux is easier than receiving it.

Update: Carefully browsing the manuals for all the products in the DAB-radio's category at conrad.nl shows me none of them supports L-band DAB. I predict L-band local radio (for which there is a frequency allotment, see L-band planning lokale omroep - radio-tv-nederland.nl) will have a very difficult start when most receivers can't receive them.

Update 2011-08-15: Browsing some on-line sellers found the answer for a simple DAB/DAB+ and Band III / L-Band capable DAB radio: The Pure One Mini. But in order to buy it with the right powerplug and the right firmware I had to shop via Germany. Simple solution ... Pure One Mini Tragbares Radio (DAB/DAB+/UKW-Tuner, 1,6 Watt RMS) schwarz - Amazon.de.

Update: And now I discover there is a Dutch webshop which offers DAB+ radio's, including Pure models. For the next person looking: De radiowinkel.

Update 2011-08-16: No the Pure One Mini is NOT L-band capable. I thought I checked thoroughly, but I guess I assumed something wrong.

Update 2011-08-18: I asked Pure technical support about making the listings clearer for L-band support. The answer is that L-band support is being phased out, but radios sold to countries where L-band is in use will support it. Too bad there is no Pure Netherlands website (yet).