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OT...Brit DAB Update

KB1OKL said:
"The DAB-only Traffic Radio service is to be shut down, leaving literally dozens of drivers stranded." :D
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Not in Australia, where apparently it's doing well!
 
The service is broadcast over 30 multiplexes, and costs the taxpayer £1m to broadcast digitally. The problem is: only one in 64 UK cars have DAB radios, whereas most are capable of receiving FM transmissions. Drivers with an FM radio receive traffic information via traditional radio stations. And it's also available on the Highway Agencies own iPhone app, both using information provided by GTN UK.
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It reminds me of the NOAA WeatherRadio system. Most radios don't include it and thus is not as widespread. My Cadillac is the only car that is WB-capable. Are there 2010/2011 (or other late model year) cars that have WB?

I bought the impressive RadioShack cube radio this summer and get my weather reports that way. But most people get their weather on the radio from the broadcast FM stations. I guess NOAA radio is expensive to broadcast 24/7 especially when few are listening. Anyone feel that NOAA would be shut off in the future (and reclaim 150 kHz of spectrum for the FCC to play with)?
 
Not sure how many other cars have weather band, but it's interesting to see that NXP's TEF6730A front-end chip (designed for car radios and used in the legendary Sony XDR tuner) has VHF weather capability built in, as well as longwave and shortwave.

The government has been spending money on expansion of NOAA's network (now billed as "all hazards"), so I think it will be around for a while. However, it might be easier for people to use if each type of content were coded, so we wouldn't have to listen to undesired material while waiting for the current forecast to come around.

A easy and cheap way to do this: Simply transmit different subaudible CTCSS (aka "PL") tones under each type of report. For example, the current regional forecast would be accompanied with 67.0 Hz, marine forecast with 69.3 Hz, degree-day statistics with 71.9 Hz, weather warnings with 100.0 Hz (in addition to the old SAME codes), etc. There are 42 standard tone frequencies to choose from. This would allow new receivers to record the most recent broadcast in each category into a separate audio file in flash memory, then play specific information back on demand -- while the older receivers would continue to work as they always have.
 
The reason I was concerned about NOAA radio's future is because of the "deficit hawks" in Congress crowing about cutting spending. Someone on here proposed that DAB could take the transmission costs off the U.S. Government and be more widely available.

Play Freebird said:
A easy and cheap way to do this: Simply transmit different subaudible CTCSS (aka "PL") tones under each type of report. For example, the current regional forecast would be accompanied with 67.0 Hz, marine forecast with 69.3 Hz, degree-day statistics with 71.9 Hz, weather warnings with 100.0 Hz (in addition to the old SAME codes), etc. There are 42 standard tone frequencies to choose from. This would allow new receivers to record the most recent broadcast in each category into a separate audio file in flash memory, then play specific information back on demand -- while the older receivers would continue to work as they always have.
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As long as the tones don't cause IBOC-style sideband hash (especially with the narrowband FM that WB uses), I'm all for it. But flash memory has a finite number of write/rewrite cycles before a sector goes bad.
 
PL tones are widely used in the public safety band and would cause no problems on the all hazards transmissions. As far as I know NOAA weather radio IS widely used down here in the south where strong storms and tornadoes are a way of life. Just not in cars.
 
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