Denmark to trial digital radio over DVB-T2

Denmark is to launch a digital radio trial using the DVB-T2 digital-terrestrial TV standard, rather than the DAB or DAB Plus standards.

The trial will be launched in November. Open Channel, which has obtained a trial licence for the use of 1.7MHz of channel bandwidth, believes that DVB-T2 will provide a more efficient use of spectrum than DAB Plus, delivering between two and a half and four times the capacity under the same broadcasting conditions. It also maintains that DVB-T2 is better for indoor and in-car reception.

For transmissions using the same capacity as that delivered by DAB and DAB Plus (under 1Mbps), the group claims that required signal strength could be reduced by a factor of between three and five.

Open Channel has undertaken field trials in partnership with ProTelevision Technologies, T-VIPS, BTESA and Dektec, which have added support for 1.7MHz bandwidth and the DVB-T2 Lite profile to their DVB-T2 products.

“We made our original DVB-T2 trials with what is now known as the DVB-T2 Base Profile, and have proven that we can transmit radio channels in separate PLPs, using the ProTelevision PT2082 DVB-T2 modulator, the T-VIPS CP560 T2 Gateway, and receive the signal with the Dektec DTA-2135-T2 DVB-T2,” said Kenneth Wenzel, CEO of Open Channel and project manager of the field trials.

Open Channel will begin with 16 radio channels in the Copenhagen area, expanding to 48 next year.