Turkey Expands Digital Launch

Turkish Radio Television Corporation, Turkey’s public television broadcaster, has chosen Harris second phase of TRT’s launch into digital audio broadcasting. Harris will provide headend products for two audio programs, data insertion, IP insertion and one 100W
Harris DAB 665 transmitter. These products will be installed in Istanbul and
will be set up for future single-frequency network operations.
As part of the first phase of the pilot project launched in March 2002, Harris installed a number of DAB headend products (two audio programs and data insertion) and one 250 W Harris DAB 665 transmitter at Ankara in Band III. The Ankara transmitter location was chosen for the first installation because it’s close to the Turkish capital and to headquarters of TRT. The location also has a high population coverage (two million), and its geographical location on the intersection of three major Turkish transportation routes, according to Harris.
Two existing stations broadcast by TRT on the FM band feature the DAB system. Radio-3 broadcasts primarily classical music and jazz, while TRT-FM plays Turkish pop, folk and traditional music. In addition to these radio channels, Service Information and Program Associated Data including the broadcasters name, channel name and program type are also transmitted on digital radio together with Non-PAD data such as weather and road traffic information.