LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany� At a recent meeting of the Landeszentrale f�r Medien und Kommunikation (LMK) for Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, an innovative project aimed at facilitatingbroadcaster�s entry into the world of digital broadcasting took place. A portable DAB radio station known as “ODR2go” was presented; it�s an inexpensive means by which local radio stations start transmitting in DAB+. More than 50 experts and decision-makers from private and public radio, research, science and industry gathered information on this idea and discussed the extent to which the small-scale DAB concept presented here would be a suitable method for DAB broadcasting, according toradioszene.de.
In some European countries, �small-scale� DAB transmitters are already used for local radio broadcasting, and some of those already use the open source ODR-mmb tools for the multiplex generator.�The Swiss organizationOpendigitalradiois responsible for the use and further development of this free software with an international community.�
LMK has been working intensively on the suitability of the small-scale DAB transmitter concept for local radio in cooperation with the University of Kaiserslautern and the Technical University Kaiserslautern for some time.�During the recent meeting a live broadcast of various radio programs via the DAB transmitter “ODR2go” on channel 12A demonstrated the efficacy of the system.
Joachim Lehnert, head of the technical department of the LMK, has concluded that the small-scale DAB concepts now represent a reliable alternative for professional DAB transmitters.�He mentioned cost savings of the ODR-mmbTools devices with respect to more conventional options: The cost for a 100 W DAB transmitter and a linear amplifier would be around �7,500.�A professional DAB transmitter, with high operational reliability and improved quality would double the cost, to around �15,000.�
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