Overview of digital audio broadcasting

There are basically two implementation strategies for digital audio broadcasting. The first strategy requires the availability of new radio spectrum. The second requires that existing spectrum become re-used. Canada has announced plans to embrace the first strategy, using technology developed by the Eureka 147/DAB consortium of Europe. In the United States, however, it is not possible for us to implement a system like Eureka 147/DAB, for the simple reason that there is no spectrum available. We are unable to find any spectrum below 3 GHz that would be suitable for terrestrial DAB. Although the United States reserved frequencies for DAB at WARC-92 (2310-2360 MHz), these frequencies will become used for satellite broadcasting systems with terrestrial gap-filling low power transmitters. The situation in the United States is described.