Listen to DAB+ digital radio with OnAir

What you need#

A radio that tunes Band III (about 174 to 240 MHz; an RTL-SDR works) and a VHF / Band III antenna.

Steps#

1. Choose DAB / DAB+ (group Broadcast radio). Channels are Band III 5A to 13F.
2. Open the Scan tab and scan for ensembles, or choose a channel you know.
3. Press Start. When the ensemble locks, the Ensemble tab lists its services.
4. Click a station in the Radio tab to listen. Station logos from the service information are shown (0.2.5), and you can save the audio stream of a service.
5. The other tabs: Map (transmitters, below), Analyzer (the ensemble as a tree with the MSC allocation), FIC (every FIG) and Journaline (text and menu pages, ETSI TS 102 979) when the ensemble carries it.

The transmitter map#

OnAir reads the transmitter identification (TII) that DAB networks send and lists the transmitters you receive with their relative strength. With a transmitter list (dab-transmitters.csv in OnAir's data folder: eid,main,sub,lat,lon,name,country,power_kw) they appear on a map with distance and bearing.

Related: DAB / DAB+.