Comparison of radio systems

Many of the world's radio stations broadcast in a variety of analog and digital formats. This page will list and compare them in chart form.

Table

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World radio systems (Terrestrial)
System Type Modulation Data rate Sidebands? Ch. Bandwidth (KHz) Radio spectrum Sound Codec Digital subchannels SFN Metadata/RDS/RBDS
AM radio Analog radio Amplitude Modulation N/A ? 18–20 kHz 148.5-283.5 kHz (Longwave)
510–1610 kHz (Europe)
510–1710 kHz (USA and Canada)
N/A N/A No None
Motorola C-QUAM Analog radio (AM stereo) QAM N/A ? 18–20 kHz 510–1610 kHz (Europe
510–1710 kHz (USA and Canada)
N/A N/A No None
DAB Digital radio OFDM (DQPSK) around 1000 kbit/s (4 channels up to 256 kbit/s) ? 1500 kHz VHF-High/174-240 MHz,
L-band/1452-1492 MHz
MPEG-Layer 2 Yes, typically 4-6 "stations" per channel Yes Yes
DAB+ Digital radio OFDM (DQPSK) up to 256 kbit/s ? 1500 kHz VHF-High/174-240 MHz,
L-band/1452-1492 MHz
HE-AAC No Yes Yes
Digital Radio Mondiale Digital radio COFDM (QAM) up to 72 kbit/s ? 4.5–5 kHz (hybrid mode),
9–10 kHz,
18-20 kHz
510-1610 kHz (Europe),
510–1710 kHz (USA and Canada),
SW, LW
MPEG-4 HE-AAC/CELP/HVXC Yes, via IBOC No? Yes
FM radio Analog radio Frequency Modulation N/A ? 200 kHz 87.5-108 MHz,
76-90 MHz (Japan),
65.8-74 MHz (USSR)
N/A N/A None Yes (depending on station)
HD Radio Hybrid/Digital radio COFDM-HDC (SBR) up to 60 kbit/s on AM,
up to 300 kbit/s on FM
? 20–30 kHz on AM band ±5 kHz (on adjacent channel),
up to 400 kHz on FM band (2 full FM channels)
510–1710 kHz,
87.5-108 MHz
HDC up to 7 (3 full-power, 4 low-power) subchannels (FM) No? Yes

References

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