Delhi, Chennai can watch DD in cars

NEW DELHI: Come January 1, viewers in Delhi and Chennai can watch DD News in their moving cars.
   
All they have to do is install a special antenna atop their vehicles and a set top box for digital terrestrial transmission or diversity receiver designed for mobile reception and operating on 12 volt DC.     
  
Vehicles travelling at a speed of about 50 kmph can get satisfactory reception within a 35 km range. People in the two metros can watch in their cars unhindered, digital quality Doordarshan News with the public broadcaster switching over to the mobile reception mode instead of the terrestrial service.
  
Doordarshan is operating through DTTs from the four metros of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata on 5 KW power.
  
Five channels of Doordarshan -- DD News, DD-1, DD Sports, DD India and Regional Services -- are ''statistically multiplexed and COFDM modulated in an 8 mega hertz RF bandwidth,'' Prasar Bharati.
   
Prasar Bharati has now decided to convert the terrestrial service -- Digital Terrestrial Transmitters (DTTs) -- from Delhi and Chennai into mobile reception mode to facilitate mobile reception of DD News Channel in the two metros.
   
A survey for satisfactory reception of DD News Channel in moving vehicles was conducted in a coverage range of 35 km. The reception was found satisfactory except in shadow areas where occasional freezing was observed in narrow lanes having high-rise buildings and at some busy road crossings.