In 1997, Blaupunkt introduced its first car stereo with DigiCeiver®, the world’s first and still the only widely available AM/FM radio tuner that converts incoming analogue radio waves into digital data. By digitizing incoming radio frequency signals, DigiCeiver can use advanced digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to refine the signal quality in ways not possible using analogue circuits. The result is outstanding radio reception and sound quality delivered at greater distances. This performance has been confirmed by dozens of reviewers, some of who said DigiCeiver was superior to some expensive home reference tuners.

Now, Blaupunkt has introduced the next big step in digital radio processing, the TwinCeiver.

TwinCeiver uses two separate DigiCeiver tuners and a Digital Directional Antenna (DDA) to combine the signals from two antennas. This forms a 'virtual' directional antenna that provides a much stronger signal from the desired direction, and an attenuated signal from unwanted directions.

The result is dramatically improved range, sound quality, and rejection of multipath interference.

TwinCeiver technology is not to be confused with DAB - digital audio broadcasting. TwinCeivers have advanced circuits for improved reception of conventional radio broadcasting, not the new generation of DAB broadcasting channels.

TwinCeiver operates on a completely different principle to widely used two-antenna “diversity” receivers, which merely compare the signals from both antennas and then chooses the best one.

Since the wavelength of FM radio signals is very short, normally the signals from two antennas can only be combined if both travel the exact same distance from the broadcast transmitter to the radio receiver. If the paths are only a few inches different, the signals will arrive at the radio receiver out of phase with each other and cause serious interference.

Blaupunkt’s Digital Directional Antenna (DDA) can combine two signals that travel different distances while maintaining perfect phase alignment. Not only does this ‘phased array’ technique essentially double the available signal strength, but it also creates a 'virtual' directional antenna that can aim towards weak stations and away from overly strong multipath distortions. (Phased array is the same principle that allows a modern fixed radar antenna to aim its beam in different directions without physically rotating.)

While DDA’s directional capabilities will eliminate most multipath interference, there may be rare occasions when one antenna gets a fairly good signal, while the other’s is totally unusable. In this case, the inferior antenna is automatically shut off to maintain the best signal in the tuner. TwinCeiver also has Radio Data System (RDS) and Traffic Message Channel (TMC) background reception modes. These take advantage of optimal reception conditions to quickly and inaudibly access RDS channels on different frequencies, for station and other information without interfering with the audio being listened to.
What’s so new about 'TwinCeiver'? I own several ‘Digital Radios' already! While there are millions of home and car radios with so-called ‘Digital AM/FM Tuners,’ these merely have digital radio tuning displays and use digital circuits to generate analogue reference signals. They never actually convert the radio waves into digital data. Unlike TwinCeivers, these are still really analogue tuners, because all the signal processing is carried out on analogue signals.				Currently available TwinCeiver products Bremen MP76 AM/FM window aerial