Here is a quick update from Stephan on the current status of the Pappradio project...
"We have been very busy with all the Pappradios over the last month. About 400 have been assembled and sent out to their new owners. We will get the next batch of PCBs in one or two weeks.
I think the interest in these little devices is very nice and the reported reception results, specially those with DRM reception, have also been great.
We have not managed to make an English language Webpage yet, but we will do it in the next few weeks. There simply hasn't enough time :-(
At the moment, I'm working on a small loop antenna. Good antennas are a key part of DRM reception and I'm still looking at a lot of different possibilities to get as much SNR out of the bands as possible. This will be most important for mobile reception, for example in cars or in standalone battery radios. I wonder how far we could come with a (diversity?) loopstick & whip combination antenna on shortwave? I know that the small solar powered Galcom [site may be down?] radios work up to at least the 25m band with a loopstick antenna inside. Maybe some of the readers here have some information or knowledge about this topic?!
Beside this I'm currently in talks with some people to obtain highly integrated RF frontend chips for some testing. These could provide yet another good option for a frontend for our Open Source DRM radio. (Actually there is even a third variant for an RF frontend, which I have to build and test in the next few months. So, lots of things to do. :-) "
-Stephan
Great antenna pondering should commence! Thanks Stephan for the update. -admin
