REE leaves shortwave (and DRM)

Well, another one bites the dust! They think everyone that cares already has satellite equipment.

"Radio Exterior de Spain suppress shortwave broadcasting in the next 15 October." 

"Therefore Exterior modernizes its radio emissions with better sound quality from zero hours, peninsular Spanish time, from the next day 15, offering its programming via satellite, Internet and DTT."  

So apparently one "modernizes radio emissions" by leaving radio?

Another Newstar DR111 Review

Our longtime DRMNA colleague Brendan dives headfirst into the DR111:  

I received my DR111 on May 21st, via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - which is not the shortest route between Cheng Du and Arizona! The package had seen a lot of miles, but it was completely intact and that is what matters most. Arriving at home, I carefully unboxed it and found everything that was supposed to be there was indeed there. I immediately plugged it in, deciphered the controls (who needs a manual? ;) ), and quickly had REE on the air. Since then, I've been enjoying listening to all the DRM I can get here. I am using an outside dipole for nearly everything, and reception has been excellent. Using my RX320D and PC in a side-by-side check, the two radios are about equal in sensitivity and DRM decoding ability, so if I got it before, I can get it now.

More good Newstar DR111 user reports!

Via the Newstar DR111 Yahoo Group, John of Halfmoon NY writes:  "I received my new unit yesterday and spent a bit of time getting familiar with it. I was impressed that I could receive the Vatican Radio DRM transmission at 2300 UT from Santa Maria de Galeria almost flawlessly (one minor dropout for about ten seconds during the half hour) using only the whip antenna and in the house. Later I was able to get sporadic reception of REE via Costa Rica, which I also found somewhat impressive given that this transmission was targeting Central America." 

CDNSE Newstar DR111 Review (part 1)

I am really enjoying the CDNSE Newstar DR111. The physical measurements are roughly 11" x 5" x 4". The unit is made of a fairly hard but light plastic construction. Buttons have an audible click when pressed. The LCD display 2.5 x .75 inches and back light with a bright green. The light times out after an interval and is reactivated by any button press. The whip antenna is 42 inches and pulls very smoothly. This is a table radio, operating on 5V DC from a wall wart. No battery compartment.

Anecdotaly, the unit is quite sensitive. RNZI evenings at 17675kHz and 13730kHz can be received various places within my house with only the internal whip. REE at 9630kHz using an external ham vertical antenna was similar copy on Pappradio (with a slight edge given to the Pappradio.)

Radio Exterior de España [REE] on 9630kHz

Here is a brief video of my DRM reception of REE on 20111108 at 00:30z. They are a bit overkill on the bitrate, but it sounds good.