Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Restoring Shortwave Radio) Bill 2017

SWL and DRM friends alike, take a look at this and offer your comments. We have until 9 August 2017. Perhaps the Australian government will reconsider the scrapping of Shepparton. As most of you know, there are nearly new DRM transmitters there.

More shortwave casualties in the Pacific (and around the world)

Bad news comes in threes. Radio Australia is about to be impacted by huge reductions which will leave Pacific islands without regional content. Here is an interesting article which lays out the cuts.

A week or so ago, I noted that Radio New Zealand schedule shows that they are reducing their DRM broadcasts that serve as feeders for local FMs on these same islands.

Why is it that none of the "smartest people" in the developed world are able to understand that they remain the privileged around the globe? Just over one-third of the population of our "big blue marble" has Internet connectivity. The US government just made this same mistake with HR 4490 whereby IBB/BBG will be reducing shortwave.

I'm too small and too close to shortwave (a hobbyist) to be of any use to these wonks. Why isn't there outrage from on high? You'd think the old-time hawks in the US government would recognize these cuts for what they are - weakening our ability to spread the "gospel" of democracy and freedom. In addition, the cuts to services by our English speaking friends "down under" weaken their impact to Pacific island neighbors.

Ugh!

Single-Chip Receivers Open the Way for Conversion to DAB+, DRM

Here is a nice Radio World commentary on single-chip solutions for multi-mode receivers. Alan Hughes is an Australian and a regular on the DRMNA Yahoo Group. Well done Alan!

Radio Australia joins the Radiogram Fun!

From the VOA Radiogram site of Dr. Kim Andrew Elliott

For the first time, Radio Australia will broadcast digital text and images. This will be Saturday 18 May and Sunday 19 May 2013.


UTC               Frequency (kHz)   Target
0830-0835      7410 & 11945        south-west Pacific
1230-1235      9580 & 12095        south Pacific

As is characteristic of shortwave, reception outside the nominal target areas is likely.
Each five-minute broadcast will include:

  :34 RA tuning signal (still Waltzing Matilda?)
  :05 Tone 1500 Hz
1:42 MFSK16 text
1:42 MFSK32 text
  :55 MFSK32 image

All modes are centered on 1500 Hz. The Radio Australia digital transmissions can be received on any shortwave, even if it does not have single sideband capability. Patch audio from the radio to a personal computer, and use software to decode the modes. For more information, see how to decode the modes.

"DRM DXing Session..."

I spotted this interesting blog post about DXing DRM broadcasts. Included are his observations on the worldwide DRM broadcasting schedule and some screen shots of reception, including the recent Bureau Met broadcasts from Australia.

Update 20130302 from Frank:
The ID has changed ... it is now 'BOM Data' 
(BOM = Bureau of Meteorology)

Japanese DRM fan captures Australian Test Broadcast

Read a rough translation about Hiroshi's catch. I heard nothing about this one guys, sorry. Thanks go to Terje for the tip about Hiroshi's blog.

It is unknown by me how long this broadcast was and to where it was beamed. Shown here is 1105z Monday, 21 January 2013 on 12080kHz. Looks like a crazy high bitrate, which likely hampered good decode for all but directwave listeners.  

Beer-fueled rant to follow: Why in the hell won't some DRM broadcasters "get the memo" about using a lower bitrate as audio quality trade-off for a more robust broadcast? A great compromise is to go with a lower (yet effective) bitrate such as RNZI has proven effective for transcontinental DRM... between 15 and 17 kbps!

Of course, readers of this blog know that I question why DRM is not considering or at least experimenting with the new innovations found in the very bit-rate efficient Codec2!

Nigel Holmes says MW for Emergencies

Nigel Holmes of Radio Australia has a great piece on the MediaUK site about the value of MW/AM broadcast band during disasters.
"It turns out that smartphones aren't a good bet for the future of radio transmission; and there are particular benefits to AM radio." 

 He doesn't talk about going digital, but he got me thinking...
What if we could make that band media-rich, just what smartphone users are already used to? DRM would do that nicely, especially at the 18kHz or 20kHz bandwidth being used in Australia and other places!

HCJB plans DRM to India

I'm not sure there will be any broadcasts in DRM to other parts of the globe, but Christian broadcaster HCJB sees India as viable target for DRM listeners.

"DRM will be invaluable for broadcasting to places such as India, a country of 1.2 billion people, where the digital technology has been adopted as the nation's main communication network to the rural masses. "In spite of the giant leap forward of other technologies, shortwave broadcasting still has at least a medium term future in South and Southeast Asia," added Derek Kickbush, program manager for HCJB Global-Australia." 

Complete article at Alokesh Gupta's RADIOACTIVITY.

No good news from Australia!

I was trying to get over the news of the imminent break-up of the Wiggles, (just saw them in Portland and they were AWESOME!) but now this!

Nigel Holmes responded to my inquiry about RA DRM and indicated that one of Australia's digital partners is concerned about the prospect of Radio Australia in DRM!

WHAT?
This may stem from a lack of understanding of both mode and audience. Radio Australia is known throughout the shortwave community as an excellent international broadcaster. Someone forgot to tell those working on digital conversion in-country that
Radio Australia running DRM on International Short Wave Frequencies is no competition to local Australian VHF/UHF digital services!

Nigel commented that "If RA gets up a DRM service from Shepparton you'll hear about it..." I appreciate his openness and hope to hear good news in the near future.

DRM (soon) from Australia?

UPDATE 20120508: I have news that the DRM broadcasts are still on the table and have been "delayed until August".

Our colleague Brendan just emailed me and noted a nice analogue signal on 19000kHz between 0100 and 0300 UTC from Radio Australia. Looks like it is occupying about 10kHz. Hmmm, might this be a sign DRM is on the way? Nice signal here in the NW of NA!

More DRM from Radio Australia

Radio Australia will commence a DRM schedule from its main Pacific station at Shepparton, Victoria from 1 April 2012. Average power is 40 kW from a Continental 418G transmitter. Competent reception reports welcome especially notifying interference to the RA transmissions. Include postal details if emailing reports. Broadcasts to central Pacific may also be audible in North America; broadcasts to the south-west Pacific and PNG may also be audible in eastern Australia. Broadcasts to south-east Asia may be audible in Europe.

Details are:

Time (UT) Freq.(kHz)Target DRM mode

0100-0300 19000 central Pacific mode C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s

0700-0900 7410 south-west Pacific mode B 10 kHz 64QAM level 2 24 kb/s

0900-1100 9475 south-west Pacific mode B 10 kHz 64QAM level 2 24 kb/s

1100-1300 6080 west Pacific & PNG mode C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s

1300-1500 9890 central Pacific mode C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s

1500-1700 5940 SE-Asia mode C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s

1700-1900 9475 SE-Asia mode C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s

Nigel Holmes, Chief Engineer, Radio Australia via Craig Seager

Via Australian Radio DX Club Mailing List, spotted by Alokesh Gupta.
Thanks Alokesh, looking forward to more listening opportunities soon!
UPDATE 20120403: Here is some more info regarding the delay from John Westlund of ABC Radio (courtesy of Ian Johnson via ARDXC mailing list-thanks again Alokesh!):

"We’re struck some unforseen delays in establishing the DRM schedule from
Shepparton. Of course we are as excited as anyone in getting DRM on the
schedule. We see it as a very useful second tier distribution means into
remote locations (for feeding small FM community stations) and hope to see
it very soon."

Allen Liang of CDNSE

Yet another DRMNA exclusive - an interview with Allen Liang, Sales VP for CDNSE!
Allen, How long has CDNSE been working on DRM receivers? What other products do you manufacture?

CDNSE has been established in 2006 and focusing on applications using DRM technology. Besides the developments on the DRM receivers, CDNSE has been working on the DRM contents sever for its own development needs and production line testing needs.

Based on the DRM technology, CDNSE also developed a unique hardware and software architecture to connect two computer systems through digital radio link over thousand kilometers directly without relays at very low BER (under 10-7).

An Open Letter to Canada

I was sent the following email by a DRMNA reader. What do you think guys?

"I am an Australian who has a great interest in digital radio. Australian regulators have ruled out any HDradio due to poor performance. This is what happens when you compromise.