DRM developments at NASB 2015 in Washington DC

I have just returned from an excellent two days at NASB 2015 in Washington DC, hosted by RFA with on-site host Al "A.J." Janitschek . 

I was pleasantly surprised by the volume of DRM30 discussion this year. North American shortwave broadcasters are ready for DRM!




It was the 25th annual meeting of the NASB so Continental helped us celebrate with cake!

Specifically, there were three talks that featured DRM prominently. Below are just a few of the overall conference highlights:

Lauren Libby, President of TWR gave an impassioned plea for DRM receivers and for us to look to DRM for the future of international shortwave broadcasting. TWR trialed a DRM feature to Japan on KTWR Guam where they received a positive response from Japanese enthusiasts. 

On Friday, Cal Carter of Continental Electronics presented updates from the DRM consortium including the current status of the large scale Indian initiative as well as positive momentum in the Asia-Pacific region, Brazil and Southern Africa.

Of course, I took a crack at sharing the excitement by presenting my experience as a listener and logger. I enjoyed showing examples and playing audio from the user's perspective. I explained and demonstrated the strengths of DRM using Terje's DRM-Log Plotter software. My slides here and the audio clip here. I presented a reception time-capsule video at NASB 2014 which you can view here. Thanks to Terje for the great DRM-Log Plotter handout.

Here is a music sample from RNZI, recorded via DRM at my home in Oregon. That is about 7000 miles from their 25kW transmitter and received on my Newstar DR111 using an alligator clip-lead to a basement drain pipe as an antenna. Isn't DRM amazing?

We were very fortunate to have Jerome Hirigoyen in attendance from TDF. Their site in Issoudun, France currently has 2 high-power DRM transmitters in operation.

Dr. Kim Andrew Elliott presented VOA Radiogram and encouraged broadcasters to participate in the Radiogram initiative. VOA Radiogram is a weekly program whereby textual news with images can be transmitted on traditional, unmodified shortwave transmitters and likewise received using off-the-shelf, unmodified shortwave radios.

Gerhard Straub from IBB gave a worldwide update about their broadcast sites. Gerhard also indicated there will be an RFP out soon to develop an end-user app for decoding VOA Radiogram on smartphones and tablets. More info to follow on this exciting development!





During the NASB business meeting, the conversation got very interesting. A significant number of the broadcaster members showed interest in using DRM (sooner rather than later) and working together to make affordable receivers (USD 50 or under) available. This conversation was augmented by audience members including Ludo Maes from Broadcast Belgium and his extensive DRM knowledge. I was really excited to finally get to meet him, having enjoyed years of his work with TDP Radio and The Disco Palace on DRM.

I'm sure that attendees will agree, this was an enjoyable and informative gathering. For me the opportunity to "talk shop" with shortwave broadcasters and enthusiasts is unsurpassed. To those I met for the first time and for those I have known, it was my great pleasure to be in attendance.

As I flew home, I snapped this gorgeous view of Mt. Hood near Portland, Oregon. It was a perfect way to sum up my trip - "the sky is the limit" for DRM in North America. I would like to thank the NASB, RFA and all those in attendance for making this such a great conference. Special thanks go to Dr. Elliott for serving as my local host. It made my trip even better!

Guest post by Brendan in AZ

This was posted to the DRMNA Yahoo Group but is too heart-felt not to be posted here too! Do we have an answer for Brendan's final question? Who will spear-head our regulation change request with the FCC? -Regards, Fibber admin for DRMNA.

"For those of us who have logged TDF transmissions from Montsinery, this 
is a sad day. Yesterday was the final DRM transmission from there, The 
Disco Palace on 17875 at 2000UTC. Yesterday would have been the final 
day for any analog transmissions as well, since we have been listening 
to the last broadcasts of any type from there.

DRM from Montsinery has been like having the beam directed towards me - 
which is the truth actually. On both the TDP Radio and Disco Palace 
transmissions the azimuth of their signal was only a few degrees off, 6 
in fact, of being pointed directly at my location. Most days the 
propagation gods smiled on me, and reception was perfect no matter what 
equipment I used. Even going up in frequency for experiments was not a 
problem, all I had to do was re-tune, and there they were, booming in. 
It was DRM as it is meant to be, "armchair" copy, bringing the world a 
little closer and in higher fidelity.

North American "Blow Torch" to be extinguished

Sad news indeed!

http://www.franceguyane.fr/regions/guyane/mauvaises-ondes-a-montsinery-153123.php

Translation here. 

See our previous stories about this site.

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.

Mobile power for the Newstar DR111

I took an LM140K (5 volt regulator) and two 4 D-cell battery holders and built a mobile power source. I also used an 102" steel whip on my car and had great decode of Disco Palace. What fun!

CDNSE Newstar DR111 Review (part 2)

Saturday, I had my first opportunity to listen to Disco Palace from Montsinery on 17875 kHz.
I started out on the front porch of the house with the whip. I got the ID but no audio. I went back in the house and connected up the ham radio vertical. Immediately I got audio with only minor dropouts.



Right away I noticed minimal if any stereo effect on the Newstar. I did a comparison on the Pappradio into DReaM. There was noticeable difference between both delivered audio frequencies and stereo separation. The Newstar audio seems quite compressed, both through the speakers and headphone jack. I must say, this has been the biggest surprise and disappointment so far. That to say that although very listenable, DReaM software delivers twice the fidelity the Newstar does. Here are 2 samples, recorded the same way (via analogue cable) into Audacity. They are both 5 second, stereo WAV files. Listen to the Newstar audio sample. Listen to the DReaM audio sample.

Weekend DRMNA Warrior

I really love weekends because I get to listen to Disco Palace! I really miss TDP Radio but am thankful that we still get our daily dose of Disco on 17755 kHz at 20:00-21:00Z and the weekends are the only time I can listen live.

DRM and Analog "live together in perfect harmony"

Here is a screen grab (click the image for zoom) I took during Disco Palace NA hour [2000-2100 UTC] on 17755kHz (Montsinery) with 17675kHz (RCI, Sackville, Portuguese). What you see is DRM 10kHz on the left and analog AM 10kHz on the right.

I know we have read over and over in journal articles where "simulcast mode" hasn't lived up to expectations (and yes, I realize that these 2 stations are nearly 3000 miles apart) but I could easily listen to one or the other with little or no interference to the analog and no interference to the DRM (at nearly 30dB SNR!)