Special DRM Broadcasts for HFCC 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

HFCC conveners had hoped for more, but here are a few DRM broadcasts targeting the HFCC 2019 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Transmission will originate by Encompass Digital Media Services on Ascension Island. All days are 16.00-17.00 UTC on 21630 kHz bearing of 245 degrees. Four different content providers will air, one each day.

• Monday 26 August – BBC World Service [English]
• Tuesday 27 August – KBS World Radio (Korea) [Spanish]
• Wednesday 28 August – NHK World Radio (Japan) [Spanish]
• Thursday 29 August – TWR (TransWorldRadio) [Spanish]

In addition, Vatican Radio will also carry a special broadcast in DRM during the HFCC meeting. Monday 26-Thursday 29 August at 18.30 -19.00 UTC on 17535 kHz from Santa Maria di Galeria bearing of 230 degrees. Program will consist of music with text in English and Spanish.

Rumors of new DRM receivers are in the air. I'm anticipating reports from the meeting soon. Stay tuned!

NASB 2019 - after action report

Once again, DRM was featured prominently at the National Association of Shortwave  broadcasters annual meeting held at Trans World Radio headquarters in Cary, North Carolina on the 9th and 10th of May. 











Not only was DRM the topic addressed by 4 of the speakers, many of the other sessions related to DRM topics and developments.

A challenge came from Lauren Libby (president of Trans World Radio) for the broadcasters and attendees to create a "Receiver Work-group" to 
brainstorm a way to jump start low-cost receiver development. This challenge was met head-on by the NASB board and a new work-group was formed to begin its focus by the end of May.

The conference featured a spirited presentation and Q n A by Johannes Von Weyssenhoff of StarWaves. 












Johannes proposed that with the correct commitment, he could begin immediate production of $29 USD receivers and $18 USD modules for existing radio productions. 











He has secured prototypes and has a manufacturer in-line for this work, which could start in a few months, under the proper factors.

George Ross of TWR presented on the vast world of low-cost SDR units being deployed globally by hobbyists in pursuit of DRM reception. 











Along with his colleague Mike Sabin, the two discussed the interest they had seen in Japanese and Chinese enthusiasts confirming reception of KTWR DRM tests that occurred last Christmas.

Jerome Hirigoyen of TDF presented a novel project called DRMcast Receiver. This device serves as a gateway whereby DRM is received and decoded and the audio is sent via WiFi to any available smartphone, PC or tablet device through a simple web interface. The unit itself has the antenna and power connections. This low-cost alternative to a conventional radio could serve multiple mobile devices in the vicinity.

Christopher Rumbaugh (your humble admin) of DRMNA presented on DRM consortium updates over the last year and a report on radio enthusiasts he met with 
on a recent trip to Japan. He reported that Japanese radio hobbyists enjoy radio in both digital and analog forms and welcome further 
broadcasts and tests in DRM as well as using other broadcasting initiatives such as Radiogram.





Lastly, it was confirmed by Calvin Carter of Continental electronics that the recent installation of a new 500 kW transmitter at WBCQ in the state of Maine does not include hardware to transmit in DRM. 










He did state that the equipment and modifications could be added to make the station DRM compatible, however.

NASB 2019 at TWR was an enjoyable and informative meeting. DRM is still on broadcaster's minds and hopefully will soon be part of their broadcast plans!

DRMNA Exclusive - Interview with Mike of PantronX, maker of the Titus II

Loyal DRMNA readers... Here is an up-to-the-minute interview with Mike of PantronX. What you are reading is an Internet Exclusive! I am really enthusiastic about the Titus II and this interview does nothing to diminish that!

Mike, please give us brief background about yourself and PantronX:

Pantronx is a group of engineers, sales, marketing, and business people that specialize in OEM / ODM electronic controls and systems with a world wide customer base.  We generally design and manufacture electronics that are incorporated into our customer's products.   As the Chief Engineer, I have been designing all sorts of electronics for well over 35 years.

Can you tell us a little about the process taken to develop the new receiver?

We became aware of the need for a digital capable receiver by a visit from TWR representatives about three years ago. Having designed RF products and receivers in the past, it intrigued me that there were no low cost method to receive DRM.  This began research into the problem.  Initially we envisioned and designed what we call an ATU (Antenna Tuner Unit) that plugged into a 'standard' Android tablet.  Unfortunately as time and testing proved, ready made tablets had varying problems from vendor to vendor, model to model.  The decision was made about a year ago that we had to do our own Android 'tablet' and integrate the ATU into it.  Hence the Titus II was developed.

How long has PantronX been developing the DRM receiver?

Actually Titus II is not a DRM receiver.  In its present form it is a SDR (Software Defined Radio), so first and foremost it is a general purpose computer with a wide band receiver built in.  The application(s) - like any other app allow the computer to function as desired.  With that in mind, all sorts of RF applications are possible to run on Titus.  The DRM app is actually the open source Dream Linux app that was converted to run under Android.

Do you have any development / R&D partners?

Yes, our development partners world wide including America, India, United Kingdom, China, and lately Germany.  A true world wide effort.

What was the chief goal in this development?

To provide the world's first complete SDR appliance that redefines what radio is.  No longer is radio a fixed defined product that a manufacture dictates what it is and how it operates.  SDRs have been around for decades, but never in a complete consumer package at affordable price.  Although our initial market is for broadcast use, we have designed Titus to be 'hacker' friendly and allow RF hobbyist to utilize it as a low cost, high performance platform that we are sure many will port various RF application to.  A crazy idea that we feel will expand utilization of Titus to many RF uses and start many competitors with the same concept.

How do you feel Titus II compares to previous DRM receivers that have
been on the market (chiefly the Newstar, Uniwave, Morphy Richards, etc.)?

We have several of these models.  They are all dedicated appliances that do one thing and one thing only.  Titus can change formats, codecs, features as easily as installing a new app!  So today it can be an analog receiver, tomorrow a DAB receiver, and next week a DRM receiver ... or all three, and maybe an aircraft receiver, who knows!  There is no reason why not, just like on your computer,  you can have multiple apps to do different things.

What is the target price-point and what will it take to get you there?

We are working hard to keep the price of Titus II well under usd100.  With our unique marketing approach that eliminates middle men, high volume Chinese manufactures and sub-assembliers, to local assembly in various jurisdictions - everything has been on the table except lowering quality to achieve this low price.  With our various manufacturing partners all working to keep margins low, we can accomplish this price 'right out of the gate' ... no pie-in-the-sky wish of super high volumes.  We have been doing this for years.

How long will the unit operate on batteries? Are they dry cell or
rechargeable?

Like most tablets and portable computing devices, Titus utilizes lithium ion battery.  We expect the unit under normal conditions to operate 4 to 6 hours.  Depending upon pricing of the battery perhaps more as production ramps up. Prices change all the time.  Hopefully they drop and we will supply an even larger battery.

When will the set be available to the public and in which markets? Do
you have a retail price set?

We expect to complete a pre-production run of Titus II by the end of this year for samples and testing. One can place a non-binding pre-order at http://hfcc.org/ - price under usd100 plus shipping & duty. Full production fist quarter 2017.

Is the set's firmware able to be updated by the user?

Yes, just like any other Android device by WiFi, SD card, or thumb drive.

Does the set fully function as a legacy analogue receiver as well?

Yes

Do you think DRM30 has proven itself via the decade-plus of HF/SW and
AM/MW (and LW) testing?

Yes, time for testing is long over.  The format works rather well.  We released the Titus II at the HFCC conference in Miami FL a couple of months ago.  With an engineering model, we went outside the hotel and received flawlessly a DRM30 test signal from the Vatican in Rome some 5000 miles away in the afternoon.  It sounded like a local FM station.  Most likely, that same signal would have been heard as well into Panama and the eastern parts of the US.

Is there anything else you would like the readers to know? 

Well, they can find more info at http://titusradio.com/

Mike, as a DRM fan, I'm really excited! As an over-all "radiophile" this looks like an amazing "piece of kit". What more can I say except thanks for granting us an interview!

Thanks for the help and we appreciate all that you guys are doing.

Place your Titus II pre-order now!

Put in your pre-order for a Titus II. HFCC is facilitating these pre-order/interest requests...

"Availability: Pre-production batch - 4Q/2016, regular production - 1Q/2017

Price: Under 100USD plus shipping and local duty/taxes not included

Payment methods: Wire transfer for larger quantities, PayPal works too, but the buyers would need to add PayPal bank fees"

PantronX Titus2 pricing

George Ross just emailed the following:

"I noticed some questions for pricing. Talking with Mike today he said the price is well below $100 USD."

Mike is the manufacturer / developer for PantronX. Be watching for an interview with him, right here on DRMNA!

Titus2 "Digital Playout Solution" in its natural habitat

Thanks to George Ross of Trans World Radio / KTWR Guam for a few photos of the Titus2, caught in the wild at HFCC 2016 Miami! George is on the right in the second photo.

TWR presents the Titus II DRM radio at HFCC!

The PantronX Titus II is actually a full SDR solution in a boombox case. Few details yet, but it is running Android, has a 100 kHz to 2 GHz receiver on-board and decodes AM, FM, SSB and DRM natively.

It uses a Quad-Core ARM A53 @ 1.2 GHz, 1 Gig of RAM and 8 Gig of on-board Flash. 7" TFT display and supports Android 5, 6 or custom remixes. See the promotional PDF here.

It sports some hardware buttons and the back-stand folds under to cover the TFT for safety and storage. This unit also facilitates the Filecasting concept we have reported about before. It can even be used as a WiFi hotspot, to rebroadcast data it has received to other local mobile devices.

This looks like a real winner and I am anxious to see a demo unit! Thanks to George at TWR for the heads-up. More details to follow.

KTWR DRM test to India

20150817 UPDATE:

KTWR Guam
Date : 17th & 18th Aug 2015 (Mon & Tues)
Time : 1445 -1515 UTC (8.15 - 8.45 pm IST)
Power : 90 kW
Language : English
Frequency : 12120 kHz
Azi : 285 Deg (towards North India)

Reception reports to info@twr.asia or submit online at http://www.twr.asia/online-qsl-form

Date : 13th & 14th Aug 2015 (Thu & Fri)
Time : 1445 -1515 UTC (8.15 - 8.45 pm IST)
Power : 90 kW
Language : English
Frequency : 15450 kHz
Azi : 285 Deg (towards North India)

Thanks to Alokesh for the tip!

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!

DRM Test by KTWR GUAM to South Asia

DRM Test by KTWR GUAM to South Asia

Date : 23 & 24 Feb 2015
Time : 1445 -1515 UTC
Freq  : 15300 kHz
Power : 90 kW
Azi : 285 deg

Reception reports to info@twr.asia or submit online at
http://www.twr.asia/online-qsl-form

[Thanks Alokesh!]

DRM tests from TWR and PCJ

Both of these are long-shots but might be fun to try and DX...

Trans World Radio is running a test on 11825 kHz
(300 kW) from Yerevan at 1330-1530 UTC on Saturday 28th Sept.

PCJ will run a test on October 13, 2013 on 15645khz targeting South East Asia/East Asia.

As always, report attempts to copy via the DRMNA Yahoo group. I'm just glad to see some new action via DRM!