Terje speaks! Hobbyradio.se has been resurrected.

Our beloved friend Terje speaks to us from behind the veil. His good friend Mike has rebuilt his webpage and we once again can enjoy it. 

https://hobbyradio.se/ is now available. Terje Isberg (SK) is the developer behind DRM-Log Plotter software, and other DRM related analysis software. Terje passed away in 2022. He was a brilliant person, a polyglot (Swedish, German, English, Japanese), an incredible electrical engineer and an all-around great guy!

I had the great pleasure to spend several days in Terje's company in 2019 on a trip to Japan. One of my regrets was not being able to rescue his website - a must visit for radio and DRM enthusiasts.

I will help Mike by sending him files Terje sent me on a flash drive in 2021 - specifically to be able to maintain or rebuild his excellent website. I am so thankful to Mike for taking the time and energy to honor the memory and work of our friend Terje.

#drmlog - a great way to see DRM activity in the real world!

Give the #drmlog tag a try on Twitter. DRM enthusiasts worldwide are using #drmlog to share what they are hearing! You can use DRM-Log Plotter to create a #drmlog from radio or DReaM data or you can simply take a video or screen-shot of reception.

If you are currently logging DRM broadcasts, why not post them to Twitter with #drmlog ?

DRM via online Kiwi SDR

Brother Terje offers the finer points on using the online Kiwi SDR network to decode DRM broadcasts at home. Give it a try! This is a great solution to hearing a DRM transmission from outside the broadcast area.

The Gospell According to Terje : Chapter 1

Our intrepid DRM Evangelist Terje has written up the first operational review of the forthcoming Gospell GR-216. Give it a read here. We are lucky to have Terje on the case. His DRM experience as a real-world listener and engineer is unsurpassed!

New "Web DRM-Log Plotter" posts from Terje

DRMNA friend Terje (creator of DRM-Log Plotter) has a new HTML based interactive logging format called "Web DRM-Log Plotter". Take a look at his current logging page. The HTML files are simply uploaded to a server for display. I love the graphical layout and interactivity. Roll over any of the graphs to see what I mean!

Solarstorm hits during RNZI reception

Here is an intriguing graph from DRM Log-Plotter while I was listening to RNZI on 17675kHz tonight. You can see that "Old Mister Sun" took out a good chunk for the program, with the SNR plummeting to zero at one point. The program resumed eventually at typical SNR levels.

Ironically, New Zealand's national aircraft radar was also effected at the same time, grounding all NZ flights! Coincidence?

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!

NASB 2015 to feature DRM presentations

Join the NASB for their Annual meeting hosted by RFA in Washington DC, May 21-22. More details on the NASB Facebook page. I'll share a few words about DRMNA and experiences logging using Terje's DRM-Log Plotter.

This is a rare opportunity to hang out with SW luminaries. If last year was an example, this will be a great two days to talk SW with people in-the-know! Registration is required, but the meetings are free to the public. I hope to see you there and please introduce yourself!

RTI test ID seen on West Coast

I had reception of this ID from today's DRM test by Radio Taiwan International on 11665 kHz.

Our friend Terje in Sweden reported regarding yesterday's broadcast:  

"Radio Taiwan International... at 1600 UTC in German! Yesterday I got about 98% CDA here on 11665 kHz." 

This is a great sign from our Taiwanese friends! Those Ampegon transmitters are being put to good use. Let's hope this means DRM from Taiwan to North America!

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!

Hear it? Tweet it! #drmlog campaign

20121223 UPDATE - Be sure to visit the official DRMLOG website at www.drmlog.com

I'm still beating the drum about logging DRM reception reports. No matter if you do it manually or via DRM-Log Plotter, the format is simple:

 <YYYY-MM-DD date, start time in UTC, duration of broadcast or monitoring, location in Lat/Lon, Frequency monitored in kHz, broadcaster name hashtag with "_DRM" suffix, average SNR in dB, percentage of audio decoded, #drmlog hashtag, comments (optional), screen grab url of DRM-Log Plotter (optional)>.

DRM log Tweets with the Newstar DR111 & DRM-Log Plotter

It is really simple to record and log DRM reception on the Newstar DR111. For recording DRM programs, I'll refer you to the CDNSE website. On the DR111 page, they have a blog that shows the simple steps you can use to record and playback DRM recordings on your DR111 or PC using DReaM software. It is located below the main page entry on a tab labeled "DR111 Blog".

For logging, I'm going to show you some screen shots to illustrate the steps. I use the DRM-Log Plotter from our friend Terje. You can get it on his DRM-Log Plotter page. Once you install the Log Plotter per his directions, it is easy! The Newstar DR111 automatically logs all DRM stations tuned, as long as the SD card is in place and it contains the "drm_log" folder.

Format an SD card (I use a 2GB) using FAT. Add an empty folder called "drm_log". You may notice a folder called "DRM_Record" if you have already recorded DRM on your DR111.

Newstar DR111 Tech Spec Olympics!

Longtime DRM supporter and friend Terje has posted his gorgeous bench-top tests of the DR111. Check out the charts, charts and more charts. Wow, great work! I think you will find that most specs point to the fact that the Newstar DR111 is a fine performer! As you can see by the bottom of his page, he isn't done yet!