[MikeBr]

DRM Newsletter just published:

A car radio receiving Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) signals was put for public display at Auto Expo India held in New Delhi (5-11th Jan 2012). Developed by Delphi which is a leading global supplier of electronics and technologies for automotives, the new device can do Analogue AM and FM, as well DRM Digital radio. The receiver uses the NXP processor which recently added DRM capability. Delphi has a history of developing other Digital Radio Platforms (HD, DAB) and is offering solutions tailored to individual OEM requirements. The device is simulcast compatible and also package protected for DRM+ with a DRM compatible receiver antenna (short stub wide band). It should be available for the market by Q4 2012.

Vatican Radio carried out DRM+ trials on VHF band II in Rome during December 2011 on frequency 103.8MHz using 200W RMS. The frequency allocation came from GE-84 agreement and the transmission was performed by switching the broadcast to digital during timeslots which were free in the normal program schedule. The digital transmitter used the same antenna system as of the analogue and was combined with other 3 FM frequencies. The antenna, located in Vatican City, is a 10 bay omnidirectional system elliptical polarized. During tests coverage measurements and coverage comparisons between analogue and digital have been performed.

[hanssolo]

Newstar seem to have picked ex DW DRM guru Peter Senger rather than Uniwave to distribute the new low cost DRM set, orders are being taken for April delivery, but no costs, no DRM+ and no long wave!
http://www.pfs-digitalradio.com

Most of the sets will probably end up in India
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/ind...s-almost-ready

two 1000 KW mediumwave transmitters at Rajkot and Kolkata are likely to be operational by March 2012, and the rest of the 72 DRM transmitters would be commissioned between June 2012 to March 2013.

[hanssolo]

On one of the last medianetwork blogs a report on a DRM workshop for Asian broadcasters in Kuala Lumpur “Decision Time for Stakeholders"
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/wor...ication-of-drm
Next
http://drm.org/event_item/DRM_General_Assembly

DRM General Assembly, 28th – 30th March 2012 – UK - Harris Corporation, Winnersh, Wokingham Berkshire

[hanssolo]

A picture of the low cost DR111 pre-production sample which can be ordered and might arrive in time to hear the last DRM transmission from Orfordness! Still no price or date for mass production!
http://www.cdnse.com/products/dr111/

Chipset makers Frontier Silicon and NXP Semiconductors are now on the DRM steering committee as without any low cost sets DRM or DRM+ radio may not have a future!
http://www.frontier-silicon.com/

[hanssolo]

edit too late for the last DRM transmisssions from Orfordness, notice MikeBr says they finished 25th March!
But Dutch KBC now have an hour a week from Armenia!
http://www.kbcradio.eu/?p=823

[hanssolo]

Looks like the MSWay prototypes from Korea will not be going into production
http://drmnainfo.blogspot.co.uk/2011...exclusive.html

I have received news from Marticia that due to various business realities, MSway has halted all DRM development and will no longer be pursuing the market.

http://drmnainfo.blogspot.co.uk/
and DRM will be ceasing in Canada!
But the DR111 set is going ahead

"We are intentionally not to disclose our price in our website at this moment due a few reasons. Our first PP has low production volume and is not target the general public yet. Hope the future price will be much less when the production volume increases. Plus we do not want to our competitors to know our pricing strategy. Therefore, we did not mention our price in our website. Regarding our quality, we aware it is not a perfect receiver yet. However, we are doing our best on improving the efficiency and quality. At this moment, we believe our DRM receiver has best quality and functionality by comparing with other companies

and hopefully DRM/DRM+ might work in Australia (where tests started 1st April), India and Russia!

[hanssolo]

Looks like the pre production DR111 is now shipping with a video showing it working on
http://drmnainfo.blogspot.co.uk/

noticed a bit further down the page an interview with Allen Liang, Sales VP for CDNSE, maybe if they can reach mass production DRM might start to be feasable!

The sample may be a little over US$100 because the small quantities and high cost for the manufacture, but as the order quantities increase the sale price will fall quickly. It will be possible well below US$100 in the near future. Once the quantity reaches 500K - 1M sets per year, we can design an ASIC for our system to reduce the cost further.

[MikeBr]

Digital radio in Russia has now been left without support.
The Ministry of Communications plans to use funds currently allocated for the development of DRM and use them for television.

"Until now, standard DRM in Russia are tested at three sites: near Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. At the same time in a digital format was broadcast only one radio station "Vesti FM», included in the "All-Russian State Broadcasting Company". Director, GRK "Lighthouse" Sergei Kurokhtin told that he had heard about the initiative and hopes that soon it will be approved as proposed performance standards did not cause excitement within the company. In the Ministry of Communications also confirmed dissatisfaction with broadcasters."

Full article from Izvestia April 17, in Russian, reasonable English translation using Google Chrome:
http://www.izvestia.ru/news/522272#ixzz1sYqwN5cz

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by MikeBr

Digital radio in Russia has now been left without support.
The Ministry of Communications plans to use funds currently allocated for the development of DRM and use them for television.

"Until now, standard DRM in Russia are tested at three sites: near Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. At the same time in a digital format was broadcast only one radio station "Vesti FM», included in the "All-Russian State Broadcasting Company". Director, GRK "Lighthouse" Sergei Kurokhtin told that he had heard about the initiative and hopes that soon it will be approved as proposed performance standards did not cause excitement within the company. In the Ministry of Communications also confirmed dissatisfaction with broadcasters."

Full article from Izvestia April 17, in Russian, reasonable English translation using Google Chrome:
http://www.izvestia.ru/news/522272#ixzz1sYqwN5cz

From the latter part of the article "Before the adoption of the document must undergo approval by the Scientific-Research Institute of Radio"
So not confirmed and the DRM consortium will still battle to keep funds for the DRM transmitters and the potential radio set production line going!

[Vectorsum]

Originally Posted by MikeBr

"Until now, standard DRM in Russia are tested at three sites: near Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. At the same time in a digital format was broadcast only one radio station "Vesti FM», included in the "All-Russian State Broadcasting Company". Director, GRK "Lighthouse" Sergei Kurokhtin told that he had heard about the initiative and hopes that soon it will be approved as proposed performance standards did not cause excitement within the company. In the Ministry of Communications also confirmed dissatisfaction with broadcasters."

Interesting article. No disrespect to Google Translate, but 'недовольство' means 'discontent' rather than 'dissatisfaction'. Could be that the broadcasters are signalling that the Ministry should wait for MF/LF refarming so that they can offer 32k (or better 48k) AAC+? Either way, on the surface it's not a great result for DRM30, with now just one (albeit large) country committed to rollout. The big question is, will we still get cheap grey-market sets?

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by Vectorsum

Interesting article. No disrespect to Google Translate, but 'недовольство' means 'discontent' rather than 'dissatisfaction'. Could be that the broadcasters are signalling that the Ministry should wait for MF/LF refarming

The mention of new "hybrid" technology could mean they will stick with analogue and maybe HD radio over MW could be an alternative later (where sets are now on sale in the US)?

The DRM consortium have issued a DRM Users’ Guide in Russian!
http://www.drm.org/news_item/DRM_Use...ide_in_Russian
Might need more than a users guide to save DRM radio in Russia!

At least the new DR111 pre production set had a good review but will need to start full production to reduce costs to succeed!
www.drmna.info by "fibber" in the US

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012
Quick Newstar DR111 update via drmrx.org
I posted this to the drmrx.org list yesterday. Just my current opinion and thinking on the DR111...
In a nutshell, ORDER ONE!

[hanssolo]

From DRMBA.info a video of DRM at NAB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whkxt...ature=youtu.be

Below is part of a AMARC-Europe statement
http://www.commedia.org.uk/news/2012...igital-debate/

The following is a declaration from an AMARC-Europe meeting, held in Brussels on 8th and 9th May 2012. Community Media Association director Jaqui Devereux was in attendance, along with representatives of the community media bodies in a number of other European countries.
--------
We call upon the European Union and its Member States
--------
To ensure that digital broadcasting technologies and laws allow community radios the right to both own and operate their own transmission systems

Although community radio can rent space on DAB muxes the only terrestrial systems that will give ownership like this for community radio is DRM+ or HD! But DRM+ still has to get some sets on sale!

[MikeBr]

The Newstar DR111 DRM receiver is now available in the UK via Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00846QAKQ

[happyradio]

According to reviews this is a good receiver however we were expecting it to come in with a more reasonable price tag. So I for one will be holding back until it comes under that £100 mark.

[Vectorsum]

Originally Posted by MikeBr

The Newstar DR111 DRM receiver is now available in the UK via Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00846QAKQ

Can it seriously be considered as a product for the UK market without DAB? Meanwhile, T-Mobil are flogging off presumably back-stock of the Morphy Richards 27024 for a hundred Euro, which does have DAB. All you need is a friendly German address to deliver to. The only downside I can see of the Morphy Richards is that by only covering up to 1620 kHz on MF it misses the X-band, which the Tecsun partly covers up to 1720 kHz.

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by Vectorsum

Can it seriously be considered as a product for the UK market without DAB?

Currently the Newstar is a pre production set and the final cost should be lower for India ( definitely going for DRM and buying transmitters) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvtWUXvqVS8 and Russia (which was and now may not according to some reports?).

Slowly all the current DRM stations in Europe and North America are closing, the latest (after Radio Canada) will be Vatican radio cutting back on MW (DRM on 1611) and SW in July.
http://drmnainfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012...-casualty.html

http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-r...ons-strategies

The 24-hour “Vatican Radio Live” channel has a strong audience on FM in the Rome area and on DAB and DAB+ in most of Italy

On July 1st, Short and Medium Wave broadcasts from Vatican Radio’s Santa Maria di Galeria Transmission Centre, to most of Europe and the Americas, will be suspended. These areas of the world are already well served by Vatican Radio’s local rebroadcasting partners and by widespread internet access to its services and language programming.

Not sure if the Vatican DRM+ tests on band 2 will restart if DAB+ is now catching on in Italy?

Originally Posted by MikeBr

Vatican Radio carried out DRM+ trials on VHF band II in Rome during December 2011

[hanssolo]

drmna.info reports the Brazilian's will decide on a digital radio platform in December and ch's 5 and 6 in band 3 (used for DAB elsewhere) will be reserved for digital radio, the DRM consortium are hoping DRM is to be picked after tests have now finished

[hanssolo]

http://csa.fr/Radio/Autres-thematiqu...merique-en-DRM
google translation

The Council authorized from 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013, the experimental diffusion Radio Agora Riviera DRM + in band I, the frequency 60 MHz in the Nice area

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by happyradio

According to reviews this is a good receiver however we were expecting it to come in with a more reasonable price tag. So I for one will be holding back until it comes under that £100 mark.

The Newstar is reviewed in the latest copy of Radiouser sold in WH Smiths http://www.pwpublishing.ltd.uk/?page_id=629
but again the set is too expensive for what it is, an extra comment does say if it goes into full production the cost will fall.
No indication so far this will happen.

http://www.drm.org/ has had a makeover, but getting low cost sets is more important!

[hanssolo]

The Shortwave Thread says that DRM in Spain is continuing after analogue SW is cut back.

On the DRM website very slow progress in Russia!

The big question everyone wanted to ask was what is happening with DRM in Russia? The short answer after talking with a number of RTRN the major network operator) officials is that the project is on hold, but there is optimism that it could get back on track. Next month a commission is to be appointed to discuss the future radio roll out now that the TV digitalization is well underway.
Our own Rashel Staviskaya from Voice of Russia recently made a presentation to important players in RTRN and Ministers, not just on DRM but on the success of digital radio around the world. This was well received and seemed to have been an eye-opener for them. According to Rashel, they were not aware of the amount of digital radio and the millions of digital receivers that were available in different countries on several different platforms. This may offer new light on the subject in Russia.
Nobody knows just when things may move forward but there is optimism that something could develop in the not-too-distant future. As always, they are asking about receivers.

[hanssolo]

Part of the latest news with 6 new MW transmitters for India
http://www.drm.org/?p=1727

Yogendra Pal, Hon. Chairman of the DRM India National Chapter, was also very pleased with the announcement: “This is excellent news and an important milestone in the prestigious digitisation initiative of the Indian Government and All India Radio. With the commissioning of these transmitters, radio listeners in the country will not only get extra content but also be able to enjoy a high quality service on MW”.
His words were echoed by Ruxandra Obreja, Chair of the DRM Consortium, who welcomed this grand-scale development; “When all these transmitters are on air, with the extra content that will be made available, India will be probably the largest digital radio country in the world. This roll-out should encourage chipset and receiver manufacturers to produce more DRM receivers. The Prasar Bharati announcement re-affirms All India Radio’s commitment to digital technologies and proves that DRM has come of age”.

But still no low cost sets!

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by MikeBr

DRM Newsletter just published:

A car radio receiving Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) signals was put for public display at Auto Expo India held in New Delhi (5-11th Jan 2012). Developed by Delphi which is a leading global supplier of electronics and technologies for automotives, the new device can do Analogue AM and FM, as well DRM Digital radio. The receiver uses the NXP processor which recently added DRM capability. Delphi has a history of developing other Digital Radio Platforms (HD, DAB) and is offering solutions tailored to individual OEM requirements. The device is simulcast compatible and also package protected for DRM+ with a DRM compatible receiver antenna (short stub wide band). It should be available for the market by Q4 2012

The latest report seems to indicate they are still looking for Indian manufacturers for DRM sets?http://www.mediamughals.com/News/1/3/Article/11743/DRM_the_revolutionary_radio_listening.htm

Still no progress on other countries like Brazil or Russia on using DRM, Brazil may go for DRM+ or HD on VHF, rather than DRM30 on MW/SW. http://digitalradioinsider.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/european-recommendation-drm-for-brazil.html
'News - Events
Monday, 25 February 2013 08:28
Presently, Brazil is considering the choice of digital radio system; HD Radio or DRM+. As there are more than 4.000 community radio FM stations in the country the choice for small-scale broadcasting is very crucial. In a letter to the Brazilian Ministry of Communications CMFE together with AMARC-Europe strongly recommend the choice of DRM+ for community radio in Brazil as well in other parts of the world.'
It could be these Brazillian community stations carry on FM rather than go digital?.
But many stations still testing DRM30 on SW.

With the latest BBC shortwave cutbacks are the DRM broadcasts to Europe and South Asia affected?

[shouy]

Good Afternoon,

i have just got hold of a Morphy Richards DRM radio, should i hear anything DRM? are there any stations broadcasting in Europe?

i have tried with playing with antennas , extra long telescopic,

long wire and a tuner, but nothing. shall i just keep trying ?

not a bad radio.

David

[MikeBr]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

With the latest BBC shortwave cutbacks are the DRM broadcasts to Europe and South Asia affected?

3955 is registered from Woofferton to Europe in English 0400-0600 GMT, also 5875 0600-0800, can't find any more sites yet, haven't seen a separate BBC WS schedule posted yet. These will be DRM, provisional schedules still.

Originally Posted by shouy

Good Afternoon,

i have just got hold of a Morphy Richards DRM radio, should i hear anything DRM? are there any stations broadcasting in Europe?

Current schedule is on this page, changes will take place on March 31, the broadcasts from the UK may skip over you depending where you are. The shortwave broadcasts from the other sites should be OK unless there are problems with your local or co/adjacent channel interference.
http://www.drm.org/?page_id=151

[shouy]

Originally Posted by MikeBr

3955 is registered from Woofferton to Europe in English 0400-0600 GMT, also 5875 0600-0800, can't find any more sites yet, haven't seen a separate BBC WS schedule posted yet. These will be DRM, provisional schedules still.




Current schedule is on this page, changes will take place on March 31, the broadcasts from the UK may skip over you depending where you are. The shortwave broadcasts from the other sites should be OK unless there are problems with your local or co/adjacent channel interference.
http://www.drm.org/?page_id=151

Thank you, i am in the southeast, when the weather turns nicer, i will try outside, i did read somewhere that the power supply is very noisy, i will try with a battery pack instead.

thank you for the info. David..