The DRM Consortium introduces its most recent advancement at IFA in Berlin, one of the key events for the global consumer electronics industry. This year the DRM Consortium will be showing the latest DRM capable receivers at the Digital Radio Stand, Hall 2.2, booth 107. DRM+ will be featured in the Science and Technology Forum (TWF), at the Fraunhofer IIS stand, in Hall 5.3, booth 15.
There are currently more than 700 hours per day of programming broadcast in FM-like quality around the world using the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) digital radio system. The system operates on the long, medium and shortwave bands but has recently been extended to the broadcasting bands below 120 MHz for the digitalisation of the FM band. This extension of the DRM standard is called DRM+.
During IFA, the DRM Consortium in association with 004 GmbH, eCommerce service providers and official supporters of DRM, will showcase the following receivers on the Digital Radio Stand, Hall 2.2, booth 107:
- the Himalaya DRM2009, a DRM and DAB capable receiver. Additionally, two DRM receiver prototypes (DRM2008 and DRM2012), each based on its own unique hardware architecture, will be on display.
- Morphy Richards’ receiver supports DAB/DRM/AM/FM with MP3/WAV playback. It is a portable, AC/DC, digital multi-band receiver with scheduled recordings and EPG for DAB.
- Starwaves’ Car Box is a DRM / DAB digital radio converter box for vehicles and boats and can also receive analogue short, medium long wave and FM broadcast.
- TechniSat’s MultyRadio can receive analogue FM, long-, medium and shortwave as well as DAB and DRM transmissions. The device is equipped with high quality stereo-bass reflex loudspeakers and an SD card reader.
- Sarapulsky Radiozavod showcases an automobile digital radio receiver suitable for AM, FM, DRM. Text information as well as USB port and a record option are integrated in this receiver.
- Analog Devices will present its Digital Desktop Audio Developer’s Kit. The Digital Desktop Audio system is a digital radio and an audio player based on the Blackfin Processor. As a digital radio, the unit performs as an internet radio and a DRM radio.
The results of recent DRM+ field tests from Germany will be presented publicly during IFA session entitled “Talk im TWF” on Tuesday, 2 September 2. Expert speakers from the DRM Consortium and the German DRM Forum will contribute to the session which takes place in TWF Halle 5.3.
Detlef Pagel, Chairman of the German DRM Forum, expressed his confidence in the success of DRM + worldwide: “DRM+ is more than the digitalisation of the FM band, DRM+ leads to a highly efficient usage of spectrum and allows for more station to launch on-air with low-cost energy consumption. For listeners, DRM+, like DRM, offers an undisturbed mobile reception and digital quality sound and a wealth of optional features including DRM surround sound and data and text services such as Journaline”.
(Source: DRM Consortium)
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 14:39
Will the receivers EVER get into UK and European shops though? In 2005 they never showed in the European and UK marketplace even after they were showcased and shown to consumers thru this consumer electronics show because of the reluctance and laziness on the part of the manufacturers to release their sets to the shops throughout UK and Europe. The manufacturers need to pull their fingers out AND get the receivers into the shops NOW and the manufacturers ought to be plugging their receivers to retailers and explaining the benefits of Digital Radio Mondiale to them to flog to customers and broadcasters like RNW should also be plugging and promoting DRM and giving DRM sets in competitions to promote the new sets and the DRM standard. A joint marketing/promotional effort with TV/radio advertising by the DRM broadcasters and set-manufacturers would ensure Digital Radio Mondiale,the standard and the sets becomes noticed and appreciated and accepted by consumers.
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 18:25
I wonder if shops have any interest in selling radio receivers. When my mother went to a large store and asked for al world receiver, the man in the shop first showed her satellite receivers! When she explained she wanted a radio receiver, the man showed her the last three models.
on Aug 30th, 2008 at 12:03
Nobody wants DRM or DAB or whatever.
FM radio is fine, and everybody is happy.
The interest for international radio is limited, and by far not enough to make DRM feasable. Sorry to say, I worked for an international broadcaster for 10 years.
In this country even digital TV has come to a halt. Most people are happy with the PAL quality and the number of channels. This goes, as said, even more for radio.
It’s content where it is all about.
(Even the first broadcaster in this country, private entrepreneur Steringa Iszerda realised this, there was radio, but to sell more radios, the industry he was in, he launched the first broadcast station, later Veronica appeared, financed by radio retailers, who were sure that more entertainment on the air would encourage sales).
on Aug 30th, 2008 at 21:01
Ruud,
let the broadcasters decide what system they want to broadcast in.
AM/FM/DAB+/DRM. DRM in the 11-m band and even in all am bands on shortwave.
DRM+ can be in service in the TV band l=VHF 2-4.
Then, let the listners deciide what station the want to listen to.
FM got a limited numbers of stations in the area, but by using AM longwave 15 channels.
Mediumwave 120 channels.
DAB+ 20 national, 20 regional and 20 local stations.
DRM all over shortwave, 100+ stations and you don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’t need any net radio in your car, couse you got to pay for it.
EBU wants all-bands recivers 0,5-30 MHz, AM,DRM.. 88-108 MHz FM, DAB+ and DRM+.
This gives us more space to more stations and your rigth to start a radio station.
on Aug 30th, 2008 at 22:36
The problem with DRM is that it causes nasty interference in normal AM reception.
When there would be a digital system for the FM band generating interference it would be forbidden.
ONly DRM receiver owners are supporters, obviously, they want to use their gadget. But Joe Public has a diiferent view on those new techniques and shows no interest. No demand, no DRM receivers in the shops, very straightforward.
on Aug 30th, 2008 at 23:22
Big L advertiser kbcimport.com is selling the Himalaya receiver now.
http://www.k-po.com/index.php?dir=shop/item&search=drm&pid=2009&cat=x017×004x
on Aug 31st, 2008 at 18:57
Ruud,
I prefere to listen to RTL on 6095 kHz in DRM in my car than in am mode. let us start up with drm in the 11-m. 40 channels 2×10 kHz, 2×15 or 2×20 kHz
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 07:50
DRM+ on 87-108Mhz FM DOESN’T cause interference like it does on MW/LW/SW with unpleasant mixing of both the analogue and DRM signals together and has the potential for very high quality CD mono and stereo sound with more stable reception.
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 08:36
I see that DRM+ is still in Hall 5 which is where they show things that might happen in the future. Blaupunkt showed a DRM car radio in 2005 but when I asked the representative on camera what he thought of it, he said they hadn’t made a decision whether or not to adopt DRM. Unless DRM+ gets out of the Physics lab fast and moves into commercial marketing mode, it will go the way of DRM - now standing for Doesn’t Really Matter. No-one buys these kind of devices because of the technology - always because it solves a problem you have accessing a station you want to listen to.
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 10:30
What would be nice is a fully-featured multiband car stereo with full frequency coverage MW/LW/SW/FM/DAB coverage with a DRM button and associated circuitry to turn the radio into a powerful DRM receiver to pick up DRM transmissions on all the analogue AM/FM wavebands featuring AFS for DRM stations changing frequency so like FM RDS you don\’t have retune when driving.
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 11:40
Dear Anthony, could you give us a clue to what sort of content, stations, Joe Public or substantial quantities of listeners would care for on L/S/MW DRM? My feeling is that the vast majority of the radio-audience is quite happy with the content offered on FM/AM now.
For speech AM quality is a lot better then the quality of your phone.
To go the other way and to please the niche markets my money would be on internet wire-less providing millions of radio-stations on my carradio.
Actually I can already get them. KPN offers a Nokia N95 mobile phone for free with subcription of 32,50 Eur/month (2 years obligatory) unlimited Internet use. Just connecting the headphone output of this phone to my radio with a 5 Euro cable and there I am. This only works where UMTS coverage is available.
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 12:21
But there are numerous countries that DON’T have access to wireless internet like the Netherlands and some other places do:also Ruud until such time as it becomes more widely available in more and more places/venues that will be fruitless. I would happily buy a DRM multiband set over a standard AM/FM/DAB set for an all digital future. It will happen and will eventually wipe out analogue at a stroke-wait and see!
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 14:05
Dear Anthony, I hear wishes and expectations rather then arguments based on the way the audience handles their radio. You would be a good salesman.
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 15:12
Problems with WiFi radio are: not everybody has it, and it’s NOT widely available, AM MW/LW fairish but reception fades at night and AM SW fades whatever time of day and time you listen with awful whistle, FM better but suffers breakup in cars and some areas have poor FM reception negating the exercise, DAB poor with low bit rates and poor quality. NOW do you see why digital platforms on AM/FM bands are being introduced? Simple. They improve on the analog signals by replacement on these bands with digital signals at a much lower cost for broadcasters;digital signals are more robust and can better cope at combatting the effects of interference/fading/propagation conditions than analog ones which tend to succomb and fail to the effects of interference especially on AM and FM and cut out the other problems such as multipath distortion and splatter while providing better sound quality overall. I would rather use DRM on the MW/LW/SW/FM bands as a broadcaster because it’s cheaper and better.
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 16:46
DRM is not cheaper for the listener, you have to buy a new receiver. The total costs of that (shared by the listeners) will be billions and billions. DRM is nice for the industry, but they have to come with a better story to make money out of DRM, since so far digital systems are being rejected by the public. They dont care for better reception quality, if so, since digital is manupalatble, and broadcaster will tend to save on costs by decreasing the kbits/sec.
All AM broadcasters on AM in this country stay with analogue. The simple point is that AM receivers are very widely spread and DRM receivers are nowhere to be found and it will take avery loooooooooooooooooong time before everybody has DRM, or other digital radios. People buy new mobile phones all the time, integrating wireless radio with mobile phones or wire-less internet is a much better idea. We also have a sytem that works with GSM, mobilaria/tune-in FM that uses AAC+. Same Quality as DRM, I guess, and available now and compatible, It does not ruin analogue reception, and that makes me happy, to have a choice…..
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 17:40
DRM+ has only just started being tested in real world conditions, the original plan was for it to interleave with existing FM allocations but that proved technically challenging.
DRM is certainly susceptible to general interference of which there is more and more on medium and shortwave.
There\’s also interference from other broadcasters, that is one reason 6095 is now off at night. The HFCC has now recommended that DRM operate only in certain sections of the shortwave bands. However shortwave broadcasters failed at the last frequency conference to get the additional low frequency allocations they wanted, one reason they gave was to support the possible introduction of DRM.
The initial performance results of the 855 BBC DRM test, which are on page 65 of this 85 page pdf if you want to check, clearly show the problems of night time interference from other broadcasters on the same and possibly adjacent channels. Any additional robustness in a DRM signal comes at the expense of audio quality.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/66w42w
As is said, bearing in mind the night-time interference problem which has always been a downside of medium wave, what constitutes a service?
on Sep 2nd, 2008 at 06:43
Well, all you doubters out there are deliberately putting down DRM saying it isn’t capable and has no value as a replacement for analogue AM and FM. Well it IS worth trying and having as a replacement for analogue AM and FM, also what you forget that the new sets that come out ARE multiband so you keep existing analogue stations and you DON’T lose out totally in the longrun. Also I have heard DRM and I’m impressed with Digital Radio Mondiale more than you two Ruud and Mike Barraclough are;when reception is good it can sound equally good as FM broadcasts provided the broadcasters/tx-providers get the transmission/bitrate parameters right(if you both think broadcasters are NOT getting it right then why is DW World asking for listeners feedback to improve the system where reception is poor?). At least they are listening to their listeners and they DO CARE. As soon as any of Roberts/Himalaya’s/Technisat’s/Visteon’s/Panasonic’s/Sangean’s/Morphy’s DRM sets get into the UK and European shops I’m gonna have one(or if none get get into shops, then straight from the manufacturers or their suppliers via mailorder)-stuff the doubters who say it\’s a waste of time. I’m gonna enjoy BBCWS/RTLRadio/DW/Radio Prague/Oldiestar Radio/RNW and all the other European and international broadcasters’ programmes at FM quality on MW/LW/SW and be happy with my purchase.
on Sep 2nd, 2008 at 09:17
All this detailed discussion about platforms misses the point that Ruud made in comment number three - at the end of the day, it’s content that sells radios, not platforms. Good technical quality on top of that is a bonus. You cannot sell DRM based on its technical characteristics alone, and I have been saying that to anyone who would listen since the early days when RNW was closely involved in establishing the technical parameters.
This discussion reminds me of those hi fi magazines I used to read in the 1970’s, where reviewers would become obsessed with minor technical imperfections in recordings instead of listening to the wonderful music that was on them.
Those of us who work in broadcasting organisations would prefer to receive constructive criticism of our programmes rather than the techical characteristics of the signal that delivers them.
on Sep 2nd, 2008 at 10:03
yes Andy, you had screen shots of oscilloscopes and the comment that although it sounded terrible, the hifi produced perfect waveforms.
on Nov 20th, 2008 at 10:00
hi ,every bdy my name is asif and i am from pakistan.and studying here in uk.i have a small prob.my dad in is a big fan of radio in my country.he has been listening radio for more than 30 years.he asked my to buy a radio of a better reception in sw.he has a couple of radios but 1.their reception is not good. 2.because he is nearly 65yrs old so for him to operate a radio with small buttons is a bit difficuilt.now i was looking for short wave radio bt i came across drm.so now my question is if i buy drm will he be able to listen all the short wave programes or he could only listen to the programs which r broad casted in drm?and where can i buy it in uk?and if nt what is the best sw radio regarding recieption? thanks
on Nov 20th, 2008 at 14:35
Asif digital radio mondiale is a digital based replacement for analogue MW/LW/SW that will eventually replace over time, analogue AM transmissions with an all digital AM transmission/reception system that is resistant to interference and fading over existing AM wavebands which can give reproduction that can almost equal FM quality and even give stereo on some transmissions adding a nice addition to the listening experience, the new DRM receivers also feature existing analogue MW/LW/SW bands in addition to DRM reception on these wavebands(because not all broadcasters use Digital Radio Mondiale transmission on the AM bands). if you want a morphy richards set go to http://www.igear.com their price is £149.99 and if you want a Himalaya go to
http://k-po.com/index.php?/dir=shop/item&search=drm&pid=2009&cat=x017×004x to look at the details for and to buy a himalaya DRM2009 for 249.00 Euros. The Himalaya is better than the morphy because it has an external antennae socket for an external DRM antennae to improve reception,the Morphy unfortunately does not have one.