Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) demonstrated simultaneously on two continents
From Caribbean broadcasting Union
This year’s annual General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union will be hosted by the Indonesian public broadcaster, RRI, in Bali. DRM will feature not only in the meetings of the specialised committees but also concretely with a live medium wave transmission on 20-24 October from one of the RRI MW transmitter in Denpasar, Bali on 1206 KHz. The DRM broadcasts will feature special messages for the ABU participants, presentations on RRI, DRM the emergency warning functionality, music, as well as the Journaline service accompanying the audio, allowing listeners to look-up the latest news on demand, free-to-air, on their receiver screens and in multiple languages simultaneously.
In parallel, Babcock International (member of the DRM Consortium) will transmit BBC World Service content in DRM short wave from Singapore on 11995 kHz (25 metre band) at 05.00-07.00 GMT or 13.00-15.00 local time.
After last year’s DRM medium wave trial, north of Jakarta, this is another chance to enjoy the audio qualities of DRM, and, as Mr Frederik Ndolu, member of the RRI Supervisory Board said:” to show RRI’s commitment in understanding what is the most efficient solution for getting the best programmes, in the best quality to all our listeners, wherever they are in our vast country.”
Almost at the same time with the big gathering on the tropical island of Bali, the General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (24-27 October) will convene in Havana, Cuba. It will mark a significant moment as the Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium has announced it will be bringing the first live digital radio signal transmission to Cuba, the Caribbean region and parts of northern Latin America, and even as far north as Florida. The broadcast facilitated by Babcock International will come from the BBC via its Atlantic Relay station. The DRM transmission will be in the 13 meter-band on 21720 kHz and will carry BBC World Service programmes in English. Additional multimedia features of DRM will also be demonstrated on radio receiver screens. The DRM broadcast will go from 4 p.m.–6 p.m. GMT, 12.00-14.00 local time on Oct. 24 and 25.
Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Chairman, feels that: “this is a great opportunity to introduce DRM to the Caribbean nations, to highlight some of its great benefits, like the emergency warning functionality, so much at the top of the agenda for the people in this region of the world.”
About DRM
Digital Radio Mondiale™ (DRM) is the universal, openly standardised digital broadcasting system for all broadcasting frequencies, able to cover fully any country whatever its size at much reduced energy costs.
The DRM standard comprises two major configurations one intended for broadcasts on short, medium and long wave up to 30 MHz providing medium to large coverage areas and low power consumption (called ‘DRM30’). The configuration for the VHF bands above 30 MHz is called ‘DRM+’, tailored for local and regional coverage with broadcaster-controlled transmissions.
All DRM configurations share the same audio coding, data and multimedia services, service linking, multiplexing and signalling schemes. DRM provides high quality sound combined with a wealth of enhanced features: Surround Sound, Journaline text information, Slideshow, EPG, and data services.
The DRM Consortium was awarded by ITU for it outstanding contribution to the Telecommunications over the past years and has signed the EBU Smart Radio Memorandum that promotes access to free to air radio on all devices.
DRM can help deliver the mandate of any government: to reach all its citizens with information, education, emergency warnings and entertainment.
For more information and DRM updates please visit www.drm.org or subscribe to DRM news by writing to [email protected]. Click at link below for the Newsletter with all the latest DRM news from around the world.
IMAGES:
RRI Transmitter
DRM Receivers at IBC 2016
