"Karl Graff" wrote in message
...
Please excuse any ignorance I am going to show- you have helped me a lot
as
I learned to DX and what kind of radio gives the most bang for the buck.

What is the real deal with DRM?

In my opinion, it's a solution to a problem which doesn't exist. There's
the idea that there's a lot of people who would want to listen to SW radio,
if only SW radio had better sound. I'll say that more people would listen
to SW radio if only the programming appealed to them. Most nations are
cutting budgets for SW programming.

There's some hope that DRM might help with the penny pinching, if the
digital modulation will work acceptably with lower transmitter power.

About 20 years ago, there was hope that the SWL hobby would boom as the
affordable digital display radios became common. There was a sort of boom,
in that the radios sold fairly well. But I think a large number of those
sales went to existing SWLs who were replacing their analog display radios.
I don't think the easier to tune radios attracted many new listeners.
Again, I don't think SW radio appeals to most people.


Are analog SW radios going away?

Not any time soon. Nearly all SW transmissions are analog. An even higher
percentage of newly manufactured radios have analog demodulators.


Have any of
you invested in a DRM capable receiver and how are they?

I've thought of going the hobbyist route. My SX-62 has variable IF
selectivity, and the wide setting seem suitable for DRMs bandwidth. Using
the BFO, I should be able to generate a 12kHz IF output. I just need to tap
off the detector, and feed the output to the soundcard in my computer. Of
course, that radio is hardly frequency stable, and the combination of local
oscillator and BFO stability would be stinko. But it would be cheap.

I don't want to play with it. Everything I want to hear is on standard AM.


Should I begin to
move towards DRM and if so, what receivers will pick up and decode those
signals?

DRM will have to get pretty inexpensive before it becomes popular. I really
don't think there's much added value in DRM for most SWLs and certainly not
for most normal people. Consider that US satellite radio carries some of
the big international broadcasters. The audio quality is supposed to be
excellent. But few Americans subscribe to satellite radio, and it's
unlikely that more than a small percentage of those subscribers listen to
international broadcasting.


What are the limitations, or the cons if any, of DRM?

Ready to go DRM receivers are expensive, right now. Hobbyists can put stuff
together for DRM reception at a much lower cost, but that involves alot of
skilled work. And, in the end, you're still listening to the same old
international broadcasters.

The dropout/fadeout problem has been brought up. I'm another who would find
dropouts far more jarring than fadeouts.



Thanks for any info/opinions you are willing to pass on...

Pastor K


Frank Dresser