On Jul 31, 6:58*am, Rfburns wrote:
On Jul 30, 5:13 pm, KaitoWRX911 wrote:





"Why don't you use DRM on Shortwave?"

DRM is the acronym of Digital Radio Mondiale, a new technology
intended to offer digital, almost FM, quality to Shortwave, Long Wave
and Medium Wave (AM) broadcasts. Unfortunately DRM is incompatible
with ordinary Shortwave radios and requires buying new receivers, that
are not currently available in mass production, or at a cost that is
anywhere close to a conventional, analogue Shortwave receiver. Some
DRM receivers requires a PC and a special device to listen to DRM
signals.

Our transmitters are DRM capable, and we already run preliminary tests
with our own developed DRM encoders. We are ready to broadcast using
DRM at any time, but unfortunately there are no mass produced
receivers for our listeners to buy at a decent price, and - most
importantly - there are no listeners for DRM at present.

DRM is a very promising technology, has a 2-3 year delay over original
plans, and it is still confined as a technological experiment. Will it
be successful, meaning that we will see soon lots of listeners
embracing it? Ask the man in the street: unfortunately marketing
efforts to create awareness of this new potential media have not been
started yet.

Some large companies are pushing DRM by convincing program producers
and broadcasters to start airing in DRM ahead of time, but unless
there is mass availability and penetration of receivers on the
listeners side, this will remain - unfortunately - a technological
experiment, and broadcasters using it to reach their listeners now,
are clearly throwing their money out of the window.

Similar "experiments" were run in the past using analogue & digital
satellite radio and WorldSpace. They failed miserably in reaching an
audience for different reasons.

We have been following with great interest the development of DRM, and
as soon as one of our members send us a request to start DRM
broadcasts we will do it. Currently we advise them to wait and see
until there are low cost receivers available in mass production, and
of course there are listeners using them.

We are still very active on conventional Shortwave and Internet
streaming, because there are listeners out-there, and there are
regions in the world where Shortwave is still popular, still listened
to. According to what we hear from missionaries in Africa, the Far and
Middle East and S America DRM will have a hard time to be popular in
those regions for some time (if ever), due to the high cost associated
in the conversion of the present Shortwave and Medium Wave receivers
to DRM capable devices.

Unfortunately we have seen something similar to DRM today happening
for satellite radio in Europe and WorldSpace, another promising
technology marketed initially for listeners in Africa, and confined
for years to embassies, consulates and a bunch of rich people on that
continent.

DRM, Worldspace and satellite radio in Europe, Africa and Asia are NOT
what XM and Sirius are today in the USA. We wish they could be, maybe,
sometime in the future.

http://www.egradio.org/index.php?name=FAQ&id_cat=7

Then I ran this hit count forhttp://drm.org-

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/drm.org/?metric=uv

It looks almost dead. Is DRM causing much interference on SW, and does
DRM appear to be a bust? *I could only find a handful of very
expensive DRM receivers. Radio Shack has indicated that they are not
interested, and Sangean put their DRM receiver on hold. *Thanks...

- DRM is a waste of time and resources.
-*To produce transmitters before the receivers are commonly
- available is just plain dumb - not to mention the fact that
- there's no consumer demand for it.

D'Oh ! - Chicken-or-Egg - Which Came First ?

The Future of New Radio Technologies . . .
Will Radio Stagnate and Die as a Popular Public Meda ?
Or - Will Radio Embrace New Technology and Survive ?

But your are right; without a Natural Path of Migration
DRM is subject to slow or no grow {is doa}.

-IF- the European Grovernments are 'committed' to DRM :
Then they should have mandated that all new AM/FM
Shortwave Radios that are made or imported into Europe
are fully DRM Capable.

Note - That also goes for RDS and DAB Eureka 147
in the EU too.

Radio (TV) functions well as a commonly available Public
Media : When there is a 'balance' between Number of
Broadcasters {Amount of Broadcasting and Number of
Receivers and Radio Listeners.

For Radio as a Media the Car and Truck are the best
method of introducing 'the public' to new forms of Radio.
People change / exchange their Cars and Trucks more
often then they replace / buy a new Radio. This applies
equally as well to RDS, DRM, DAB Eureka 147, and
IBOC HD-Radio as new forms of Radio.

The swiftest Natural Path of Migration for new forms of
Radio is Government Mandates for Standard Receivers
with priority implementation in Car and Truck Radio by
a given date/year.
* Once this "Mandate" occurs; the Number the newly
manufactured New Technology Radios increases with
each Year.
* The Cost of these New Technology Radios decreases
with each Year.
* The Public Adapts to and Uses the New Technology
Radios more and more with each passing Year.
Note - Government Mandates are done in the Public
Interest for the general good of a society.

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) - Eureka 147
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Broadcasting

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Radio_Mondiale

Radio Data System (RDS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) -aka- HD-Radio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-band_on-channel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio