DRM Reception - Pretty Nice
 

Yesterday I was listening to Radio Sweden's DRM transmission via Sackville,
NB, Canada, on 9800kHz at 2330 UTC, on my modified Ten-Tec RX-350 receiver.
The program consisted of mostly music, and I must admit, DRM is nice. The
audio quality is simply unmatched on shortwave. It was very easy to forget
that this was a shortwave transmission, it sounded like a local station. No
clicks, no pops, no qsb (fading), just very easy to listen to music.

If you get a chance to try out DRM reception, give it a shot. You will like
it. (Not affiliated with DRM in any way, just a happy listener.)

Al KA5JGV

In article ,
"AL KA5JGV" wrote:

Yesterday I was listening to Radio Sweden's DRM transmission via
Sackville, NB, Canada, on 9800kHz at 2330 UTC, on my modified Ten-Tec
RX-350 receiver. The program consisted of mostly music, and I must
admit, DRM is nice. The audio quality is simply unmatched on
shortwave. It was very easy to forget that this was a shortwave
transmission, it sounded like a local station. No clicks, no pops, no
qsb (fading), just very easy to listen to music.

If you get a chance to try out DRM reception, give it a shot. You
will like it. (Not affiliated with DRM in any way, just a happy
listener.)


I listened to a number of example recordings on the DRM website and did
not like the sound quality at all. I found voice more annoying than the
music examples. Report back when you get a chance to listen to a voice
transmission.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

I agree with Telamon - the sound quality of DRM is terrible. If you compare
and contrast a DRM transmission from Sackville versus an analog transmission
from the same location - at the same time - analog wins.

Bob

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"AL KA5JGV" wrote:

Yesterday I was listening to Radio Sweden's DRM transmission via
Sackville, NB, Canada, on 9800kHz at 2330 UTC, on my modified Ten-Tec
RX-350 receiver. The program consisted of mostly music, and I must
admit, DRM is nice. The audio quality is simply unmatched on
shortwave. It was very easy to forget that this was a shortwave
transmission, it sounded like a local station. No clicks, no pops, no
qsb (fading), just very easy to listen to music.

If you get a chance to try out DRM reception, give it a shot. You
will like it. (Not affiliated with DRM in any way, just a happy
listener.)


I listened to a number of example recordings on the DRM website and did
not like the sound quality at all. I found voice more annoying than the
music examples. Report back when you get a chance to listen to a voice
transmission.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Al, since you are talking about modifications to the RX-350,
what have you found to be the best sources for such mods?
My internet searches have turned up nothing so far. I
wasn't researching DRM.

Thanks in advance,
Henry AC5LA


Yesterday I was listening to Radio Sweden's DRM transmission via Sackville,
NB, Canada, on 9800kHz at 2330 UTC, on my modified Ten-Tec RX-350 receiver.
The program consisted of mostly music, and I must admit, DRM is nice. The
audio quality is simply unmatched on shortwave. It was very easy to forget
that this was a shortwave transmission, it sounded like a local station. No
clicks, no pops, no qsb (fading), just very easy to listen to music.

If you get a chance to try out DRM reception, give it a shot. You will like
it. (Not affiliated with DRM in any way, just a happy listener.)

Al KA5JGV




Email address: "see_signature" - "a0015717"
Newsgroup replies may serve better the public interest.

Henry,
I wrote up a short article on the RX-350 modification. You may access it
he

http://home.satx.rr.com/ka5jgv/

This is my first shot at a web page. It also contains an article on a 4 1/2
foot loop antenna for NDB reception. Please let me know what you think. You
may also get a copy of the schematic for the RX-350 mod he

http://www.drmswr.com/receiver_mods.html

The biggest problem I find with DRM reception is a lack of choices and a
short schedule. Here in San Antonio, Tx. I get great copy from Bonaire and
good copy from Sackville. Music on DRM is excellent. You can hear every
instrument and hear it clearly. Give it a try and let me know what you
think.

Al KA5JGV


"Henry Gardiner" wrote in message
...
Al, since you are talking about modifications to the RX-350,
what have you found to be the best sources for such mods?
My internet searches have turned up nothing so far. I
wasn't researching DRM.

Thanks in advance,
Henry AC5LA

Telamon, the transmissions I listened to included voice and music and both
sounded very good. I have a problem with DRM dropouts. If you listen to a
standard shortwave transmission that fades in and out, it is acceptable and
easy to take. However on DRM a drop results in total silence. The effect is
like turning the volume control full off then back on, rapidly. Not easy to
take. But when it's on, the quality is excellent. I have been monitoring DRM
transmissions now for about 3 months and my view of them improves with time.

Al



I listened to a number of example recordings on the DRM website and did
not like the sound quality at all. I found voice more annoying than the
music examples. Report back when you get a chance to listen to a voice
transmission.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 21:17:30 GMT, "AL KA5JGV"
wrote:

Henry,
I wrote up a short article on the RX-350 modification. You may access it
he

http://home.satx.rr.com/ka5jgv/


Thanks for posting this mod Al. I just ordered a demo TenTec RX-350.
TenTec now has the RX-350D which is the exact same receiver, but with
the 12 kHz output already provided on the back panel.

I'm looking forward to this new receiver. How's the performance of
the synchronous detector?

73,

Fred E.
N8UC -- Detroit

My response/question is not intended to antagonize or troll. I would
love to purchase the TenTec DRM capable system. It's something I'd
love to "mess" with. Unfortunately (in a way), I've got broadband
Internet and with radio-locator.com I can get music/news from around
the globe. This is without drop outs, completely digital and only
some stations sound a little "phase shifty" if they stream slowly.
I've got the money for the radio but now it seems like it might be
redundant. And I can imagine, instead of fun trying to bring in a
station, it will just seem like "make work" since I can just point and
click around the globe. You know?






On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 22:11:23 GMT, Fredric J. Einstein
wrote:

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 21:17:30 GMT, "AL KA5JGV"
wrote:

Henry,
I wrote up a short article on the RX-350 modification. You may access it
he

http://home.satx.rr.com/ka5jgv/


Thanks for posting this mod Al. I just ordered a demo TenTec RX-350.
TenTec now has the RX-350D which is the exact same receiver, but with
the 12 kHz output already provided on the back panel.

I'm looking forward to this new receiver. How's the performance of
the synchronous detector?

73,

Fred E.
N8UC -- Detroit

In article ,
"AL KA5JGV" wrote:

Telamon, the transmissions I listened to included voice and music and both
sounded very good. I have a problem with DRM dropouts. If you listen to a
standard shortwave transmission that fades in and out, it is acceptable and
easy to take. However on DRM a drop results in total silence. The effect is
like turning the volume control full off then back on, rapidly. Not easy to
take. But when it's on, the quality is excellent. I have been monitoring DRM
transmissions now for about 3 months and my view of them improves with time.

Al



I listened to a number of example recordings on the DRM website and did
not like the sound quality at all. I found voice more annoying than the
music examples. Report back when you get a chance to listen to a voice
transmission.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Too me the way DRM is encoded voice especially has aural artifacts that
bother me. The audio frequency response seemed to change dramatically in
the examples. At times it sounded to me like the bit rate was to low to
reproduce voice accurately similar to what streaming audio used to sound
like over the internet years ago over a dial up connection only to
change suddenly to better faster rate and then back again. I found the
effect disturbing. Also very odd shifts in volume at times occurred.

As you are finding out DRM is not going to be better then analog just
different. There will be aspects of that mode that you are going to like
better and there will be aspects that you will think worse.

If an analog signal fades you can tell what is happening is a
dynamically changing propagation effect with your ears. With DRM you
can¹t tell what is happening unless you have indicators on the radio
that would give you the status or you had equipment monitoring the
signal. Without the extra indicators you have no idea if the
interruptions in the audio are propagation, transmission problems or
your receiver. Your receiver (computer actually in your case) needs to
lock to the DRM data stream. How do you know whether your drop out
problem isn¹t because an interfering signal is confusing the decoder
causing it to lose lock on the stream? Does the software tell you?

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

"Telamon" wrote in message
news:telamon_spamshield- Too me the way DRM is encoded voice especially has
aural artifacts that
bother me. The audio frequency response seemed to change dramatically in
the examples. At times it sounded to me like the bit rate was to low to
reproduce voice accurately similar to what streaming audio used to sound
like over the internet years ago over a dial up connection only to
change suddenly to better faster rate and then back again. I found the
effect disturbing. Also very odd shifts in volume at times occurred.
Telamon
Ventura, California

Interesting observations Telamon. I will specifically look for this in the
future. Thanks.

Al