DRM Monitoring Station at NMHH

Introduction

Digital technology is the means to overcome the quality issues of short- and long wave radio broadcasting. As a result of international activities aiming to enable digitization, the first standard of the Digital Radio Mondiale system was published in 2001, which has evolved into a worldwide accepted, consistent digital broadcasting solution for the short-, medium- and long wave bands since then.

Instead of the “noisy” sound perceivable in case of analog radio, a clear audio quality can be ensured with the DRM radio broadcasting technology, free from the fading effects and distortions caused by selective fading. In addition to a nearly FM mono audio quality, DRM also permits the transmission of stereo programs complemented with program related auxiliary information, multimedia contents and other data, tailored to the service providers’ and listeners’ needs.

DRM requires significantly smaller transmit power than analog systems to cover the same area, resulting in considerably lower operating costs. In addition, DRM is also suitable for establishing synchronized single frequency networks, enabling to cover huge areas with several small power transmitters operating in the same channel. Since this digital system can be introduced in the bands used for analog broadcasting with the existing channel spacing, the digital switchover process can be executed gradually, in line with the listeners’ needs and the economic opportunities.

Medium- and short-wave DRM transmissions have been on air for more than a decade in several countries worldwide, and the number of available receivers has also increased in the recent years. The latest part of the DRM standard is the DRM+ system variant, which is intended to replace analog FM broadcasts.

Lear more about DRM at:: http://www.drm.org