I was captured by the magic of radio as a child. I grew up falling asleep to a bedside AM radio. Camping meant talking to Grandpa on the CB. Riding my bike through the neighborhood on trash day would often yield vintage tube receivers. That was an era when people placed such "treasures" on top of trash cans, perhaps hoping the right person would find them.
Things got even better as a teen when I borrowed a Radio Shack regenerative shortwave receiver from a friend. The world of international broadcasting came alive! I began to log stations from all over and to collect QSL cards. I also learned about broadcast band DXing, using an old transistor radio my parents gave me. Shortly thereafter I bought a vintage Hallicrafters receiver at a flea market. What a gem!
Soon after, I became a ham operator and decided to pursue a degree in broadcasting. In college I had the pleasure of working at a radio station, an ad agency, a record company and I even did some video and film production.
The excitement of tuning around on shortwave never left, but in the last 10 years, I began to notice that the signals were not as good as they once had been. I also noticed it was harder to listen to the many "old friends" that I had once QSLed. Many broadcasters began to focus their energies on flashy websites rather than broadcasting. The Cold War being over meant that the U.S. was not as an attractive broadcasting target as it once may have been. Soon I began to notice articles in QST and Monitoring Times (as well as posts on the Internet) that indicated a "new wave" of broadcasting was on its way: DRM - Digital Radio Mondiale. I quickly grabbed up all the books and articles I could find related to this new digital format. My interest in shortwave was renewed, yet it seemed I'd have to wait awhile for a receiver to be developed.
My interest got the best of me and I investigated modifications I could perform to my current ham or shortwave gear. I considered building an IF interface for my Sangean ATS-803 or for my Yaesu FRG-7700. I discovered an Italian language website that indicated modifying the Yaesu FT-817 QRP transceiver would be quite simple. I also found an IF converter board (bring 455 kHz down to 12 kHz) on Ebay for about $24US.
Up until this point, I had not really heard DRM decoded, only MP3 recordings from the Internet. I found the opensource DreaM program at Sourceforge to do the decoding.
Installing the IF board was easy. I simply needed to use the open filter position (reserved for an add-on narrow CW filter). I attached the IF board by means of leads that I ran through existing holes at the back of the radio. I installed a headphone jack for easy connection.
I loaded the DreaM software. I powered up the IF board with a 9V battery and fed the output audio to the "mic in" on my soundcard. I ran the software and tuned the radio. CBC operates a Sackville transmitter on DRM for 3 hours or so each day. The software immediately locked on and wonderful sounding audio came from my speakers. An absolute DReaM! (pun intended!) I was sold on DRM!
So what is there in it for you? DRM occupying a 10 kHz wide channel (the same as traditional shortwave) provides near FM quality audio, free from static, fade and the usual heterodyne whine from adjacent stations. I have heard some fairly compressed sub-AM settings (Radio Kuwait) and some amazing near FM Stereo (by HCJB and RNW).
I now listen to RNZI daily with wonderful audio! I really love it when they play New Zealand rock and pop! HCJB, during a recent NAB test, played some Andean music. It was beautiful! RNW aired a documentary on Mozart. The classical pieces sounded wonderful.
My reason in writing is to encourage you to give DRM a try. As a listener, DRM is a new option to hear the world! As a broadcaster, DRM provides the ability to transmit with near FM quality via the world-wide broadcast characteristics of shortwave.
DRM is not perfect. It is a new technology with room for growth and further development. In Europe it is beginning to be implemented for all its benefits. Did I mention it has the ability to transmit pictures, multiple audio channels, hypertext news, information and text bulletins? Hey, what about time shifting? DRM recording off the air for later listening is awesome! Talk about a REAL PodCast!
A recent test I performed indicates that DRM (as typically broadcast) is higher fidelity than satellite radio voice channels. RNZI using its current settings offers an audio bandwidth of nearly 11 kHz. Satellite radio voice channel seem to be between 5-8 kHz. Satellite music channels are a little over 12 kHz.
Please give DRM a try. We have been promised affordable, consumer grade receivers very soon. For broadcasters, get involved with the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) and in lobbying the FCC for regulation changes that will allow domestic shortwave broadcasting.
FT-817 w/ I5XWW IF Board
DReaM, R-7 Vertical or 80M Dipole
Christopher / K6FIB
Salem, Oregon, USA
44.901951 -123.048109
CN84lv