Tag Archives: AIR

India, DRM, and FM white spaces

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(Source: Broadcast and Cable Sat)

Digital Radio Receivers – Availability At An Affordable Price

by Yogender Pal (Chairman, DRM India Chapter)

[…]Transmissions in FM band in India, by AIR as well as private broadcasters, are still in analogue mode only. Aware of the advantages of digital radio broadcasting, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the regulator for all the broadcast services too, has recommended to allow private broadcasters to broadcast in the digital white spaces available in the FM band (VHF band II). This recommendation is under consideration of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Ministry held a meeting on the issue on August 30, 2018. All stakeholders (public and private) were in favor of digital broadcasting in FM band and suggested that the ministry makes public a regulatory policy as soon as possible. Cellphone manufacturers also gave their support provided no additional costs were involved.

A digital receiver is required to receive digital radio broadcasts as analogue receivers cannot decode the digital signals.

One of the welcome features of the current roll-out of DRM digital radio in India has been the early and overwhelming commitment of the car industry. Most of the leading car manufacturers in India have either already incorporated DRM receivers in their cars or are in the process of incorporating them. Hyundai has built-in DRM radios in all its models except one. Maruti Suzuki has also incorporated DRM receivers in 6 models and all their models are soon expected to have built-in DRM receivers. Mahindra has also installed DRM in its TUV model. It is encouraging that the roll-out of DRM equipped cars is growing rapidly. At present the number is understood to have surpassed the 10 lakh mark. Indian car manufacturers are not charging extra from consumers for line-fit DRM radio sets.

In parallel, efforts are being made by a large number of Indian and foreign receiver manufacturers to provide standalone DRM receivers. Communications Systems is the first Indian radio manufacturer to domestically develop and produce a DRM receiver (AV-1401). Inntot Technologies, a young start-up enterprise, has developed a software-based DRM receiver based on a generic processor. This is likely to be much cheaper. GeekSynergy, another start-up company, is also working on the development of a highly affordable DRM receiver.

Gospell Digital Technology located in China has presented a very well-reviewed DRM Receiver, GR216, which is already in production. Gospell is developing a DRM receiver dongle, GR-227 too, which can be plugged in the existing audio systems in the automobiles on USB ports or Aux input to receive DRM digital signals. Titus SDR, a Panamanian based company, has developed a multi-standard and software-based digital radio receiver. Starwaves has also developed a prototype DRM receiver.

Standalone DRM digital efforts remain relatively expensive at present. Like with any new technology higher volumes will bring down the cost of the receivers. AIR may thus offer content with additional audio services, innovative advanced features such as journaline advanced text, emergency warnings, and traffic information so that listeners see value in buying a digital receiver.

An app for DRM digital reception in mobile phones in FM band has been already developed. Demonstrations have been made on the reception of DRM digital signals in the existing mobile phones by plugging a dongle. External dongle would not be required in the new mobile phones; however, the industry wants to see the publicized policy of the government before making the necessary adjustments for working of the app.

Most of the standalone receivers can receive DRM (in addition to analogue) in AM bands; and its software can also be upgraded to receive DRM in FM band. As announced by Director General recently, AIR may start digital radio broadcasting in FM band. Government may also accept TRAI recommendations and announce a roadmap for digital radio broadcasting in FM band by private broadcasters so that the industry (cellphones, automobile, and standalone receiver manufacturers) gets confidence and starts mass production of receivers.[…]

Read the full article at Broadcast and Cable Sat online.

Many thanks to Ed for the tip!

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All India Radio to shut down national channel

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All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

(Source: The Telegraph)

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has decided to close down All India Radio’s national channel and its regional training academies in five cities as part of “cost-cutting measures” and to “rationalise” services.

The programme, technical, ministerial and other staff posted at the national channel in Todapur and Nagpur, etc., apart from those working at the Regional Academies of Broadcasting and Multimedia (RABMs) in five cities, may be posted as per the requirement of the organisation, said the order issued by the Directorate General, All India Radio (AIR).

In order to “rationalise AIR services and keeping in view of the cost-cutting measures”, it has been decided by Prasar Bharati and communicated to DG AIR on December 24, 2018, to close down the national channel of AIR and RABMs located at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Shillong and Thiruvananthapuram with immediate effect, it said.

The order, dated January 3, stated that the programmes of archival value maintained by the national channel should be sent to the central archives in Delhi for digitisation and preservation for posterity.

The national channel, which broadcasts from 6pm to 6am, started airing in 1987 and played an important role in keeping people abreast of national issues, an AIR source said.

“National channel has a huge repository of programmes and the personnel will now be redeployed,” the source said.

It is understood that certain sections within AIR are not happy with the decision as they believe the national channel was an important part of the broadcasts and there were other ways to cut costs than shutting it down altogether.

“These days you can livestream, you can make it an application-based service, there are many other ways of cost cutting. The effort should have been to strengthen the national channel and not close it down,” a source said.

Click here to read at The Telegraph.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, shares an image of the letter (mentioned above) which was originally posted by Jawahar, on the Gary Cohen Facebook page:

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All India Radio: Teaching students English via radio

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(Southgate ARC via Eric McFadden)

The Hindu reports the news broadcasts from All India Radio are being used to teach students English

To make learning English interesting and interactive for high school students, the district administration has undertaken a novel initiative.

All 149 high schools, 11 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and 11 model schools in the district have been instructed to implement All India Radio (AIR) English news listening programme as part of listening enhancement programme, English learning and general awareness development activities for students of class 8 and 9.

The students are required to tune in to the five-minute English news broadcast at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. every day in their respective classrooms and note down the points.

hat is followed by simple questions and discussions for another five minutes in the class to check their IQ levels, vocabulary, general knowledge and grasp on current affairs.

Radio on phone

All schools are equipped with radios, which were produced a few years ago when the government implemented ‘Meena prapancham’ radio telecast programme on adolescent girls’ education. In case the schools don’t have a radio, teachers are asked to use cell phones for tuning in to radio news.

Read the full story at
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/they-learn-english-by-hearing-the-news-on-radio/article25431278.ece

All India Radio
http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Services/External/Pages/Default.aspx

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All India Radio kicks off 80th anniversary today

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"India (orthographic projection)" by Ssolbergj (talk) - Own work,This vector image was created with Inkscape.Aquarius.geomar.deThe map has been created with the Generic Mapping Tools: http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/ using one or more of these public domain datasets for the relief:ETOPO2 (topography/bathymetry): http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/global.htmlGLOBE (topography): http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/gltiles.htmlSRTM (topography): http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/English | italiano | ?????????? | ??? | +/?Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_(orthographic_projection).svg#mediaviewer/File:India_(orthographic_projection).svg

(Source: India.com)

New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) On October 1, 1939, the All India Radio made its first broadcast for foreign listeners — a Pashto service started by the then British rulers to counter the Nazi Germany propaganda during World War II.

The national radio broadcaster has decided that the 80th anniversary of the historic event will be marked by year-long celebrations beginning this week right up till October 1 next year.

The external services of the All India Radio (AIR), though began with the aim of serving the propaganda of the British colonialists, have now transformed into the “voice of India” at the world stage, officials said.

“Last year, the decision was taken that October 1 will be observed as External Broadcasting Day and Monday will be the first such occasion. All Indian missions abroad will observe the External Broadcasting Day,” Amlanjyoti Mazumdar, Head External Services Division, AIR, told PTI.

“The missions are going to circulate the material that we have sent them to sensitise the listeners in their respective countries about AIR’s external services,” he said.[…]

Click here to read the full article at India.com.

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AIR External Service at odds with MIB over funding & future of shortwave service

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All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

(Source: Hindustan Times via Dan Robinson)

The external services division of All India Radio (AIR) is caught in a turf war between the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), which runs it and the ministry of external affairs (MEA), which is expected to fund it.

While the MIB wants the service to continue and even expand; MEA has been suggesting shutting down the programmes, pointing out that the service offered through short wave transmission has outlived its utility and does not attract listeners abroad, said an MIB official aware of the developments.

According to this MIB official, the service, which was started soon after the outbreak of World War II has emerged as a bone of contention between the two ministries, as the cost of running the shows is high and the MEA has been unwilling to pick the tab.

AIR is a broadcast arm of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and anchors the external services division (ESD).

[…]On the need for the service, the official said feedback from listeners’ abroad acts as “eyes and ears of the government” and allows them a peek into perceptions abroad. “The short wave transmitters are used to send content meant to popularise and propagate Indian point of view on contentious issues,” the official said.[…]

A former Prasar Bharati official who had concurred with MEA’s suggestion to shut down the service told HT: “No one outside India ever hears Akashvani external services — over short wave or medium wave. It’s a waste of public funds. A few years ago as a test case we had asked a few ambassadors to give us feedback on the popularity of the shows; at least two wrote back saying that the frequencies of the programmes in their respective countries could not be found.”

This official went on to add that maintaining short wave transmission installation is a huge drain on the exchequer as they “guzzle power” and the equipment is “expensive to maintain.”[…]

Read the full article at the Hindustan Times online.

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AIR launching Phase II of DRM conversion

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All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

(Source: Radio Mag via Dennis Dura)

AIR Launching DRM Conversion, Phase II

NEW DELHI — All India Radio was recently congratulated by India’s Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Venkaiah Naidu for having completed phase I of the national DRM digital radio roll-out in India. Thirty-seven DRM transmitters have been installed by AIR throughout the country, and all are now operational, according to DRM news.

Of the 37 new transmitters, 35 are medium wave and 2 are shortwave transmitters. Both SW transmitters are for international service and are broadcasting in pure DRM. […]

AIR is now in the process of launching phase-II of the DRM project by offering full features and services from these DRM transmitters and further improving service quality. When Phase-II is complete, the full-featured DRM services will be available to the audience and a public information campaign will be initiated to inform the Indian citizens of the completely new and future- oriented DRM radio platform and its many benefits. […]

Phase-III, as presented by AIR, will eventually culminate in the complete transition of radio services to the digital DRM platform, further improving the number and quality of radio services and extra features for the listeners, while also saving tremendous amounts of transmission power every year, according to the same article.

Click here to read the full article via Radio Mag Online.

While it sounds like the broadcasting side of DRM is progressing with AIR domestically, I haven’t read anything recently about affordable DRM receivers being developed for the market in India (other than possibly the Titus II and Gospell GR-216 which, I suppose, could be imported).

Based on messages I’ve received from readers/listeners in India, any new DRM receiver must be very affordable ($40 US or so) if wide adoption is to be expected.

I believe this is an opportunity for a manufacturer like Tecsun to step in and make an affordable DRM portable for the market in India–something with a simple display and controls. Otherwise, this might be another “cart before the horse” situation for DRM.  That would be sad.

Titus II at NAB

The least expensive portable DRM receiver on the horizon could be the PantonX Titus II (not yet in production).  PantronX has claimed the Titus II will cost “less than $100.”

And speaking of the Titus II, SWLing Post reader, Ed, notes:

pantronX is reportedly going to announce its Titus II Android SDR boombox at NAB April 22-27, which is another indication this radio is for real.

http://www.thebdr.net/hotlinks/mfgr.html

We’ll post updates about the Titus II as they become available. Follow the tag: PantronX Titus II

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All India Radio investing heavily in DRM tranmitters

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All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Pradip, who shares the following story from Radio and Music Biz online:

AIR has acquired 37 DRM transmitters, in talks to get cheaper radio sets

NEW DELHI: All India Radio (AIR) has introduced digital radio technology in the AIR Network by installing new state of the art Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Technology transmitters by replacing old outlived 37 Medium Wave/ Short Wave transmitters.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told Parliament however that the provisions contained in Policy Guidelines on expansion of FM Radio broadcasting services through private agencies (Phase-III) do not provide for private FM broadcasters to adopt digital radio technology.

He said Digital Radio allows significant improvements in service reliability, audio quality, more radio services and higher efficiency.

The new AIR transmitters include 35 new state of art technology Medium Wave (MW)/ DRM transmitters as a replacement of old technology valve based MW transmitters. Additionally, two new state of the art technology Short Wave (SW) DRM transmitters have been approved for installation as a replacement of old SW transmitters.[…]

Continue reading at RadioAndMusic.com.

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