Tag Archives: HamSCI

2024 Eclipse: HamSCI Roundtable Events

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed Efchak (WX2R), who shares the following announcement:


The Solar Eclipse Is One Month Away!

Learn How You Can Participate in Two HamSCI Roundtable Events

The last total solar eclipse across North America for twenty years will occur on Monday, April 8th. Hams across North America are asked to participate in learning more about how the ionosphere functions by getting on the air to help scientists in a series of ionospheric experiments.

Connect with HamSCI members and curious hams on Wednesday, March 27 at 8PM (Eastern) / 5PM (Pacific)*, or that same day at 10PM (Eastern) / 7PM  (Pacific)* for a Zoom presentation on HamSCI’s Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science (FoEIS).  The presenters will take your questions during the 30-minute presentations.

The link to these presentations is here: https://scranton.zoom.us/j/286316405?pwd=QWdwMlFPbDlYeXg5ZDg1dmYzeFdCUT09#success

The program will start by covering HamSCI’s basis and purpose, quickly moving into why we are conducting experiments, how hams and SWLS can participate, and what we hope to learn from the event.  Along the way, we will discuss why the science behind the events is important to users of the high frequency radio spectrum – including amateur radio operators!

Learn about the HamSCI’s eclipse-focused operating events:

Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP)

Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge (GSSC)

Medium Wave Recording Event

Time Delay of Arrival (TDOA) Event

Grape 1 Doppler Receiver project

…and more!

There is no need to pre-register, create an account or log into any site. Simply follow this link at the date and times above to be taken to a Zoom meeting room, hosted by HamSCI:  HamSCI FoEIS Roundtable Zoom Link

Join us on March 27th!!   Get on the air April 8th!!

HamSCI serves as a means for fostering collaboration between professional researchers and amateur radio operators. It assists in developing and maintaining standards and agreements between all people and organizations involved. Its goals are to advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities and encourage the development of new technologies to support this research.

For more information about HamSCI, to join our mailing list, or participate in our work, please visit us at www.hamsci.org.

###

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HamSCI Reminder: Contribute to ionospheric research during the October 14, 2023 solar eclipse!

Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Nick Hall-Patch, who shares the following announcement:


How DXers can contribute to ionospheric research during the 14 October 2023 solar eclipse

There will be an annular solar eclipse on 14 October, 2023 when, at totality, the size of the Moon’s disk will appear slightly smaller than the size of the Sun’s disk.  This eclipse will affect all of North America, as well as Central and part of South America, as seen in the map below.

AM Broadcast Band DXers know that the blocking out of radiation from the sun during a total solar eclipse can introduce temporary night time listening conditions over an area far beyond the path of totality.

The upcoming annular eclipse is expected to have a similar effect on daytime medium wave listening conditions as would a total solar eclipse, and should not be missed by DXers.  Live listening can be done during the eclipse, as well as recording the entire medium wave band, using SDRs (software defined radios).

There might be more to our DXing results than new and unexpected receptions of distant radio stations, however.  The rapidly changing listening conditions will be indicating a similarly turbulent ionosphere, and DXers’ documenting those listening conditions through SDR recordings could provide information that will be useful to scientists who want to gain a better understanding of the Earth’s ionospheric dynamics.

How can DXers contribute to ionospheric research?

HamSCI is an organization of volunteer citizen-scientists and professional researchers who study upper atmospheric and space physics, and will be interested in examining MW DXers’ wideband SDR recordings made during both eclipses, and indeed, in having DXers assist with HamSCI’s research. In fact, IRCA members contributed to HamSCI’s work about the 2017 total solar eclipse by contributing their DXing results: https://hamsci.org/sites/default/files/publications/2019_am-eclipse2017_hall-patch.pdf

HamSCI is still welcoming experienced medium wave DXers who are using good quality SDRs, especially in the southeastern USA and in Latin America. Please go to https://hamsci.org/mw-recordings/ and discover how to make sure that those DX files will also qualify as scientific data that can become part of the public record.

It will be important to have many participants in this project.  To sign up, please go to https://hamsci.org/mw-recordings/ and discover how to make sure that those DX files will also qualify as scientific data that can become part of the public record.

Those interested in finding out about all the research that HamSCI will be doing during the upcoming eclipses, check out https://hamsci.org/eclipse .  Especially if you are also an amateur radio operator, there are several other ways that you might contribute to the project.

But, even if you can’t contribute to scientific research, don’t forget to get out there and DX during the eclipse. You might be surprised at what you can hear.

 

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How DXers can contribute to ionospheric research during the October 14, 2023 solar eclipse!

Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Nick Hall-Patch, who shares the following announcement:


How DXers can contribute to ionospheric research during the 14 October 2023 solar eclipse

There will be an annular solar eclipse on 14 October, 2023 when, at totality, the size of the Moon’s disk will appear slightly smaller than the size of the Sun’s disk.  This eclipse will affect all of North America, as well as Central and part of South America, as seen in the map below.

AM Broadcast Band DXers know that the blocking out of radiation from the sun during a total solar eclipse can introduce temporary night time listening conditions over an area far beyond the path of totality.

The upcoming annular eclipse is expected to have a similar effect on daytime medium wave listening conditions as would a total solar eclipse, and should not be missed by DXers.  Live listening can be done during the eclipse, as well as recording the entire medium wave band, using SDRs (software defined radios).

There might be more to our DXing results than new and unexpected receptions of distant radio stations, however.  The rapidly changing listening conditions will be indicating a similarly turbulent ionosphere, and DXers’ documenting those listening conditions through SDR recordings could provide information that will be useful to scientists who want to gain a better understanding of the Earth’s ionospheric dynamics.

How can DXers contribute to ionospheric research?

HamSCI is an organization of volunteer citizen-scientists and professional researchers who study upper atmospheric and space physics, and will be interested in examining MW DXers’ wideband SDR recordings made during both eclipses, and indeed, in having DXers assist with HamSCI’s research.

It will be important to have many participants in this project.  To sign up, please go to https://hamsci.org/mw-recordings/ and discover how to make sure that those DX files will also qualify as scientific data that can become part of the public record.

Those interested in finding out about all the research that HamSCI will be doing during the upcoming eclipses, check out https://hamsci.org/eclipse .  Especially if you are also an amateur radio operator, there are several other ways that you might contribute to the project.

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Using Doppler Shift and Time Stations to Detect Solar Flares

A WWV Time Code Generator (photo taken at WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors, Troy Riedel and Jock Elliott, for sharing the following post from Spaceweather.com:

A NEW WAY TO DETECT SOLAR FLARES: Around the world, ham radio operators are experimenting with a new way to detect solar flares–the Doppler Shift method. Brian Curtis of Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, demonstrated the technique on June 20th when the sun produced a powerful X1.1-class solar flare:

Image by Brian Curtis

“I monitor the frequency and field strength of Canada’s CHU time station transmitting at 7850 KHz,” explains Curtis. “During the X-class flare event, I was able to detect the Doppler shift of the station’s carrier frequency (green plot). It shifted by 5 Hz, which is a small change, but very obvious!”

When radiation from a solar flare hits Earth’s atmosphere, it ionizes the air, temporarily boosting the thickness of our planet’s ionosphere. Any radio station skipping off the ionosphere will suddenly find its frequency Doppler shifted (because its reflection point is moving). Shortwave stations such as WWVWWVH, and CHU transmit carriers with atomic-clock grade frequency stability, so they are perfect sources for Doppler monitoring.

Sudden changes in the ionosphere caused by flares or even sunrise/sunset can Doppler shift the frequency of stations like WWV. Image credit: Collins et al (2021) [Original image via HamSci and SpaceWeather.com]

“I have been monitoring radio stations for decades, noting sudden changes in signal strength as a means of monitoring space weather events,” says Curtis. “It is only fairly recently (~4 months) that I started to experiment with monitoring the Doppler shift of HF stations. The June 20th X-class flare event is by far the most dramatic that I have witnessed thus far.”

Would you like to detect solar flares this way? The HamSCI citizen science program has developed a Personal Space Weather Station specifically for Doppler shift measurements. This technique can also be used to study solar eclipsesearthquakes and tsunamis, and much more.

Click here to read the full story on Spaceweather.com, more on EOS.org and HamSCI.org

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Radio Waves: The DLARC, NASA Citizen Science, PopShopRadio DRM to Europe, Hackers Disrupt Russian Radio, and Afghan Radio Closures

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Trevor Robbins and Dennis Dura for the following tips:


Digital Library Of Amateur Radio And Communications Is A Treasure Trove (Hackaday)

Having a big bookshelf of ham radio books and magazines used to be a point of bragging right for hams. These days, you are more likely to just browse the internet for information. But you can still have, virtually, that big shelf of old ham books, thanks to the DLARC — the digital library of Amateur Radio and Communications.

A grant from a private foundation has enable the Internet Archive to scan and index a trove of ham radio publications, including the old Callbooks, 73 Magazine, several ham radio group’s newsletters from around the globe, Radio Craft, and manuals from Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, and others.

There are some old QST magazines and the index to newer ones. You can find catalogs and military documents. We miss a lot of these old magazines and newsletters. For example, RCA’s “Ham Tips” is something you won’t find anything like anymore. Most of the material is in English, but there are some other languages represented. For example, the Dutch version of Popular Electronics is available. There’s also material in Afrikaans, Japanese, German, and Spanish. [Continue reading at Hackaday…]

Ham Radio Operators, We Need Your Help During Solar Eclipses! (NASA)

Ham Radio operators, we’re calling you! Members of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) will be making radio contacts during the 2023 and 2024 North American eclipses, probing the Earth’s ionosphere. It will be a fun, friendly event with a competitive element—and you’re invited to participate.

Both amateur and professional broadcasters have been sending and receiving radio signals around the Earth for over a century. Such communication is possible due to interactions between our Sun and the ionosphere, the ionized region of the Earth’s atmosphere located roughly 80 to 1000 km overhead. The upcoming eclipses (October 14, 2023, and April 8, 2024) provide unique opportunities to study these interactions. As you and other HamSCI members transmit, receive, and record signals across the radio spectrum during the eclipse, you will create valuable data to test computer models of the ionosphere.

For more information, go to https://hamsci.org/festivals-eclipse-ionospheric-science

DRM to Europe (DRM Consortium Newsletter)

The Canadian pop music station PopShopRadio in British Columbia has just announced that they will use the DRM standard to broadcast their best pop music towards Europe on the 5th March 2023 at 2000-2100 CET (GMT+1) on 5875 kHz (85kW) from Wooferton in the UK.

This radio station is specialised in transmissions of well-known pop music from the 60s and 70s or even before that. They are collecting the best tunes from various countries and offer them to the world using shortwave. This time round they wish to also use the DRM standard in SW to be able to reach distant parts of the globe in much better sound quality.

For more details please click here and here.

Hackers Disrupt Russian Radio (Radio World)

Air raid sirens broadcast in a dozen cities

Radio stations in several Russian cities were disrupted on Feb. 22 by the sound of air raid sirens and a warning of imminent missile strikes.

The broadcasts were reportedly heard in Belgorod, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novouralsk, Pyatigorsk, Stary Oskol, Syktyvkar, Tyumen, Ufa, and Voronezh, among other cities. Recordings of the broadcast were shared on the social media network Telegram and reported on by Meduza.

Meduza, an independent news agency now based in Latvia, was forced to move its operations out of Russia during the media crackdown that followed Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. [Continue reading at Radio World…]

Radio Closures Hit Afghanistan Hard (Radio World)

Only 223 stations remain on air 18 months after Taliban regained control of the country

In the 18 months since the Taliban retook full control of Afghanistan, 177 radio stations have gone off the air in the country, displacing about 1,900 journalists and other employees.

In a statement released on World Radio Day 2023, the Afghan Independent Journalists Association noted that during the Islamic Republic period from 2004–2021, there were as many as 401 radio stations operating in Afghanistan. As the Taliban Insurgency increased its control of the country, about 56 stations went off the air before the Taliban took control and reinstated the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Since then, around 120 stations have ceased broadcasting due to economic pressures. The AIJA stated that only 223 stations currently operate in the country.

With these stations going dark, more than 1,900 journalists and media workers are now unemployed in the country, include 1,075 women. [Continue reading at Radio World…]


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Radio Waves: Ireland and Northern Ireland Masses On The Air, Radio History Film, Improving ULR FM reception, UsedRadioMall.com, and Observations Needed for June 2021 Arctic Eclipse

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Shannon, Sheldon Harvey (Int. Radio Report), Jorge Garzón Gutiérrez, and Ulis Fleming for the following tips:


CQ CQ CQ IE —Holy Broadcasting from Ireland and Northern Ireland (DXing.info)

European DX listeners have recently discovered a wonderful new target. On 27 MHz it is possible to receive Catholic mass celebrations from Ireland and Northern Ireland. Hundreds of local churches around the island are broadcasting holy masses live. If you tune in between 27000 and 28000 kHz, you might be able to hear many interesting churches. The transmitter power is usually only 3 watts, so a strong F2 opening is needed. Luckily with the current solar maximum this happens quite often.

How did all this start? This is a fascinating story, told by a Father, who has been helping the idea to become reality.

The broadcasting of Masses was introduced in a rural Irish diocese over 30 years ago when the resident priest was considering a way of reaching out to those who were housebound in his parish. They had access to religious broadcasts on National Radio and TV, but he knew that it was no comparison to a local broadcast. There were many incidents of families coming home from Mass on Sunday and their housebound parent or grandparent had ‘all the news’ (they were aware of all the happenings in the parish) when they arrived home.[…]

Click here to continue reading at DXing.info.

Utica man producing film about the history of radio (The Voice)

Decades before Spotify, Pandora, and even satellite radio, terrestrial (land-based) AM and FM radio reigned supreme. Many listeners, including Utica resident Ron Robinson, idolized the disc jockeys just as much as the artists they played.

Robinson, 51, is working on a documentary film entitled “Radio Dayz… The Movie,” which focuses on the history of radio, including the early days of Detroit radio. “(The film) tells the story of radio through the people who worked in radio,” he said.

Robinson interviewed several well-known radio personalities such as Paul W. Smith, Dick Purtain, Fred Jacobs, Dick Kernen, and more for the film. Robinson, who worked for WJR for 20 years before starting his own production company, has several connections in the industry. He started interviewing for the documentary in 2013.

“Most people think of radio, they think of New York, California, and Chicago, and rightfully so. But, Detroit has been an important and ground-breaking city for the medium of radio,” Robinson said.

The documentary is a chronological look at the history of radio, starting with the first radio stations. It also takes aim at the first radio “celebrity,” Fr. Charles Coughlin. The Detroit-area priest took to the airways in the 1920s and eventually garnered an audience of 30 million to his weekly radio show. Coughlin would later become a polarizing figure as World War II approached. “He’s on the wrong side of history, if you will,” Robinson said.

[]

Improving ULR FM reception (Iberia DX)

Often I get surprised when I listen to the FM Band with my autoradio. It has no bandwidth options, no filters, but sensitivity and selectivity are much better than most of the well-know portables. Mine is inserted into the Skoda console so I have no way to know who manufactured it, the brand/model or its tech specifications. Most of the times I wonder why other portable firmwares does not include, for instance, similar choices like the high speed decoding RDS info. Then I thought… Will be my ULR Sangean DT-800 up to the task?

An autoradio like mine (SKODA Spaceback car) decodes RDS and hears weak signals at once. It is part of a well balanced system: receiver-feedline and rubber antenna on the metallic car roof. My pocket ultralight radios use the earphone cable as an aerial, so even being very good receivers, the antenna is far to be reliable with tricky and changing reception as it depends on the cable position at every moment. Uhmmm! I needed to find a better way to listen using my small toys.

In the shack I had some whips with male BNC and PL-359 connectors, but the Pocket ULR has a 3,5 mm female plug-in, so I found a “female BNC > male jack 3,5 mm” adapter and connected the whip. I chose a telescopic antenna 20/115 cm long folded/unfolded to test the Sangean DT-800T versus the SKODA autoradio, focused on the BOTB from 87,5 to 91,5 MHz. When a long whip is used some unwanted effects come into the scene. The first is related with audio; connecting the whip the sound must be heard via the small speaker so don’t forget to choose a quiet environment not to miss weak stations. The second one is pure physics; due to the whip length, the ULR 3,5 mm female plug-in gets extra strain and that could damage the inner weldings, so extra care must be kept in mind at any time.[]

Read the full article at Ideria DX.

UsedRadioMall.com

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Matt, who shares a link to a radio classifieds site he has created. Check it out!

The UsedRadioMall.com web site lists radios and items related to the subject of radio. The list may include receivers, transmitters, transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, parts, and components related to amateur radio, two-way radio, cb radio, broadcasting, recording, production, and hi-fi.

Introduction
Changes in ionospheric electron density caused by space weather and diurnal solar changes are known to cause Doppler shifts on HF ray paths. For example, see Figure 7 in Boitman et al., 1999. As part of the WWV centennial, 50 stations collected Doppler shift data for the original Festival of Frequency Measurement, demonstrating the value of volunteer participation in collecting this data. This June, we request that all amateur radio stations, shortwave listeners, and others capable of making high-quality HF frequency measurements help us collect frequency data for the June 10 annular eclipse. Researchers will use the crowdsourced data to investigate the superimposed effects of auroral particle precipitation and the eclipse on Doppler shift.

All you need to collect data is an HF rig connected to a computer running open-source software. A precision frequency standard, such as a GPS-disciplined oscillator, is desired but not required to participate. All ham operators and shortwave listeners around the globe are invited to join in, even if your station is far from the path of totality. Last year’s eclipse festivals included over 100 participants from 45 countries. The experiment will run from 7-12 June. All participants will receive QSL certificates and updates as the data is processed. This is a pilot experiment for HamSCI’s Personal Space Weather Station project, which seeks to develop a global network monitoring the geospace environment.

Contact information:
Kristina Collins: [email protected]

Click here to read the full article at HamSci.org.


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Radio Waves: RIP Phil Erwin, Federal Watchdog Targets Pack, Eclipse Festival of Frequency Measurement, and VOA testing DRM

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dave Zantow, Michael Guerin, Eric McFadden, and Dan Robinson for the following tips:


The voice of Phil Irwin will be greatly missed (Rappahannock News)

Where wasn’t the presence of Phil Irwin felt in Rappahannock County?

A constant of virtually all proceedings of the Rappahannock County community and government, cherished innkeeper of Caledonia Farm – 1812, founding member of the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, regional director of the Virginia Farm Bureau, committee member for both Rappahannock County Farmland Preservation and the Agricultural Forestal District, Rappahannock tourism advisory member — for 25 years chief of morning broadcasts for Voice of America (VOA) — Irwin was found dead Thursday at his working cattle farm north of Washington.

“What a contribution Phil made to our county over his many years here,” Huntly friend Ralph Bates reacted upon learning of Irwin’s death. “He will live in our memories as we drive and see how well our viewshed and environment has been protected because of his commitment and work.”

Former Washington Mayor John Fox Sullivan recalled “a good man and such a part of the Rappahannock fabric. His love for this county, and commitment to it, was unmatched.”[]

Federal watchdog finds ‘substantial likelihood of wrongdoing’ by Trump appointees overseeing Voice of America (NBC News)

The federal watchdog’s findings mark the latest rebuke of the Trump-appointed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack.

WASHINGTON — A federal watchdog agency has found “a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” by Trump administration appointees who oversee the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media outlets.

The finding from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent government agency charged with safeguarding federal employees’ rights, marks the latest rebuke of Michael Pack, who President Donald Trump appointed to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent agency to VOA and other broadcasters.

A federal judge last month ordered Pack to stop interfering in the newsrooms of VOA and other media outlets and found that he had jeopardized the First Amendment rights of journalists that his office had targeted for investigation. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and press freedom groups have blasted Pack over his actions since he took over in June, accusing him of undermining the broadcasters’ editorial independence and defying congressional authority.

After reviewing allegations from current and recent employees, the Office of Special Counsel wrote to the whistleblowers Wednesday saying it had demanded Pack and the U.S. Agency for Global Media conduct an investigation into the allegations.[]

The December 2020 Eclipse Festival of Frequency Measurement (HamSCI)

Changes in ionospheric electron density caused by space weather and diurnal solar changes are known to cause Doppler shifts on HF ray paths. For example, see Figure 7 in Boitman et al., 1999. HamSCI’s first attempt at a measurement of these Doppler shifts was during the August 2017 total solar eclipse. We plan a careful measurement during the 2024 eclipse. As part of the WWV centennial, 50 stations collected Doppler shift data for the original Festival of Frequency Measurement, demonstrating the value of volunteer participation in collecting this data. During the June 2020 Eclipse Festival, we enlisted participants around the globe and experimented with different data collection protocols. This winter, we request that all amateur radio stations, shortwave listeners, and others capable of making high-quality HF frequency measurements help us collect frequency data for the December 14 total eclipse.[]

USAGM, VOA Testing Innovative Digital Radio Platform (Inside VOA)

A few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the world, broadcast engineers in Greenville, North Carolina, launched a test of digital radio signals. The U.S. Agency for Global Media began aiming a digital broadcast at Cuba and Latin America, which included Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Voice of America content.

With this 2020 test, VOA embarked on a new phase of global innovation on a platform called Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), a versatile digital signal not well known in the U.S., but the only one that can cover the entire spectrum: shortwave, mediumwave and longwave, as well as VHF (FM). As digital radio emerged in the 1990s, VOA was among the first broadcasters testing a signal that promised to even out shortwave radio signals that often faded in and out and were marred by static.

VOA tested the DRM signal in the 1990s at the agency’s Morocco transmitter site, one of five facilities opened in a period of expansion in the previous decade. However, other digital signals became the standard in various markets around the world. The U.S. standard audio digital platform is called HD.

Around the world, as other digital radio platforms were adopted, DRM was held back by the marketplace. Nobody was making commercially available receivers.

By the end of the 1990s, VOA innovation focused more on television, the platform that promised larger audiences, even in some places in the world where shortwave dominated. By the early 2010s, the rallying cry became “Digital First,” as VOA strived to attract readers for its language service websites and began tapping into the growing audiences on new social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By 2020, however, DRM had come full circle.

“You’re no longer limited to just reading the news or playing music,” says Gerhard Straub, supervisory director of the USAGM Broadcast Technologies Division.

Straub, along with Gary Koster, Broadcast Radio Technician and transmitter expert and Macon Dail, Chief Engineer at the Greenville Transmitting Station, set up the test broadcast in February of this year, not long before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded global travel. The trio put up a DRM signal with Radio Marti and VOA audio along with scrolling text messages and rotating images.

Engineers have received reports of a clear signal as far south as Brazil.

The USAGM test, says Straub, is “coasting along” in the pandemic, but additional content will be added when technicians can travel again. Straub says the VOA signal was taken off in the initial test to concentrate on the OCB digital content and to keep the signal robust. Now that there is good reception data, he noted, the digital bit rate can be increased and VOA content added back into the test in 2021.

Because DRM operates at lower power, more radio stations and digital signals can be broadcast on a single transmitter. The platform is starting to grow in countries of interest to Western international broadcasters. DRM signals will soon cover all of China, though its government is expected to attempt to control the stations accessed by its citizens. India built 39 transmitters and, more importantly, 2.5 million vehicles already are equipped with DRM radios. Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and North Korea all have nascent DRM operations.

Religious broadcasters, who sometimes target audiences similar to those sought by Western governments, are experimenting with the technology. For example, a missionary group, TWR.org, sent the Bible’s Gospel of Mark from Guam to Cambodia via DRM shortwave.

“You have to stop thinking of it as radio, because it’s not,” says USAGM’s Straub. “We are now broadcasting digital data. Just like we broadcast digital data on the internet, we can broadcast digital data over shortwave without being hampered by an internet firewall that maybe limits what we can send to a particular country.”

Reason enough, Straub believes, for VOA to continue leading innovation in a new-again technology.[]


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