Tuesday, September 19, 2017

DRM Enterprise Award 2017 (Africa) Winners


South Africa Scores Big Wins as DRM Enterprise Award 2017 (Africa) Winners Announced

The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium is delighted to announce that the recipients of the 2017 DRM Enterprise Award (Africa), has been jointly awarded to Dr Roelf Petersen on behalf of Radio Pulpit (member of the Pulpit Media Group) and Broadcom International, Thembeka Khaka (Thembeka Khaka and Associates) and Johannes von Weyssenhoff.

The award aims to stimulate interest in the DRM standard in various parts of the world that would benefit from the full introduction of digital radio. Radio Pulpit 657AM (member of the Pulpit Media Group) and Broadcom International, involved in the trial of DRM in mediumwave trial, made history by leading the South African radio broadcasting industry into the digital era with the first LIVE digital medium wave broadcast and, thereafter, the first medium wave broadcast trial in Southern Africa.

The other two winners, Thembeka Khaka and Johannes von Weyssenhoff actively contributed and supported a DRM Trial in the VHF Band II for local coverage (DRM+) currently on air, working with Westbury Community Development Centre (WECODEC) serving the disadvantaged communities around the Westbury, Sophiatown and surrounding areas near Johannesburg.

Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Consortium Chair, congratulated the winners: "This is a well-deserved win and good news for Africa and all those involved; the winners have shown dedication, enthusiasm and great support for DRM in South Africa. Through their great passion and dedication DRM could be heard and enjoyed in Africa where digital radio could contribute to education, information, involvement and bettering of so many lives".

The next DRM Enterprise Award 2018 will be awarded to an individual or team in South East Asia.  To qualify for the award an individual needs to be nominated by two credible endorsers aware and ready to testify about the good work of the nominee.

For more information on the award, to get updates on the next award, please write to:  projectoffice@drm.org

About the Winners

Dr Rudolf Petersen, MBA, Dcom and Dip in Industrial relations – Managing Director, Pulpit Media Group - Dr Petersen has 50 years in management specialising in Strategy Management in Media & Military Industry. He spent 4 years in the Middle East (Israel and Jordan) "My life's purpose and assignment is to take the Gospel to every home in SA and further into Africa through the modern media."

Thembeka Khaka, is a social entrepreneur/ activist who is passionate about bridging the digital divide in marginalized communities.  Her focus is strategy, policy, key stakeholder engagement, advisory, and implementation of projects in the ICT sector, having been an active participant in ICT Sector also. "I would like to thank the DRM Consortium, the community that I serve, my advisors and supporters, my family most dear my children."

Johannes von Weyssenhoff, Johannes is a broadcast technology specialist and engineer with focus on digital transmission and receivers. Coming from an IT background, he became interested in DRM in 2001 and joined the German DRM Platform in 2003 after presenting his first self-developed DRM receiver at IFA in Berlin. In 2006, he launched the STARWAVES Carbox – the world's first DRM capable automotive multistandard receiver – as well as the DRM home receiver W37 before he moved to South Africa as a technology consultant for the state broadcaster SABC. Since 2015 Johannes is working with WECODEC, an NGO based in Johannesburg that also operates a community radio station and has launched Africa's first VHF DRM trial in the congested FM-Band of Johannesburg and also developed a proof-of-concept DRM receiver for South Africa.

About DRM

Digital Radio Mondiale™ (DRM) is the universal, openly standardised digital broadcasting system for all broadcasting frequencies, able to cover fully any country whatever its size at much reduced energy costs.

The DRM standard comprises two major configurations one intended for broadcasts on short, medium and long wave up to 30 MHz providing medium to large coverage areas and low power consumption (called 'DRM30'). The configuration for the VHF bands above 30 MHz is called 'DRM+', tailored for local and regional coverage with broadcaster-controlled transmissions

All DRM configurations share the same audio coding, data and multimedia services, service linking, multiplexing and signalling schemes.  DRM provides high quality sound combined with a wealth of enhanced features: Surround Sound, Journaline text information, Slideshow, EPG, and data services.

The DRM Consortium was awarded by ITU for it outstanding contribution to the Telecommunications over the past years and has signed the EBU Smart Radio Memorandum that promotes access to free to air radio on all devices.

DRM can help deliver the mandate of any government: to reach all its citizens with information, education, emergency warnings and entertainment.

For more information and DRM updates please visit www.drm.org or subscribe to DRM news by writing to pressoffice@drm.org.  Click here for the Newsletter with all the latest DRM news from around the world.

(Press Release)

Friday, September 15, 2017

Titus SDR announces a ready for production Titus II multi standard digital radio receiver


Titus SDR, PantronX, Jasmin-Infotech, TWR, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS have teamed up to make Titus II a complete media solution utilizing worldwide engineering in the USA, Germany, India, and Asia.

Titus II, the world's first consumer Software Defined Radio (SDR) digital receiver, is a highly innovative breakthrough platform supporting for the first time true multi-standard radio reception with DRM (AM & VHF bands), DAB(+) and core data applications.
These features are based on a custom Android tablet platform, which features multi-point touch, WiFi/Bluetooth and stereo sound.

Titus II units will be soon available as a stand-alone product from Titus SDR, Inc., and from selected OEMs. As a module, it serves as the full-featured basis for third-party product development

Titus II unit is the team product of Titus SDR addressing the global market, of PantronX providing the platform and RF expertise, and of Fraunhofer IIS enabling the digital and analog radio features.

Titus II receiver features include:

- DRM in the AM bands (MW, SW, LW) and VHF bands (FM-band, VHF band-I, VHF band-III) with latest xHE-AAC audio codec.
- DAB Classic/DAB+ (VHF band-III).
- FM stereo with RDS (Service Signaling).
- AM with AMSS (AM Signaling Service).
- Integrated service list management and service selection.
- DRM/DAB Data Apps: Text Messages, Dynamic Label/DL+, Journaline, (Categorized) Slideshow, EPG, Transparent File Transmission (e.g., for educational services), etc.

- Remote Radio Hotspot: Built-in WiFi hotspot feature, which allows any mobile device with an HTML5 web browser to connect to the Titus II via Wi-Fi, select radio services, listening to aud (HTML5 audio streaming) and accessing all the DRM/DAB data apps.

- Recording feature and Archiving interface to select existing recordings for playback.

About Titus SDR, Inc:

Titus SDR, Inc., a division of PantronX, Inc., markets globally digital media platforms which maximizes synergy of core engineering performed in the USA with worldwide partners and manufacturing in Asia.

For more information visit the Titus SDR website at www.titusradio.com

About Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS:
To learn more about Fraunhofer IIS, please visit www.iis.fraunhofer.de/broadcast

(Press Release)

Friday, September 08, 2017

New Mighty KBC frequency to North America

Beginning Sunday, September 10, 2017 new frequency for Mighty KBC is 5960 kHz at 0000-0200 UTC.

Thursday, September 07, 2017

All India Radio's special transmission for "Mahalaya 2017"

All India Radio's special transmission for "Mahalaya"

Date : 19th Sept, 2017 (Tuesday)
Time : 2225 UTC (18th Sept 2017) to 0015 UTC (19th Sept 2017) * some stations have late sign in and may continue past 0100 UTC

0355 - 0545 IST

"Mahalaya" is a special two hour transmission consisting of Sanskrit recitation & music orated by Late Shri.Birendra Krishna Bhadra. All India Radio has been broadcasting this program since early 1930's . Countdown of Indian festival of Durga Puja starts from the day of Mahalaya.

Frequencies observed during past years :

SW

4760 - Port Blair
4810 - Bhopal
4835 - Gangtok (Irregular)
4895 - Kurseong (Off air now)
4910 - Jaipur

MW

531 - Jodhpur
549 - Ranchi
594 - Chinsurah (Kolkata)
603 - Ajmer
621 - Patna A
648 - Indore A
657 - Kolkata A
666 - New Delhi B
675 - Chattarpur
684 - Port Blair
711 - Siliguri
729 - Guwahati A
747 - Lucknow A
756 - Jagdalpur
774 - Shimla
801 - Jabalpur
810 - Rajkot A
819 - New Delhi A
828 - Silchar
846 - Ahmedabad A
891 - Rampur
909 - Gorakhpur
918 - Suratgarh
954 - Nazibabad
981 - Raipur
1008 - Kolkata B
1026 - Allahabad A
1044 - Mumbai A
1125 - Tezpur
1179 - Rewa
1215 - Delhi National Channel
1242 - Varanasi
1260 - Ambikapur
1296 - Darbhanga
1314 - Bhuj
1386 - Gwalior
1395 - Bikaner
1404 - Gangtok
1458 - Bhagalpur
1476 - Jaipur A
1530 - Agra
1566 - Nagpur
1584 - Mathura
1593 - Bhopal A

Sign on observed by Jose Jacob at different times as follows:

2225 UTC (3.55am IST) 4760,4910, 531, 603, 666, 675, 747, 756, 801, 819, 828, 918, 1044, 1386, 1395, 1530.
2230 UTC (4.00 am IST) 4835, 1404.
2245 UTC (4.15 am IST) 4895
2250 UTC (4.20 am IST) 846
2255 UTC (4.25 am IST) 4810, 621, 648, 810, 954, 981, 1026, 1242, 1260, 1296, 1593.

Please email your observations and receptions reports to :  spectrum-manager@air.org.in

Or,

Director (Spectrum Management & Synergy)
All India Radio,
Room No. 204
Akashvani Bhawan,
Parliament Street
New Delhi 110001, India

Or,



KTWR turns 40 !

KTWR, the powerful shortwave station on Guam, celebrated 40 years of broadcasting hope to Asia on September 5,2017. The Guam team will have a celebration on September 26 to mark the occasion.

More at :  http://www.twr.asia/features/ktwr-on-guam-turns-40

Monday, September 04, 2017

Gospell announces the imminent release of GR-227 digital radio adaptor

Chengdu, China, September 04, 2017 - A new adaptor specifically designed for in-car use that simplifies digital radio on the road will be introduced at IBC by Gospell.

GR-227 is a small, low-cost adaptor that acts as an aftermarket add-on to car stereos receiving high-quality digital broadcast programs and data application, and serving it to the car audio system over a USB cable. Based on software defined radio technology, GR-227 is compatible with DAB, DAB+, DRM and is DRM+ ready. It is also powerful enough to support digital audio decoding such as extended HE-AAC (xHE-AAC).

GR-227 literally works with any kind of car stereos with a USB port. Our patent pending technology allows the adaptor to behave like a thumb drive when plug into a USB port and makes it compatible with most of the music players not only in car but also for home use.

To make the most of GR-227, the Gospell Smart Tune App for Android has been included to add more features. When partnered with an Android powered car stereo, the App not only allows for playback of the broadcast audio program but data application which brings much fun to car entertainment.

By connecting the supplied triple band active antenna which can be attached to the windscreen through the SMA antenna connector, the reception in DRM, FM and DAB bands can be significantly improved, offering maximum flexibility between different broadcasting standards.

Installing the plug-and-play GR-227 adaptor to your car is easy and doesn't require changing your car stereo. It is one of the easiest ways to upgrade your car radio to digital without replacing anything.

The Gospell's aftermarket car adaptor range starts with USB model but more will follow to support more car stereo types.

Haochun Liu, DRM director, Gospell, said: "By leveraging SDR, we can now combine multiple broadcasting standards together to offer flexibility and cost advantages, coupled with easy installation without the necessity of buying a new car stereo as in traditional solutions."

For additional information, please visit www.goscas.com or contact Gospell sales at linx@gospell.com

About Gospell
Founded in 1993, Gospell Digital Technology Co Ltd (GOSPELL). is a private hi-tech enterprise with R&D, manufacturing, business consultancy and planning, trade, delivery, project implementation and after sales service, acting as a complete DTV and triple-play solution provider for Digital TV/OTT related projects. Headquartered in GOSPELL INDUSTRIAL PARK at Chenzhou, Hunan Province for CPE related production manufacturing, GOSPELL also has its office in Shenzhen for business/marketing management and administration, in Chengdu for R&D and headend/transmitter system production/debugging and Customer Service Center, and in 12 cities in China as well as international offices in India, Africa and Mexico.

(Press Release)