Radio Educacion to begin DRM tests in Mexico

The Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transportation has authorized the immediate commencement of a national DRM testing project, to be carried out by Radio Educacion, the country’s public, cultural and educational network.

Jorge Rodriguez Casta_eda, the ministry’s Director General of Radio and Television Systems, made the announcement at Digital Radio Mondiale’sTM first-ever symposium in Mexico City on February 9th.

As he led the “inauguration” of DRM at the event,
Sr. Casta_eda presented Radio Educacion’s Director General, Dr. Lidia Camacho, with the official permit authorizing DRM testing, signed by Secretary of Communications and Transportation Pedro Cerisola y Weber.

More than 80 commercial and non-commercial representatives of the Mexican broadcasting industry heard about DRM’s advantages from a panel of DRM experts.
“As of today, we start testing DRM via Radio Educacion,” said Sr. Casta_eda. “DRM is recognized as the worldwide standard for short-wave. We will study DRM for application in the AM bands, and maybe the FM bands in the future.” (While the DRM system currently covers the broadcasting bands below 30 MHz, the DRM General Assembly will vote on a proposal to extend it to the broadcasting bands up to 120 MHz, at its upcoming meeting in Paris on March 10th.)

The symposium featured a live broadcast of the actual switch of Radio Educacion from analogue medium-wave/AM to DRM, as the Mexican testing process began.
Radio Educacion had prepared a special, 20-minute broadcast for the DRM event. “This is a historic day for Mexican radio,” said Dr. Camacho. “Radio Educacion has been at the vanguard of Mexican cultural broadcasting for 40 years, and we are thrilled to participate in the development of our nation’s digital future.”

“We look forward to working closely with the Mexican authorities and broadcasters, to assist them in their DRM testing process,” said DRM Chairman Peter Senger. “It is more and more apparent that the DRM system provides the right digital solutions for Latin American nations.”

DRM members Harris Corporation and RIZ Transmitter Co. were involved in preparations for the symposium broadcasts. Harris Corporation installed a DRM modulator board within a Harris DX50 transmitter, and RIZ installed a 200 watt SW DRM transmitter system on 25.620 MHz.

Symposium attendees heard DRM live on short-wave courtesy of DRM members Christian Vision (from Chile); Deutsche Welle (from French Guyana); HCJB (from Ecuador), RCI (from Canada), Radio Netherlands (from Bonaire); and TDF (from French Guyana).

Last month, DRM members Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) and RadioScape made the landmark announcement that they are developing software and hardware to support the design of cost-effective DRM consumer receivers. This accelerates the timeline for development of a range of DRM consumer receivers. TI will supply the necessary digital signal processor (DSP) - based digital radio silicon along with RadioScape's software-defined digital radio technology, enabling consumer receivers to have DRM, DAB, FM, short-wave, medium-wave/AM and longwave capabilities.

The World DAB Forum and DRM announced their cooperation in markets of mutual interest in 2003. DRM’s European commercial launch will take place later this year.

The DRM consortium has developed the world’s only non-proprietary, digital radio system for short-wave, AM/medium-wave and long-wave (also called DRM) approved by international standardization bodies for use worldwide.

DRM revitalizes radio with clear, FM-like audio quality and excellent reception, free from static, fading and interference.

More than 65 radio stations worldwide have begun DRM broadcasting. DRM’s Live Broadcasts Schedule and additional information are at www.drm.org (English), and the DRM Koordinations – Komitee Deutschland
web site (German) is at www.drm-national.de.

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