2003 Reception

Date & Time
UTC		 Frequency
kHz		 Broadcaster Site Broadcast Details Screen/Graph Audio Solar Indices
SF/A/K		 Log File Rcvr Loc
2003/12/17 08:4815440DWSinesDW Radio, Sines. Just a couple minutes of good reception before being blocked by China Radio. 20.9 kbps audio, plus news headlines using the text stream.

4m 8s
106/13/3View Tawa
2003/12/16 09:4517700DWSinesDW Radio, Sines. My 1st reception using V2 of DRM Software Radio. Classical music & news – good reception.

23m 46s
101/27/3View Tawa
2003/12/15 00:00On Monday December 15 the DRM specification changed. This is probably the last chance to incorporate advances in audio coding techniques before the mass production of chips starts and the system becomes fixed.

The upgrades are mainly related to the audio source coding part of the standard. They increase the audio quality of the DRM system, and align it with existing, open, audio codec standards.

Specifically, the DRM system upgrades:

  • Change the SBR implementation to the MPEG-4 format
  • Replace the low complexity stereo tool with the parametric stereo tool
  • Introduce the combination of HVXC and CELP speech coders with SBR
  • Implement the MPEG-4 scalable syntax for the audio source coding
2003/12/07 05:0015255RNWBonaireRNW Bonaire, 20 kbps stream to NZ. Poor reception.

8m 8s
109/23/2View Tawa
2003/12/03 12:0021780RNWBonaireRNW Bonaire, 9 kbps stream to SW Europe. Only a couple of minutes of reception.

1m 26s
 View Tawa
2003/12/03 09:2017700
17710		DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal. Very good reception of 17.4 kbps streams beamed to Europe. On 17700 kHz until 11:00, then on 17710 kHz.

1h 40m 13s
 View Tawa
2003/12/02 11:0017710DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal. Very good reception of 17.5 kbps stream beamed to Europe.

49m 18s
143/10/3View Tawa
2003/12/02 10:1017700DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal, to Europe. Good reception of 17.5 kbps stream. Some interesting Mongolian folk music during the last 30 minutes.

41m 38s
143/10/3View Tawa
2003/11/30 05:0015255RNWRNW English 20k stream. Very good quality audio at times, but lots of dropouts.

50m 30s
 View Tawa
2003/11/29 05:0015255RNWRNW English 20k stream. Poor reception.

45m 13s
 View Tawa
2003/11/27 09:4517700DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal, to Europe. When decodable the 17.4 kbps stream sounds very good.

30m 5s
 View Tawa
2003/11/25 11:0017710DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal, to Europe. When decodable the 17.4 kbps stream sounds very good.

34m 11s
177/10/3View Tawa
2003/11/25 09:4517700DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal, to Europe. When decodable the 17.4 kbps stream sounds very good.

40m 32s
177/10/3View Tawa
2003/11/20 09:2521790RNWFlevoRNW, Flevo, Netherlands. “DRM for ABU & AIR” test to India. Only a couple of minutes of very broken audio decodable.

55s
155/14/5View Tawa
2003/11/17 07:4017650BBCNakhon SawanBBC Asia Relay Station, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. 11.6 kbps English stream to India. Only a couple of minutes decodable.

2m 54s
104/34/4View Tawa
2003/11/16 05:0015255RNWRNW English 20k stream. Same reception as yesterday. Interesting doco about Marconi – who apparently had similar reception problems 🙂

40m 43s
98/35/5View Tawa
2003/11/15 05:0015255RNWRNW English 20k stream. Very patchy reception, but that bit rate does sound good when it works.

28m 40s
99/38/3View Tawa
2003/11/13 06:4517650UNIDNakhon SawanTest transmission from Nakhon Sawan, Thailand, to India. Faint signal, detectable at times, but no decoding.

99/30/5View Tawa
2003/11/07 11:0517710DWSinesDW Radio, from Sines, Portugal. Quite good reception of 17.4 kbps English broadcast to Europe.

49m 17s
 View Tawa
2003/11/06 06:306095RTLJunglinsterRTL Luxembourg – just a few seconds again, together with "RTL – Digital Dynamite" text message.

7m 23s
 View Tawa
2003/11/05 06:006095RTLJunglinsterRTL Luxembourg. Just a few brief bits again. The DRMcalc graph shows clearly the peak in propagation.

3m 15s
 View Tawa
2003/11/04 06:306095RTLJunglinsterRTL Luxembourg. Just a few brief bits of the AAC SBR lc stereo 17.4 kbps stream.

2m 53s
167/12/2View Tawa
2003/11/03 09:1021675DWTrincomaleeDW Radio to Europe from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. 11.6 kpbs AAC mono stream. Weak, intermittent signal.

6m 46s
190/24/2View Tawa
2003/11/02 11:3521780RNWBonaireRNW Bonaire to Europe. Briefly detectable, but far too weak & unstable for any decoding.

210/21/2Tawa
2003/11/02 06:206095RTLJunglinsterRTL Luxembourg. My first decoded audio after months of trying! Only a few seconds though. But it was still “Radio Luxembourg on DRM” :-)) AAC SBR lc stereo 17.4 kbps stream.

2m 56s
210/21/5View Tawa
2003/11/02 05:0015255RNWBonaireRNW Bonaire. Strong signal, Very good audio decodable from today's AAC SBR mono 20.9 kbps stream. Just a few dropouts. Very good quality for a 10kW DRM signal across the Pacific.

58m 15s
210/21/5View Tawa
2003/11/01 05:0015255RNWBonaireRNW Bonaire. Strong signal, but no audio decodable from AAC SBR lc stereo 20.9 kbps stream.

249/65/4View Tawa
2003/10/12 11:0515440DWSinesDW Radio from Sines, Portugal. Very strong signal, but no audio decodable due to a strong signal from AWR Guam on 15435 kHz.

106/4/1View Tawa
2003/10/12 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW from Bonaire. Excellent reception today of this test tranmission to New Zealand & Australia. Some of the best reception I've had of this broadcast.

1h 3m
106/4/0View Tawa
2003/10/11 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW from Bonaire. Good reception to NZ.

1h 2m 50s
112/4/0View Tawa
2003/10/08 03:1511955BBCSackvilleBBC via Sackville, Canada. No audio decoded. Typical reception of this signal here at present.

 View Tawa
2003/10/07 18:453995DWWertachtalDW Radio, Wertachtal, Germany. No audio, but id decoded. Thunderstorms are a problem on this frequency, not to mention daylight here!

 View Tawa
2003/10/04 06:0021675DWTrincomaleeDW Radio, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Just a brief few seconds of sync, but the first time I've seen any sign of this tranmission.

120/16/2View Tawa
2003/10/01 17:457125DWWertachtalDW Radio, Wertachtal, Germany. Frequency occupied by VOA News Now, from Udorn, Thailand, here, but the DRM id was decoded during VOA fades.

 Tawa
2003/09/27 12:3015440DWSinesDW Radio, Sines, Portugal. Poor reception due to an AM station on the same frequency, but one I haven't received for a while.

24m 7s
131/25/1View Tawa
2003/08/24 19:409855SAWATangiersRadio Sawa via IBB Morocco

17m 37s
116/24/3View Tawa
2003/08/24 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Excellent signal strength at the end of the broadcast.

1h 2m 7s
 View Tawa
2003/08/23 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Only fair reception today.

1h 1m 37s
 View Tawa
2003/08/21 06:0021675
15440		DWTrincomaleeA bit of cheating here 🙂
These are recorded via the internet from a DRM receiver in Hungary:
DW Radio via Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
DW Radio via Sines, Portugal		52m 40s
14m 56s
 Hungary
2003/08/20 19:409855SAWATangiersRadio Sawa via IBB Morocco

17m 5s
 View Tawa
2003/08/17 19:303965ADDXJulichSpecial ADDX DX program via Deutsche Telekom, Julich, Germany. Good strong signal for the analogue version of the program, but I was not able to decode any audio from the DRM version. The audio clip is from the end of the analogue part of the broadcast.

47s
(Not DRM audio)
127/13/4View Tawa
2003/08/16 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Only fair reception today.

55m 56s
131/15/3View Tawa
2003/08/14 19:459855SAWATangiersRadio Sawa via IBB Morocco

16m 44s
130/17/3View Tawa
2003/08/10 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Good reception.

1h 6m 22s
 View Tawa
2003/08/04 03:3011955BBCBBC World Service to North America. A lower bit rate today (18.4 kbps) but still a poor signal here in NZ.

52m 43s
 View Tawa
2003/08/03 03:3011955BBCBBC World Service to North America. Poor signal.

7m 55s
 View Tawa
2003/08/02 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Good reception.

1h 1m 57s
107/36/4View Tawa
2003/07/31 19:459855SAWATangiersRadio Sawa via IBB Morocco

14m 49s
 View Tawa
2003/07/29 10:5213755
15440		DWTangiersA bit of cheating here 🙂
These are recorded via the internet from a DRM receiver in Hungary:
R Farda & R Free Asia via IBB Morocco
DW Radio via Sines Portugal		11m 51s
9m 53s
 Hungary
2003/07/21 07:0011865RCISackvilleRCI/CBC. Variable reception.

1h 42m 12s
 View Tawa
2003/07/21 03:2511955BBCSackvilleBBC World Service via Sackville, 11955 kHz. Just a few minutes of audio before Vo Turkey powered-up.

5m 22s
 View Tawa
2003/07/15 07:0011865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International/CBC from Sackville. One hour of French then two hours of English programming. Excellent reception for the whole 3 hours. 20.9 kbps AAC SBR stream. I've edited all the RCI ids into one loop.

All 3 hours:
3h 0m 18s
Id Loop:
7m 17s
1st hour:
59m 59s
2nd hour:
59m 21s
3rd hour:
1h 0m 28s
127/19/3View Tawa
2003/07/13 19:409855SAWATangiersRadio Sawa via IBB Morocco in Arabic. AAC mono 9.4 kbps.

18m 9s
122/36/4View Tawa
2003/07/13 07:0011865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International/CBC from Sackville. 14.5 kbps AAC stream. Good at the beginning and end of the transmission, but nothing in the middle.

1h 16m 54s
122/36/3View Tawa
2003/07/13 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Signal not as strong as the previous day.

59m 14s
122/36/4View Tawa
2003/07/12 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Very good reception except for a couple of dropouts.

1h 4m 39s
122/40/5View Tawa
2003/07/10 08:3011865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International/CBC from Sackville. Loop of RCI ids, "SpotLight" featuring barbershop singers, CBC Radio News, then "Global Village" world music program. Excellent world radio programming with good reception using only a 14.5 kbps AAC stream.

1h 29m 19s
126/5/2View Tawa
2003/07/08 19:409855SAWATangiersRadio Sawa via IBB Morocco in Arabic. AAC mono 9.4 kbps.

18m 22s
133/17/2View Tawa
2003/07/08 08:2511865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International from Sackville, English programming to Europe. AAC mono 14.5 kbps.

1h 31m 26s
 View Tawa
2003/07/03 07:0011865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International from Sackville, French programming to Europe. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Good reception for 20 minutes.

29m 25s
 View Tawa
2003/07/01 19:459855IBBTangiersIBB Morocco, 9.4 kbps Arabic.

14m 21s
131/14/3View Tawa
2003/06/30 07:2011865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International from Sackville, French programming to Europe. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Good reception for 20 minutes in AM mode (not recorded), then 20 minutes of DRM signal before fading away.

23m 19s
127/25/4View Tawa
2003/06/29 07:0011865RCISackvilleRadio Canada International from Sackville, French programming to Europe. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Good reception for 45 minutes, then faded.

45m 8s
124/33/3View Tawa
2003/06/29 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. A few brief bits of audio decoded, but basically unusable signal.

31m 32s
124/33/3View Tawa
2003/06/28 09:4011865RCISackvilleRCI/CBC 14.4 kbps stream to Europe. Very choppy reception – pretty much unlistenable.

11m 13s
124/34/4View Tawa
2003/06/28 06:0015110MOIAl Kabd"Super Station FM 99.7 Radio Kuwait" peaking nicely for 15 minutes or so for the English news and weather at 0600 UTC, before disappearing into the murk. 14.3 kbps stream.

20m 15s
124/34/5View Tawa
2003/06/28 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Marginal reception for 20 minutes, then the signal sank like a stone – this frequency hates it once the sun sets here.

26m 1s
124/34/3View Tawa
2003/06/24 19:459855IBBTangiersIBB Morocco, 9 kbps Arabic.13m 43s
115/25/2View Tawa
2003/06/24 06:4015110MOIAl KabdRadio Kuwait AAC mono 11.6 kbps. Faded out after 5 minutes.

10m 15s
114/22/5View Tawa
2003/06/22 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Marginal reception for 15 minutes, then "faded" out.

16m 40s
115/28/3View Tawa
2003/06/19 19:4513730DWSinesDW Radio via Sines, Portugal.

16m 44s
120/45/2View Tawa
2003/06/16 20:159595BBCRampishamBBC from Rampisham. Unable to decode any audio, but screen capture shows id as BBC Radio K'woo, which James Briggs translates to "BBC Radio Kingswood Warren", the BBC R&D centre in Surrey. Thanks James!

129/31/4View Tawa
2003/06/16 19:456095RTLJunglinsterRTL DRM test from Luxembourg. Too poor to decode any audio, but the signal was detectable for a few minutes prior to 20:00 UTC.

129/31/4View Tawa
2003/06/16 08:0011865RCISackvilleRCI Sackville, Canada to Geneva. AAC 11.6 kbps. Normal RCI programming today.

16m 5s
129/31/3View Tawa
2003/06/15 19:4513730DWSinesDW Radio via Sines, Portugal. 20.0 kbps classical music. Good reception.

17m 31s
129/31/5View Tawa
2003/06/15 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Good reception.

1h 3m 5s
134/46/5View Tawa
2003/06/15 03:0011955BBCSackvilleBBC World Service via RCI Sackville, Canada. Unable to decode any audio.134/46/5View Tawa
2003/06/14 07:1511865RCISackvilleRCI Sackville, Canada to Geneva. AAC 11.6 kbps. Fair reception.

23m 51s
24m
151/21/4 151/21View View Tawa
2003/06/14 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW Bonaire to Aust/NZ. Signal was detectable, but too poor to decode anything.151/21/4View Tawa
2003/06/14 03:3011955BBCSackvilleBBC World Service (though the tag said "RCI to Geneva") via RCI Sackville, Canada. AAC 11.6 kbps. Blocked by Voice of Turkey 03:45 UTC.

19m 37s
151/21/4View Tawa
2003/06/12 19:4013730DWSinesDW English from Sines, Portugal. Excellent reception of 20.9 kbps AAC SBR stream. SNR peaking at over 27.

14m 59s
193/22/4View Tawa
2003/06/12 06:4511865RCISackvilleTest from RCI Sackville, Canada, to Geneva. This was some of the best DRM reception I've had here in New Zealand, helped by them playing music I like 🙂 Reception was a mix of 19.9 & 17.4 kbps rates. Most of the dropouts are due to my experimenting. Apparently this transmission was also providing excellent reception in Europe.

34m 2s
54m 16s
193/22/2View Tawa
2003/06/09 19:409855SAWATangiersTest from IBB Morocco, relaying Radio Sawa programming. AAC mono 11.4 kbps.

15m 22s
158/19/4View Tawa
2003/06/07 03:0011955BBCSackvilleBBC WS from Sackville to North America. AAC SBR 19.9 kbps. Only a few brief bits of audio decodable.

51m 51s
126/12/3View Tawa
2003/06/04 19:309855SAWATangiersTest from IBB Morocco, relaying Radio Sawa programming. AAC mono 11.2 kbps

18m 56s
106/20/3View Tawa
2003/06/02 03:5011955SackvilleExample of the interference between the DRM test from Sackville and the co-channel AM broadcast from the Voice of Turkey as heard in AM mode

8m 19s
112/18/3Tawa
2003/06/01 03:4511955BBCSackvilleBBC WS from Sackville to North America. No audio decoded. Blocked by co-channel signal from Voice of Turkey 03:50 onwards

113/20/2View Tawa
2003/05/25 03:0011955BBCSackvilleBBC WS from Sackville to North America. Only a few brief bits of audio decoded. Blocked by co-channel signal from Voice of Turkey 03:30 onwards

12m 3s
117/21/5View Tawa
2003/05/24 03:0011955BBCSackvilleBBC WS from Sackville to North America. Software id's it, but it never got strong enough to decode. Blocked by co-channel signal from Voice of Turkey 03:15 onwards

118/15/3View Tawa
2003/05/18 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Starts good, but gradually deteriorates during the broadcast.

1h 5m 12s
102/10/1View Tawa
2003/05/17 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. Unable to decode any audio today.

103/9/2View Tawa
2003/05/11 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia. The first few minutes are marginal and the recording shows what happens when the s/n ratio isn't quite good enough. Reception improved after the first few minutes.

1h 3m 5s
gg 93/31/4View Tawa
2003/04/13 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia1h 2m 40s
102/8/3View Tawa
2003/04/12 11:0015440DWSinesDW English. AAC SBR mono 20.7 kbps. Test transmission originating from Sines, Portugal.

35m 24s
103/14/2View Tawa
2003/04/05 04:3015400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia

1h 2m 36s
153/24/4View Tawa
2003/03/30 04:5515400RNWBonaireRNW English. AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Test transmission originating from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to New Zealand & SE Australia

38m 24s
155/21/4View Tawa
2003/03/29 04:386010RCISackvilleBBC W/S test tape from RCI Sackville. AAC SBR 17.4 kbps

13m 31s
147/22/4View Tawa
2003/02/04 16:0021760BBCTest transmissions from BBC to Africa – nothing heard Tawa
2003/02/03 14:0021760BBCTest transmissions from BBC to Africa – nothing heard Tawa
2003/01/27 10:009780BBCRampishamBBC World Service brought to you by VT Merlin Communications from Rampisham HF station UK. Audio AAC SBR 21.6 kbps

27m 27s
125/17/1View Tawa
2003/01/26 06:0212025RNWBonaireMusical sample from the above broadcast.1m 15s
 Tawa
2003/01/26 06:0112025RNWBonaire15 minutes of different bit rates from the above broadcast.15m 47s
 Tawa
2003/01/26 06:0012025RNWBonaireTest transmission from Radio Netherlands Bonaire to New Zealand and SE Australia. Audio format varies. For the first 15 minutes it's AAC 14.5 kbps. The next 15 minutes appears to be a test of various rates from 6.0 to 34.7 kbps as reported by the software. The remainder of the program is at 14.5 kbps. Dutch language.

55m 39s
129/26/3View Tawa
2003/01/25 10:4515170RNWBonaireTest transmission from Radio Netherlands Bonaire to SW Europe. Audio AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Reception improved during the last 15 minutes.

14m 37s
130/15/5View Tawa
2003/01/25 10:0015170RNWBonaireTest transmission from Radio Netherlands Bonaire to SW Europe. Audio AAC mono 14.5 kbps. Reception was not good enough to listen to.

3m 49s
130/15/5View Tawa
2003/01/25 06:0012025RNWBonaireTest transmission from Radio Netherlands Bonaire to New Zealand and SE Australia. Audio AAC SBR mono 20.9 kbps. Dutch language.

52m 53s
130/15/5View Tawa