Harris Corporation’s Radio Broadcast Systems business unit recently traveled to Vietnam to participate in a three-day DRM consortium held in Dong Hoi, the capital city of the Quang Binh province. Engineers at Voice of Vietnam (VoV), the radio arm of the country’s state broadcaster TNVN, initiated the conference to educate VoV officials and various government advisers for broadcasters about DRM and its many benefits as a digital radio standard.
The consortium, held July 28-30, was deemed successful by participants, including the VoV’s engineering department. Harris provided a demonstration on the ease of launching a DRM broadcast by converting an operational DX(r) 200 medium-wave AM transmitter to broadcast at 40kW DRM. Various presentations, including a DRM overview by Mr. Trung, director of the Broadcast Engineering Department for VoV, and a discussion on coverage measurements by VT Communications, accompanied Harris’ presentation on transmitter conversion. The DX(r) 200 transmission could be heard 120 Km to the south using professional receivers and 65 Km to the north with weaker aerial and receiving devices.
“Harris’ DRM equipment provided exceptional clarity even in the robust mode needed to maintain coverage. We believe this demonstration confirmed that Harris’ DRM equipment provides the clearest audio quality of any DRM solution on the market today. This is an extension of Harris’ leadership in the high-power medium-wave market that the company has held for many years,” said John Hall, manager, AM Products and Programs for Harris BCD’s Radio Broadcast Systems business unit. “At the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 2005, our customers repeatedly pointed to Harris’ DRM solution as providing the best audio quality at the lowest bit rate. We are very excited about the opportunities that DRM brings to broadcasters, from increased audio quality to additional revenue potential through datacasting that can be obtained with a minimal investment. We look forward to delivering more digital efficiency, audio and data capabilities to international broadcasters as DRM technology matures.”
The Vietnam demonstration is the latest of many that Harris has sponsored or participated in this year, including those in Mexico, South Africa, China, Thailand, Romania, and Australia. Harris, a charter member of the DRM Steering Board, offers a DRM On-Air Upgrade Kit that is designed to make the digital transition as swift and easy as possible for countries that support the format. With the world’s largest installed base of high-power AM transmitters – including approximately 1,500 DX(r) medium wave transmitters and power blocks worldwide – Harris is in a unique position to propel DRM acceptance.
“The Voice of Vietnam is well known in the radio industry as a forward-looking broadcaster, providing on-air programs for international and domestic markets from both its Vietnam-based transmission facilities and third-party network providers around the world,” said Hall. “Broadcasters like VoV are driving DRM acceptance, and Harris has made an effort to provide strong educational background and technical demonstrations to broadcasters considering DRM. We are privileged to have been involved in this important demonstration and similar ones around the world.”
The Harris DRM On-Air Upgrade Kit features a content server to encode audio and combine it with digital program information to create a single bandwidth-efficient digital bitstream that is sent to the modulator. A DRM modulator situated in a rack beside the transmitter accepts the digitally prepared signal, creates the CODFM signal for transmission,
and provides phase and magnitude signals to the transmitter.