The first transmission tests of 18 kHz wide DRM (Digital Radio Monidale) have been conducted in Wellington this week by Radio New Zealand, during an international DRM Symposium.

Radio New Zealand in conjunction with transmitter manufacturer Thales, is hosting the 3 day symposium on the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) system of digital broadcasting at Radio NZ House.

Speakers include technical experts from the BBC, Deutsche Welle, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and Thales. Attendees at the symposium come form the whole of the Asia Pacific region.

The demonstrations, which continue for another two days, include full digital and simulcast transmissions in various modes from a 50kW AM transmitter at Titahi Bay, which is normally used to broadcast the NZ parliament when it is in session.

Topics covered have included an overview of the DRM System and DRM applications in current broadcast bands, plus a discussion of factors affecting coverage & quality.

DRM is increasingly being considered as a possible supplementary transmission technology for Australia outside of metropolitan areas, where it can use existing AM spectrum and achieve greater coverage area with less cost than DAB’s Eureka technology.

DRM does not have the data capacity of Eureka DAB, generating a maximum of only 64 kbits per second at its full capacity, but the codec compression used in DRM is superior to Eureka, allowing more audio and data capacity to be achieved by DRM transmitters.