Welcome to the DX Extra Extra on the future of radio.

The future - it’s looming upon us, but what will be the future of radio, will shortwave be around in 20 years or more and how will we hear local radio. In this special edition we will try and go forward in time to answer these questions…. [Dr Who Theme.]

At the present time shortwave radio is still very active, the BBC is planning to cut back some transmissions – Radio Canada International has even smaller amounts of funding and the Chinese continue to use their Jammers aganst foreign broadcasters. England continues with the Lincolnshire poacher and Cuba still uses its Spanish lady. I wonder why these stations still broadcast when we know spies use much more sophisticated technology these days. 

It just shows shortwave at present in 2008 is still a medium that many people listen to. Even VOA still sends propaganda in various languages including on Radio Sawa to the Middle East and other countries. [Audio sample of radio sawa.]

The future of shortwave is currently being tested out – Digital Radio Mondial plans to digatalize shortwave radio so the band at least won’t be empty, and instead will be booming with mp3 high quality interference free clear radio broadcasting. Let’s have a listen to a demonstration of DRM being heard in Europe. This sample was recorded by a WinRadio DRM capable receiver tuned into Radio Luxembourg. [luxembourgDRM.wav] 

According to the DRM website the qualily on shortwave is FM radio quality in either mono or stereo options. [http://www.drm.org/broadcastmanual/summarytable2.php] My only concern is that maybe the quality is not good enough for the future. 

But before we can say DRM is the future we must not forget the other option – Satellite radio aka XM. In America is the XM satellite boom as well as Sirius Satellite Radio. These transmissions are via a communications satellite and can cover the whole continent. The downside of course is when you’re in a multi-storey car park or a building and loose the satellite feed. But that problem may be fixed in the future with terrestrial repeaters on skyscrapers in case you are going thru tunnels etc. It may also be able to assist inside buildings. 
Can we even be sure DRM will be the option for the future when we have satellite radio and the internet too? The advantage of Satellite radio is that the companies can charge you a subscription fee, just like with pay TV and make big profits. But DRM and the internet do not. Saying that the internet may soon also be charging for it’s content. 

In general Satellite radio has more stations and has more potential business wise. I’m not happy thou to have to pay for radio at all. The question is which one will win – DRM or satellite radio. It’s important to remember that both involve a substantial cost. DRM radios and satellite radios are not cheap $400 US up to $800 US – that’s around $433 to $867 Australian dollars. One will be free meaning no profits while the other will gain many dollars. There is no answer to which one will be dominant but I have a feeling money matters will be a major plus for its expansion in the next 5 to 10 years in different countries. DRM does seem to be moving slowly in it’s usage by other stations, Radio Australia has not said a word about trials instead focusing on satellite broadcasting to the Asia/Pacific region. Radio New Zealand seems to be ahead of the world with many many hours of broadcasts in DRM, maybe 18 a day. Not sure how many people tune in but it’s great news. Currently the BBC, RCI, Radio Japan, RAI Italy, DW Germany and Radio Netherlands are participating with DRM tests. 

I wish I could give you an answer to the question – I don’t know who will be the winner, all we can do is wait a see. 

Moving on to radio in Australia, DAB plus (DAB+) technology is currently on trial in Sydney and in under 12 months, starting January 1st 2009 Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide will all have access to free to air DAB plus radio. The ABC and SBS stations are investing tens of millions of dollars into the new venture and other stations are considering digital radio. Digital Australia dot com dot au says “Digital radio represents a breakthrough ‘multi-media experience’ – delivering text, images, extra advertising information, crystal-clear sound and bonus-channels. To broadcasters, digital radio is the most significant development since FM radio.  Leading retailers are describing it as the most exciting development in audio since the arrival of the CD a quarter-of-a-century ago. Australian listeners in metro areas will get to experience even more of the world’s best radio from 1 January 2009.
Australia has adopted the upgraded broadcasting technology (DAB+) which will maximise the use of the spectrum and influence the number and type of services that can be delivered to the listener.   (Many countries which began digital broadcasts with DAB are now looking to upgrade to DAB+ which offers two to three times capacity.)
Some pictures are on the website showing what it looks like with a logo and a ‘now playing’ picture in a radio. Go to www dot dx dot hriradio dot org 

Digital TV in Australia has been around for a while now, we started it nationally in 2001. It is still however 7 years later still not available in High Definition. This will soon change as the Government has made a deadline for analogue transmissions to be switched off. Consumers will have until the end on 2011 to get a digital set top box and hopefully by next year we will have HDTV operating in Hobart. There were a few rumours going around saying that SDTV will be extinct soon and replaced by HDTV only. These are false, SDTV is planned to stay for people who are simply using a SD set top converter box and HDTV for the Plasma or LCD screen viewers. Not saying you can’t use them the other way around too. 

In America 2006 was the original date to go digital, but that was changed to Feb 18th 2009. Many Americans are still unsure what digital TV is but do not need worry, 85% of their population have pay TV. Australians on the other hand are not so willing to pay for TV, only 26% have it.  These dates are an obvious sign that digital is the way to go. And with a decline in FM radio listeners it would seem a digital boost is what we need. Digital this and Digital that, the digital era is here and the future is digital radio DAB in Australia and HDTV watched on your Plasma TV. But the future is also going to have to fight over digital Satellite radio and DRM – can both live in harmony? Will one or the other go? And the same with Satellite TV and Digital TV – can they stay? Can the radio communications around the world stay free? Let’s hope so! 

The internet is the other medium where radio and TV are, at present teenagers and many computer literate people are reading News online, shopping online, banking online, dating online, downloading music online and listening to radio online. This the other side of the coin – the battle gets more intense as Satellite and Terrestrial methods of delivering information are in competition with the binary code. Shortwave stations such as Radio For Peace International have not resumed shortwave radio, RTE in Ireland decided to stop shortwave services, instead opting for satellite and internet broadcasting. This could destroy shortwave although the lifejacket of DRM is keeping it afloat with options for the future.    

And finally UHF and VHF communications are in the future also digital. Hobart has a few services already using digital UHF on around 800MHz. It is also commonly called “Trunked” radio where CTCSS is an option. It’s basically a filter that will block out any foreign transmission from the channel you’re using. This means multiple companies can use the same channel and not hear each other. Digital encryption is the other awful truth for scanning hobbyists. The Tasmanian Police is planning to go encrypted in 12-14 months and it will be impossible to decode. In the future all radio communications will be digital and most encrypted to stop people tuning in. 

Again I hear this word called ‘Digital’ it’s everywhere and it will be the future. Say good bye to analogue, and say goodbye to the days when you could listen to a frequency without it being encrypted. The future is already here, many options and competitors. We have choices which will impact the world. Say hello to digital videophones, GPS navigation systems, wireless internet, BPL, Blu-Ray DVDs, electric powered cars, humanoid robots and many many more new technologies. Let us now return to reality – materializing back to 2008.  Enjoy the options you have, grasp and fight for the ones you love and remember it’s all now called digital!

Copyright 2008 Hobart Radio International. All Rights Reserved. No part of this transcript may be used. See www.hriradio.org/copyright.htm for more details.