#carindustry — Public Fediverse posts

How DRM are the Shortwaves?

When you go by the stakeholders, DRM is really serious and potentially profitable business – why else whould they stick with it for so long? Then again, when you go by the time its global adaptation has taken so far, it’s a rather dull triumphal procession. According to Peter Senger’s website, the mid-1990s were the starting point of practical tests. DRM, like many technologies, seems to have originated from military use, but became available to civilian use with the end of the Cold War. The DRM consortium was founded in 1998, and DRM as a transmission standard was approved at the ITU’s World Radio Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2003.

Information about DRM in India can be found here (February 2024). I think the statement about VHF/FM coverage alone (59%) vs. VHF/FM and medium wave combined at 90% is generally interesting. So the rest appears to be internet, shortwave, or nothing (with shortwave as the least likely candidate, at least within India).

A point against internet streaming is that growing success would spell exploding costs for the broadcaster. At that moment, DRM (on VHF/FM or mediumwave) could become a relevant technology (if there are people listening). Young people could be the most likely early adopters. But would they listen?

The same question for China. If there was demand, much of it could be met with the incomes available. DRM has indeed become a national standard. But the mandatory inclusion of DRM radio reception in every new car doesn’t necessarily mean that people actually use it. Streaming or analog FM may be alternatives. For sure, DRM counts as emergency mass communication technology. In a way, DRM seems to return to military or paramilitary use again there. DRM, even on VHF/FM, could become a reserve technology, pretty much like classical shortwave in China.