I spent a very long time last year attempting to receive shortwave signals encoded with a scheme called DRM, or Digital Radio Mondiale. The process required an SDR and installing software called DREAM and some other stuff. Long story short: I never got it working.
I found on the public LiteMALADSP MLite-880 Facebook group that new beta firmware for the LITEMLADSP MLite-880 includes a DRM decoder. The firmware is a available in the group’s files.
After the firmware update, a new entry, DRM, appears among the modulation types. Google AI says:
Digital signals like DRM require careful gain management. If your signal is overloading, press the “5” button, [next page,] then “2” to access the spectrum/gain menu, and manually back down the gain. Setting it too high can distort the signal and break the digital lock.
Because DRM is a “perfect or nothing” digital standard, the built-in telescopic antenna is often insufficient for clean decoding. For optimal results, connect a high-positioned external random wire antenna or a magnetic loop antenna.🤖
One way to find DRM broadcasts is to search EiBiSpace for “DIGITAL”. Most entries are from China, but a bit from the BBC, France (RTF and RFI), Voice of Romania, Trans World Radio, Radio New Zealand, Funklust (Germany), KCBS North Korea, and the enigmatic Music 4 Joy also from Germany.
Google AI suggested that the easiest catch in Virginia is probably Radio Romania. I checked and found Radio Romania on in digital at 1700 UTC on 12750 kHz, and it was glorious! I was out on the patio with the 20′ WUT (wire up tree) antenna connected.
AAC is the standard DRM audio codec and 11.6 is the audio bitrate. d = -127 Hz is the deviation between the transmitter’s frequency and the receiver’s tuning. DRM-B is the transmission mode that indicates a bandwidth of about 10 kHz. Symbol synchronization of 88% is quite good. Anything above 70% is usually enough for stable decoding.
“Tiganesti E1” on the display refers to a specific shortwave transmitter and antenna configuration at the Țigănești transmitter site in Romania — one of the main facilities used by Radio Romania International (RRI) for its shortwave broadcasts.
Instead of a spectrum display, the MLite-880 shows a Constellation Diagram on the left in DRM mode.
“Imagine the transmitter is throwing darts at a dartboard. Each dart is a piece of digital information. A perfect signal means all the darts hit the bullseyes. Noise, fading, and interference make the darts scatter. The constellation diagram shows where the darts actually landed.”🤖
