World Radio Tv Handbook 2004 [antikvár]

FEATURES Editorial Editorial DIGITAL BROADCASTING The major feature of this year from our viewpoint is that digital radio seems finally to have come of age. This is a very exciting development. In Europe, and elsewhere in the world, it is now possible to see DAB as a mainstream delivery method, while in the United States the Sirius and XM satellite digital delivery systems continue to increase market penetration. Our articles outline the current status on both these systems and review some receivers associated with them. Our debates here at WRTH, however, are increasingly concerned with where this technology is going to lead. It is now possible to envisage programming from international broadcasters being delivered by satellite to local DAB multiplexes. Rather than listening to FM feeds in the small hours of the morning, full programme schedules from the world of international radio would be available for selection on relatively low-cost portable receivers. This scenario would obviously impact on the DRM project, and one imagines it was touched on in the recent discussions held in Germany on the development of receivers capable of decoding both DAB and DRM broadcasts. We hope that during the next year production models of DRM-capable receivers will become available so that this strand of the digital broadcasting future can move on from its current phase. So what of analogue broadcasting and reception? We are sure it will be with us for many years to come, in all countries of the world. The future is obviously digital but it will be very long time before analogue transmissions cease. DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAMMES We were intrigued by a recent press release from the Panos Institute in London annnouncing the launch of the InterWorld Radio website. Subscribing stations can visit the site to download feature programmes of an audio quality suitable for broadcast on MW, SW or FM. This will certainly help local stations to address global issues at a very low cost, and seems to us to be another example of how digital systems are changing the world of broadcasting. Harnessing the power and reach of the internet to allow information to be spread by analogue broadcasting systems is an ideal way of overcoming the inequality of digital access in the world. REVIEWS & ARTICLES Following requests from readers, we have added reviews of headphones, adaptive speakers and a seriously good loop antenna to our usual run of receiver reviews. Our only regret is that no new heavyweight HF receivers have been released over the past year. Perhaps all the manufacturers are working on their DRM circuitry and we will hear the results during 2004. We also have extensive articles on Setting up a Receiving Station and Antennas. These are both a response to readers' requests and the start of a new series of WRTI-i articles on the basics of the art of radio receiving. BINDING Many of the letters and emails we receive from readers ask about the physical aspects of WRTI-I, and there is evidently concern about the binding. Will the pages fall out, and why will it not lie flat? The pages will not fall out because it is both sewn and glued. We work with our copies of WRTH every day, and by bending it back on itself you can make the pages lie flat without doing any damage to the book. PRIZE DRAW RESULTS These winners were again drawn by members of the British DX Club. RESULTS OF THE WRTH 2003 PRIZE DRAW » • -c •c t c otoo ^ ^ ^ ' ODECUCO - • O-i-iwiao O C C The Roberts R827. First prize in the WRTH 2003 Prize Draw FIRST PRIZES G Lamontagne, Canada S Facal, Argentina P Kool, The Netherlands RUNNER UP PRIZES (Copies of WRTH 2004) J Winslow 111, USA M Leinhos, USA M Budd. UK S Izyumov, Russia W Whitmore, USA I hope you enjoy reading and using this new edition of WRTH as much as you did the last. Nicholas Hardyman Publisher