Translate:
 

NewStar DR-111 – review

NewStar DR-111 – review

George Ross, Frequency Manager at KTWR Guam, Trans World Radio writes about his recent experiences of using the NewStar DR-111

“Along with some other colleagues I purchased one of the Chengdu DR-111 receivers as they first became available. We were very interested at KTWR Guam to see how this receiver performed, and the potential for being a receiver for the listener’s here in the Asia region as the DRM broadcasts start to increase.

Our first test was to listen to RNZI DRM broadcasts. The distance of the transmitting station to us is over 6500 kilometers. The reception proved to be very impressive. We compared both RNZI’s analog transmissions and DRM transmissions aired at the same time. The receiver picked up both and of course the DRM broadcasts were excellent FM quality.

We had some test broadcasts we needed to do to establish our own broadcast footprint, first to India, as we are determining our best meter band option for coverage. We wanted to do a broadcast focused on inner city as well, so our second test was to Hong Kong.

Test 1: When we switched to DRM mode we decided for our test coverage to NE India that we would use full stereo mode 64QAM and see what type of reception we would get. We did a master in the studio with high quality music score for this determination. The results were astounding. We found our broadcast footprint monitored with very good reception from Kathmandu in the north through Bangalore in the south. The audio files sent to us that were recorded with the DR-111 proved to notably pick up the high studio quality.

Test 2: We did a ‘grey line’ broadcast to Hong Kong. For this we did a mono broadcast in 16 QAM. Instead of a sketchy analog reception, when we switched over to DRM the broadcast received by the DR-111 was good FM reception with no drop outs. Of course the telescopic antenna had to be put out a window. But the listening location was surrounded by high rise buildings.

I would recommend the DR-111 as a viable receiver. In comparison with a couple more expensive models, I would say that this radio out performed them”.

For more information visit the Chengdu NewStar website