11 Jul DRM Local Coverage (DRM+) Trial in South Africa – Final Report Published

The final report on the very successful DRM trial for local coverage (DRM+) undertaken between March and October by the Johannesburg community station Wecodec (Westbury Community Development Centre) has been presented to the regulator in South Africa.  The publication of the report coincides with the open hearings of the South Africa regulator taking place in Johannesburg.

The executive summary underlines that the DRM broadcast did not interfere with the analogue FM transmission of neighbouring stations. “The audio decoding was possible at almost all predicted areas showing a similar of better behaviour than the FM audio reception of the analogue signal transmitted from the same site. The power consumption was also much lower than in FM.”

The DRM Wecodec trial report is a significant document demonstrating the capability and great benefits of DRM for local and community stations, now very much in focus in South Africa.

The Westbury Community Development Centre (WECODEC) serving the disadvantaged communities around the Westbury, Sophiatown and surrounding areas near Johannesburg conducted the DRM+ trial broadcasting BBC content.  WECODEC were granted an 8-month licence by the regulator ICASA.

Click here for final report.