Vatican Radio carried out DRM+ trials on VHF band II in Rome during December 2011 on frequency 103.8MHz using 200W RMS. The frequency allocation came from GE-84 agreement and the transmission was performed by switching the broadcast to digital during timeslots which were free in the normal program schedule. The digital transmitter used the same antenna system as of the analogue and was combined with other 3 FM frequencies. The antenna, located in Vatican City, is a 10 bay omnidirectional system elliptical polarized. During tests coverage measurements and coverage comparisons between analogue and digital have been performed.

Support for the trials was provided by other DRM Consortium members.  Nautel provided a VS1 FM/DRM+ Transmitter and VS-DRM Digital Exciter. Fraunhofer IIS supplied a Fraunhofer DRM ContentServer R5 – Professional Edition, for the DRM+ multiplex signal generation. RFmondial provided an LV6m DRM+ Modulator and a DRM+ Measurement Receiver Professional.

The results will be published soon.