Dual Audio Services Christmas Night

 On 25 December KTWR will broadcast our regular DRM programs to China at 10:57 UTC and Japan at 12:00 UTC with two audio services.  The Chinese program will be available in either Mandarin or Cantonese and the Japanese program in either Japanese or Korean.  Both will be on 9910 kHz.  To accommodate both channels we will be using 64QAM modulation rather than our usual 16QAM.  This will raise the threshold SNR for reception by about 4dB.  If you have difficultly receiving the signal, please use your best antenna and eliminate local noise sources (florescent lights, PC power adapters, ...).  The 11:29 UTC Japanese program, The Word Today, will be broadcast in the single audio/ 16QAM format.

Christmas Broadcast Update

Hi again. We ran into some unexpected interference with our 11860kHz DRM broadcast at 1358-1428UTC. As of this Friday, 10 December, we will move it to 11890kHz. We hope this will greatly improve the SNR in central India.

73 and have a great Christmas de KTWR

New DXers Diary Contest

 Dear listeners of DXERS DIARY,

• Starting this week, we will be conducting a contest until 6 February 2022.

• During these 2 months, listeners who send regular reception reports for DXERS DIARY will be eligible to take part in the contest.

• 5 winners will be randomly drawn from this group of participants.

• They will win a special code with which they can download the Starwaves DRM Radio mobile application, free of cost. This will allow them to listen to their favorite DRM radio stations on a mobile phone.

• DXers Diary would like to thank the DRM Consortium and Starwaves for sponsoring the gift.

• Please send your reception reports to dxersdiary@gmail.com.

Remember that this program is aired at the beginning of KTWR's 1028-1056UTC DRM broadcast on 15200kHz every Sunday.

73 from KTWR

KTWR Christmas Broadcasts

We have good news for you. (Actually, our broadcasts are always about good news.) Since the dual-language test that we did for China worked, we are going to broadcast special simultaneous Mandarin/Cantonese DRM programs on Christmas evening at 1057-1127UTC on 9910kHz. (This is during our normal China DRM broadcast.) We will also do simultaneous Japanese/Korean programs in our DRM broadcast the same night on 9910kHz at 1200-1230UTC. (I am sorry that I had mistaken told you that we were doing these languages in the test a few weeks ago.)

We also have an additional DRM broadcast to announce. For 1-26 December, KTWR will broadcast programs from God-Centered Life (GCL) on 11860kHz at 1358-1428UTC toward South Asia. These programs are from different series that GCL has produced. I have looked at the descriptions of the programs and they look quite interesting. We hope you enjoy them, too.

73 de NH2MS and KTWR

KTWR B21 DRM Broadcast Schedule

 

Sorry we have been late in updating the DRM broadcast schedule for KTWR. That turned out to be a good thing since we had to change one of the B21 frequencies back to what we had in A21. Here it is:

KTWR Digital Broadcasts

 

 

DRM broadcasts (Effective 7-November-2021):

 

                                                                           Designated

Day              Time (UTC)        Frequency        Coverage Area         Language

Saturday     1100-1127          9910 kHz            China                       English

 

Saturday     1128-1230          9910 kHz            Japan                      Japanese, English

                         

Sunday        0957-1026        15200 kHz           India                        South Indian languages

Sunday        1026-1056        15200 kHz           India                        English

73 from KTWR

Last Test of the Season

While we are very close to the B21 broadcast season, we have one more DRM test to try this season. We want to verify that we can broadcast dual language services with our automated playout system. (Years ago, we proved that we could broadcast dual language services with a more manual approach.)

On 30 October, the English block to China at 1100-1130UTC will be replaced with Mandarin and Cantonese. The English part of our Japanese broadcast at 1200-1230UTC will be replaced with Japanese and Korean. This test will be only for one day. All audio will be computer-generated, so it may sound slightly unnatural.

Running dual languages requires KTWR to use MSC=64QAM instead of our normal 16QAM. This will require a better SNR to decode than what is currently required. Current solar conditions appear to be good for this test.

Please let us know how reception goes for you.

73

Update on New India DRM Block

 Hi again,

We are very encouraged by the responses to the first broadcast of the newly expanded non-English block for India on DRM. We hope that adding the new language groups in our DRM experiment will be a blessing to those who have been largely left out until now.

There are no major changes expected for this 0957-1026UTC block going into the B21 season, except for the frequency. The B21 frequency will be 13800kHz. This takes effect 31 October. If the sunspot numbers continue to outperform Cycle 25 predictions, we may need to change back to 19 meters at some time early next year. We also wanted to let you know that it has been determined that fifth Sunday blocks will be all in Tamil. 

Have a great time DXing. 

New Languages for India DRM Block

When the AI-generated Tamil broadcasts end this month, KTWR will again increase its DRM air time to India. Starting the first Sunday of October, we will air human-voiced programs on DRM in the non-English block to India. Instead of starting at 1014UTC on Sundays, the broadcasts will start at 0957UTC. End time for the non-English block will remain at 1026UTC. The languages and times will be as listed below:

1st/3rd Sundays                               2nd/4th Sundays

Tamil - 15min                                   Tamil - 15min

Malayalam - 7min                            Telugu - 7min

Kannada - 7min                               Hindi - 7min

5th Sunday programming is currently TBD.

We realize that the non-Tamil language segments may seem very short. The point of these broadcasts is to include more people in the DRM tests we are doing. It is also hoped that there will be more demand for DRM-capable receivers in these language groups.

All KTWR DRM broadcasts to India will remain on 15200kHz for the rest of the A21 season. For B21, which starts 31 October, DRM broadcasts to India will be on 13800kHz. 

73

Tamil DRM test

For quite some time, we at KTWR have been hearing pleas for DRM broadcasts in the Tamil language. We have a source for programs (Thank you GRM) to air as an experiment that starts 22 August and ends 26 September 2021. The broadcasts will be on Sundays at 1014-1026UTC on 15200kHz. (That is just before our English DRM broadcast to India.) Power will be 90kW.

73 from KTWR

KTWR A21 DRM Broadcast Schedule

Sorry we have been late in updating the DRM broadcast schedule for KTWR. Here it is:

KTWR Digital Broadcasts

 

 

DRM broadcasts (Effective 28-March-2021):

 

                                                                             Designated

Day              Time (UTC)        Frequency        Coverage Area         Language

Saturday     1100-1127         9910 kHz             China                        English

 

Saturday     1128-1230         9910 kHz             Japan                      Japanese, English

                         

Sunday       1026-1056         15200 kHz           India                        English

73 from KTWR

Japanese DRM Time Extension

 Hi Everyone,

    We found some more Japanese programming that we can broadcast to Japan. We are keeping the English program that we currently air, so KTWR will switch from airing a 30-minute block to airing a 1-hour block for Japan. Effective 13 Feb. the new broadcast time for the Saturday DRM block will be 1130-1230UTC. The frequency will remain at 9910kHz. Power is 50kW and the antenna beam heading is 350 degrees from Guam.

    73 de KTWR