Macedonian Station Tries DRM on AM

A broadcaster in the Balkan nation of Macedonia is experimenting with Digital Radio Mondiale for AM transmission.
A Balkan public broadcaster, in collaboration with Thales and Deutsche Welle, has transmitted 720 kW mean power in DRM mode from the medium-wave station Ovce Pole. The companies say this is the highest DRM power ever broadcast by a single transmitter.
Transmissions were done on 810 kHz with the Thales’ S7HP 1200 kW solid-state medium-wave analog transmitter, in operation at Ovce Pole since June 2002. For the tests, Thales provided front-end equipment from its Skywave 2000 DRM digital line.
DW said it performed measurements of the signal quality and coverage area using a customized van and various fixed control and measurement centers in Europe. DW carried out tests twice a day: three hours during the day to measure groundwave propagation and three at night to measure skywave propagation, while transmitting the program of Macedonian Radio.
The DW measurement van confirmed a daytime coverage area of up to 300 km. The nighttime DRM coverage area reached larger areas of Western Europe.
Participants said the audio quality was “excellent and disturbance free.”