BNR Digital on 9400 kHz

[Digger]

Hi all,
BNR moved to 9400 kHz, but the text messages say 9.700 MHz and the time is not right either. The reception improved after 1500 UTC when the co-channel AM station went off the air.

[FritzWue]

Fadeout at 15:30 UTC:

[Digger]

Oh, I haven't been on this frequency for quite a while. Not much of a signal here either a bit later on.

[Digger]

It faded out here around 15:20 UTC this afternoon.

[Digger]

At the beginning there was a carrier wave in the middle of the channel causing slight problems. The rest was more or less perfect. Then at 1525 UTC the BNR signal just disappeared.

[mitajohn]

Hi all,

Out of the target area, too close to the TX site, fast deep fading and QRM gave for an hour the attached result.

[Digger]

When I tuned in there was a lot of co-channel QRM which shattered the SNR Spectrum. After a while it became less disturbing and the 1h42min log ended up with 97% CDA.

[Digger]

Unpleasant audio today, two channels at the same time is not nice to listen to. :confused:

[simone]

Good results today.
Simone

[Digger]

Still problems in the beginning when there is a carrier on the channel. The rest was fairly good.

[drmdab]

The bitrate of 22 kbps is simply too much for this unstable signal. Some good moments, but many many parts with hard fading! So please, decrease the bitrate to somewhat around 15 or 16 kbps or beam a stronger signal into my receiver... :)

[sveron]

Hello,

Yes, too variable signal, so no chance to catch a reliable signal with the high bitrate. I was just able to identify the french programme on 1700 with a few words.

Stephane

[FritzWue]

Quite good reception tonight although there were some inconsistencies.
SNR Max 30.9 dB in DRMcalc is simply wrong, will not search the csv file for the reason.
The SNR is low and TX limited, and at 22kbps sometimes the audio drops out although the SNR shows no change.
As stated before by drmdab e.a. either the bitrate should be reduced for this low SNR signal or (better!) the modulation should be improved towards higher SNR.

[FritzWue]

Still on winther schedule?
SNR limited by TX
Bitrate too high for actual audio quality

[FritzWue]

They need a better audio feed.
This quality actually is also achievable in AM.
No need to go digital at that level.

[drmdab]

@FritzWue: Hö? I listened to BNR Digital some days ago and the audio-quality was even better than at BBC & DW!?

[FritzWue]

@FritzWue: Hö? I listened to BNR Digital some days ago and the audio-quality was even better than at BBC & DW!?

Sorry, not tonight at 14.76 kbps!

[drmdab]

Oooops, mixed up my impressions with the afternoon edition. Sorry, Fritz!

[FritzWue]

Oooops, mixed up my impressions with the afternoon edition. Sorry, Fritz!

No problem.

The audio level was also too high with distortion at peak level.
I think it is better to report the truth than to be euphoric about DRM. ;)

[mitajohn]

Hi all,

Although too close to the TX site and out of the target area, I got the attached result for 90 mins.

[Digger]

Not bad at all. Haven't been here for a while... The log was unattended. ;)

[Digger]

A little bit longer log tonight. Almost perfect results.

[Digger]

Very good here in the morning. The dips in SNR were probably some local PC overload.

[Sixten]

Hi all.


Good signal from start but drop to end of transmission.

[drmdab]

My first log on BNR Digital 9400 kHz with 10 kHz BW and lower bitrate. The log is on the German broadcast only and unstable. :(

[mitajohn]

Hi all,

A strong signal suffered by deep and fast fading gave a perfect result for 30 mins.

[mitajohn]

Hi all,

Strong signal suffering by QRM gave a bit problematic result for ~30 mins.

[Per]

Hi,

A lot of txt messages from BNR:
Bulgarian National Radio via SpaceLine Ltd
Prgram Horizont in Bulgarian:
Fri: 04.00-07.00 on 9400kHz and after 15.30 towards EU
Sat,Sun: 06.00-09.00 on 11900kHz and 09.00-09.30 'Euranet' Towards EU

Listening time: 04:11-05:03 UTC. Fairly unstable signal resulted in a CDA of 75 %.

[Sixten]

Hi all.

Good signal in start but after 0440 propagation go down and signal stringth is low. Audio is only 5Khz BW .

[Digger]

Not so strong signal and unreliable decoding. The first half hour was good; the rest rather unstable.

[mitajohn]

Hi all,

A rather strong signal today but with deep fading gave the attached result until it turned very weak.

[simone]

Quite good results for the first 1.5 hours, no need to use only 9kHz bandwidth, later some problems but don´t know the reason, did not watch it at that time, maybe interference?
Simone

[drmbulgaria]

Hi Simone,
Thanks for listening this one too. Seems that we have obtained an improvement on all the frequencyes according to your reports.
This frequency is sometimes interfered by other stations nearby, that's why we took a decision to decrease the bandwidth, in order to minimize the effect - sometimes it works, sometimes not.
We are thinking for increasing the BW to 10 kHz back again and maybe increase the bitrate of the service...

73's
Ventsi

[drmdab]

Hi all,

a log on the Russian broadcast today. There was a weak AM carrier nearby so 9 kHz was a wise-choice I think.
Anyway 71% CDA here only outside the target area (which was Russia actually).

Edit: Please find also the logs of the foreign language broadcasts below. Good programe content but no stable reception all the time.

[Sixten]

Hi Ventsi.

This evning was BNR one and only DRM station ,play her i Sweden .
Very good signal, log start 1816 to 1852. 1849 propagtion totaly blackout. :confused:

[Digger]

The same segment at my place. Roughly the same pattern. Abrupt ending.
The second log is the whole log from 1630.

[Digger]

Too much splatter from AM 5 kHz up :mad:

[simone]

Good conditions again this morning, sorry only a short log.
Simone

[drmbulgaria]

Good conditions again this morning, sorry only a short log.
Simone

Seems that AM to DRM splattering on this frequency is vary bad, otherwise preforms good. We did some local obeservations, but monitoring outside helps a lot !
Thank you!

73's
Ventsi

[Sixten]

Hi Ventsi.

This freq is not fan for DRM 2 very strong AM splattring, DRM from BNR is strong but this AM fade up 20db over BNR and stop DRM . Last 15min of transmission.

[Sixten]

This log is only info for Ventsi, how big problem is on this freq.

Log start 1628 now give 9390 VOA big splatter over DRM cannel to 1700 UTC .

1700 Problem now is strong AM start on freq 9305. :mad: :mad: AM this AM is +10 to 20db over DRM signal.

[Ant-SWL]

Hi all,

clear channel in the evening near Munich! Signal strengh was ok, no fading inside logging time. Good audio quality :)!
"Micro-Dips" on SNR line by problems with Elektor SDR and Onboard-Soundcard :o. I stopped the log 1800 UTC to check this.

[Digger]

I logged from 18 UT till 19 UT with 47% CDA. There was a strong splattery TX 5 kHz down. AM +/- 5 kHz is no good anyway, never mid if they splatter or not.

[petecchiaro]

20 min log from rome; no reception. Quite strange moduletion schema
(9kHz,A 64QAM prot 2/0). Probably a 10kHz prot 1/0 would be more proper for a SW broadcasting

[Sixten]

Good morning Ventsi.

Log this morning 1h ,perfect signal no AM splatter . AM this time +20 and -30Khz from 9400. Only short brake of my antenna signal !!!!

[simone]

Pretty good results this morning, no problems with interference.
Simone

[simone]

A few dropouts in the last 50 minutes yesterday morning.
Simone

[simone]

Quite good results with a few small dips due to PL 3.
Simone

[simone]

Lower SNR and bad results today.
Simone

[drmdab]

Not very stable today, better decoding started at about 1700 UTC, right when the German broadcast was finished... :rolleyes: Would be interesting to see the two broadcasts 30 minutes shifted.

Nice greetings in the text-message! :)

[stef]

bad results here in the center of belgium,strange drm configuration.:confused:

[Sixten]

Hi all.

Very good reciption her in Sweden today , only small probelm of dropouts for strong AM on 9395Khz ,BNR have very good audio in mono.

[Sixten]

Good signal this evning but strong splatter from 9395. Give small dropouts.

[Brendan1]

I wish this one started before sunrise in Bulgaria, it might be easier to get here!

A very short log and ID screenshot. The first time I saw this broadcast, I really had to check the bandwidth: I'd never seen a 9kHz wide DRM signal! With that 23.62kbps speed I'll never be able to hear anything here... :(

[drmbulgaria]

^ Brendan,

Thanks for trying in USA!

Seems, that you are too far away for us - at least for this transmission, power, antenna and bitrate. Maybe in some better conditions with lower bitrate and mode D... but i've run some calculations and i do not see any chance for something more than a text message

Best 73's de LZ1HST
Ventsi

[simone]

Seems there was a short break in transmission at 0600, otherwise perfect results this morning.
Simone

[drmbulgaria]

Thanks Simone ! There are really a lot thunderstorms these days in Sofia, could be a short poewer outage ...

73's

Ventsi

[Sixten]

Hi Ventsi an all.

Very good signal this evning, only small dropout for strong splatter. Log1h 25min.

[Brendan1]

Hi Ventsi,

I have suffered from the radio listener's disease called DX fever for many, many years. No matter how impossible it may seem to be, I will always try to get that elusive broadcast that is not meant for me, especially when it is DRM!

It might be easier when the winter season comes once again, I will of course try again then.

[simone]

Some dropouts at the beginning of my log, perfect decoding in the last half hour.
Simone

[drmbulgaria]

Hi Ventsi,

I have suffered from the radio listener's disease called DX fever for many, many years. .
Hi Brendan,
What a coincidence - so, am i :)
It is good to know that someone from that distance is trying to pick our broadcast up, please keep that way... I am just wondering, you seem to be a good respondent, maybe we can try mode D with you, we are really curious!

73's
de LZ1HST, Ventsi

[drmbulgaria]

Some dropouts at the beginning of my log, perfect decoding in the last half hour.
Simone
10x, Simone,

The drops may be due to the propagation, i guess ... or perheaps a splatter.
You are our best monitor, thank you very much for the feedback - we cannot always be in the forum, in order to reply, but we really appreciate all the information coming from your side !

Greetings !
Ventsi

[mitajohn]

Hi all,

Of course, not intended for my area and too close to the TX, but sometimes the reception is good without too much fading. The transmission stopped at 16:00 for a min and then came back for a couple of minutes, finally ended at 16:04.

[Digger]

The last one and a half hours. 351 lost MSC:s caused a lot of dropouts. :confused:

[simone]

Quite good in the first hour, some problems with interference later.
Simone

[Owdjim]

My log from yesterday from here in NZ.

Cheers, Chris

[simone]

Problems probably due to interference from 0530- 0615, good results for the rest of the time.
Simone

[Digger]

40 minutes from last night, 23rd. I still can't see why they need to run 23 kbps - it makes the whole thing unstable. :confused:

[simone]

Good results last night.
Simone

[simone]

Some dropouts due to thunderstorms at the beginning, also a carrier 5 kHz up (see attachment), later good results.
Simone

[simone]

Some dropouts today.
Simone

[simone]

Great results apart from a problem at 05:18.
Simone

[FritzWue]

Good reception tonight:

[simone]

Results from Friday (Aug 6th), perfect once again.
Simone

[simone]

Some interference in the second hour today.
Simone

[simone]

Great results today.
Simone

[simone]

The frequency did not work in the first hour, almost perfect results from 0520.
Simone

[simone]

Pretty good results yesterday apart from the last 15 minutes.
Simone

[stef]

Good decoding here today despite fading and the strange drm configuration.:rolleyes:
Thanks for the greetings:)

[simone]

Quite good results from 0515.
Simone

[RichD790]

My Multyradio had no problem with this transmission from Radio Bulgaria in the evening on 9400. No technical specification but had three reception bars out of five (with no proper aeriel) with lots of text here in southern Sweden

[simone]

A weak signal at the beginning, perfect results from 05:50.
Simone

[simone]

A weak signal in the first 40 minutes, then good results.
Simone

[simone]

Almost nothing received in the first hour, also a few dropouts later.
Simone

[simone]

Nothing received in the first hour, some dropouts alter.
Simone

[simone]

No signal here until 0620, also some dropouts later, btw text messages were empty.
Simone

[simone]

No signal here again until 0620, good results then.
Simone

[FritzWue]

High intermodulation/ bad rf signal quality results in low snr:

[simone]

Signal appeared about 12 minutes earlier than the past weeks, a few dropouts and quite low MER from the Tx.
Simone

[simone]

Decoding started at 0609 this morning, some dropouts today.
Simone

[simone]

No decoding until 0617, a few dropouts later and I guess an 8 minute Tx break at 0637.
Simone

[simone]

Decoding started at 0606, some dropouts then, no problems in the last hour.
Simone

[simone]

Decoding starting already at 0540 today.
Simone

[Digger]

Perfect reception here this morning. Only one lost MSC.

[simone]

Signal appeared at 0551, perfect results then.
Simone

[simone]

A weak signal at the start, quite good from 0552 with some dropouts.
Simone

[simone]

Not sure what caused these two deep dips, maybe a local problem.
Simone