Trials of DRM+ in Band III have begun in Germany on 1st of February. State Centre for Media and Communication Rhineland-Palatinate(Landeszentrale fuer Medien und Kommunikation, LMK) and the University of Kaiserslautern (south west Germany)are using a DRM+ transmitter with a power of 100 watts in VHF Band III (174-230 MHz) to determine whether the DRM+ system together with DAB/DAB+ are suitable for Band III. The VHF band III was allocated for digital broadcasting at the ITU Regional Administrative Radio Conference, RRC-06.
Before a DRM+ transmitter radiates in vacant frequency channels in the VHF Band III, the compatibility between DRM+ and DAB+ channels in this bands needs to be assessed. Such an evaluation should be performed especially for mobile reception at high speeds. The cooperative project of LMK and the University should shed light on these issues. The results of this experiment are due to be published in spring 2010.
DRM+ is an enhancement to the Digital Radio Mondiale system above 30 MHz. DRM+ has been approved by the European Standards Organisation – ETSI.
