DR111 Test report in German

DR111 Testbericht in Deutsch

Short English Version of the German Text from Harald Kuhl, translated by Peter Senger:

1. General

Function and operation of the radio are well explained and some comments are made

Two line-display is too small
Battery operation not possible
Pushing key "CLOCK" during reception shows the date and time for 2 seconds, better would be permanent show of date and time
Display light goes off after some time during reception, should be permanently ON

2. Radio operation

Explanation of radio operation with the following comment

Integration of MP3-Player from SD- and USB-device should have better been avoided for the benefit of DAB+
During automatic or manual freuqency tuning in all modes audio is suppressed which might be ok for DRM but not for AM (LW,MW and SW) reception
Direct frequency tuning in 1 kHz steps is well done but a ten-number keying would be prefered
Automatic search function is not very useful especially for DRM as the receiver searches also outside of the short-wave bands which takes too much time.

3. Preset

Explanation of the 48 presets with the following comment which is linked to the signal strength indication on the display

4. DRM Reception

The author compared the DR111 with the Morphy Richards/MR DRM/DAB receiver and has the following comments

DR111 has better reception results than the MR, decoding starts a bit earlier and interruption of decoding starts a little bit later
The audio signal from the DR111 lags behind the MR by about one second
In DRM mode an offset of up to 3 kHz is still decoded by the DR111 whilst the MR fails completly
journaline information are well displayed in the DR111 but not as comfortable as with the UNIWAVE

5. AM Reception

The AM(LW,MW&SW) reception of the DR111 is not better than with other DRM-receivers and is in general not good compared to NON-DRM receivers.
Positiv are the six rf-filter possibilities with 3 kHz as a good compromise.
The ferrite-antennas inside the radio are giving only good results if strong transmissions are received.

6. FM Reception

The results are good and especially the audio availability during tuning is welcomed compared to AM.

7. Conclusion

It is at the moment the only DRM-receiver available on the market.
DR111 doesn't giver better results than MR.
The external antenna connection gives the listener the chance for signal improvement by using another antenna. The 3.5 mm Jack-Socket should be improved.
Audio-quality from the loudspeakers is good for speech and acceptable for music.
Update of firm-ware is well done.
The price of 180 € in Germany is acceptable and another step towards a low price receiver.

Video compairing DR111 with other radios

Videovergleich DR111 mit anderen Radios

Some comments to Keith's video:

I agree in general with his findings of low reception quality of the DR111
This was known and seems to be the major problem for all DRM receiver manufacturers as of today
But if the DR111 is used in a better served area such as Europe it gives much better results than Keith experianced in Taiwan
I have linked my web-sites to some recordings placed in youtube which proof that DRM transmissions treceived at the place I am living (South of Cologne in Germany) can be received without interruption from the BBC WS, Voice Of Russia and Voice of Nigeria. I have more stations available such as TDP and REE with excellent reception results.
It was known that DRM is not a transmission for DXing only because of the gracefull degradation. On short-wave a single hopp gives best results for a well defined area and outside of this area the signal is corrupted and not available.
The receivers now available are from the pre-production and still can be improved. All comments are well taken and will be as far as possible taken into consideration.
But what the industry needs is not only a very good DRM receiver but high order quantities for mass production. This will bring the price down.