Attendees of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) annual meeting had the change to test the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) system with their own ears.

The conference drew 58 attendees, some coming from as far away as Singapore and Russia, to the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Indiana. The DRM USA Group met concurrently with the NASB meeting.

"We were able to receive all four signals, including the HCJB signal [from Ecuador] at only four kilowatts. It was good audio quality," stated Brent Weeks, a design engineer with station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, according to an event summary by organizers.

NASB said attendees heard test broadcasts from HCJB; Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Montsinéry-Tonnegrande, French Guiana; Radio Vaticana in Santa Maria di Galeria, Italy; and Radio Canada International (RCI) in Sackville, New Brunswick, all of which are part of the DRM Consortium.

"We were getting a good reception of our digital shortwave where normally, with an analog broadcast, it would be marginal at best," Weeks said in the summary. "It shows the potential of the digital shortwave medium for long distances and low-power broadcasts. You can go farther with a clearer signal," according to the summary.