WORLDSPACE (tm) (Digital Satellite Radio)
Yet another Digital Radio System??
Almost.....WorldSpace is something that is better then DRM, DAB and so on, its more universal.
WorldSpace is Digital Satellite Radio - It broadcasts from 3 Satellites (Afristar, AsiaStar and AmeriStar) - Each 'bird' has 3 beams, each of these can transmit up to 50 or so channels of FM quality (as it uses MP3 compression) stereo sound.
In the UK, we are on AfriStar Beam 1 - and we get quite a lot, things like the World Radio Network, to a 24hr a day american radio music station Radio Voyager (also on the net) - if you can get more than one beam (or in some cases more than one Satellite) you can increase the number of stations you can hear many times over!
You can pick up receivers VERY cheaply now, i remember reading a review of the Hitachi KH-WS1 in SWM - they reckoned that it cost about £300 and you could only get them from Europe!
A month later, and SimplyRadios of Purley got a batch in and dropped the price to £100 inc P&P - so I got one !
As far as size goes, the Hitachi isnt small - but there again, its a first generation receiver - It has FM/MW and SW, although Shortwave reception is limited, and there are gaps, and the bands stop in odd places (you can't get the BBC WS on 12.095 MHz) - but its not like I bought it for that.
After i opened it up, i remembered something - the South side of my house is all wall, and the landing window is obscured by neighbours Leylandi - to quote Mark & Lard - "no need!"
First tests were good - i had to set it up on the kitchen worktop - feed cable out the catflap, and stick a small patch antenna in the middle of the garden..........But i got a signal...WRN 1 America - Skipping through the stations, I came across Radio Voyager, in stereo - sound quality was great!
You have to remember, they use a variant of MP3 - so sound quality can sound a little flat, or tinny on some stations on WS, especially Radiosud, which sounds like its been taken off medium wave, fed down a poor quality phone line to the uplink site, when you hear it it sounds terrible.....All in all, it sepends on the bitrate the station are using and the WS RX's can cope with
There are other features as well - Decryption for one - Yup, there is soon to be pay channels, or channels you need a Password for - how does this work? - Each WS Receiver has an in-built ID no - my guess is, you send them the ID no, and they just stick that number in the header of the packet (if you're not following, go and read-up on TCP/IP and networking!) and/or you get a PW that you enter into the receiver.
You can search by Language Type (about 30) or programme type, much like RDS/EON
FM is good - Radio 1 through some headphones sounds OK to me!, MW is alright - but i'm not big on MW, i mostly use it to listen for DX......Overall the WS1 sounds good, with a good signal!
The KH-WS1 comes with 10 memories for WS, 10 for FM, 9 for MW and 10 for SW (5 per band) - It has direct frequency entry on all bands except WS, theres a clock, an on-off timer, Line Out for connecting to a hi-fi, or PC, and an external data port....
This is where WS comes into its own..........At the moment, the multimedia services aren't available in Europe, but basically, using a card, your receiver and some software - You can download multimedia content via WS, at 128kbps! - this content is at the moment mostly aimed at Africa, where it is used to deliver educational and current affairs type content - but word is they're looking at full Internet at some point in the future - you'd still need a phone line, but thats only to send, the data would come down via the WS satellites.
Question is - will it last??? - in my belief Yes! - WS has great potential, if the BBC pull their finger out and put Radios 1-5 on Worldspace - especially if they put them on all 3 beams on all the satellites (World Service is already there) that'd be great - i went on holiday without an SW receiver once and hated it, trying to get FM or MW DX on a cheap radio wasn't good - Imagine being sat on your hotel balcony in France, with Radio 1 in FM quality. That and the fact it brings digital radio to the masses, cheaply and portably could be good.
Out of the box the WS1 is multi voltage, and also accepts 4 D Cells, and when you put these in, the radio weighs a ton! - as its a first gen RX, i think i'll forgive that, but perhaps some sort of internal (replaceable) Ni-Cad for clock and memories would have been good.... According to the review at Radio Netherlands, when receiving WS on batteries the battery consumption almost doubles, haven't worked out how much time you'd get on a full set of batteries!
The radio also accepts input from a mains adapter or in car adapter, but before trying WorldSpace in the car, do remember that unless you either drive south, you'll have to re-position the antenna all the time - In car receivers are in development.
If you are lucky enough to have a window or similar facing south, you should get a good enough signal no probs - however you can get an external Yagi antenna from most dealers - i just need to find time to put mine up!!
Final Verdict: Its good - as to whether it kills Shortwave stone dead is another matter, personally I can't understand why there is little suport for WorldSpace -it has global potential, and its cheap - just a note to any stations out there considering going on Sky Digital....WorldSpace is far cheaper!!!, Radio Caroline are considering going on Worldspace - and looking at the figures, it costs something like a 6th of the price of Sky to go on Worldspace - plus (apparently) if Caroline score the deal with WS, they intend to sell the radios cheaper (about £60) - just look round sites like Offshore Echos etc for the latest on this!
Could someone go into Dixons and ask about these - see who knows ?
Links:
Only really one i can think of - http://www.worldspace.com - the official main site - If you look out on the Internet, all there is are reviews.
And Radio Netherlands did a review of the KH-WS1 on their RealRadio site....
Theres also a WorldSpace Yahoo Group - an electronic discussion list