Pacific Beat: Government considers report into Asia-Pacific broadcasting

(Source: ABC’s Pacific Beat via Michael Bird)

The Australian government is considering the findings of a long-awaited report reviewing broadcasting to the Asia Pacific but it hasn’t revealed when they might be made public.

One of the key questions under consideration is whether to reinstate the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s shortwave service, which was cut in early 2017.

The ABC says it’s technology that’s out of date, but some experts say it’s still the best way to reach remote audiences and with the will, could be back up and running in just a few months.

Click here to listen to this story on the Pacific Beat’s website.

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3 thoughts on “Pacific Beat: Government considers report into Asia-Pacific broadcasting

  1. Herman (from Belgium) Europe

    I did listen a lot to ABC on SW when the where still on air way back before 2017 and it was great to hear it here in Europe. The ABC signal on the 60 mb was also be heard here many times , than we had less QRM from led lights , pc’s modems en plasma tv wich we have much more to day. So it will be less easy I think to tune in when the will be back in air ?

    We can hear Radio New Zealand only in the summer time in 9 mhz just before noon are local summer time , we can not hear them in are winter time cause the are than in 7 mhz , and due to the 12 h of change with us here in Europe that are on a wrong time for us. Witch is not so in are summer time on 9 mhz (31 mb) and its midday in are country (more or less UTC + 2 h in summer) but its midnight in New Zealand than.

    73 and all the best from

    Herman

    da di da = stop tx in cw (no I’m not a ham radio operator but hope to be one some day)

    Reply
  2. Mangosman

    The ABC has never run their own transmitters and know nothing about propagation.
    They claim HF radio is out of date. They have had 8 yeast to use two of their transmitters in modern Digital Radio Mondiale mode. They have never tried it.
    They seem unaware that their rival Radio Pacific (Radio New Zealand) had been broadcasting in HF including DRM since 2005.

    DRM gives similar sound quality as FM, automatically change frequency at dawn and dusk maximum signal reliability. Tuning is by selecting Radio Australia not by frequency

    The RA images and text from the RA website can display on receivers

    There is an Emergency Warning System which can wake the radio, increase the volume so you can hear the warnings along with detailed text instructions and maps. In addition the geographic limits to the emergency can be used to only wake receivers within those limits.

    Reply
    1. RonF

      > “They have had 8 yeast to use two of their transmitters in modern Digital Radio Mondiale mode. They have never tried it.”

      I’ll assume you’re talking about the two 20kW RIZ transmitters that were installed in Brandon in 2006 (afaik the only actual DRM transmitters, as opposed to ‘potentially upgradable to DRM’ transmitters, that the ABC had access to). So I’ll point out that you’re ignoring the ~7 years of DRM transmissions from that site, from mid-2007 until at least mid-2014.

      Yes, they were mainly programme relays intended for local rebroadcast in the Pacific target nations; yes, they operated on a restricted schedule (from memory, about 8-10hrs of DRM per week); yes, even that restricted schedule was sporadic & wasn’t always observed.

      But to say that “they have never tried it” is false.

      Reply

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