Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares illustrated radio listening report of a recent Radio New Zealand broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Part of RNZ’s news bulletin about bushfires in New Zealand. Listened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following news release via the DRM Consortium:
On August 1st the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister came to RNZ House in Wellington to mark the start of the use of the new analogue and DRM transmitter, replacing a 34-year-old transmitter at the Rangitaiki broadcast site.
In a $4.4-million-dollar project, the public broadcaster RNZ has installed a new Swiss-made Ampegon shortwave transmitter.
Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief Paul Thompson said it’s a significant infrastructure upgrade and secures the future of the RNZ shortwave service into the wider Pacific.
RNZ Pacific broadcasts into the wider Pacific on shortwave 24 hours a day, broadcasting in English and Pacific languages, in collaboration with 22 broadcasting partners across the region.
“The attraction of the shortwave service is that it delivers our unique voice and content to all parts of the Pacific via a signal which can carry over great distances, and achieve good audiences,” said Thompson.
“RNZ Pacific is an essential source of information, especially so during the cyclone season or during a crisis such as the Tonga eruptions,” he said.
RNZ’s Transmission Engineer Specialist Steve White said the project to replace the 34-year-old transmitter at the Rangitaiki broadcast site near Taupo had gone smoothly – being on budget and achieved without disruption to service. “We have appreciated the close working relationship with Ampegon for the new transmitter installation,” he said.
RNZ broadcasts into the wider Pacific on shortwave 24 hours a day, collaborating with 22 broadcasting partners across the region.
Click here to read the original article at DRM.org.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan, who shares the following context:
Please look for this signal from the newest brand new high frequency (SW) transmitter.
It’s on air 00:00 – 04:48 UTC daily on 17675 kHz AM aimed at the Southern Pacific Ocean from 66 Matea Rd, Rangitaiki, Bay of Plenty, co-ordinates -38.8426 176.4297
https://www.drm.org/radio-new-zealand-uses-new-drm-shortwave-transmitter-for-wide-coverage/
There is a link in that article which goes to the RNZ Pacific website which has not been updated for the new transmitter.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/listen shows no changes to duration and times of transmissions at all with the exception of a new time slot for the new transmitter outlined above.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/qsl to make reception reports.
The RNZ Pacific have been heard in both AM and DRM on the West Coast of North America and occasionally in Europe.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/rebroadcasters
A DRM receiver including KiwiSDRs can receive the DRM signal anywhere in the coverage area not just in the communities.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following news from Radio New Zealand:
RNZ National is changing the pips – the beeps that mark the start of each hour which play immediately before the news bulletin broadcast.
The pips were last changed in 2013 when a lightning strike damaged the clock which sent signals from the Measurement Standards Laboratory’s atomic clock.
The replacement sound was a little higher. (Continue reading…)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following press release from Radio New Zealand:
Released at 2:34 pm on 12 December 2023
RNZ has powered down for the last time its 34-year-old shortwave Thompson transmitter, known as “Transmitter 1”, one of two shortwave transmitters that deliver analogue and digital radio broadcasts to the Pacific.
It is part of the preparation for the installation of a new Swiss-made Ampegon shortwave transmitter at its Rangitaiki site.
This project is a milestone for RNZ. For the past 75 years, it has been using shortwave radio to broadcast to the vast Pacific region. Replacing the old transmitter marks a significant step in futureproofing of the service.
Transmitter 1, the 100-kilowatt Thompson unit, was installed just outside of Taup? in 1989, just in time for the Commonweath Games held in Auckland in 1990. Only capable of transmitting in analogue, servicing Transmitter 1 has become an increasingly challenging task with many of the parts for the transmitter now obsolete.
Its replacement, an Ampegon shortwave transmitter capable of both digital and analogue transmission is currently being shipped to New Zealand after being built in Ampegon’s Switzerland factory. However, before the new transmitter can be installed, Transmitter 1 needs to be decommissioned with any useful parts kept as spares.
RNZ’s Transmission Engineer Specialist Steve White said the challenge for the switchover is having an existing transmission building that limits space.
“It will take around four weeks to completely dismantle Transmitter 1 which was built into the building so it’s not just a case of unplugging it and wheeling it out. We need to isolate the transmitter from the main switchboard as well as drain the fluids that help cool the transmitter before breaking it into parts.”
The new Ampegon transmitter will arrive in January and take an estimated six weeks to install, six weeks to commission and a further period of training. At this stage it is expected the transmitter will be operational from 1 May 2024.
When Transmitter 1 is replaced, there will be two transmitters capable of both analogue and digital transmissions, ensuring a complete backup should one of the transmitters stop working.
In the meantime, RNZ Pacific Manager Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor said they were making sure all of RNZ’s Pacific partners were aware of the alternative ways to access RNZ content.
“While digital transmissions will continue, the decommissioning of Transmitter 1 will mean the analogue service will be reduced during the transition period. However, RNZ can still be heard via satellite, and we will be working with our partners in the Pacific on the alternative options of downloading or livestreaming through our website. RNZ Pacific also has an important role during Cyclone season, delivering critical information to the region and this will be prioritised during this period of single transmitter operation.”
RNZ Chief Executive and Editor in Chief Paul Thompson said the importance of the service for the region cannot be underestimated in terms of the content provided.
“Our voice reaches and is welcomed in all parts of the Pacific. During the Tonga eruption, when the undersea cable was cut, RNZ Pacific short wave was a lifeline source of information,” he said.
RNZ’s Charter includes the provision of an international service to the South Pacific in both English and Pacific languages. As part of Budget 2022, the Government announced $4.4m dollars capital funding for a new transmitter for RNZ Pacific.
Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Pete and Dennis Dura for the following tips:
“DRM eliminates unstable and degraded audio, saves spectrum and, more importantly, a lot of energy costs”
The author is chairman of the DRM Consortium. Her commentaries appear regularly at radioworld.com.
Much ink has been used recently on the topic of carmakers dropping AM reception capability in cars, especially in EVs. Hence the “for and against” discussions in the U.S., at least, about the “AM for Every Vehicle Act.”
Shortwave reception, with is large coverage possibilities, has often been criticized for its audio quality which can be noisy and subject to annoying levels of variations. In cars, there are other drawbacks like less than optimum antennas, which are mostly tuned for vertical polarization while shortwave is horizontally polarized.
It is undeniable that analog AM Shortwave reception in cars can be quite unreliable, also due to lower average-SNR over time. But all these negative points are not always present. In some places (take Nigeria and the BBC broadcasts) the shortwave transmissions are great, in a quality that is not much different from that of a FM broadcast. [Continue reading…]
Westminster’s famous bell will be heard live from next week after years of only occasional appearances
It is one of the most recognisable sounds in the UK, and one that hasn’t been heard on BBC Radio 4 since New Year’s Eve last year, but from next week the famous bongs of Big Ben will be heard once again on the station.
The most famous bell in the UK will be heard live once again on Monday 6 November, just before the 6pm news bulletin and again before midnight. Listeners will be able to hear the chimes again before Radio 4’s Westminster Hour political discussion programme at 10pm on Sundays.
And after years of only occasional appearances, the chimes will form part of Radio 4’s regular schedule where they will be heard live twice daily and three times on Sundays after new microphones and a live set-up were installed.
To mark the nation’s two-minute silence this Remembrance Sunday, Big Ben will also be heard live on 11 November at 11am, and the bongs will air at 3pm on Christmas Day, before the king’s speech is broadcast on Radio 4. [Continue reading…]
It has been 75 years since Radio New Zealand started broadcasting on short-wave into the Pacific region.
Using two 7.5 kilowatt transmitters in Titahi Bay, near Wellington, Radio New Zealand began short-wave broadcasts to Australia and the Pacific in 1948.
RNZ Pacific’s Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor has this report.
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Connor Walsh, who shares the following piece from Radio New Zealand:
Old-fashioned AM radio was an information lifeline for many during Cyclone Gabrielle when other sources wilted without power. Now a little-known arrangement that puts proceedings of Parliament on the air has been cited as a threat to its future. But is a switch-off really likely? And what’s being done to avoid it?
“Government websites are a waste of time. All they’ve got is a transistor radio – and they need to actually provide a means for these people who need the information to damn well get it,” Today FM’s afternoon host Mark Richardson told listeners angrily on the day Cyclone Gabrielle struck.
He was venting in response to listeners without power complaining online information was inaccessible, and pleading for the radio station to relay emergency updates over the air.
Mobile phone and data services were knocked out in many areas where electricity supplies to towers were cut – or faded away after back-up batteries drained after 4-8 hours. In some places FM radio transmission was knocked out but nationwide AM transmission was still available.
“This will sharpen the minds of people on just how important . . . legacy platforms like AM transmission are in Civil Defence emergencies,” RNZ news chief Richard Sutherland told Mediawatch soon after. [Continue reading at RNZ…]
Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
The BBC’s 100th anniversary has been marked in the town that enabled it to make nationwide radio broadcasts.
Opening on 27 July 1925, the Daventry Transmitter was the world’s first long wave transmitting station.
Known as 5XX, it was on Borough Hill in the Northamptonshire town and its first transmission was with the a poem called “Daventry Calling…”.
Sophie Good from the town’s museum said: “Daventry has got a strong affiliation with the BBC.”
The BBC chose the position so the transmitter could cover the maximum land area.
It brought the total audience within listening distance to 94% of the population.
When it opened, the poem by Alfred Noyes was followed by speeches from the postmaster general, external and the mayor of Daventry, introduced by Lord Gainford, BBC Chairman.
The then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin sent a message, published in the Radio Times, which said he saw “Daventry as another milestone on the road to the social betterment of our people”. [Continue read at the BBC…]
LONDON — The British Broadcasting Corp. marked 100 years of broadcasting on Tuesday, a century after a group of wireless manufacturers founded the company and began filling the airwaves with its first daily radio service.
The BBC was founded on Oct. 18, 1922, in London and daily broadcasting began a month later. The broadcaster is marking its centenary with a series of special programs, including a guest appearance from King Charles III on The Repair Shop, a program featuring expert craftspeople restoring antiques.
Actress Jodie Whittaker will make her last appearance as the Time Lord on a special episode of Doctor Who on Sunday, before Ncuti Gatwa takes over the role. [Continue reading…]
In September 2022, Ampegon Power Electronics AG and RNZ (New Zealand public broadcaster) signed a contract to supply a new TSW2100-V4 100 kW shortwave transmitter to New Zealand. The transmitter will broadcast the RNZ Pacific service to millions of people living across the Pacific with high reliability and energy efficiency: Ampegon wins a new Shortwave Transmitter Contract with RNZ – Ampegon.