Google-translated from Russian:
Slovakia, following the Czech Republic, turns off analogue broadcasting.
Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (Slovak Radio and Television) terminates its contract with broadcasting provider Towercom, the only operator in the country providing terrestrial medium-wave radio broadcasting.
We are talking about the termination of the contract between Towercom and Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS) for the provision of medium-wave broadcasting at a frequency of 1521 kHz. The document is posted on the official website of the Central Register of Treaties of the Slovak Republic.
The notification to the provider is dated 10/11/2021 and it says that its term is three months. Thus, the retransmission of the RTVS signal at 1521 kHz can be stopped on January 11, 2022.
What is the reason for the decision to terminate the contract for the provision of terrestrial broadcasting services in AM by RTVS is anyone’s guess. However, the technical directorate of Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska reported that the work on phasing out analogue terrestrial broadcasting in Slovakia is being carried out gradually and, most likely, broadcasting on AM will be completely stopped already in 2022. It will be replaced by the digital broadcasting standard DAB +. Interestingly, according to experts from the technical department of RTVS, by now only 35% of the territory of Slovakia is covered by the DAB + signal (in the Czech Republic, for example, 95%).
Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska is currently broadcasting from three transmitters in the country. All three are served by Towercom:
Rimavská Sobota – 1521 kHz (10 kW)
Nitra-Jarok – 1098 kHz (25 kW)
Košice-Čižatice – 702 kHz (5 kW)
All three transmitters broadcast the two radio stations that are part of RTVS:
06: 00-18: 00 * Rádio Patria (programs for national communities living in Slovakia);
18: 00-06: 00 Rádio Devín (music and art radio channel).
The Rimavská Sobota relay facility for medium and short wave transmission was commissioned in the southern part of Slovakia in 1956. Shortwave broadcasting from here was designed for almost the whole world. In 1983, the complex was reconstructed, a medium-wave sector was created with the Tesla SRV 2×25 kW and Tesla SRV 2×10 kW transmitters. Today, the facility has 12 steel lattice masts, the heights of which are 90, 109, 160 and 169 m.
The strategy for the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting of radio and television in the Slovak Republic was adopted by the country’s government in January 2011. In the same year, RTVS began testing its transmissions in digital format.
Broadcasting digitization experiments have been actively continued in Slovakia since 2016, when the communication companies Towercom, AVIS, SRO were involved.
The updated “Strategy for the implementation of digital broadcasting in the Slovak Republic” of January 2017, approved by the Government, provided for a phased transition from analog to digital:
● Tentative period 2017-2019 – launch of digital broadcasting,
● 2019–2021 – gradual transition from analogue to digital broadcasting standard,
● 2022–2026 – depending on the state of digitization, the Ministry of Communications should prepare and submit an updated strategy including a proposal for a deadline for the analog signal to be disconnected.
https://kolkeradio.blogspot.com/2021/11/blog-post.html?fbclid=IwAR0LRuPwiOGxNSQbejdhM6mearOd3jBlSEYcaq8kftTt5G31rhmUY_6dnBI
Igor Kolke (2021-11-07)