Financial constraints have badly affected Radio Pakistan’s Medium Wave (MW) transmitter’s performance in Larkana shrinking its coverage to about 20 per cent.
It was learnt that the coverage of the 100-kiloWatt High Power Transmitter (HPT), installed in 2017 in the Chuharpur area, gradually shrunk over the last few years owing to frequent faults. Delays in the repair work, apparently caused by financial constraints, have now restricted the transmission coverage from 300-400 kilometres radius until a few years ago to just 100 kilometres radius now.
Saeed Ahmed Shaikh, the Director General of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), speaking to Dawn on Thursday, said not only Larkana’s, but HPT of Hyderabad had also become ‘underpowered’, the terminology used to define weak signal strength and reduced coverage.
Sources in the PBC said that originally three HPTs were imported from Canada and installed at Multan, Hyderabad and Larkana. The output of Hyderabad has now shrunk to 50 to 60 per cent.
Sources said that due to defects in the Larkana HPT, its signals had fallen weak causing feeble and broken sound being received by listeners.
Administratively, 100 kiloWatt HPTs are under the control of PBC Headquarters but looking after the one in Larkana has been entrusted to the division’s Broadcasting House which is an administrative lacuna. As a routine practice, faulty instruments are sent to the PBC Headquarters for repair, which ultimately causes ‘weak signal strength’ until the repair work is completed.
Normally, the MW transmission’s on-air time is 8am to 12noon and 3pm to 10pm.
For the last three years, the ‘monitor’ of the Larkana HPT has turned black, hence not readable. The staff concerned cannot see the status of on-air transmission, according to the sources.
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1821505/larkana-radio-stations-coverage-shrinks-to-20pc-due-to-faults-in-transmitters
Ydun Ritz (2024-03-15)