Germans Close Business in Rwanda After Half Century Lease Expires

Rwanda
Once a powerful facility in the region, the German owned Deutsche Welle radio center at Kinyinya hill outside Kigali is finally and completely shutting down. It's no more.

In 1965, Rwanda leased 68.4 hectares on Kinyinya hill for fifty years to the Germans - that later set up a massive facility to boost Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster.

"We are stopping our short wave transmitters today and then next week we will start dismantling them and the masts in order to meet the deadline of August when our license expires,"
said Bernhard Ahlborn, the deputy director of Deutsche Welle.

On March 28, 2015 the facility stopped its operations, to begin dismantling their equipment, to pave away for the handover of the Land to Rwanda government.

The Germans will today hand over the premises of the relay station with its infrastructure to the Government of Rwanda, to mark the end of 50 year concession agreement.

The Deutsche Welle relay station in Kigali has been serving African and the Middle East audiences. It was the only firm facility of the kind that was remaining. The Germans had similar facilities in other 60 countries.

According to officials at Rwanda Utilities Regulation Authorities (RURA) the land, plus houses that were developed in the area will be handed over to government of Rwanda.

The annual operational cost of Kinyinya transmitters was said to be EUR3.3 million (about Rwf2.7 billion), but it is alleged the firm was making loss, hence giving up its relay station in Rwanda.

With new technology, Frequency Modulation (FM) and internet available, the public finds no need of switching to short wave radio signals.

Today, Rwanda government officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of infrastructure and the Germany Embassy will witness the handover.

The Deutsche Welle property is adjacent to hundreds of hectares of land that was acquired by Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) to develop affordable housing units.
http://ktpress.rw/2016/05/germans-close-business-in-rwanda-after-half-century-lease-expires/
(KT_Press, May 31, 2016. By Jean de la Croix_Tabaro.
via Mike Terry-UK, BrDXC-UK ng June 2)
(BCDX-Top Nx 1255/04 June)

QSL Deutsche Welle's Rwanda relay - while you can !

Kigala, Rwanda QSL via playdx)

A reminder to blog readers ... I would highly recommend this opportunity to verify Rwanda while you can.
Gayle Van Horn


Rwanda
Deutsche Welle relay station in Kigali will be closed at end of B-14 (March 28, 2015) and dismantled afterwards.

All times UTC

0730-0800 17800 KIG 250 kW 295 deg to WeAF English
1300-1400 15275 KIG 250 kW 310 deg to WeAF Hausa
1300-1400 17800 KIG 250 kW 295 deg to WeAF Hausa \\ 21780 DHA (UAE)
1500-1600 9800 KIG 250 kW non-dir to CeAF Swahili
1500-1600 11800 KIG 250 kW non-dir to CeAF Swahili
1600-1700 9610 KIG 250 kW 030 deg to EaAF Amharic
1600-1700 9800 KIG 250 kW non-dir to EaAF Amharic
1700-1800 9800 KIG 250 kW 295 deg to WeAF French
1700-1800 17800 KIG 250 kW 295 deg to WeAF French \\ 15275 ISS (France)
1800-1900 15275*KIG 250 kW 310 deg to WeAF Hausa
1800-1900 17800*KIG 250 kW 295 deg to WeAF Hausa
* March 24 this broadcast will be final via relay station in Kigali
(Ivo Ivanov-BUL, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 6)

Send your program details to: info@dw.de
postal mail to:
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 3
D-53113 Bonn
Germany

AWR Offers Special QSL Stamp for Kigali broadcast

Kigali transmitters (shortwavedxer.blogspot)

At the beginning of this current Transmission Period B14 October 6, 2014, Adventist World Radio began a relay service from the Deutsche Welle shortwave relay station near Kigali in Rwanda Africa.  The AWR relay via DW Kigali is on the air for a total of 2½ transmitter hours daily in three languages, French, Amharic & Fulfulde.  In one particular time block, two transmitters carry the programming in parallel.

            However, Deutsche Welle has subsequently announced that they plan to close their African relay station at the end of this current Transmission Period B14 March 28, 2015 and then dismantle the station.  The last AWR broadcasts from DW Kigali will therefor also end at the same time.

            For those who would like to receive a QSL card for these now short term broadcasts, AWR would welcome all reception reports from listeners in any part of the world.  Each reception report will be verified with a QSL card (not an Email QSL), and the envelope will be affixed with genuine postage stamps, not postal labels.  In addition, while supplies last, a special QSL stamp showing Kigali will be attached to the QSL card.

             It is not necessary to send an off-air recording of your reception.  We just need your honest         reception report on paper.  Where possible, please enclose return postage in the form of currency notes in any             international currency, or mint postage stamps.  Please note that IRC coupons are too expensive for you to buy, and they are no longer valid in the United States. 

Also please enclose your address label.

            The only address for the special Kigali QSL stamp is the Indianapolis address at:-

Adventist World Radio, Box 29235, Indianapolis, Indiana 46229, USA.

            All reception reports, including all that have already been received, will be QSLed in due course.  However, please be patient with us as we already hold uncounted hundreds of reception reports still pending, and it may take us many months to process them all. 

            The current AWR website shows the following scheduling for the daily Kigali transmissions:-

                                    0600 - 0630 UTC        15700 kHz      French

                                    0600 - 0630                 17800              French

                                    1700 - 1730                   9490              Amharic

                                    1930 - 2000                 17800              Fulfulde          

                                    2000 - 2030                 17800              French

                           

                                  Adventist World Radio - Regular QSL Policy

            Adventist World Radio welcomes reception reports from listeners in all countries.  Please note the following items of information:-

* Each reception report should contain the following items of information

  Date

  Time, preferably expressed in International Radio Time, equivalent to UTC

                        Frequency in kHz

                        Sufficient program details to verify that you actually heard the AWR programming

                        Reports using SINPO Code preferred

* Reception reports by postal mail are preferred, though email is also acceptable.

* Where possible, please enclose return postage in the form of currency notes in any                                international currency, or mint postage stamps. 

* Please note that IRC coupons are too expensive for you to buy, and they are no longer valid in the United States. 

* Where possible, please enclose your address label.

* You will receive a full data QSL card, including location, through the postal system in response to your reception report.

* Several different QSL cards are available.

* The envelope will be affixed with regular postage stamps, not a postage label.

* AWR does not send out email QSLs.

* It is not necessary for you to send and resend the same reception report.  All reception reports that we receive are verified with a regular full data QSL card.

* It is not necessary to send an off-air recording of your reception.  We just need your honest                   reception report on paper.

* At times, there may be a delay before you receive your AWR QSL card.  This is due to the                    large inflow of reception reports we receive from listeners in so many different countries.

* The regular postal address for reception reports is:-

                        Adventist World Radio

                        Box 29235

                        Indianapolis

                        Indiana 46229 USA