The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) is pushing for more of its members to join the Asian Monitoring Network (AMN), to monitor collisions in frequency usage among shortwave broadcasters in a move which could save millions of dollars in wastage. Through its ABU-High Frequency Coordination (HFC) Committee, the ABU is hoping to establish the network to cut costs arising from wastage, said the ABU-HFC Steering Committee Chairman, IRIB Iran’s Yousef Ghadaksaz.
Currently, DW-Germany, IRIB-Iran and TRT-Turkey have already installed the software. PBC-Pakistan, AIR-India and RTPRC-China have expressed interest in becoming a part of the network.
Mr Ghadaksaz said monitoring reports were important to alert frequency managers in various organisations of collisions and help them work out an interference-free solution. He said all broadcasters needed to set up a simple monitoring system are a radio receiver, a schedule recording software and Internet access. The SIOFT software can be downloaded free at www.Nschall.de.
“We need to promote shortwave monitoring among our members. It is desirable to involve as many ABU-HFC organisations in the monitoring process as possible so that they put in place their own bilateral monitoring arrangements,” he said during the ABU-HFC (High Frequency Coordination) Conference in Kuala Lumpur, which ended today.
The five-day coordination conference organised by the ABU was held to enable shortwave broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world to coordinate frequency channels on a seasonal basis. This is done with a view to reducing interference in their services caused by clashing frequency usage. The ABU-HFC group includes some 40 shortwave broadcasters who broadcast some 5,000 shortwave services every day, totaling over 10,000 hours of transmissions.
(Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)