There was a fire on Christmas Eve in the high voltage room of the external mains power supply at Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s relay station in Madagascar. Firefighters from the Madagascan capital Antananarivo managed to bring the blaze under control within hours.
The fire destroyed the high voltage circuit breaker equipment, so broadcasts from Madagascar had to be suspended while repairs were carried out. Satellite and Internet broadcasts are not affected.
On 30 December, our Station Manager in Madagascar reported that the two Philips transmitters are in working order, and have been tested using generator power. Technicians are still working on restoring the mains supply and will finish tomorrow (31 December). A temporary schedule will then be put into effect on 1 January using these two Philips transmitters.
The other two transmitters (one 250 kW and one 50 kW) are also thought to be OK, but still have to be tested at the weekend. New switches also have to be installed to connect these two transmitters to the antenna system. We hope to bring them back on the air in the course of next week.
Tomorrow (31 December) I will publish details of the interim schedule which has been worked out for next week using two transmitters at Madagascar. In the meantime, the following temporary arrangements are still valid:
Update 1: The transmission in Dutch to West Africa at 2100-2131 UTC on 13700 kHz will from tonight be broadcast from Bonaire, 250 kW, azimuth 80 degrees.
Update 2: All Radio Sweden transmissions normally via Madagascar at 0200-0300, 2000-2100 and 2100-2200 UTC will be broadcast from Hörby in Sweden. Hörby took over the RNW English transmission to India at 1400-1600 UTC on 15595 kHz on 25-27 December. This has now been cancelled due to poor reception in the target area.
Update 3: All Vatican Radio transmissions normally via Madagascar between 0300-0530 and 1600-1630 UTC will be broadcast via Santa Maria di Galeria as from 26 December.
Update 4: TDF will carry RNW English to Africa from 26 December as follows:
1859-2057 UTC via Issoudun on 7425 kHz azimuth 155 degrees
1957-2057 UTC via Montsinery on 11655 kHz azimuth 80 degrees (more: Update 7)
Update 5: IBB have made the following temporary arrangements for their transmissions that are normally carried via Madagascar:
0430-0600 UTC English on 9885 kHz via Botswana azimuth 010 degrees
0500-0600 UTC Persian on 12105 kHz via Biblis azimuth 105 degrees
0530-0630 UTC MF French on 7265kHz via São Tomé azimuth 020 degrees
1000-1030 UTC SS Portuguese on 21590 kHz via Botswana azimuth 350 degrees
1300-1400 UTC Somali on 15620 kHz via São Tomé azimuth 088 degrees
1700-1800 UTC Multilingual (to Zimbabwe) on 12080 kHz via Lampertheim azimuth 132 degrees
2100-2130 UTC MF French on 9680 kHz via São Tomé azimuth 052 degrees
Update 6: The following transmissions via Nauen have been added from 28 December:
1627-1727 UTC Press Now multilingual on 13800 kHz (250 kW) azimuth 325 degrees
1730-1757 UTC RNW Dutch on 11655 kHz (250 kW) azimuth 300 degrees
Update 7: TDF will carry RNW English to Africa additionally from 28 December as follows:
1800-1957 UTC via Issoudun on 11655 kHz azimuth 138 degrees
Update 8: TDF will carry a Press Now transmission from 29 December as follows:
1529-1557 UTC via Issoudun on 13800 kHz azimuth 143 degrees (replaces a 60-minute broadcast)
(R Netherlands Media Network)
The fire destroyed the high voltage circuit breaker equipment, so broadcasts from Madagascar had to be suspended while repairs were carried out. Satellite and Internet broadcasts are not affected.
On 30 December, our Station Manager in Madagascar reported that the two Philips transmitters are in working order, and have been tested using generator power. Technicians are still working on restoring the mains supply and will finish tomorrow (31 December). A temporary schedule will then be put into effect on 1 January using these two Philips transmitters.
The other two transmitters (one 250 kW and one 50 kW) are also thought to be OK, but still have to be tested at the weekend. New switches also have to be installed to connect these two transmitters to the antenna system. We hope to bring them back on the air in the course of next week.
Tomorrow (31 December) I will publish details of the interim schedule which has been worked out for next week using two transmitters at Madagascar. In the meantime, the following temporary arrangements are still valid:
Update 1: The transmission in Dutch to West Africa at 2100-2131 UTC on 13700 kHz will from tonight be broadcast from Bonaire, 250 kW, azimuth 80 degrees.
Update 2: All Radio Sweden transmissions normally via Madagascar at 0200-0300, 2000-2100 and 2100-2200 UTC will be broadcast from Hörby in Sweden. Hörby took over the RNW English transmission to India at 1400-1600 UTC on 15595 kHz on 25-27 December. This has now been cancelled due to poor reception in the target area.
Update 3: All Vatican Radio transmissions normally via Madagascar between 0300-0530 and 1600-1630 UTC will be broadcast via Santa Maria di Galeria as from 26 December.
Update 4: TDF will carry RNW English to Africa from 26 December as follows:
1859-2057 UTC via Issoudun on 7425 kHz azimuth 155 degrees
1957-2057 UTC via Montsinery on 11655 kHz azimuth 80 degrees (more: Update 7)
Update 5: IBB have made the following temporary arrangements for their transmissions that are normally carried via Madagascar:
0430-0600 UTC English on 9885 kHz via Botswana azimuth 010 degrees
0500-0600 UTC Persian on 12105 kHz via Biblis azimuth 105 degrees
0530-0630 UTC MF French on 7265kHz via São Tomé azimuth 020 degrees
1000-1030 UTC SS Portuguese on 21590 kHz via Botswana azimuth 350 degrees
1300-1400 UTC Somali on 15620 kHz via São Tomé azimuth 088 degrees
1700-1800 UTC Multilingual (to Zimbabwe) on 12080 kHz via Lampertheim azimuth 132 degrees
2100-2130 UTC MF French on 9680 kHz via São Tomé azimuth 052 degrees
Update 6: The following transmissions via Nauen have been added from 28 December:
1627-1727 UTC Press Now multilingual on 13800 kHz (250 kW) azimuth 325 degrees
1730-1757 UTC RNW Dutch on 11655 kHz (250 kW) azimuth 300 degrees
Update 7: TDF will carry RNW English to Africa additionally from 28 December as follows:
1800-1957 UTC via Issoudun on 11655 kHz azimuth 138 degrees
Update 8: TDF will carry a Press Now transmission from 29 December as follows:
1529-1557 UTC via Issoudun on 13800 kHz azimuth 143 degrees (replaces a 60-minute broadcast)
(R Netherlands Media Network)