Mike Bird writes: The Cox Peninsula, Darwin HF transmitter station in Australia was closed on 31 January 2010. CVC a christian broadcasting company who leased the transmission equipment since 1999 after the then Howard government closed the site in 1997, have decided to drop HF broadcasting to Asia.
The original lease to use the site included a get out clause after 10 years. The land the transmitter complex is built on has since been claimed by a local Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. In the past few days the technicians have started decommissioning the equipment and lowering the antennas. This has meant Radio Australia (RA) has had to find alternative HF transmitting relays to service Asia. VT based in the UK have so far found two sites that can provide relay transmissions for RA to broadcast to Asia at Medorm (HBN) Palau in the Pacific Ocean and Dhabbaya (DHA) in the United Arab Emirates.
The schedule is as follows (all times UTC):
0000-0030 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15225 kHz
0100-0130 Burmese to Burma on HBN 15655 kHz
0400-0430 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15780 kHz
0500-0530 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15590 kHz
1300-1430 Chinese to SE China & SE Asia in general on HBN 9890 kHz
1600-1630 Burmese to Burma on HBN 9965 kHz
2200-2400 English to SE Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam) on HBN 12040 kHz
2200-2330 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on DHA 5935 kHz
2300-2330 Burmese to Burma on DHA 5955 kHz
The original lease to use the site included a get out clause after 10 years. The land the transmitter complex is built on has since been claimed by a local Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. In the past few days the technicians have started decommissioning the equipment and lowering the antennas. This has meant Radio Australia (RA) has had to find alternative HF transmitting relays to service Asia. VT based in the UK have so far found two sites that can provide relay transmissions for RA to broadcast to Asia at Medorm (HBN) Palau in the Pacific Ocean and Dhabbaya (DHA) in the United Arab Emirates.
The schedule is as follows (all times UTC):
0000-0030 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15225 kHz
0100-0130 Burmese to Burma on HBN 15655 kHz
0400-0430 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15780 kHz
0500-0530 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15590 kHz
1300-1430 Chinese to SE China & SE Asia in general on HBN 9890 kHz
1600-1630 Burmese to Burma on HBN 9965 kHz
2200-2400 English to SE Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam) on HBN 12040 kHz
2200-2330 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on DHA 5935 kHz
2300-2330 Burmese to Burma on DHA 5955 kHz
Discussions are currently taking place between RA, VT and the Singapore government about the possible use of the Kranji relay facility to further bolster RA’s transmissions to Asia.
(Source: Mike Bird/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
(Source: Mike Bird/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)