Monday, August 05, 2024

Bandladesh Betar down due to transmitter issues

 
Bangladesh Betar's shortwave channel on 4750 kHz has been off air (for a few weeks now?) due to a transmitter fault.

With the news this morning that the country's Prime Minister , heikh Hasina had resigned after a 15-year "reign" and that she had fled to India following some weeks of unrest, I checked medium wave on 693 kHz (Dhaka) for the local 5pm news in English today (5 Aug, 1100 UTC).

Daytime reception of Government run Bangladesh Betar on 693 kHz on the Siliguri (West Bengal, India) KiwiSDR was noisy but readable with headphones. Recording uploaded at: https://app.box.com/s/3rhapzo7t7dmq1t197hasnnrbuts47ll

The Bangladesh Betar website www.betar.gov.bd has also been down for a couple of weeks, but their programming division website is still online http://betarprogram.org/
(BDXC/A Pennington)

Additional information stated as: 

As the unrest in Bangladesh continues with violent protests which saw the state broadcaster Bangladesh TV being burnt down last week, public radio Bangladesh Betar’s website is still silent.

The government cracked down heavily on students who were protesting quotas reserving 30% of government jobs for veterans who fought in the 1971 independence war and their children.

The internet and all forms of telecommunications were shut down last week and there was a complete information blackout.