SAMBALPUR: The transmission from All India Radio (AIR), Sambalpur station will be stopped for one month from October 30 for upgradation of its transmitter.Informing this on Wednesday, Assistant Engineer and Head of AIR, Sambalpur MRK Rao said a 100 Kilowatt Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmitter will be installed in place of the existing 100 Kilowatt Medium Wave transmitter. He said the installation of DRM transmitter will help in noise and distortion-free transmission of AIR programmes. This apart, the consumption of electricity will be reduced significantly. It will be installed under Left Wing Extremism (LWE) scheme, he added.
The transmission will be stopped for one month to pave way for installation of the DRM transmitter. However, the listeners can tune FM transmitter 101 MHZ to get AIR programmes. People residing beyond 45 km radius from the FM transmitter will have to face inconvenience for a period of one month due to upgradation work, he said.At present, people residing in 250 km radius from the transmitter of AIR, Sambalpur station are able to hear the programmes through the 100 Kilowatt Medium Wave transmitter, he informed.
He said preliminary work, including installation of High Tension Panels besides Earth Radial work, has beencompleted. The DRM transmitter has already been parked at Kolkata port and it will reach Sambalpur within a fortnight, he said.The AIR, Sambalpur station was commissioned on May 26, 1963 and the programmes were aired through 2x10 kw transmitter. However, the transmitter was replaced and 100 kw medium wave transmitter was installed in 1998, Rao added.