Nautel Begins Delivery of Major DRM Transmitter Project

Nautel participation in All India Radio's transition to DRM digital AM involves 4.9 Megawatts total of transmission power.

Hackett's Cove, Nova Scotia — Nautel has begun deployment of 27 medium wave AM transmitters and associated equipment ordered earlier this year by India's Prasar Bharati. The orders for 100 kW, 100 kW and 300 kW DRM-enabled transmitters are being installed for All India Radio and comprise the world's largest digital radio deployment to date. All transmitters in the system are being configured for DRM30 transmission and will be used in 27 locations throughout India.

Engineers from AIR were at the Nautel factory in Hackett's Cove, Nova Scotia in early August to begin Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) of the first transmitters in the order. Three 300 kW NX300 and one 200 kW NX200 transmitters were accepted in early August; four 100 kW NX100 transmitters are scheduled for testing at the end of the month. The NX200 is shipping August 27. Its installation in Delhi, scheduled to begin in late October, will kick off the deployment in India; the installation project will be led by Nautel Customer Service Technician Bachar Dib. The NX300 transmitters shipping to India at the end of the month will be installed in Jammu, Jalandhar and Lucknow.

All India Radio (AIR) serves the entire country of India via their analog broadcasting service, covering a broad range of languages and dialects through the country. The transition to digital broadcasting will allow AIR to use alternate platforms such as podcasting, SMS, webcasting and mobile services, and offer a 24-hour news channel along with other programming. Additional services such as Interactive Text Transmission and disaster warning are also planned.

"The significance of this project for Digital Broadcasting for India and the rest of the world cannot be understated," said Peter Conlon, Nautel President and CEO. "It represents a major change in the number of potential listeners for DRM, and reinvigorates Medium Wave transmission which has been languishing over recent years. This deployment shows that Radio is still a valid medium that has a place in our mixed media world for decades to come. Nautel is thrilled to be part of this important project."

Nautel NX Series MW transmitters were first introduced in 2007. These high power transmitters occupy a surprisingly small footprint for their power and offer the industry's highest efficiency (90%) along with AM precorrection, unmatched linearity and Nautel's exclusive Advanced User Interface. Working with Nautel on the deployment are Comcon, Nautel's in-country partner along with Altronic, providing RF test loads; Digidia, providing DRM modulators/content servers and Kintronic Labs, supplying matching systems for the project. The project includes 6 Nautel NX300 (300 kW MW-AM), 10 NX200 (200 kW MW-AM) and 11 NX100 (100 kW MW-AM) transmitters.

Nautel will be at IBC with the company's latest Medium Wave, FM and TV transmitters, and will host a DRM event on the Nautel stand (8.C61) on Saturday 14 September from 15:00 – 17:00. The event is titled "DRM listeners: Building a Billion."

About Nautel

Nautel has emerged as one of the world's largest manufacturers of AM and FM radio broadcast transmitters. With more than 12,000 transmitters deployed in over 177 countries since 1970, Nautel

continues to lead the way in providing valuable new solutions for digital radio broadcasting and other applications.

 

(Press Release)