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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.
Wavescan, March 11, 2012
Emissora Radio in Goa - 2: The Early Years with All India Radio
In our program today, we present part 2 in our special feature about radio broadcasting in the Indian state of Goa. You will remember that last week we gave the story of radio broadcasting in Goa from the very earliest events in 1946, up until the closure of the station at 8:00 am on Monday December 18, 1961, followed by its destruction in an air raid on the part of the Indian air force. We take up the story just a few days later.
Immediately following the annexation of Goa by India, work commenced on the restoration of the radio broadcasting station. It would appear that no damage was done to the studio facility at Althino in Panaji, though an aerial photo shows at least one of the transmitter buildings at Bambolim on fire, with what looks like a massive fire.
Just three weeks later, the station returned to the air again, though some of the specific details are not known. We would presume that a low power temporary mediumwave transmitter was brought in to Goa and it was installed, perhaps at the studio on Altinho hill, or perhaps at Bambolim.
At 6:00 pm on Wednesday January 10, 1962, Emissora Goa was reactivated under All India Radio on 880 kHz with a speech by the military governor, Major General K. P. Candeth. The station slogan, "Emissora Goa," remained in usage as the local identification announcement for more than another four years. On October 12, 1966, the Portuguese "Emissora" identification was finally dropped, and the station announcement for AIR Goa was changed to All India Radio Panjim.
A well known DXer in Goa, Flavio Raposo in Caranzalem, investigated in depth the history of radio broadcasting in Goa, and he reported many years ago that the 50 kW shortwave transmitter at Bambolim was reactivated for the broadcast of the External Service of All India Radio in the Konkani language, beamed towards Africa. This service, he stated, was on the air at 1815 UTC on 11780 kHz and the programming presented news, folk dramas, request songs, and other feature programs.
There is no known reference to these revived broadcasts on shortwave from Goa, but the Raposo report seems to be correct. It would appear then that the newer transmitter building and the 50 kW shortwave transmitter at Bambolim were not badly damaged in the air raid.
External Service programming in the Goan Konkani language was on the air previously from this transmitter under Emissora Goa, and it would appear that the revived Konkani programming was coming from Goa itself. Flavio Raposo stated that the revived usage of the 50 kW shortwave transmitter began soon after the station itself returned to the air as an AIR relay station in 1962, and it was on the air for more than a year, well into the year 1963.
On May 22, 1969, a new 10 kW mediumwave transmitter tuned to 880 kHz was inaugurated at Bambolim; and since that time, additional mediumwave, FM and TV transmitters have been installed in Goa, but not any transmitters for a revived local shortwave service. The studio building was renovated and enlarged, and then more recently, new studio buildings were erected.
The current World Radio TV Handbook shows the following two mediumwave transmitters on the air in Goa, in addition to several FM stations and TV channels:
High Powered Transmitter Station: Bambolim
It should be remembered also that All India Radio has more recently erected a large high powered shortwave station at Bambolim, adjacent to the old transmitter facility of Emissora Goa. Planning for this new station began in 1992, and two transmitters at 250 kW each together with a new antenna farm were installed. Some years ago, Jose Jacob VU2JOS of Hyderabad in India, made a visit to AIR Bambolim, and he tells us that the two transmitters are identified by staff personnel as Mandovi and Zuari, the names of two local rivers.
The first test transmissions from this new shortwave station were noted in November 1994 on 4775 kHz. Due to staff shortages, there was a delay in taking these two impressive units into regular service. However, in February 1995, these two transmitters were noted on a regular schedule, which included the relay of programming from the local mediumwave station, Panaji A on 1287 kHz.
These days, the External Service programming from AIR Bambolim is beamed towards foreign countries to the northeast and northwest, and also to the southeast.
Radio Broadcasting in the Portuguese Colonies at Daman & Diu
Towards the end of the Portuguese era in the Indian sub-continent, ambitious plans were laid in 1960 for the construction of two high powered shortwave stations in Daman & Diu. It was intended that the station in Daman would beam its programming to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the station in Diu would beam its programming to West Pakistan.
It was intended that the program relay for these two transmitters would come from Goa, and that the 50 kW transmitter that was inaugurated in August 1960 would provide the program feed. It would be presumed that the two projected transmitters at Daman & Diu would also be rated at 50 kW each.
However, these two linked colonies, Daman & Diu, were annexed into India at the end of the year 1961, at the same time as Goa was taken over, and these projected radio stations were never constructed. Daman & Diu were two small Portuguese colonies on the west coast of India, less than a hundred miles north of Bombay.
Currently, there are just two radio stations listed for the Indian territories of Daman & Diu. All India Radio in Daman is heard on 102.3 FM, and in Diu on 102.0 FM.
Adventist International Radio in Goa
Back at the time when Goa was a Portuguese colony, the Adventist denomination began a regular series of broadcasts from the old Emissora Goa. The program was the American "Voice of Prophecy" with the illustrious Dr. H. M. S. Richards in California, it was broadcast from the large 18 inch disc recordings of that era, and it was on the air each Sunday for half an hour.
This "Voice of Prophecy" radio program was the first syndicated Christian religious broadcast from Emissora Goa and it was transmitted from station CR8AA with 2.5 kW on 557 kHz, and CR8AB with 1 kW on 9610 kHz. The opening broadcast of this program was inaugurated on Sunday, April 30, 1950, and the final broadcast took place at the end of the following year 1951.
However, the World Radio TV Handbook for 1954 tells us that there was a revival of this programming from Emissorra Goa three years later, on Sundays at 0700 UTC. At that time, mediumwave CR8AA was still on the air with 2.5 kW on 557 kHz, though the shortwave service was now on the air with a new 7.5 kW transmitter at Bambolim on the same international shortwave channel 9610 kHz. It is suggested that this second series of Adventist broadcasts from Goa for coverage into India was on the air for a few months during the years 1953 and 1954.
Strange Time Zones Around the World
Today, Sunday March 11, is the day upon which the time zones in the United States change from standard time in the winter, to Daylight Saving Time in the summer. Many other countries around the world also change their time zones, though not all do so on the exact same day. Then too, after another couple of weeks, many of the shortwave broadcasting stations will change from their winter scheduling to summer scheduling, officially designated as the A and B periods. So, in our program today, let's take a look at some of the strange time zones that we find in our world at the present time.
If you were traveling in the United States, you would find a couple of interesting time zone changes in the states of Arizona and Idaho. The state of Arizona does not make any change of time zone, for summer or winter. However, the territory within Arizona known as the Navajo Nation, does make the change to DST, Daylight Saving Time. However, the territory of the Hopi Nation is completely surrounded by the Navajo territory and it does not observe this time zone change.
Because of the complexity of the observed time zones in the area, Arizona state, Navajo Nation and Hopi Nation, the nearby small town of Tuba City observes both time zones simultaneously. This is mainly for the benefit of travelers passing through the area.
Now, up in the northern areas, the state of Idaho observes Pacific Time and nearby Montana observes Mountain Time. However, the Salmon River runs south through Idaho, and the communities along this river observe Mountain Time, though on each side and away from the river, the local inhabitants observe Pacific Time.
In Canada, the city of Lloydminster straddles the border line between the two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city of Lloydminster is just one city, not twin cities, with the provincial border running down the main street. This city observes just the one time zone, not two, and they have chosen the Alberta time zone, which is thus observed on both sides of the provincial border.
In Australia, the regional city of Broken Hill is within the state of New South Wales. However, it is close to the border with South Australia, and the people in this mining city observe South Australian time at UTC + 9-1/2 hours, not the time zone of the state in which they are located, UTC + 10 hours.
We might also add that there is one odd time zone within the state of Western Australia. In the south east corner of the state, lying against the ocean and the border with South Australia, there is a country community of just some 200 people. This community has adopted its own time zone, which is the odd time of UTC + 8-3/4 hours.
Greenland is described as the world's largest island, though some scientists state that Greenland is actually three separate islands covered by the one large ice sheet. Interestingly, in 1946, the United States offered to buy Greenland at a price of $100 million.
On the island, or of you like, on the three islands of Greenland, there are just four main settlements with a total population of around 60,000. However, these four settlements each observe a different time zone. Throughout a complete year with summer and winter time, a total of five different time zones are in use in Greenland, running from UTC to UTC - 4.
The comparatively recent nation of Bangladesh in Asia observes its own time zone at UTC + 6 hours. However, Bangladesh is almost completely surrounded by Indian states, all of which observe the Indian time zone at UTC + 5-1/2 hours. Thus if your leave Bangladesh and travel west or north or east, you would set your watch back by half an hour.
Nepal, another Asian nation high up in the Himalayas, observes its own time zone which is at UTC + 5-3/4 hours. This places the time in Nepal at a quarter hour difference from nearby India. However, that time difference is a little easier to negotiate these days, than the earlier time zone in Nepal when they were just ten minutes different from India.
Most countries observe a time zone that is an equal hour from any of its neighbors. However, several countries do observe a half hour difference, such as India that we just mentioned, at UTC + 5-1/2 hours. The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean observe UTC + 6-1/2 hours, and Norfolk Island off the east coast of Australia observes UTC + 11-1/2 hours. Interestingly, Lord Howe Island, an offshore island of the Australian state of New South Wales, observes UTC + 10-1/2 hours in the winter, and it changes just half an hour for summer time at UTC + 11 hours.
In addition to Nepal, there is another small territory that observes a 3/4 hour difference from UTC. The Chatham Islands, a Pacific territory administered by New Zealand, observes UTC + 12-3/4 hours.
Now, if ever you find yourself traveling in the continental areas of Northern Europe, you could find yourself at the conjunction of three different time zones. There is a point near the small city of Nautsi where the territories of three different countries conjoin, each with a different time zone. These countries are Norway, Finland and Russia.