A visit to AIR Port Blair

-Jose Jacob, VU2JOS

Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a Union Territory of
India located about 1200 kms away to the East of the
Indian mainland. It is spread in an area of more than
800 kms in the Bay of Bengal. Out of the 572 islands,
only 36 are inhabited. It was a top tourist
destination till the recent earthquake/tsunami there.
There are several aboriginal tribes in some islands
and some of them have no touch with other human
civilizations. They have their own languages and
cultures. The capital is Port Blair. It was used by
the British as a penal settlement for the Indian
freedom fighters from 1858. Later criminals from the
mainland were also sent there. Lot of people presently
there are their descendants. During the IInd World
War, it was occupied by the Japanese from March 24,
1942 to October 6, 1945.After the Indian independence
on August 15, 1947, people from various parts of India
began to settle there and it is mini India there now.
Hindi is the common language there. Other languages
like Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Nicobarese and
English are the other languages spoken there. From the
mainland, one can reach the islands by flight in about
two hours while by sea it takes over two days. Entry
to the different islands is restricted by the
Government of India.

In December 2004, National Institute of Amateur
Radio (NIAR), Hyderabad, where I work, conducted a
Dxpedition to Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Though part of India, these islands are counted as a
separate Radio country by Amateur Radio operators and
in some BC DX circles. Due to various reasons, the
Govt. of India has been reluctant to give permission
for Amateur Radio operators to operate from there. The
last major operation from these islands was also by
NIAR in 1987 of which I was also an operator. Since
then, it became one of the most sought after Radio
country in the world. Though I was not a member of the
operating team this time, I went there on 15th
December 2004 for providing logistic support.

Back in 1987, I had visited All India Radio – Port
Blair there. So, this time, it was nice to see the
developments there after long 17 years. During my last
visit, they were operating only on MW but since then
they added SW, added a new higher power MW transmitter
and very recently added FM also. The Doordarshan TV
which was in the AIR building then is now in a new
complex, but in the same campus.

The AIR studioes and offices are at Dilanipur,
located at an elevated place in 7.86 acres of land.
AIR Port Blair was commissioned on 2nd June 1963 with
a 1 kW NEC MB 122 A transmitter installed at the
studio premises operating on 1440 kHz. Then on 6th
November 1975, 2x10 kW BEL HMB 104 transmitters were
added which used 680 kHz. Later it was changed to 684
kHz in the MW frequency reshuffle on November 23,
1977. This transmitter location was at Brookshabad
located about 14 kms away from the studios in an area
of 39.5 acres. Till 2004 the 1 kW transmitter at the
studios was used as a standby for the main transmitter
as well as a standby for studio to transmitter link on
1440 kHz itself which is a rare thing for AIR. Once I
had heard this standby transmitter on the mainland and
got a qsl verification also. In 2004 it was dismantled
and shifted to make space for the new 10 kW FM
transmitter. The studio to transmitter link is on UHF
1440 MHz. On 11th March 1989 a 10 kW NEC HFB 7840 SW
transmitter was started which now operates on 4760 and
7115 kHz. The SW transmitter can operate on
90,60,49,41 & 31 meter bands and tested/used 6000,
6085, 7170, 7180 & 9690 kHz etc also. SW is intended
for the Northern and Southern islands in the long
island chain and uses a dipole array. In April 2003
one of the two exciters of the SW transmitter became
faulty and it could run only at 5 kW. As NEC was no
longer producing those spare parts, the R&D Dept. of
AIR made a replacement exciter and the transmitter
runs at 8.5 kW from 14 January 2004. In May 2003, a
100 kW Thales transmitter has replaced the 2x10 kW
transmitters which by the way is still in standby mode
and used quite frequently. Also in second half 2004, a
10 kW VHF Nautel 10 NARFO36 transmitter operating on
100.9 MHz in Stereo was added which was installed at
the studio complex itself. This carries the Vividh
Bharati programs. Its new tower stands next to the old
tower of the 1 kW transmitter and the tower of the
Studio to transmitter link.

The main language used by the station is Hindi. They
also have programs in Bangla, Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu
and Nicobarese. There are just over a 100 staff
members there. On 30th March 1992 a new studio and
office building was constructed adjacent to the old
studio building on the hill top. These are in separate
blocks.

It was nice to meet and inter act with Mr.K.S.
Venkateswarlu, the Station Engineer there with who I
was in touch for some time now. Unlike in most AIR
stations, he takes special interest to send qsl
verifications very promptly to DXers and is well known
in Dx circles all over the world. I saw the file of
reception reports with him which has those from famous
Dxers world wide. During my visit to the station, I
handed over to him reports on their MW frequency and
also on their tests of their FM transmission. While I
returned to my home in Hyderabad, his prompt qsl
verification was already there. Unfortunately his term
is ending there soon as he is being transferred.
QSL cards are issued also from AIR HQ in Delhi. I have
received several QSL verifications from this station.
About their station heard on frequencies other than
the normal ones occasionally, he told that it is due
to human error, especially when new people are at the
controls of the transmitter.

On 22nd December 2004, a lecture on Amateur Radio
were given at the AIR Conference Hall to the officials
of AIR and Doordarshan TV by Mr.S.Suri, VU2MY
Chairman & Director of NIAR and Mr.Charles Harpole
K4VUD, a visiting ham from USA. Mr.Suri and Mr.Ram
Mohan, VU2MYH, dxpedition team member, were later also
interviewed by AIR for their Hindi and Telegu Service
respectively.

When the Ham Dxpedition was going on in full swing,
a severe earth quake and tsunami which badly affected
the islands on 26th December 2004 turned it into an
emergency communication system. When the earth quake
was over the first thing that I did was to take out an
Icom IC T90A walkie talkie which had general coverage
receiver and tune to AIR Port Blair, which was in tact
and which shortly gave out information about the earth
quake. I also monitored the local TV station’s audio
on VHF Channels 8 and 10. AIR and TV were operating on
generators by then.

I noticed that radio was very popular there. Among
other things, they also broadcast schedules of ships
to the various islands. After the recent earth quake
and tsunami there, AIR - Port Blair had cancelled
their normal programs and was going live with
telephone calls about the missing persons and other
information with extended schedules for several days
after the earthquake. The FM transmitter which was
testing with Vividh Bharati programs from 6.00 am to
10.00 pm also cancelled their normal programs and
broadcast those special programs. Another special
transmission from a 250 kW transmitter at Delhi were
also beamed to the islands for a month carrying
Rainbow FM programs.

The current SW schedule of AIR Port Blair in UTC is:

Morning:
4760 2355-0300 4760
7115 0315-0400 (Sat 0415,Sun 0500)

Afternoon:
7115 0700-0930 (Sun 1000)

Evening & Night:
4760 1030-1700/1730

Their language schedule is:

Malayalam 0700-0730
Nicobari 1030-1100
Telugu 1100-1130
Tamil 1130-1200
Bengali 1200-1230 daily (0930-1000 Sundays)

Hindi is there at other times.

They also carry the news in Sankrit and several
programs in English from Delhi.

Their address for Reception Reports is:

Station Engineer, All India Radio, Dilanipur, Haddo
PO, Port Blair 744102, Andaman & Nicobar, India.

Email:

To view some of my QSLs please click:

QSL of emergency broadcast on 1440 kHz, 1 kW:
www.qsl.net/vu2jos/qsls/portblair_1440jpg

QSL of 5 kW, SW
www.qsl.net/vu2jos/qsls/portblair_4760.jpg

QSL of 10 kW, SW
www.qsl.net/vu2jos/qsls/portblair_7170.jpg

To view some of the pictures taken during my visit
to AIR, please click:

www.geocities.com/vu2jos/vu4

Other information on Andaman Dxpedition etc. is
available at:

www.niar.org

Doordarshan TV is also co sited in the AIR campus.
In 1982 a 100 watt transmitter made by GCEL was
installed in the AIR building. It carries the DD1
program on Channel 10 (Visual 210.2500 MHz , Audio
215.750 MHz). Later a separate building was
constructed exclusively for TV. The DD1 transmitter
was moved here and another 100 watt BEL MVV-137
transmitter operating on Channel 8 (Visual 196.2396
MHz, Audio 201.7396 MHz) (Sl.No.84, 9/95) was added
which telecast DD2 programs. AIR and Doordarshan there
uses separate towers. The TV studioes was started only
on 2 Feb 1996 and the schedule of local programs is on
: Wed & Fri 6 to 7 pm. other days 6.30-7 pm. At other
times, they relay programs from Delhi.

I was in the Andamans for about a month and and
besides Port Blair, I also went to Little Andamans to
provide emergency communications by Ham Radio. At
Hutbay in Little Andaman, I saw the damanged 10 watt
TV Relay station with its Tower in tact. During my
stay in the two different islands there, besides my
hamming I spent lot of time for BCDXing also. I mainly
used Icom 706 MKII G and Yaesu FT 757 GX II Amateur
Radio transceivers which has general coverage
receiver. For the lower bands and MW, dipole antennas
for the 160, 80 & 40 Meter Amateur Bands were used.
Reception conditions were very fine with low noise
levels especially so after the earthquake and tsunami
there when there was no power supply on the islands
for several days. I used batteries recharged by solar
panels. MW was full of stations from Thailand and SE
Asia and it was not easy to get many AIR stations
operating from the mainland. Even during mid day, I
could get many stations from Thailand there on MW!
Many SE Asian station were also monitored at strong
level on the 49 & 41 meters during day time. Of
special interest was the Military station from Myanmar
on 5770 kHz which was noted at excellent signal
strength even at local midday.



73
Jose Jacob, VU2JOS
(via dx_india)

dxAce
Michigan
USA

I think I read this someplace in the last few weeks.

Burr

Burr wrote:

I think I read this someplace in the last few weeks.

He's written some similar pieces in the last few months, this particular one he
posted to dx_india today.

dxAce
Michigan
USA