DX NOTES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 820, 15 April 1955, Page 19

DX NOTES

"HE New Zealand Army began transmissions on 1460 kes. from a transmitter at Burnham Camp on February 28. The transmissions~ consist of WT (Morse) at varying speeds in plain language, figure and letter groups, and also foreign groups. The speeds are announced by voice before the beginning of each practice, and station identification will only be made in Morse. The call sign is ZMY32, the times of broadcast being from 7.0 to 8.0 p.m., Monday to Friday inclusive. The station is at present operating on limited power and would welcome signal strength reports giving readability. All such reports will be acknowledged in the usual manner, and should be addressed to "Officer Commanding, SD Signal Troop, Addington Barracks, Christchurch," the envelopes being marked "Broadcaster." Another Army station is operated by the P. and T. Department in Wellington, under the call of ZKV, with the same frequency and hours of operation. Reports may be sent to G.P.O., Wellington. Pacific isiands W. A. Roberts, a technical engineer from the BBC, has completed a tour of the South Pacific, where he was deputed to advise the Colonial Office on broadcasting engineering problems. In Fiji he discussed improving reception in northwestern Viti Levu, and in Vanua Levu. He also visited the Solomon Islands and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands to discuss further broadcasting plans. Gilbert Islands: VTW ‘Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, is now on regular schedule each Saturday night from 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. N.Z. time, and will soon extend the period for an extra hour to 9.30 p.m. The frequency is 844 kes.. and except

for opening and closing announcements, all speech is likely to be Gilbertese. Fiji: The recently-established Fiji. Broadcasting Commission has now added a third station to its network. The callsign is VRH-2, and it is operating on 840 kes, with a power of approximately 500 watts. The transmitter is that of the former AWA station ZJV. which has been completely rewired and © reconditioned by the technical staff of the FBC. The FBC would welcome reports on reception of VRH-2, and comparison with VRH (930), which is 2 kws., addressed to the Manager, Fiji Broadcasting Commission, P.O, Box 334, Suva, Fiji. British Solomons: VQO (1030) Honiri, British~Solomon Islands, is now accepting advertisements for broadcast on Mondays, Wednesdays and _ Fridays. Each advertisement is limited to 50 words. The station is not, however, accepting sponsored programmes. VQO broadcasts music and news every night except Sundays from 7.0 to 8.0 p.m., N.Z.T. A children’s session: is conducted every Thursday, and a special request session for native listeners is held on Wednesdays. = New Caledonia: The Chief of the Information Service of Radio Noumea advises that the transmitter on 1500 kcs. is no’ longer in operation. The only frequencies in use are 3355 kes. and 6035 kes. The daily hours’ of -transmission are from 7.0 a.m. to 8.0 a.m., 12 noon to 2.0 p.m., and 7.0 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. On Sundays Noumea transmits from 9.0 a.m. to 2.0 p.m,, and 7.0 p.m. to 10.0 p.m. N.Z.T. a American Samoa: Advice from Pago Pago, American Samoa, states that part of the aerial system -of the local broadcast station WVUV was blown down in January, and the station is now carrying on with a less efficient radiator. Repairs will probably depend on the Government making the necessary funds available to the Education Department, operators of the station.