28 Sep 2004

RNZI signs a contract for a digital transmitter

4:02 pm on 28 September 2004

Radio New Zealand International has signed a contract to buy a digital shortwave transmitter.

"The hundred kilowatt shortwave transmitter made by the French technology company Thales (PRON Tarl-is) will be operational in early 2006."

The digital transmitter will work alongside the existing structure at Rangitaiki in the central North Island of New Zealand.

It will be the most powerful radio transmitter in the country and enable listeners to receive better sound quality on digital radio sets in the Pacific region and around the world.

Radio New Zealand International's manager, Linden Clark, says the new transmitter will also boost reception quality for relay stations in the Pacific :

What it means is that we'll be able to provide an FM quality sound into the relaying Pacific radio stations. So the fourteen radio stations that relay us at the moment will receive a digital quality sound, at the same time as we're using our existing transmitter, to continue putting out an analogue shortwave signal.

Radio New Zealand International's manager Linden Clark.