Exciting times for Tongan broadcasting with new truck
Tonga's oldest and largest broadcaster has welcomed what it calls a new era in the industry with the arrival of its first broadcasting truck.
Transcript
Tonga's oldest and largest broadcaster has welcomed what it calls a new era in the industry with the arrival of its first broadcasting truck.
The 5-tonne truck was given to the Tonga Broadcasting Commission as part of a grass roots grant from China.
Chief Engineer Solomone Finau told Koro Vaka'uta it is an exciting time for TBC.
SOLOMONE FINAU: I've been doing some installation of equipment about two weeks ago and the truck is finally out and operating. We use it for both live television and live radio broadcasting.
KORO VAKA'UTA: This is the first broadcast truck of this kind that TBC has had so how is it improving the service to the people in Tonga?
SF: I think the most improvement has been done in the quality of the transmission. It has been good, especially with the antenna receiving and sending signals back to the studio. It's good quality. The equipment being installed some of them are mostly digital equipment so the quality of signal has been improved a lot and for radio we got some good mixers and equipment for good audio. I think that's the most important thing in that truck, broadcasting radio that is good quality that can actually link back to the studio.
KV: So what sort of events are on the horizon that you will using this truck for?
SF: We will be using this truck for the coming coronation in July so I am just tidying up some bits and parts of installation just ready for the big event, the coronation.
KV: So how did TBC used to do remote broadcasting?
SF: Usually we just spread out the equipment at that venue and just bits and parts of the equipment being connected separately and the table doing broadcasting from there but now it's all in one in the truck. The antenna in the truck helps us give a good signal back to the studio. All the equipment is all being stored in the truck so no need to go and install equipment at the time. What they do is they just come in and plug in their microphones in the truck outside, both TV and radio, and then they go.
KV: Have you had a good response from the public yet as to the use of this?
SF: Yes. We just used the truck last Sunday on the 'Children Sunday' so we got feedback out of the TV. Especially the TV, the quality of the broadcasting of pictures and videos on television was very improved from the equipment we used before. It is the coming of an era in terms of using the truck. It is just helping. We still have to include later on an upgrade for a satellite link to be able to transmit overseas but currently it can transmit locally here in Tonga.
KV: Any other plans in the future for more developments of this kind for TBC?
SF: We hope to have another one. It would be easy for us, now that we have experienced this truck it is very helpful for us so we wish we could have another truck in the future.
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