Getting our signal to you – A visit to Sentech

As part of Bush Radio regular staff development sessions we thought we’d learn a little bit more about how our signal gets to our listeners and meet some of the people involved in the process.

On Wednesday we visited Sentech, which Bush Radio uses to distribute its FM signal (89.5) to listeners.

Frank Creese – Manager: Cape Town Operations

Frank Creese who is the Manager of Cape Town Operations for Sentech gave us a presentation about Sentech and its services and also conducted a tour of their facilities.

Some facts about Sentech: it has 220 transmitting stations, 742 radio transmitters, 627 television transmitters and 550 staff members at its 16 centres nationally.

Ernst Heydenrych, Senior Technician explaining the finer points of transmission and compression to Sinethemba, Isherene and Lusanda

Bush Radio is currently considering upgrading the old Telkom copper wire connection which send our signal from the studio in Salt River to Sentech and Creese shared some clarity on why fibre optic is the way to go to get improved audio quality to the transmitter.

Gary Urion, Supervisor Transmission Centre Western Region (centre) with Sinethemba, Freedom and Victor

Our staff were amazed when we were taken into the Sentech’s operations centre where the main broadcasting (TV and Radio) signals are monitored 24/7, 365 days a year.

View from transmitter site in Tygerberg

We then went to the Sentech’s transmitter site in Tygerberg where many of the community and commercial radio stations transmitters are located. A highlight was also seeing the new digital television transmitter.

Related: In your ear and in your brain – worldwide

UNESCO and Bush Radio present “Women and Technology”

Bush Radio in partnership with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) is currently hosting a two-week training course for twelve women in community radio to produce radio features on women in the fields of science, technology and engineering.

At least one radio producer from each province of South Africa is included in the training with four coming from Western Cape stations.  “The stations included in the training are mix of urban, peri-urban and rural stations,” says Brenda Leonard, the managing director of Bush Radio.

This training is taking place from the 24^th October 2011 to the 4th November 2011, and will form part of a broader project called “Upgrading the technical and radio production skills of women in community radio to produce features and documentaries on women in science and engineering” that is funded by the UNESCO International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). This activity falls within the framework of UNESCO contribution towards strengthening free, independent media and developing human capacity.

It is hoped that the project will not only benefit the women, but those radio stations they represent, and the broader community they broadcast too, as the skills attained during the training will improve the overall quality and content of each station.

Quanita Kamaar from Voice of the Cape said, “Participating in the training programme has enabled me to develop my skills and share what I have gained with the rest of the community.”

Another participant, Granny Makhinya from Phalaborwa FM, ended off by saying, “The training has given me the opportunity to develop my technical capabilities.”

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