The 64th Independence Day celebrations will shortly be taking place in India on August 15. It is one of the major holidays of the year and affords us the great opportunity to hear some special programming via SW.
Of particular interest to listeners in North America is the President's annual address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day (August 14). President Shrimati Pratibha Devishingh Patil's speech will be delivered via SW radio at 1330 UT (7:00 PM IST). This gives us a good opportunity to attempt to hear the rarely used AIR Kohima SW transmitter on 4850, which is only used for special event. Also the other regional AIR stations will all be broadcasting her speech to the nation, which will be delivered first in Hindi and then repeated again in English.
As a guide to what can be heard, here is the log of my 2009 reception:
4850, AIR Kohima, 1301, August 14, 2009 with today's program schedule; talk show about rugby in English; 1315 health program in Hindi; 1327 marching music/anthem; President's address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day in Hindi, repeated in English till 1402; pop music program till tune out at 1410. Nice local IDs; slightly better than 2008 reception here. Started fading about 1350.
Last year the speech was heard in parallel: 4760 (AIR Port Blair); 4775 (AIR Imphal); 4835 (AIR Gangtok); 4880 (AIR Lucknow); 4895 (AIR Kurseong); 4920 (AIR Chennai); 4940 (AIR Guwahati); 4970 (AIR Shillong); 4990 (AIR Itanagar); 5010 (AIR Thiruvan.) and 5050 (AIR Aizawl). Noticeably off the air last year was 5040 (AIR Jeypore).
An audio file (MP3) of a portion of last year's reception is posted at :
http://www.mediafire.com/?7r8e117ju2mum3h >.
It should be noted that AIR Gangtok is currently off frequency. Mauno Ritola (Finland) measured them on 4837.215 kHz. with sign off at 1600:30, on August 11. Thanks to Mauno for the update.
Special thanks to Jose Jacob of Hyderabad, India for confirmation that this year's speech will indeed be broadcast at 1330 UT, August 14, 2010 and he sends along this additional information:
4760 (leh), 4800, 4810, 4820, 4910, 5015, etc. are additional frequencies to check, as well as 9470, 9425, 9835, 9575 and 6030. Shortly after the broadcast in Hindi and English local station broadcast its translation in local languages.
Reception reports may be sent to : spectrum-manager@air.org.in
Doordarshan TV channels also carry the President's address to the nation.
Ron Howard
Asilomar State Beach, CA, USA
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