Radio Pretoria, a community radio station, which operates a network of 10 transmitters, recently added a Nautel VS2.5 FM transmitter to its fleet.
Vaughan Taylor from Taylor Engineering installed the unit on Sept. 19, 2012, the same day that Radio Pretoria turned 19 years old, at the station’s “Kleinfontein” site, close to Pretoria.
The station had recently updated its program schedule and was looking to improve its sound to fit a new “image” of the type of content it aired. Luckily, says Radio Pretoria Station Manager Fred Maree, the new VS2.5 provided the quality the station required.
Vaughan Taylor of Taylor Engineering (L) with John Macdonald of Nautel and Fred Maree, Radio Pretoria, station manager (R). “Thanks to the high-sound quality, listeners called for days on end, complimenting us,” said Maree. “One listener, Charles White, said ‘with all my travels in and around South Africa, Radio Pretoria’s sound is the brightest and clearest of all the radio stations.’”
Maree explained that Taylor Engineering had suggested that Radio Pretoria select a Nautel transmitter to reach the quality it needed.
Since going on air, various setbacks have occurred at the Kleinfontein site, ranging from power failures, vandalism, lightning damage to STL problems and power surges. Through all the challenges, however, the VS2.5 just keeps on working, Maree says.
The equipment has proven itself to be robust. According to Emile Deysel, Radio Pretoria technical officer, the AUI “…is also a big thing for us, being able to make adjustments to the VS2.5 from the office, saving many trips, time and money.”
The back-up USB saved lots of dead air time during the lightning season, Maree adds, when the primary feed went down on a few occasions, and the secondary feed was not operable at that stage.
