ARLA/CLUSTER: Radio Saint Helena pode não voltar a emitir no St. Helena Day Revival

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

** SAINT HELENA. The special beam antenna has been damaged and can not
be reliably repaired on the island. Therefore, a replacement antenna
(expensive) will be needed. The tower has been severely damaged. The
lower few sections are still OK, but the rest will need to be
replaced. New upper sections can be ordered, but it will all cost
money (that RSH, as usual, does not have).

The special hard-line coaxial cable and also the special control cable
for the rotator have been cut rather than disconnected at the top of
the tower. The rotator needs to be tested, but the cable needs to be
repaired first. I assume that the rotator is mechanically still OK,
but it needs to be tested. The heavy-duty thrust bearing at the top of
the tower is still OK (I assume). The special Power Amplifier and the
transmitter with power supply are OK. All the equipment that was
inside the RSH building is OK.

Besides all that, RSH has several other local economic and political
problems to solve. I am in e-mail contact with Gary Walters, and we
are both looking for solutions. However, it would appear that only
Gary and I have any interest in repairing the station.

At the Winter SWL Fest this Spring in Pennsylvania, Joe Buch presented
his wonderful holiday on the Queen Mary II and his visit with Gary
Walters on St. Helena. At the end, Joe presented a PowerPoint
presentation with audio comments from me to the audience. I discussed
the Radio St. Helena matters (as here above). I told the participants
again, that it would take a lot of money to put RSH back on the
shortwaves.

Gary and I would both love to have a 15 meters tall STEEL tower for
the big antenna and rotator. There is a source of steel towers in the
UK, but RSH can not afford to buy such a tower. It would be a miracle,
if some person(s) or group could manage to donate such a tower, but,
now and then, miracles do happen.

Gary and I are still hoping that someday there could be another Radio
St. Helena Day Revival with shortwave broadcasts live and directly
from the wonderful island of St. Helena.

With best greetings to all Friends of Radio St. Helena everywhere.
(Gary Walters, Station Manager, R St. Helena, Pounceys, St. Helena,
and Robert Kipp, Langen, Germany, May 11, DSWCI DX Window May 18 via
WORLD OF RADIO 1566, DXLD)

I`m all for R Saint Helena on SW, but `a lot of money` for some 6
hours of broadcasting per YEAR is hardly prudent. If they did get all
that fixed, they should have regular broadcasts at least once a week,
if nothing more than relaying domestic service, so no special effort
would be required. In fact, they should have been doing this while in
good repair! Or they could surely jury-rig some kind of temporary
antenna once a year which would do the trick, maybe even work better.
Is there not a single ZD7 radio amateur on the island who could lend
his facilities for this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1566, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

I agree in the realism of the points of view by Glenn Hauser in this
aspect. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST)


Fonte: DX LISTENING DIGEST edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com