Radio_Hong_Kong_1960-1961 — Page 27

on the Macau Grand Prix. The use of this amplifier proved very satis- factory in providing high quality reception.

94. For the first time, the Queen's Birthday Parade was partly covered by commentaries from a helicopter. This link-up, engineered and installed by the technical staff, added considerable interest to the broadcast.

95. Extensive outside broadcast coverage was given to the Yuen Long Agricultural Show. As in previous years, the broadcast was relayed back to the studios by VHF, using one of the main OB vans equipped as a linking studio at Tai Mo Shan. A stall equipped for the public to make recordings and for the playing of special programmes over the public address system was also provided.

RELAY RECEPTION

96. A total of 2,305 English and 1,074 Chinese programmes were received for direct relay or pre-recording by Radio Hong Kong. This represented a 20% increase in English programmes compared with the previous year. The number of Chinese programme relays remained much the same.

97. The standard of reception from the B.B.C. direct, and also of the B.B.C. Far Eastern Station in Singapore was, in general, good. During the summer months and in December and January, the direct route was inferior to the Singapore one. Reception from Radio Australia was very reliable from May to December and this Station was used on several occasions when reception of the B.B.C. News was poor, owing to disturbed propagation conditions.

TRANSMITTERS

98. There was no change in the deployment of the AM transmitters which, now running in parallel to the FM transmitters, are situated at Hung Hom. However, the broadcast hours of the English Service transmitters were increased as a result of the extension of hours. An account of the running hours and interruptions of the AM transmitters during the period of this report are as folows:

Call Sign Freq.

ZBW 860 Kc/s ZEK 640 Kc/s ZBW 3 3,940 Kc/s

Running

Service Interruptions Hours Due to Transmitters

5.838 1 min. 8 secs. 6,088

1 min. 10 secs. 6.177 1 min. 40 secs.

Other Causes

1 hr. 1 min. 3 secs. 1 hr. 38 mins. 53 secs. 1 hr. 32 mins. 35 secs.

(N.B. 60% of the 'Other Causes' interruptions were due to landline break-

downs during typhoon 'Mary' in June)

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