Thiruvanthapuram is the capital of the South Indian State of Kerala. It is
located almost in the Southern Western tip of India. It was earlier known in
English as Trivandrum. Before the independence of India, it was the capital of
the erstwhile princely state of Travancore, which had its own stamps, coins and
even a radio station.
During my recent trip to my native place in May 2002, I undertook a 6 and
half-hour trip by a Super Fast bus to cover 225 kms on a rainy day to visit the
different facilities of the AIR station there, by prior appointment. It was the
15th AIR station that I could visit and here are the details of that station.
The history of AIR Thiruvanthapuram goes back to the days of Travancore Broadcasting Station which came on the air on 12th March 1943 when the Maharaja (King) of Travancore, Sree Chitira Tirunnal Balramavarma switched on a 5 kW Medium Wave Transmitter. AIR is now celebrating 60 years of Malayalam broadcasting to commemorate the first broadcast from this station. (Malayalam is the local language of the State). The transmitter was located at Kulathoor which still continues as a MW transmitter site. It was made by STC (Standard Cable & Telephone) and the antenna mast was of 76 Meters. The studio was at Palayam, where the present MLA quarters is located. The callsign of the station was at first VUR which later changed to VUG and it used the frequency of 658 kHz. It used to operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 7.00 pm to 9.30/10.00 pm. The programs mainly consisted of music and dramas. There was even a news bulletin in English and the news reader was Ms. Indira Joseph.
After over two and half years of Indian independence, when Travancore became part of the newly formed state of Kerala, this station was inducted to the All India Radio network on April 1, 1950.The present studios and offices of AIR Thiruvanthapuram is at Bhakti Vilas, Vazthuthacaud in the city which was set up in November 1952. It was recommisioned on December 12, 1959. It was earlier a palace that was used by the famous Diwan (Governor) of Travancore, Sir C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer. It is a heritage building and is nicely maintained by AIR. The Station Engineer�s office was in fact the Diwan�s bedroom! Thiruvanthapuram being the capital of the state, all the other 6 stations of AIR in the state relay several of its programs as well as the little station in neighbouring Kavaratti in Lakshadeep where the local language is also the same. Its programs are unlinked via INSAT 2C Satellite and the downlink frequency is 49.725 MHz.
Most of the External Service programmes in Malayalam language broadcast at 1730-1830 UTC to the Middle East is also unlinked to Delhi from here. The studio to transmitter link is via UHF on 1489 and 1521 MHz made by DB Electronica Telecomunicazoni in Italy and by Meltron. I also saw a 2 watt Meltron RT43S transceiver for two-way VHF communication system between studio and transmitter site.
The transmitters of AIR Thiruvanthapuram are at different places.
1. Medium Wave: (A Channel)
Its main MW site is at Kulathoor, which is about 12 kms away from the studioes. The old 5 kW transmitter installed for the Travancore Broadcasting Station in 1943 was replaced by a 10 kW BEL HMB 104 Transmitter on February 15, 1973. This transmitter�s serial no. is 4. It used the frequency of 660 kHz till the MW frequency reshuffle on November 23, 1978 and then it was changed to the present 1161 kHz. At the end of 2001, this 10 kW Transmitter was replaced by a solid state 20 kW Harris DX 20 Transmitter made in USA. It�s output power can be selected as 5, 10 or 20 kW. It uses a self-radiating mast of 122 Meters. There are generators here to be used in case of any power failures. The morning transmission of this MW service starts at 5.50 am (0020 UTC) and the evening transmissions end at 11.05 p.m. (1735 UTC). The old 10 kW Transmitter is used as standby here. It is tested daily for a couple of minutes between 5.00 and 5.30 am before the normal morning transmission starts.
2. Vividh Bharati MW (Studio)
The Vividh Bharati Service from this station started on March 6, 1966 with a NEC MB 122 A transmitter of 1 kW on 1170 kHz with a 28 meter self-radiating mast antenna installed at the studioes. Later it was changed to 1494 kHz during the MW frequency reshuffle on November 23, 1978. It was converted to a Commercial Broadcasting Station on May 1, 1975. This MW Transmitter was taken off the air in favor of FM which started from here in 1999 but it is still kept as standby with an L antenna at the studioes.
3. Short Wave:
There were plans for SW transmission from here very long back but the transmitter meant for here was diverted to Kuresong in the early 1960�s during the war with China. Ultimately, a BEL HHB 144 SW transmitter of 50 kW was commissioned here on November 6, 1994 after being tested from around October 1992. The serial no. of this transmitter is 8 which is capable for operating between 3.9 and 26.1 MHz. The transmitter site is near the seacoast at Muttathura about 12 kms away from the studio. During the testing time the following frequencies were noted: 3315, 4990, 5950, 6085, 7260, 7280 and 9650 kHz. Presently there are 3 transmissions from here on SW as follows:
0050-0215 UTC on 5010 kHz, 0230-0400(Sun 0930) and at 0630-0930 on 7290 kHz.
There are no broadcasts on SW from here now for the evening/night transmission due to shortage of staff. They use distilled water and air cooling systems to cool the transmitter. There are 3 antenna towers and the antennas are dipoles for 5 bands viz. 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 MHz. There is an emergency studio also here I also saw a Sangean ATS 818 CS digital receiver there.
4. FM:
The FM transmitter is located at Kudappanakunnu at the TV station, about 8 kms away from the AIR studioes. It was inaugurated here on August 15, 1999. It carries the Vividh Bharati program on 101.9 MHz in Stereo. The transmitters are two numbers of 5 kW BEL HVB 165/A. There are 3 transmissions daily and most of the programs are in Hindi relayed via Satellite from Mumbai. The morning transmissions start at 5.55 am and the evening transmissions end at 11.00 p.m. The history of FM broadcasting in Thiruvanthapuram if fact goes back to back to January 1983 when a 5 watt FM Transmitter assembled by AIR Tirunelveli staff was on air for a couple of days during an AIR conference held here. This low power transmitter which was installed at the AIR Studioes used the frequency of 107.1 MHz. It was taken back after the conference was over. The local TV station using the same site by the way has two 10 kw transmitters operating on Ch. 9 (DD1) and Ch. 11 (DD2). At first it was a low power 100 watt station which was inaugurated on January 1, 1985.
I have received several confirmations for my reception reports to this AIR station. Letters from foreign listeners are normally forwarded to New Delhi and QSL Cards are issued from there.
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12 Mar 1943 Travancore Broadcasting Station,VUR, 658 kHz, 5 kW MW STC
1 Apr 1950 Inducted to AIR
6 Mar 1966 1 kW Vividh Bharati NEC MB 122 A (at Vazthucaud Studio)
15 Feb 1973 5 kW MW tx replaced by 10 kW BEL HMB 104 (Kulathoor)
Jan 1983 5 watts FM 107.1 MHz (demonstration by AIR Tirunelveli at Studio)
6 Nov 1994 50 kW SW BEL HFB 144 (Muttathura)
15 Aug 1999 MW Vividh Bharati replaced by FM Stereo 2x5 kW BEL HVB 165/A (Muttathura)
Dec 2001 20 kW Harris DX 20 Tx replaced 10 kW MW