Reception delay for 10,000 viewers

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34031, 20 December 1975, Page 5

Reception delay for 10,000 viewers

(By

KEN COATES)

About 10,000 viewers in the Christchurch area will have to wait until the middle of next year for satisfactory TV2 reception. Delays in commissioning TV2’s Wellington transmitter have set back the Broadcasting Council’s plans for installing translators in Christchurch and Auckland by at least three months, according to Mr C. H. Webber, acting superintending engineer in charge of transmission. The TV2 translators for the Christchurch area will serve Heathcote, Redcliffs, Sumner, Lyttelton and Taylor’s Mistake. Engineers say they will probably be installed on the sites of existing TVI translators, although because of technical factors a new site may have to be found for the Lyttelton TV2 translator. Problems over receiving a

good TV2 picture at the Sumner translator site have also to be overcome. Mr Webber said seven translators for TV2 had to be installed in Auckland and 19 in Wellington.

But because site selection surveys had been already carried out in Christchurch and Auckland, installation in these two centres would come before Wellington. The Broadcasting Council has the translators ready for installation. Some are made in New Zealand and others are imported. The average cost of each is $20,000. PORT HILLS Engineers may also decide to install an additional translator to deal with TV2 trouble spots in the Port Hills area. The second stage of TV2 development provides for new translators for Nelson, Greymouth and Timaru, but it is unlikely a start will be made before early in 1978.

The third stage will bring TV2 to country districts, including Banks Peninsula, which has a total of 13 translators for TVI. In most areas TV2 translators will be installed on existing sites.