GRTS Satellite Network Details

The Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS) which has recently gone satellite has announced details of the new project.

A release from GRTS indicates the technical details as follows: Satellite - Intelsat 901, Orbital position - 18 degrees West, Frequency - 4140.3 MHz, Polarization -Left (L) Circular, Transponder (tp) - 87, System Encryption - Digital Video Broadcast (DVB), Symbol Rate - 3500 kb/s (3.5 Mb/s), Field Error Correction (FEC) - 3/4, System/Source ID (SID) -1, Video Program ID (VPID) - 33, ONID-TID (Audio) - 36, Beam - C-Band Global, and Dish Size - 1.8m (6ft) or above.

According to the release this beam covers the whole of Africa, Europe, East Coast of the USA and Canada, the whole of South America and the Middle East.

"The signals are free-to-air reception and viewers in the country can use the 1.8m dish to receive signals from the satellite.

Satellite broadcasting doesn't mean that GRTS is abandoning terrestrial broadcasting. The project also involves the upgrading of the terrestrial transmitters as follows: 5kW in Abuko, 5kW in Mansakonko, 5kW in Bansang, 5kW in Basse, and a new site in Kundang with 5Kw.

With these transmitters viewers can use their current (ordinary) yagi antennnas to receive GRTS signals wherever they are in the country.

The project also involves the acquisition of a mobile satellite truck that can be used anywhere in the county and outside the country to send live signals to the studio at

There will also be a new 6-camera Outside Broadcast (OB) truck for TV and an OB-Van for Radio. There will be FM radio transmitters in all five GRTS station in Abuko, Mansakonko, Bansang, Basse and Kundang. GRTS FM radio signals will also be fed into the satellite to be broadcast worldwide.

A new virtual studio is to be build in the vacant studio room at GTRS headquarters along