PROJECT: MAINTANANCE SERVICE OF MBEYA UNIVERISTY OF

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGIES (MUST) FM RADIO

104.5 MHZ – MBEYA.

SUBMITTED TO: MSAKAZI

MBEYA UNIVERISTY OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGIES P.O. BOX,
MBEYA

SUBMITTED BY: TERA TECHNOLOGIES AND ENGINEERING LTD

P.O.BOX 31257 DAR ES SALAAM,
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: MBEZI BEACH AFRICANA, PLOT
NO. 2283, BLOCK H, TARANGIRE STREET,
BAGAMOYO ROAD/AFRICANA DRIVE,
EMAIL: [email protected]
Website: www.teratech.co.tz
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................1

1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................2

2. SCOPE OF THE SERVICE.....................................................................................2

3. FINDINGS...........................................................................................................3

3.1. MUST FM Radio station studio......................................................................3

3.2. MUST FM Broadcasting Station....................................................................4

4. TECHNICAL SOLUTION.......................................................................................5

4.1. Solution taken at MUST FM radio station.....................................................5

4.2. Solution taken at MUST FM Broadcasting station.........................................6

5. CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................7

MUST FM Report Tera Technologies and Engineering Limited Page 1

 1. INTRODUCTION
TERA TECHNNOLOGIES AND ENGINEETING LIMITED (TTEL) was invited by
Mbeya University of Science and technology (MUST) for MUST FM Radio
maintenance service at Mbeya. Tera Technologies and Engineering Limited
visited MUST FM Studio at Mbeya University of science and Technology and
MUST FM broadcasting station at Kawetere Hills and solve the scenario of
signal Interference which was experienced and resulted to Radio shutdown.

2. SCOPE OF THE SERVICE

The scope of this project is to provide maintenance service for MUST FM Radio
at Mbeya as the station was experiencing some interference during
broadcasting. Below are the area where the scope of this project lies.

i. Visiting MUST FM Radio studio and analyzing weather all equipment are
operational perfectly .i.e. Broadcasting Mixer, STL Transmitter, Yagi
Antenna and other peripheral devices to see if they in good operational
settings as it should be.
NB: This is done at MUST FM Radio Station Transmission room at Mbeya
University of Science and Technologies in Mbeya Region.

ii. Visiting MUST FM Radio Broadcasting Station and analyzing weather all
broadcasting equipment are operational perfectly .i.e. Yagi antenna, STL
Receiver, Broadcasting transmitter and FM Cavity Filter to see if they in
good operational setting as it should be.
NB: This is done at MUST FM Broadcasting Station at Kawetere Hill in
Mbeya Region.

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 3. FINDINGS
Based on site visit and maintenance service which was conducted by Tera
Technologies and Engineering Limited in both site i.e. MUST FM Radio station
at Mbeya University of Science and Technologies (MUST) and at MUST FM
Broadcasting Station at Kawetere Hill, below were the findings;

3.1. MUST FM Radio station studio

At MUST FM Radio station studio and broadcasting room below were there
finding during site visit.

i. On the Broadcasting mixer there were some settings which was changed
unknowingly and resulted to the distortion of the broadcasted signals to
the transmitter.

 On the mixer there are some nobs which are not supposed to be
ON when they are not in use, turning them ON may result to poor
performance of the mixer and results to poor broadcasted signals.

 The signal inputs from the Computer to the Mixer the L and R nobs
for both inputs were changed instead of being at center they were
otherwise. This resulted to low quality of the broadcasted signal.

ii. Wrong positioning of the microphones during presenting or announcing.

The microphones have the specific point and setting where you can
speak and archive the best voice quality of all times.

iii. Severe dust on the broadcasting equipment in the transmission room of

the MUST FM Radio station. There was some construction going on in the
transmission room of MUST FM Radio which resulted to severe dust in
the Rack cabinet and all transmission equipment .i.e. STL transmitter
and Clean Power back up system (UPS).

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 3.2. MUST FM Broadcasting Station
At MUST FM Broadcasting Station at Kawetere Hill in Mbeya 14 KM from Mbeya
Town on the way heading to Chunya District, below were the findings during
site visit.

i. On the STL Receiver the nob for stereo and mono transmission was
switched to Mono which resulted to the broadcasted signal to be mono
signals instead of stereo which has higher quality than mono. These nobs
are not supposed to be twisted especially if the user is not a technical
personnel.

ii. The RF-Jumper cable from Broadcasting Transmitter to the Cavity Filter
has some faults which resulted to increase in the Reflection power in the
Transmitter. The best tolerable Reflection power in the Broadcasting
transmitter is 10 above that the broadcasted signal will be noisy.

iii. Water leakage through min windows in the shelter which resulted to
malfunction of rack cooling fans. Only one cooling fan is working now out
of four fans on the top of rack cabinet. These two min windows were
supposed to be covered as there were before but someone removed the
covers and allowed rain water to reach the cabinet.

iv. One of the surge protector contactor (Surge arrestor) is burnt as the
result of lighting strike. Only one surge arrestor is working now out of the
two arrestor. Transmitter has two surge contact at the back end of the
transmitter which are used to protect the transmitter from lighting
strikes. This burnt surge arrestor has to be replaced to prevent
transmitter in case lighting strike again and cause damage to
equipment.

v. Dipole broadcasting antenna got damaged due to the lighting strikes

which resulted to the damage of the surge contact on the transmitter.
After the lighting strike the broadcasting dipole antenna started to

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 misbehave by transmitting poor and noisy signals and allowed the
interfering stations to interfere more to the station.

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 4. TECHNICAL SOLUTION
Based on the above findings and the Technical Analysis we did, the following
are the stapes taken to solve all the scenarios arise during our site visit.

4.1. Solution taken at MUST FM radio station

Due to the findings which was discovered during the site visit, the following
measures were taken to resolve the issues at MUST FM Radio station to ensure
better performance of the station.
i. The nobs on the broadcasting mixer were set accordingly to ensure
better quality of the broadcasted signals and training to all presenters
and users was conducted to ensure no more similar mistake to happen
again in future. The use of each nob in the mixer was identified and
explained clearly to everyone.

ii. The proper use of microphone was explained to all users to ensure we
obtain the best voice quality. The dB settings on the microphone was
explained clearly to everyone.

iii. Cleaning of the dust in the transmission room by using blower to remove
all dust in the equipment to ensure better performance of each and
every equipment in the transmission room. Accompanied with that we
kindly advise MUST FM radio management team to have equipment
service after every three months.

iv. Mounting of the ON AIR Light signage at the entrance door of the
Broadcasting room at Mbeya University of Science and Technology
(MUST).

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 4.2. Solution taken at MUST FM Broadcasting station
Due to the findings which was discovered during the site visit, the following
measures were taken to resolve the issues at MUST FM Broadcasting station to
ensure better performance of the station.
i. On the STL Receiver the nob for stereo and mono transmission which
was switched to Mono was switched back to stereo which resulted to the
broadcasted signal to have higher quality than before. These nobs are
not supposed to be twisted especially if the user is not a technical
personnel.

ii. The RF-Jumper cable from Broadcasting Transmitter to the Cavity Filter
was checked and tighten properly which resulted to the decrease in the
Reflection power in the Transmitter. The best tolerable Reflection power
in the Broadcasting transmitter is 10 above that the broadcasted signal
will be noisy. The Reflection power also increase with the increase in the
transmitting power of the transmitter, so the transmitting power of the
transmitter was set to 425W to allow minimum reflection power as
possible.

iii. Covering of the two min windows to prevent water from entering the
rack cabinet. The malfunctioned cooling fans was not being able to be
repaired, so still only one cooling fan is working now out of four fans on
the top of rack cabinet.

iv. The replacement for the burnt surge arrestor has been ordered. The
earthing of the tower should be checked and since MUST FM has rented
the position on the tower, the owner of the tower should make sure the
earthing of the tower is perfect to prevent damage caused by lighting.
Only one surge arrestor is working fine now out of the two arrestor.

v. Replacement of the damaged dipole antenna with the other one and
tighten it properly to ensure minimum reflection power as possible.

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 5. CONCLUSION
Once again, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with us and we
guarantee you the best and quality delivery of the service from our team. For
any engineering project to be successful it needs cooperation from all the
teams involved in the project including the client, consultants and all the
contractors. The successful completion of the project or service will be a credit
to all of us who will took part in this execution. Tera Technologies assure you
the maximum cooperation for the entire period of this project execution and
after installation maintenance support.

Prepared by.
Eng. Ramadhani Ndijuye
Telecommunication Engineer
For and On Behalf of Tera Technologies and Engineering Ltd

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