Nearing completion, India's fast-track FM radio development program has seen RFS play a vital role in providing Indians with a selection of new commercial FM radio stations, with the promise of more to come.

In 2003, the first stage of the CTI project saw a number of commercial radio stations'such as ENIL, Radio Today, Hitz FM, India FM Radio, Music Broadcast, and Sun'on air in the Indian cities of Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai. In addition to the commercial stations, the new broadcast facilities supported incumbent government broadcaster, All India Radio (AIR) and existing public broadcaster, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Shared FM

RFS was appointed in November 2002 by the project's Delhi-based consultant, Broadcast Engineering Consultant India Limited (BECIL), to provide total turnkey RF solutions for three cities'Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai. The solution determined by RFS for each site was based on two essential components: an RFS 904-series broadband FM panel array mounted atop the existing AIR tower structure, coupled with an RFS CZ-series multi-channel balanced combiner to provide a combined signal from all broadcasters to the broadband array. RFS Heliflex flexible air-dielectric coaxial feeder cables formed the link between the combiner and the FM array. Prior to the commencement of the CTI project, the ministry stipulated that the new FM broadcasters within India's four metro regions'Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai'should form broadcaster consortiums to share existing tower structures of AIR.

While tower sharing can speed deployment and minimize capital investment, it also presented a number of challenges to the FM license holders. Chief among these is the formation of the broadcaster consortiums, and of course, determining the optimal RF broadcast system for each particular site. Tower sharing demands more elegant broadband RF solutions, comprehensive site and tower surveys, and a dynamic RF technology partner.

RF expertise

Since playing a pivotal role in stage one of the CTI project, RFS has gone on to design and supply 35 fully engineered FM RF broadcast systems as part of stage two of the upgrade. RFS has supplied RF solutions to nearly half of the 79 completed CTI broadcast sites. RFS's extensive global experience in providing broadband RF solutions meant that we were able to tailor each installation to the local broadcast environment.

The RFS combined broadcast systems will allow the transmission of five FM channels'two government-owned channels and three private channels. A combined antenna system allows all broadcasters' "top spot" on each tower, ensuring increased coverage. Engineering a combined antenna system represents a more streamlined solution and is often preferable to designing separate antenna systems.

With stage two of the CTI project nearing completion, 99 stations are now online and broadcast into 86 cities, representing a significant milestone in India's ongoing broadcast network expansion. RFS's ability to take responsibility for the total transmission solution is our strength in this type of fast-track deployment.