Detailed measuring report

To get a feeling for the terrain we placed a small beacon transmitter (144280kHz) on the future studio building in Lushoto. Another one on the planned transmitter site Seguruma up of Mlalo. In case we should ever get a licence for a short wave AM station a beacon on 7036 kHz showed us possible reception from Moshi on short wave.

Since we are still waiting for the frequency allocation for Shengenna, we placed a beacon even there (146600kHz).

Monitored broadcast FM stations also show an open path into a certain direction. Also it would have been possible to measure exact field strength, we thought it would be sufficient just to note down a go/no-go result, to save time.

Here are the detailed listening results:

Amani: (GPS pos: S 5deg 06.928 E 38deg 37.434) (research station)

FM stations heared: RTD DAR, BBC Nairobi 93.7, RFA ch1:98.9, RFA ch2:98.0

Beacons heard: None! Either Shengenna , nor ,Lushoto or Seguruma!

Lushoto: (GPS pos: S 4deg 47.596. E 38deg17.489 )

FM stations heared: none

Beacons heard: Lushoto , Machame on 7036MHz, not Seguruma or Shengenna!

Mombo: (Road to Sony)

FM stations heared: None!

Beacons heard: Lushoto (weak)

Mountain West of Lushoto (Skyline up ):

FM stations heared: SYI Kidia 92.2 MHz, Radio1 Arusha 95.3MHz

Beacons heard: Shengenna (very strong), not ,Lushoto!

Seguruma: (GPS pos: S 04deg 33.651 E 38deg19.630 )

FM stations heared: RTD DAR 88 MHz, RFA 89MHz, Metro Mombasa 89.1 MHz (very strong), RSI Kidia 92.2 MHz, BBC Nairobi 93MHz, RTD 92MHz, Radio Baraka Mombasa 95.5MHz, Radio1 Arusha 95.3MHz, RFA DSM 98.6MHz, Radio1 DSM ch2: 101.4MHz,

Radio5 Arusha 105MHz, Citizen Radio Nairobi 107 MHz

Beacons heard: Shengenna (very strong),Seguruma, not ,Lushoto!

Skyline: (GPS pos: S 04deg 44.057 E 38deg12.572 )

FM stations heared: SYI Kidia 92.2 MHz, Radio1 Arusha 95.3MHz

Beacons heard: Shengenna (very strong), not Seguruma ,Lushoto!

Sony: (GPS pos: S 5deg 04.51.044 E 38deg21.782 ) (Vuga Press)

FM-stations heard: Radio1 DSM, Radio Tanzania FM DSM

Beacons heard: Lushoto (up the road some bit), Machame on 7036MHz

not Seguruma or shengenna !

Tanga: (GPS pos: S 05deg 04.232 E 39deg06.317)(Mbuyukenda)

FM stations heard: None!

Beacons heard: Seguruma, Machame on 7036MHz, not Lushoto!

While travelling from Tanga passing the Usambara Mountains we heard the Seguruma beacon from Tanga, then in Hale, in Segera, Korogwe, Msambiazi. Then both beacons could be heard, from Lushoto and Seguruma starting at the railway crossing at Kwasunga, then in Makuyuni, Mombo (just the one from Lushoto), Mazinde, Mkumbara, Bwiko. The two beacons could not be heard any more when they got shaded off by the South Pare mountains.

But there the Shengenna beacon became audible.

Often the reception was just above noise level, but with 1 Watt transmitter power and distances up to 100 km nothing else could be expected! Since the beacons transmitted every 5 minutes only, other villages in between are certainly covered as well!

The mountains of Amani throw a long shadow between about 30 km coming from Tanga up to the junction to Dar Es Salaam at Hale.

Since the road follows close to the mountains, the reception a bit further South may be better. Another test trip following the road to Dar Es Salaam will verify this assumption.

Unfortunately we could not get any of the VHF beacons up on the Amani mountains. No signal can be expected from Moshi/Arusha anyway, since it is shielded well by the Usambara/Pare mountains. This seemed us to be the best place for covering Tanga!