BandScan Information

These bandscans have been done with two main aims. The first is to find the clear channels for possible replacements and secondly to identify occupancy. But the main underlying factor has been speed of making them after the new season and getting them to you. Every channel has been scanned every 30 minutes and the identification of the station in most cases noted above the signal strength. Therefore when you look at the scan you will be able to look at a frequency and see if there is a station heard on that frequency at any given time of 30 minutes. If you need to broadcast to S. Asia and need a frequency you will be able to find the clear spots.

1. The frequency appears in 5kHz channels vertically.
2. The time in UTC appears horizontally at the top. Each vertical column represents an one hour block. 00 indicates 0000-0059 UTC. Each hour has two numerals which show the signal strength of the two 30 minute blocks.
3. The strength is rated according to the SINPO scale. 0-no signal. 5-extremely strong. 1 is not used. Only the strength of the individual signal is rated. A very strong signal on the adjacent channel spilling over is not taken into account. In the case or two or more stations occupying a channel the S-meter rating is taken.
4. Station identification is using ITU country codes, well known station abbreviations like VOA, BBC, DW. In some cases where the identification is not sure the language area 30, 41, 40, 54, is used where the user will know that the broadcast is targeted to S. Asia, Middle East, Indonesia etc. LA-Latin America. J indicates jamming. NJ- noise jamming, BJ Bubble jamming. These identifications appear above the strength ratings. Please note that every 30 minutes is not identified to avoid cluttering up the scan. In the case of a 2 or 3 hour block the ID is given once or twice.
5. The bandscan is done every 30 minutes. Where a station has more than 5 minutes of tuning signal or open carrier prior to the commencement of a broadcast the preceding 30 minutes is also rated with the symbol oc - open carrier.

These scans have been done on a digital communications receiver. There is no chance of frequency error! Off channels have been observed to the nearest 5kHz. When the scan is done a few seconds pause is made to take a reading of the signal, which is then noted down and the identification written above if immediately known. Once the bands have been scanned, on the second day and third an attempt is made to identify unidentified signals. Without appearing to be arrogant but to assure you of reliability, let me tell you that more than 25 years of professional monitoring is behind these scans!

These scans will be updated once a month. Some of you will get these as a scanned document via e-mail for the first time in our effort to improve our service. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Perhaps you can appreciate that we can not automate the whole system since the human being is still needed to identify the occupying station. I do not have a noise free computer to have it beside the receiver to enter data straightaway in to a computer. The International Broadcasting Bureau IBB for which I work can provide you a Bandscan without station Ids as often as you like. You can contact Mr. Bill Whitacre at [email protected] for their professional service.

Your comments as well as frequency lists and updates will be most useful in our ongoing project to serve you better.

Victor A. Goonetilleke

TECHNICAL MONITORING SERVICES
Shangri-la,
298, Madapatha Road,
Kolamunne, Piliyandala,
Sri Lanka.

Tel: +94-1-614098

E-mail: [email protected]