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Equal Access
uses the Digital Satellite Radio
infrastructure to directly reach the
participating communities in rural Nepal.
Digital Satellite Radio (DSR) has many
advantages as a tool to provide education to
underserved rural communities.
-
The
satellite provides a crystal clear
signal across a huge geographic area,
providing equal service to rural and
urban areas (a single beam of the
satellite covers all of India, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Sri Lanka),
-
The
equipment required to receive the signal
is relatively cheap and manufactured in
the region (by BPL, Bangalore, India),
requires little power supply (we use a
mix of solar and battery power at rural
sites) and strongly resembles a regular
radio allowing communities to quickly
understand and operate the system,
-
The DSR
Receivers are simple to use and we have
found that only a basic technical
training is required for communities to
use the systems,
-
The
satellite system primarily carries audio
content, a medium for education that
builds on the established oral
traditions of rural communities and
which overcomes illiteracy, and
-
As the
receivers are also digital, they can be
connected to a computer and used to
download any form of data/multimedia
such as WebPages, a written syllabus or
an electronic text book at up to 64kbps
From
Wikipedia
Satellite
Radio
A satellite radio or
subscription radio
(SR) is a digital radio
signal that is broadcast by
a communications satellite,
which covers a much wider
geographical range than
terrestrial radio signals.
Satellite radio is currently
at the forefront of the
evolution of radio services
in some countries, notably
the United States. Mobile
services, such as Sirius, XM,
and Worldspace, allow
listeners to roam across an
entire continent, listening
to the same audio
programming anywhere they
go. Other services, such as
Music Choice or Muzak's
satellite-delivered content,
require a fixed-location
receiver and a dish antenna.
In all cases, the antenna
must have a clear view to
the satellites. In areas
where tall buildings,
bridges, or even parking
garages obscure the signal,
repeaters can be placed to
make the signal available to
listeners.
Radio services are usually
provided by commercial
ventures and are
subscription-based. The
various services are
proprietary signals,
requiring specialized
hardware for decoding and
playback. Providers usually
carry a variety of news,
weather, sports, and music
channels, with the music
channels generally being
commercial-free.
In areas with a relatively
high population density, it
is easier and less expensive
to reach the bulk of the
population with terrestrial
broadcasts. Thus in the UK
and some other countries,
the contemporary evolution
of radio services is focused
on Digital Audio
Broadcasting (DAB) services,
such as HD Radio, rather
than satellite radio.
WorldSpace
Satellite Radio
WorldSpace is a
digital satellite radio network based in
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. It covers most
of Asia and parts of Africa by satellite.
The company is also licensed to serve South
America and Central America, but services
for those regions have not started yet. (The
company's website does not include any
mention of plans for services to these
regions to start.) In the United States,
some WorldSpace channels, such as "The
System" and "U-Pop" are carried on XM
Satellite Radio. Major content partners
include BBC, NPR, CNN, Virgin Radio, Fox
News and Bloomberg. Many channels are free
of advertising, and they are known for high
quality programs with "near CD quality"
audio.
WorldSpace Satellite Radio Receivers
JVC, Sanyo, Hitachi, and Panasonic are
manufacturers selling WorldSpace digital
satellite radios in the past. South Korea's
AMI, India's BPL and Xi'an's Tongshi are the
current manufacturers. A consumer's radio
consists of a satellite receiver plus an
antenna that has to be placed in clear view
of the relevant satellite (so-called "line
of sight"), oriented in a certain azimuth
and elevation (depending upon the geographic
location). Most of the channels are
available only by subscription, but a few
are free: the BBC's African channels and RFI,
for example. |
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