techcentral.co.za this week is reporting that South Africans love radio. The shift to digital has had disruptive effects on audiences in other media such as print and television, but radio remains resilient – even as it faces revenue pressures.

This is according to the third annual State of Broadcasting Industry Report released by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) this week. “The radio industry in South Africa demonstrated resilience amid ongoing industry headwinds,” said the report.

While increasing penetration of smartphones and digital devices has facilitated increased access to online radio platforms, a shift was particularly evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdowns led to a rise in radio listenership as people sought companionship and information.”

Traditional broadcast radio has come under pressure despite listenership figures remaining robust, though the vast majority of South Africans continue to tune in at rates that surpass the global average.

According to the NAB’s report, radio has been impacted by changes in consumer behaviour towards the adoption of internet-based, on-demand broadcast services. Despite this, relatable content and innovative methods for driving listenership engagement – like the incorporation of social media – along with the continued growth of community radio stations are keeping radio relevant and mainstream.

December 2023 data from the Broadcast Research Council shows South Africa’s 334 radio stations – made up of 41 commercial and public broadcasting services and 293 community stations – attract a combined weekly audience of 31.6 million people. 

The NAB said the majority of listeners still tune in via standalone radio receivers, with car radios being the second most popular access medium. Smart speakers and streaming apps showed the strongest growth between the third quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, despite being fifth and sixth behind cell-phone FM receivers and DSTV’s audio bouquets.

Thanks to techcentral for this review.

Meanwhile, mybroadband.co.za reports that South Africa’s network operators have said that battery theft and vandalism at their base stations have declined since 2023, but MTN and Vodacom have noted that the crimes still cost them a combined R550 million this year.

Several years of severe load-shedding had necessitated that South Africa’s mobile operators install increased tower backup capacity to reduce the power cuts’ impact on customer connectivity.

Alongside copper cables and other valuable materials used in telecoms infrastructure, backup power equipment became a prime target for opportunistic thieves and organised syndicates.

“Battery theft and vandalism at our base stations continue to be a huge challenge for the telco sector,” says Vodacom Group chief risk officer Johan van Graan.

“The consequences go beyond the costs of repairing and restoring infrastructure. They have a significant impact on communities that depend on connectivity as a vital lifeline.”

According to Vodacom, base station vandalism and battery theft can leave hundreds of thousands of people without a means to communicate, as many rely on cell-phone networks for this.

However, it can also affect businesses and emergencies where communication can be a matter of life or death.

The operator said that KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Northern Gauteng accounted for 40% of all battery thefts.

MTN South Africa told MyBroadband that it also experienced high levels of theft and vandalism in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

The network said it had experienced close to 500 incidents of theft and vandalism, which ultimately cost R450 million to replace stolen batteries and damaged base stations in 2024.

This is more than a tenfold increase from 2023’s costs, which cost the network R33 million.

It explained that these incidents included cable theft, battery theft, and the vandalism of battery safe houses. Battery safe houses are vault-like structures built around base station batteries.

“In addition, MTN South Africa is replacing copper cables with aluminium, which has a lower scrap value, and securing batteries with epoxy while improving security structures and bunkers to delay potential breaches,” MTN South Africa said.

On another electronic tack, militaryaerospace.com says that Electronic Warfare transmitters will use gallium nitride (GaN) technology in the ALQ-99, which is an airborne integrated Electronic Warfare jammer, to provide an improved universal exciter upgrade that solves obsolescence problems with application-specific integrated circuit prototypes.

The ALQ-99 receiver and antennas are mounted in a fin-tip pod on an aircraft, while jamming transmitters and exciter equipment are located in under-wing pods.

The system is designed to intercept, automatically process, and jam enemy RF signals from radio communications and radar. It can also detect, identify, and locate radio waves in a signals intelligence mode.

The ALQ-99’s low-band transmitter has replaced the [previous generation] ALQ-99’s tactical jamming system in Electronic Warfare bands 1, 2, and 3, ranging from 20 MHz to 1 GHz. Building transmitters with GaN technology will enable the transmitters to include band 4, which operates from 1 to 3 GHz, and to consolidate several transmitters into one transmitter.

And in a story from telegrafi.com, I read about photographer and aviation enthusiast Ian Simpson who has lived in the East Anglia region all his life and one of whose favourite things to do is photograph aircraft at Royal Air Force bases.

But on the morning of July 13, he knew something was wrong when he was watching planes take off at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, about 100 kilometres north-east of London.

The base is operated by the US Air Force and is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, the only US Air Force F-15 fighter wing in Europe.

“This plane took off and just before it got to us … a lot of flames and sparks started coming out of the back,” Simpson told the CNN-in

Simpson, who previously worked for Boeing designing air traffic control procedures, listened to radio communications between pilot Major Grant Thompson and the base to see if any action would be taken, but to his surprise no one else appeared to have noticed.

When he heard that the plane was set to refuel over the North Sea, Simpson realized that the pilot was unaware of potential problems with the plane, reports the Telegraph.

“They had no idea what was going on,” said the 56-year-old observer. “So at that point, I called the base – Googled the phone number.”

The panel operator connected him to the flight operations centre, which then contacted air traffic control and the pilot. After Thompson had his wingman confirm damage to the right engine of his F15-E Strike Eagle, the pilot returned safely to base.

I just love it when a plan comes together!

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, for the A TEAM, reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.