Bringing closer to home:
A home away from home, St Helena’s sister island, Ascension some 750 miles northwest has no indigenous population but is inhabited by a working force and their families, many of whom are St Helenian’s.
There are five settlements on Ascension Island, Georgetown, the Island’s capital and port; Two Boats village about three miles inland; Traveller’s Hill is where the MOD garrison lives; Cat Hill is the US Base area and there is the Residency, the Red Lion and some cottages on Green Mountain. >>
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With a pronominally St Helenian population working and living on Ascension, Saint FM, in association with VT Communications, brings Saints on our sister island closer to home with the successful transmission of the station on 91.4 MHz as off May 2006.
Previously only available to Ascension Islanders via streaming audio on Saint FM’s website, private companies, and government departments soon banned the listening of Saint FM in offices, as so many people were online at one time, and disrupting the speed of connection of the business servers. >>
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Regional Manager for VT
Merlin Communications at the BBC Atlantic Relay Station on Ascension Island,
Ian Coverdale contacted Saint FM’s station Manager Mike Olsson about the
possibility of re-broadcasting the station on Ascension.
VT Communications plays a fundamental part in the relay of Saint FM to Ascension Islanders. Without their commitment to ensuring Saint FM is streaming LIVE, Islanders would only be able to hear the station via a broadband connection online.
Contact
Penny
Peters, Saint FM’s official representative on
Ascension Island.We welcome stories, news items and articles to Saint FM/St Helena Independent.
Learn more about Ascension:
How it all Happens:
Damien O’Bey, Trainee Communications Engineer for VT Communications explains:
“The idea to rebroadcast Saint FM to Ascension Island came about whilst searching for a project for my B-tech National Certificate in Communications Engineering.
It is customary for B-tech projects to be of benefit to your company once completed. It was felt that my project would be beneficial to both VT Communications Ascension Island and the community who are predominantly St. Helenian. >>
The following system (which is the one currently in use) is what came about after initial designs and trials. >>
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Damien installing transmitters |
Damien -Refurbishing an old MNO equipment |
Receiver transmit antenna's located at Green Mountain |
Duane March installing equipment |
Chris George installing equipment |
STFM Ascension Today:
Ascension might be over 700 miles away, but she now seems "just around the corner" with listeners on Ascension taking full advantage of the link Saint FM offers. >>
In addition to the countless calls and emails received each day requesting songs, Ascension Islanders have taken ownership and fully embraced the station by actively participating in various live debates and phone-ins, advertising, competitions and by contributing news articles for both radio and newspaper. >>
Ascension Island officials and councillors have used the station as a platform to reach their constituents during campaigning. Support via sponsorship has also played an important role in linking Ascension just that little bit closer to St Helena with companies big and small generously contributing prizes for Saint FM's Christmas competitions.
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