ZICTA has Approved our Transmitter

As many of you know, ZICTA (Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority) is the regulating body for anything related to information and communication here in Zambia. Most of us are aware of their regulations regarding sim cards or their involvement in the regulation of internet use or abuse. They are the ones we are told to contact when we are called by scammers or frauds.

However, ZICTA also regulates frequencies which are used to transmit anything, whether phone networks, radio broadcasts, TV broadcasts or even bluetooth. So after receiving our conditional letter from IBA for Chejeji FM to start getting ready, we straight away engaged ZICTA to look into applying for the frequency we will broadcast on.

Before applying for the frequency our first step was to apply for permission to use the transmitter and antenna which we purchased for use. FM Transmitters have come a long way since they were invented in 1933 by the American engineer Edwin H. Armstrong. The one we have has many advanced features including:

• Stereo sound transmission with built in audio processing which keeps the “loud” sounds of all songs equal and boosts the quiet sounds so that they are heard also.
• Dynamic computer controlled RDS (Radio Data System) which sends text to the radio receivers enabling them to not only display the station name “Chejeji FM” but also to display the title of the current song or message being played.

This along with other upgrades in the technology provides a wonderful listening experience for the listener who can also be more fully engaged and aware of what or who they are listening to.

We are thankful to announce that we have received permission from ZICTA to use the transmitter which we have on hand and so these features will soon be put to use when our station goes on line. Now we move on to the next step of applying for the frequency which we are interested in broadcasting on.