Problems with coconut trees

TELEVISION is being introduced to the Cook Islands as part of a gov ernment plan for improved tele communications that will eventually pro vide TV and FM radio broadcast to all the islands in the group. While most out er islands receive AM radio now, the re ception is not always clear. The islands have diesel generators except two that have solar power.

Before television can service the other islands, the telecommunications system of those islands must first be improved.

The upgrading of these facilities is sche duled to begin early 1990 and be finished by 1992. The initial outlay for Rarotonga has cost NZ$7OO,OOO and the

complete telecommunications project for

all the islands will cost NZ$l2 million.

“It is a nation-building facility and ser vice. It will help to bring islands closer together and create a sense of nation hood that will certainly go a long way towards dispelling the isolation that ex ists physically and mentally,” says Prime Minister Geoffrey Henry.

The choice of broadcasting transmis sion instead of cable transmission is one

area in which there was disagreement.

The initial planning group said laying cable into people’s homes was too expen sive because of the central mountain and isolation of some housing areas. Howev er, local chief executive Freddie Keil and American technical advisor Richard Wachter felt the eight translator masts erected around the island would have high maintenance costs and be very

vulnerable to cyclones. They argued the

initial expense of cable would pay off in

the long run. Another problem they

found was coconut tree interference with

signals.

“We looked at TV in the Caribbean and found the coconut trees can absorb signals. If a house is surrounded by coconut trees the TV antenna needs to be higher,” says Wachter. “The advice from New Zealand is broadcasting orientated because they use a broadcast ing system. They don’t have coconut trees there.”

TVNZ’s Satellites Operation Manager, Lewis Woodburn said coconut trees were not major problems as long as people were aware that higher antennas would be needed to avoid the taller trees. □