Coverage and Performance Evaluation of VHF and UHF Electric Field Strength Distribution in Urban Area of Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper evaluated the coverage and performance of VHF and UHF signal level from two different transmission stations in the urban area of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. The performance characteristics of the two bands are of special importance regarding coverage and quality requirements. Effective communication links require direct line of sight; however, this cannot be achieved in a build-up areas where obstacles are present along the communication paths, which in turns result in signal strength degradation. In this work, the signal strength and performance of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Ilorin, and Kwara State Television (KWTV) were investigated along some six selected routes. The measurement was taken with a spectrum analyzer. Global positioning system (GPS) device was used to measure the coordinates between the transmitter and receiver during measurement. Microsoft Excel software was used to show the graphical variation of the field strength. Furthermore, the result obtained reveal the performance of the two transmitting stations under National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and Federal Communication Commission (FCC) thresholds, the highest percentage coverage recorded from the two stations along route 3 are 66.48% for VHF and 6.92% for UHF. The need for repeater stations was suggested to routes with poor coverage so as to improve the signal quality based on NBC standard.