Indian public-service broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) issued a global tender notice for new transmitters to support its network upgrade to DRM30 and DRM+ operation.

The tender notice, available via the AIR website, covers 40 new medium-wave transmitters and five new shortwave transmitters, the upgrade of 36 medium-wave transmitters to support DRM30, and associated site and equipment upgrades. An additional 500 W shortwave transmitter is being purchased for trials of local services on the 26 MHz band.

Specifically, AIR is seeking eleven 100 kW, ten 200 kW, one 1 kW, eleven 20 kW, one 50 kW and six 300 kW medium-wave DRM transmitters; and two 100 kW, two 250 kW and one 500 kW shortwave DRM transmitters; as well as the one 500 W 26 MHz band DRM transmitter. The transmitters needing to be upgraded to support DRM30 are eight 300 kW/200 kW Thales S7HP units, nine 100 kW/200 kW Thales M2W units, and nineteen 20 kW Harris DX-20 units.

Also in the tender notice is a call for supply, erection, testing and commissioning of 171 DRM+-compatible transmitters, including a hundred 100 W units, thirteen 1 kW units, twelve 5 kW units, twenty-seven 6 kW units and nineteen 10 kW units.

The tender notice includes a few additional interesting item, including 34 AM and 140 FM broadcast audio processors, and an 8-meter-tall crossed-field medium-wave antenna and associated antenna-tuning unit.

Earlier in the year, AIR purchased two 1 MW DRM-capable transmitters from Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia for wide area coverage, as well as six 10 kW mobile DRM transmitters from RIZ Transmitter Co. for disaster response situations.

The tender bids will be opened during August and September 2010.