Suggest Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) to launch Wai FM Bidayuh/Radio Kayan on Astro and MYTV, but there are limitations to implement this suggestion.

 

 

In conjunction with the return of RTM radio stations on Astro, I did suggest RTM (Radio Televisyen Malaysia) to launch Wai FM Bidayuh/Radio Kayan as standalone channel on Astro and MYTV, but RTM does not launch this radio station on these platforms.

 

Why? This is because there are 2 major technical limitations when execute this suggestion.

 

1. Astro is using the Ku band frequency on SHF 11.062GHz for satellite radio broadcasting services, together with some TV channels. On SHF 11.062GHz, Astro is running 26 radio stations.

 

In terms of capacity, Astro is likely unable to add Wai FM Bidayuh on its radio channels lineup because the slot on 11.062GHz is full, even Radio Klasik is not added too. With TV channels which are 12, actually 11.062GHz is fully occupied by 38 mixed services (12 TV and 26 radio channels). A single satellite transponder on a frequency can only carry maximum 40 mixed services. If 11.062GHz is overloaded and beyond the limit, it can jeopardize the quality of TV and radio broadcasting services (Example: poor image and audio quality of TV channels, then poor audio birate of radio services). Although Astro carries 38 mixed services on 11.062MHz, but Astro doesn't want to add 2 more services to keep their existing mixed services to maintain optimum quality. In addition, Astro leaves 2 slots empty to reserve for buffering purpose. So, Astro leaves 2 slots empty on 11.062GHz.

 

Just like a USB flashdrive. You buy 64GB USB flashdrive, but you can only save your files with 59GB space, the remaining 5GB is reserved for file system overhead and hidden data management sectors. In addition, you purchase a 128GB microSD card for you mobile phone, but of course you won't finish it by putting all the files in the microSD card of your phone because it can jeopardize your phone performance, so it is better to leave some spaces. 

 

2. RTM Wai FM Bidayuh has no satellite link to send studio feeds to MYTV, so MYTV cannot send Wai FM Bidayuh feeds to ABS-2 satellite via C band (uplink), then DTT transmitters and Asiasat-9 DTH cannot receive the feeds from ABS-2 via downlink. Although RTM has removed TV6 since 1st July 2026, actually RTM multiplex on MYTV has empty slot to add RTM Wai FM Bidayuh/Radio Kayan, but lack of satellite link does not allow RTM Wai FM Bidayuh/Radio Kayan to land on MYTV, regardless DTT or DTH. RTM Wai FM Bidayuh studio is located in Kuching, Sarawak, as it targets only Kuching and Serian with 2 frequencies (106.1MHz/101.7MHz), RTM Wai FM Bidayuh only sends signal feeds to the transmitter sites via microwave link.  

MYTV sends TV and radio feeds from broadcasting house to ABS-2 satellite via C band uplink, then DTT transmitters receive the feeds from ABS-2 satellite via downlink.

 

It is not because RTM does not want to add Wai FM Bidayuh on Astro and MYTV, but unavailable slots on Astro satellite frequency (11.062GHz) for radio broadcasting and lack of uplink satellite feed from Wai FM Bidayuh studio are the biggest limitations causing Wai FM Bidayuh/Radio Kayan does not reach such platforms.

 

These are just my personal judgement with referring some resources from LyngSat, but I have tried to express my suggestions to Astro, MYTV and RTM simultaneously via email to launch Wai FM Bidayuh on Astro and MYTV as soon as possible.