PATHLOSS EXPONENT DETERMINATION USING RADIO STATION SIGNALS IN ADAMAWA NORTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

Information is power. Communication is said to be the means of conveying information from a source to destination, thus, communication is vital to life. Radio communication happens to be one cardinal point of passing information from a station to the community, therefore it is imperative that such channels be studied with all diligence. In North-Eastern Nigeria, passing information is very necessary because of the present insecurity (Boko Harm) situation of the region and even the world at large. Thus, channels of conveying information needed to be put in check. The Pathloss exponent determination of radio signal strength of FM Gotel and FM Fombina was studied in this work. Primary and secondary data were taking from the field on quarterly basis and from the radio stations respectively. The field data were that of signal strength of both stations at mean distance of 20km through 250km radius of coverage along Adamawa Central and Adamawa North senatorial districts using a field strength metre (TM-195 Field Strength Meter 3-axis). The result shows that signal pathloss increases with linear distance. The highest pathlosses for Gotel stood at 19.08dB and for Fombina 17.18dB. The highest pathloss exponents value was found on Fombina’s link and it stood at 4.22 and the lowest stood at 2.57; these values are in agreement with pathloss exponents standards in literatures. It is also worthy of note that the results of this study shows that the radio stations under study  do not cover 250km radius of coverage as recorded but 180km and 140km for Gotel and Fombina respectively. This study will have application in telecommunication, especially in the areas procurement and installation of transmitters both for public and private sectors within this region of the country.