A new transmitter

Hi Friends,

I just got word from Timo of COMPPA that La Voz Lenca has received funds for buying a new, slightly more powerful, and much more reliable AM transmitter. This is wonderful news. Much credit goes to the folks of COMPPA who have cultivated the resources to make this possible. The way it looks now, We're planning to meet up in La Esperanza in March of next year to install the new stuff, including power conditioning to reduce the huge instability in the power line voltage there, and a new high quality limiter to deliver the best possible audio signal. Good chance that I'll be driving the stuff down...even though the new transmitter is much lighter and smaller than those old ones, it's still too big to be checked luggage on a commercial airplane.

The situation in Honduras is still very bad. There were widespread problems with the election last Sunday, with a large number of voters not voting out of fear, or boycotting the elections, not wanting to validate a flawed process. Large turnouts were announced by the electoral commission in an effort to show legitimacy for the process, and unfortunately, most foreign media just regurgitated that without checking on it's validity. The actual numbers, especially in the outlying areas, were extremely light. It seems that the country now has three presidents, all whose claim to power is questioned by many if not most. Meanwhile the people suffer, anger rises, repression rises, and I think there's a real possibility of war if some hot button gets pushed.

Anyway, here's some more pictures of people who aren't very worried by all that...some of the kids who live at the house I ate at...



Look for more pictures and news about the unfolding situation soon.

Peace, Bill

Back home

Hi Friends,

It's the morning after the national elections in Honduras. Indications are the U.S. is poised to maintain the coup by affirming the results of the "election", even though preliminary reports indicate that there was extremely light turnout at poling places, with a high degree of military intimidation, lack of international monitoring, and many candidates pulling out of the race because of the unfairness of the whole process. Reporting has been curtailed for awhile, so it will be a few days till the full extent of the situation is known. I haven't heard anything about La Voz Lenca, but I'll post it here when I do.

So anyway, I was able to fly back on Friday, on a mostly empty airplane. I was picked up at O'Hare by friend and co-conspirator, Allan Gomez, and had a fine time with him and his new housemates. I have lots to tell about what's going on with the station and in Honduras in general. Maybe we can put together a meeting to show and tell. I brought back many hours of recordings of La Voz Lenca programming, since many people have asked to hear it and it's not streamed on the web. I'm looking for some way to make it available on the web...It doesn't appear that this blog format can accommodate that.

I'll get some pictures up soon. Meanwhile, check out Honduras Resists for English info about the situation in Honduras, or Indymedia Chiapas and Radio Progreso and Radio Globo for excellent up to date Spanish language stuff.

peace, Bill

Sunday night

Hi Friends,

I've just been listening to one of the bravest radio programs...and it's on every night from 8 to 9 p.m. central time. It's on rRadio Globo, rebroadcast on La Voz Lenca. It often has live interviews with Pres. Zelaya, and has call-ins from all over Honduras. The host, Felix, really dissects the news and explains it clearly...highly recommended to those who speak Spanish. And, yes, it has been the focus of serious repression.

Cris, of COMPPA, loaded a copy of "Audacity" onto my computer. It's a program for recording and editing audio material. I've been recording some sample programs. Unfortunately, our satellite link is going back to Guatemala tonight, but I'll bring the recordings home. There may be a way to get them onto our website or this blog.

Well, that problem with the power meter is still with us...people needing to turn on the shower or all the burners of the electric stove to get the lights back on. My friend, Berta Caseres, promises that the people from ENEE will be out tomorrow to turn off the power so I can repair the meter base.

So, this is probably the last entry from here at Utopia. I'll try to get at least one more sent out from some place in La Esperanza before I leave here on Thurs. p.m.

Pax vobiscum! Bill

Fallas Electricas

Hi Folks,

"Fallas" [pronounced "fayas"] means like "faults" or "failures", and we're having the same problems we had about 2 years ago: Without warning, seemingly at random, the lights go out in the whole Utopia building [and the transmitter, which runs on 240 volts, shuts down.] What's the cure?...Turn on the shower!!...As soon as the shower water runs, the lights come back on!!

This may seem a bit strange...in fact it baffled me for weeks the first time. What's happening is that there's a bad contact in the electric meter base out on the pole by the front gate. When it doesn't make good contact, there's some sparking across the gap between the two parts, they get blackened and pitted and no longer pass current and the lights go out. The showers here have big, 240 volt electric heaters right in the shower heads. [Yes, it's kinda scary.] The shower heads have an automatic switch inside that turns them off when no water is flowing. When you turn on the shower, a big spark jumps across the burned contacts in the meter base, temporarily spotwelding them together, which turns on the circuit, and turns on the lights. It seems like this "switch" stays on until the weld cools off, then the connection breaks and the lights go off again.

This flakiness in the power is dangerous for the transmitter, so we're off the air for awhile, until we find a new meter base and get it installed, or until i get up on the meter pole and try to clean up the contacts...but this I'm not too hopeful about, since they looked pretty bad the last time I did that.

We just had bunch of folks attending a communications training session here...Lots of good people and excitement about possibilities...but, unfortunately there's not very much opportunity to find work in Honduras.

This posting is coming to you via satellite...The folks from COMPPA brought a dish and wireless router, so for the first time Utopia has internet access, among other things enabling the radio studio here to take programming like Radio Globo off the internet and broadcast it live.

Here's a picture of the new dish and the old ladder which Nino used to put it up seen in the morning with the sun hitting the mountain tops in the background.



Less than a week left and lots to do.

Peace, Bill

Full power and what it brings

Hi Folks,

All the new parts I've been installing are beginning to pay off...The station is sounding great (thanks also to a reconditioned limiter contributed by COMPPA), and we are transmitting at the maximum safe power...reaching 60 km. out...to El Salvador and Siguatepeque and San Francisco de Lempira and to the Comayagua valley.

Here's an idea of the stuff I'm doing...



These are modules that I've been rebuilding...There are 13 of these in the transmitter, and each one takes about a day to rebuild. Of the two in the picture above, the top one is an original, unrebuilt one, and the one below with the considerably smaller parts, is one that's been completely rebuilt. Parts age and fail, or at least change value, so the 30 yr. old originals either don't work well or are completely dead.

Hannah, of the Viet Nam Veterens Against the War visited for the first week, participating with the COPINH people in some of the events in Tegucigalpa, and getting a good chance to do some birdwatching (maybe a chat?) Here{s a picture I took of a cow with some white cattle egrets in front of Utopia...not a rare bird, but fun to watch....



And here's Hannah as we headed out to catch the bus for her trip back to the U.S. at 5:00 a.m. yesterday...



Big things are happening on the coup scene here. Our radio ran a live feed from the Brazilian Embassy last night, in which Pres. Mel Zelaya announced that he would not participate in the upcoming election...and many local and departmental office seekers have pulled out as well. They feel that they cannot partcipate as long as the government which supports killing and torture of its citizens is in power.

Follow the Radio Globo link in the post below for latest breaking news in Spanish, and great pro-Zelaya music from many traditions, or check out Honduras Resists on the web for less timely news in English, and translations of interviews with my friends Berta Cáceres and Salvador Zúniga and others.

Peace, La lucha sigue! Bill

Carrying On

Hi Folks,

Well it certainly is lively at Utopia (the conference center - site of our AM radio station)... Lots of meetings happening and a constant flow of people passing through.

I've adjusted my work-sleep schedule to keep the station on the air during the critical morning and evening hours. It's working and sounding better, thanks to an AM limiter donated by Comppa.

If you want to listen to Radio Globo, which La Voz Lenca rebroadcasts every morning from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., you can go to http://chiapas.indymedia.org/index.php?category=9 then click on the Radio Globo link. I think they're on 24 hours a day. The actual times of our broadcast are the same as in Illinois, Honduras being due south of Illinois.

I've just tried out our camera. It's kind of blurry, but here's a couple pictures:



These are trees, a kind of tropical oak, in a line in front of Utopia. The ropes strung between them are hanging up bean plants which were harvested by pulling up by the roots - hung upside down to dry. That was a big effort yesterday, with lots of people from COPINH participating.

And, I don't know if this will come out right...You may need to rotate it in your viewer...It's one of the many writings which line the inner walls of Utopia. I think it's very cool the way they have a mix of authors, some local, some well known, written in varying styles with varying abilities...very inclusive:



Well, I need to hike back to Utopia. Thanks for your interest!

Peace, Bill

Settling In

Hi Friends,

The situation here in Honduras is quite complex and heated right now. The coup leader Micheletti agreed to a power-sharing arrangement with Pres. Zelaya if the National Assembly voted for it...It would have been very difficult to imagine that happening, but it's a moot point, because Micheletti failed to call the Assembly into session by the deadline in the agreement, so, of course they couldn't vote one way or the other. Yet another subtrafuge by Micheletti. So many people here feel betrayed.

Meanwhile they rhetoric and violence increases. A priest in the indigenous Chorti town of Viejo Ocotepeque, Ocotepeque, very distant from the capitol in Tegicigalpa, who had publically supported the return of Mel Zelaya, was assasinated just this morning. Meanwhile, the situation here in La Esperanza is considerably safer, ironically because I'm here...apparently, the presence of foreigners, especially from the U.S., is a deterrent to intervention by the army.

Now there are many, many people around COPINH...almost all of the governing council and everybody from the radio station, and many others as well...what a stark contrast with my solitary last visit! It's great to get to see my friends again...Don Chico, Solitario, Cruz (She's now the Director General of COPINH), Juan, Efrain, Lorenzo, Justo, Jorjito, Albita, Rolando, Felix, and many, many more...no end to the smiles and warm embraces.

Hannah is doing well, plugging into the women's programming for an interview about VVAW's relation to the world anti-war movement. She's also done a bit of translation and digging (moving an orange tree that had been planted right above the buried antenna feedline) for the radio project.

Radio La Voz Lenca is programming 10 hours of national programming daily...reports on the "golpe del estado" fron Radio Globo and others...along with the long-running "Ecos de Opalaca", a daily program of local current events...all hard-hitting stuff. This programming has attracted a large and dedicated listenership, now from a large area of western Honduras, thanks to the AM station which penetrates into the remotest valleys in this mountainous region. The people here are doing a lot to facilitate my work. It feels really uplifting to be part of their lives.

Peace, Bill

Back In Honduras

Hi Friends,

Well, I made it back to La Esperanza safe and sound, with less and less questioning and inspecting from the Honduran customs and immigration people each visit...They recognize me now, and just pass me through without hassle! Hannah Frisch, flying in from Chicago, arrived about an hour later, and we travelled by bus up to La Esperanza together. She´s especially interested in plugging in some to the many other programs besides the radio that are provided by COPINH, the licensee of the station.

This is a very scintilating time to be in Honduras with the negotiations for the presidency being at such a critical juncture. La Voz Lenca is carrying hours and hours of special feeds from Radio Globo and other sources every day. The AM transmitter we brought down has been working reliably, though getting weaker and weaker ever since I fixed it up last summer. It now it heard in San Fransisco de Lempira, down to El Salvador, and west to Siguatepeque, and has already become widely listened to...many phone calls and letters from far away every day...the radio people and COPINH are all very happy...Thank you so much as well for supporting La Voz Lenca...We couldn´t have done it without you!

I´ve got the camera functioning, and will have some pictures shortly.

More later... gotta go. Peace and hugs, Bill

Back in the U S A

Hi Friends,

Well, I never got our camera's memory card to function, but luckily Andy Gunn and Morgan Ward took pictures during the week they were in La Esperanza. So, here are some....



This is Morgan, Andy and me starting the day with that great Honduran coffee in the sun in front of the main building at Utopia.
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We got some of the family to pose with Andy and Morgan at the house where eventually I ate all my meals. That's Do(ny)a Aleja with some really sweet grandchildren.
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Morgan and Andy assembled a new AM studio in the new room constructed for that purpose in the Utopia building. Here they're installing some of the sound-deadening foam that Adrienne and Jane dumpstered just before we left on the bus trip.
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Morgan found this beautiful lizard and promptly caught it.
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Well, you may be wanting to see pictures of all the demonstrations, which as of this writing, are still going on. Unfortunately, I never got to go to Tegus or SPS or the Nicaraguan border where most of that was happening. Check out Indymedia Chiapas for the latest info on that.

With some huge luck, I was able to leave La Voz Lenca transmitting at the full 1000 watts [when the power line voltage is at it's highest] before I left...a bit noisy and distorted, but the word is getting out to a large part of western Honduras....and, wouldn't you know, just in the middle of a really nice tribute to me for all my fine work, etc. etc....the line voltage spiked and the transmitter shut down...oh well, at least it was just a momentary thing. I'm looking for a newer, more reliable transmitter to replace this one...there's a new one on eBay right now for about $4600, or best offer...if we get lotsa bucks in the next few days, this could happen.

Peace, Bill

two thirds of the way through

Hi folks....a little update.........

Andy and Morgan worked tirelessly during the week they spent here..
Built a new studio for the AM radio station at Utopia
Rebuilt parts of the AM transmitter
Helped re-install the FM studio at the COPINH office in La Esperanza
Even mowed a bit of grass Honduran style with machete

Some observations about the political strife here...
The national government declares at every opportunity that the removal of President Mel Zelaya and his replacement with Roberto Macheleti is perfectly legal, following constitutional guidelines. There are frequent announcements on many radio and TV stations, especially the national network, HRN, stating that, and implying that Pres. Zelaya is a puppet of foreign countries...especially Hugo Chavez of Venezuela whose plane Pres. Zelaya was using when he tried to land in Tegucigalpa recently to unite with protesters demonstrating on his behalf. Their point is that keeping Mel in office would have been equivalent to foreign control of Honduras, and they wrap themselves in the banner of national sovernty. "Pro-peace" rallies have been staged in support of the takeover, with the implication that the pro-Zelaya demonstrations are violent and anarchistic, though the main violence so far has come from the anti-Zelaya people. It´s interesting that the media campaign against Zelaya is being waged with an acumen that´s unusual, in fact unprecidented in a country where advertising is extremely simple and straightforward....hmm, I wonder where they might be getting advice?

Most all the time I've been here, almost the entire station crew has been in the capitol, Tegucigalpa, reporting on the demonstrations and other developments there. To check out what reporters from Radio La Voz Lenca are filing, google **Indymedia chiapas**, go to the Honduras section, and click on "English" at the top of the page for a side-by-side Spanish/English report.

Hey, I´ve been hearing about moves to get a bit of funding for bettering the radio down here. It would be a great thing...Whether Zelaya is reinstated or not, the Voice of the Lencas is strong and needs to be heard.

Peace, Bill

Back in La Esperanza

Hi Folks,

You may have heard about the political situation here in Honduras, so here´s just a little note to help contradict a lot of dis-information that I
understand is circulating around up in the U.S. While in a state of
governmental discord, Honduras is not in a state of social unrest. La
Esperanza, where we are working is largely in support of the deposed Pres.
Zelaya, and many people from here have gone to either the capitol,
Tegucigalpa, or the center of commerce, San Pedro Sula, where there are
mass demonstrations for and against Zelaya, but here everything is just
more laid-back than usual. Clearly, Zelaya was removed from office in an
undemocratic parlamentary-military coop because his populist agenda was
threatening the status quo of the ruling elite and of foreign interests.
Honduras is in a state of governmental crisis, with much posturing,
accusations, paralysis caused by questions of which authority is in
control, and uncertainty. Much of this is very thoroughly reported on
Honduras's centrist Radio America. (This isn't the Voice of America)

I talked to people in Chiapas recently. Their IMC is doing one of the
best jobs of countering the conservative dis-information out there. They
tell me that they will soon be posting reports in English...Google
"Independent Media Chiapas" and when you get there, click on the English button on top of the Indymedia Chiapas site for a side by side English-Spanish report.

Andy and Morgan from Prometheus Radio in Philadelphia have arrived
for a week's stay. I'll try to check email about every other day, and
possibly upload stuff onto the blog, but there's no transportation into
town, so it's about a 6 mi. roundtrip hike to get online...not pleasant in
thunderstorms. There's a chance we may set up satellite internet access
here if we can get all the componants together. I left the memory card
for my camera in the U.S., so no pictures for the blog unless I can find
one for sale here.

Meanwhile life is ultra-peaceful here at the retreat center outside La
Esperanza. The weather is cool and sunny in the mornings with
thunderstorms most late afternoons and evenings. Lots of work to do, but
very few people around. There's a lot of improvements as the Lencas make
this place their own, including a brand-new kitchen here...the cooks have
wonderful little kids to have fun with. It's an exciting time to be
here...great timing from that standpoint.

Love, Bill