Watts of power

Hi Folks,

Good news! The new transmitter is on the air, sounding very good and getting out well. We installed it temporarily yesterday and ran it at full 1000 watts of power...something that was hard to do with the old transmitter...and dangerous to it because of the instability of the line voltage. So the new one sounds very nice and reaches far...Yesterday morning Timo and Luz and the crew from COMPPA, traveling to Guatemala, passed through Sigatepeque, Taulabe, Lago de Yahoa and were able to hear the signal as far as Santa Barbara. That´s a good deal farther than we´ve had reports from before. Over the coming days and weeks we should be getting reports from El Salvador to the southwest and La Paz in the southeast, but there´s no question that your support has had great results. Every mile of increased radius adds many square miles of land with many more potential listeners. Very important when the station is bringing a whole different viewpoint than any other station they can hear.

So the trip coming down went well. Airport security has increased, so anyone setting off the metal detector (like my prosthesis always does) is subjected to a full body search by hand...not a pleasant experience...but at least it doesn´t delay the trip. Things here are a bit repressed, but the COPINHistas are in good shape and united in their struggle, but happy. Lots of people from all over were here for another media production module given by COMPPA, and it was so wonderful to be greeted with hugs and kisses from all my friends from all over the huge Lenca territory.

I´m doing well...the food is great, the weather is cold but beautiful, there´s lots of cool kids all around. I´ll try to stay in contact, but my internet access is a bit limited by the 4 mile walk to the office. I´ll send pictures next time.

Peace, Bill