Primary Communications Project

brief update

2011-11-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks, Just a short note as I'm soon going to catch a ride back to Utopia. Well, the microwave link works! I just finished aiming my homemade antenna here at the COPINH office, and the link seems to be working with good quality. I'll try to send pictures soon...The Windows computer here doesn't understand the most basic stuff. Hey the food is good, the weather is kinda cold but good, and it's great to be working here with friends passing through constantly. These people are enduring very hard times right now...It's so good to be here! Peace, Bill

Back to Utopia

2011-11-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

Back With My People in La Esperanza

Outside of being a night and day of short naps, this year's trip to La Esperanza came off really smoothly...With some novel twists like the overdubbed version of “Hairspray” that was playing on the TV in the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula, and seeing the motorized India-style 3 wheeled rickshaws at work in the outskirts of San Pedro. Coming up the mountains in the bus, I had a wonderful lunch, in sharp contrast to the bare-minimum “breakfast” provided by Continental. As the bus travels, vendors get on for a stretch or hold up their wares on poles to be bought through the windows. When I got to La Esperanza, Compa Neto was waiting for me at the bus station, so I was delivered to Utopia almost immediately, where there was a training session for healthcare providers going on. Doña Josefina scrounged up some dinner, while I encountered various old friends who had come in for the meetings. It was raining and blustery, but such a relief to be away from droning engines, hearing the sounds of the mountains and the gentle lilt of Lenca Spanish.

Next morning, unpacking my bags and turning on the equipment I'd brought, I was relieved to find very little shipping damage. The TSA screeners apparently didn't even open the equipment luggage, so things stayed firmly packed.

My goal in this trip is to install a new microwave link from the studio to the transmitter, which will bypass a serious problem in the current system. We now have huge power fluctuations in the AM signal caused by some sub-sonic noise and also interference from another nearby FM station, so right now, we can't run the AM at full power. The used microwave stuff I bought on eBay isn't the current model, but very well made, so it should be reliable and provide the most transparent relay of the program.

One pleasant surprise is the addition of "Democracy Now" in Spanish to the evening newscast on Radio Guarajambala/La Voz Lenca. In the afternoon, they have a environmental program with breaks for music of local conjunto music, recorded by the station. It's a very careful mix of entertainment, education and news programming.

Monday and Tuesday, there were meetings of the Coordinación General of COPINH here at Utopia, which is so cool, because I got to see my friends from all over Lenca territory who came together in this one place. And also it was very special to be introduced to the assembly with glowing words for my work over the years from Berta Cáseres and Salvador Zúñiga and have a long oración/prayer of welcome from Doña Pascualita. It's so beautiful here in the quiet mountains...sort of a jarring juxtaposition with the struggles of these people, against poverty and now increasing repression.

One of the delegates here, from a remote village, asked me if I had knew any organization which could provide assistance with housing construction in his community. I'm thinking Habitat or some similar organization. So if anyone out there wants to do some research, I've got his contact information.

I'll be posting more as trips into La Esperanza permit. Vaya pues! Bill

Omar Rodriguez

2010-11-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesday afternoon, Omar Rodriguez died. I only met him once, but that encounter has never left me. As Felix said on La Resistencia last night, Omar Rodriguez lived radio. He literally did. He was the proprietor of Radio Gualcho in Tegucigalpa in the modest colonia of 21 de Octubre. His house was filled with old electronic stuff, and crammed away in the back was his cluttered office, tiny studio and homemade transmitter. He had perpetual problems with that transmitter, and on the day I was there in 2002, he was getting only about 10 minutes of programming before it would conk out, and he'd hafta go out and fiddle with it. But people listened, because Omar had a message and Omar had the courage to tell it like he saw it. He was a Socialist, a revolutionary, a writer, an editor, a songwriter, and of course a communicator. Omar wrote books and songs to address issues he was passionate about. He sold me a little book he edited, “No al ALCA” (We say NO to the Central America Free Trade Agreement), filled with arguments against Honduras's entrance into CAFTA...one of the positions that got President Mel Zelaya ousted in last year's coup. This kind of thing him into trouble with the Golpistas, but he persevered when almost all other stations have caved in. He sometimes didn't have enough money to pay the power bill, but some friend would come through to keep Radio Gaulcho going. How could I not love a man like that? In recent years, he played “El Condor Pasa” a lot on Radio Gaulcho...It's fitting music to mark his passing, but it seems, like Joe Hill, his voice will carry on even stronger now.

http://www.gladys.bitacoras.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZGf8m1x-10

What´s happening

2010-11-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks,

Sorry to be so few-and-far-between with my blog entries and other internet tasks. Usually it's been easy for me to spend relatively lots of time online, but this trip there's a more concentrated bunch of stuff to do at Utopia, where there's no internet access.

It probably hasn't made it into the outside media, but the big news here has our people very angry and I'm sorry to say that the U.S. isn't shining too brightly on this either. The version, as I get it from La Voz Lenca.....The golpista (golpista: from "golpe del estado" or "coup de'ta") Sr. Facusé [Facussee], a weathy palm oil/land owner has a vitual fiefdom in the south of Honduras [right where Radio Zacate Grande was just installed}. This includes a private militia funded in part by the World Bank (i.e. the U.S.) which recently massacred some campesinos who were venturing onto public land that Facusé had kind of appropriated. This is just the most recent incident in a long string of attacks by the golpistas against the people of Honduras. The people are still demonstrating, organizing, and educating in resistance, and La Voz Lenca, now getting out to Sta. Elena, San Juan de La Paz and other points far away, is a major voice in the struggle.

A major aspect of the campaign is programming against violence...by the state, and violence of men toward women and children. There's also a major emphasis on tolerance, especially focussing on LGBT's. Programs focussed on women, young people, sustainable agriculture, politics, and progressive religion among others, are on the air every day. Sign off comes at 9:00 p.m., right after the program of national resistance from Radio Globo. which you can hear too...it's on the R. Globo website and streams live every night from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Central. It'll give you a good feeling for the depth of emotion here right now.

One day a rainbow came so close, I could have run right out and gotten the gold.

Here´s a photo of the open-pollinated corn which the people here have grown for centuries, and which they so much fear losing if GMO corn is introduced, along with lawsuits from Monsanto if the pollen should drift onto the native corn.

Well, the work is going well....We've been transmitting every day for over a week, and people are listening from all over the Lenca area. I'm trying to get the old transmitter fixed up to act as a backup, meanwhile improving the new installation as much as possible.

Thanks for your support which has made this all possible.

El Punto Dulce!

2010-11-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

El Punto Dulce! The "sweet spot" of resonance is found...

First, an explanation... To get the show (well, the COMPPA crew) on the road (to get the new transmitter up and running), I just quickly put it on the shelf, connected up the power cable, the feedline to the antenna, the audio input, and a ground wire, turned it on and ran with it.

Reflected power is a measure of how much power is not going out of the antenna, but instead reflected back down to the transmitter. This happens when the tower is not exactly tuned to the feedline...50j0 in electrical terms. That temporary transmitter setup was working OK, but there was about 45 watts (out of 1,000) being relected. There's a snazzy monitoring circuit in the transmitter which tirns it off whenever the reflected power gets too high. While that 45 watts was passable without any program on the air, in AM broadcasting, that transmitted sound adds to the power being fed to the antenna. We were finding that loud sounds actually shut down the transmitter!

So, this morning, I changed the tuning on some of the coils in the Antenna Tuning Unit...a metal box at the bottom of the antenna tower. In this I had guidance of data from previous trips, arrived at with lots of help from Grey Haertig and a generous donation from the folks at Kintronic Labs. My second trial hit on the "sweet spot"...the point of no measurable reflection...How sweet for the transmitter!

Now we should be able to accommondate anything that comes down the tube from the studio. There's still terrible distortion especially in the night, especially with the "Resistencia" feed that comes from Radio Globo. It's unclear whether that's due to operator error, some type of interference -- intentional or otherwise -- or a mal-adjustment of the limiter at the studio -- or a combination of those -- but the sound is bien feo, actually unintelligible at times. So, um, there's more work to do....

And that was written on Wednesday. This is Friday and with some work it sounds a lot better and is better installed. Some pictures..........

Watts of power

2010-11-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

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

La Voz Lenca Presentation this Sunday

2010-10-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Honduran Solidarity Radio Project Informational Presentation
with musical assistance from Andy Assad

Find out about the huge cooperative effort behind AM radio station La Voz Lenca in La Esperanza, Honduras...

When: This coming Sunday, October 24th, 2:30 p.m.
Where: The Urbana Free Library Auditorium
What: Bill Taylor will be showing a short video about the construction of the station, followed by refreshments.
Sponsored by: The PRIMARY COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT, a locally based, non-profit organization.
La Voz Lenca is a sister station to WRFU, Radio Free Urbana in the Independent Media Center, the IMC, in downtown Urbana

The Voice of the Indigenous Lenca People of Western Honduras. La Voz Lenca is one of only three high power AM radio stations in this hemisphere wholly owned and operated by indigenous people. It presents the Lenca's positions on national and local issues, educates, entertains and advocates for underserved people in its region of service. It was built in 2007 with a massive cooperative effort between the Lencas and international solidarity from community media advocacy supporters in Mexico and right here in Illinois as well as businesses which contributed equipment for the construction. Bill Taylor is heading back to Honduras in a few weeks to help install equipment upgrades.

Come to find out more about the project and to find out how you can get involved!

If you'd like to help out with this event or would like more information, call Bill Taylor at 217 649-9085 or email bill@radiopcp.org. We would greatly appreciate it if you would forward this email to other lists and to any of your contacts who might be interested.

This program is not sponsored by the Urbana Free Library.

A new transmitter

2009-12-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-20T18:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-07-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

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.
- - - - - - - - -

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.
- - - - - - - - - -

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.
- - - - - - - - - -

Morgan found this beautiful lizard and promptly caught it.
- - - - - - - - - - -

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

2009-07-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

Fotos

2008-04-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

That's Spanish for "photos", and here are some. When COPINH got Utopia last summer, it was a plain, whitewashed building. This past dry season, (our winter) many people decorated the plain walls here's some scenes.....

What I like about these pictures is the great diversity of styles ansd abilities of the painters. And here's caballo con duraznos (The Utopia horse amongst the peach trees with almost-ripe peaches).

We're getting ready to fly back. I finally got the electric power restored for reliable operation yesterday. What I found out after turning on the transmitter wasn't the greatest...some transistors I'd bought just before leaving don't seem to be working well, causing the modules I've rebuilt to be low-powered. I'm hoping I can get a suitable collection of stuff together to get on the air before I leave, but it would be wonderful to be able to be able to substitute a more reliable transmitter instead. It turns out that with the present state of broadcasting regulation here in Honduras, La Voz Lenca could actually increase coverage with a better transmitter and AM repeaters.

Thanks for all your help!

Peace, Bill

Getting Done

2008-04-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have no pictures lately...It´s a combination of software and hardware problems. I think the transmitter´s good to go...¨think¨ because the power lines coming into the building have a problem which makes turning on the transmitter problematic. I´m hoping to rectify that soon.

Meanwhile the weather has been cold and rainy...strange to have cold winds blowing damp fog and rain coming out of the north, since we´re south of the hot, steamy caribbean coast. The folks here, though, are the opposite...warm and gentle...and inspired in their desire to protect the environment and their way of life.

At the transmitter location, Utopia, there are regular weekend classes to teach young Lencas to be teachers, so that they can go back in the remote areas to teach Lenca kids in Lenca-sensitive ways. It´s a program initiated by COPINH in cooperation with the Normal teacher´s school here in La Esperanza. Like so many COPINH projects, it´s ambitious, and it´s working!

We´re planning on taking off for the homeward journey this weekend. I´ll put up a summary of the trip, plus more pictures soon after we get back.

Peace, Bill

Getting down to bizzyness

2008-04-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

The good folks from Comppa in Mexico arrived. They had coordinated the initial preparations for the tower construction, and are improving computer and the low-power FM station here. Its really nice to be working together with them -- all of us together here in La Esperanza at the same time.

Don has done a lot of work -- he claims it's vacation -- fixing the old, but reliable generator that Bob Wahlfeldt donated. It should be good to go for a long time. Thank you, Don!

I've been slowly rebuilding the transmitter with parts I brought down. Ironically, the more parts, the longer it takes to rebuild things, but its coming along.

Peace, Bill

Success Already

2008-04-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

We arrived here in La Esperanza Saturday evening. It's great to be back with my friends here! Many people of COPINH have been out of town attending two regional meetings dealing with various aspects of water use and availability, reservoir projects and the threat they pose to the indigenous peoples' lands, so I'm encountering them one- or two-at-a-time...like a continuous flow of little gifts.

When I first looked at the tower, it was clear that weeds had grown up and were affecting the tuning of the tower. Rolando, our friend and watchman of the site, soon dispatched those with his machete. --

Yesterday, I did a really thorough analysis of the tower tuning box (ATU) and set up the tuneable coils to the exact values that Gray Haertig provided. I had sent him data on our tower which he ran on his sophisticated tower modelling program. Again, great thanks to Gray for all his help! With the coils adusted as he perdicted, the transmitter was ecstatic! It looks great! Should be up to full power very soon, as soon as I get done with some rebuilding inside. Here I am doing that --

Meanwhile, Don's been vacationing by rebuilding the generator that was donated ny Bob Wahlfeldt, who died just a week before we left. In this as in so many other ways
his spirit carries us on. La lucha sigue! Here's the work in progress --

While I've been gone, a lot of decorating, murals, was done at Utopia (the location of the AM transmitter). Here's one --

Many thanks to Don for getting us here in style, for doing the generator stuff and, leastly, for these pictures.

Some Pictures From Our Trip

2008-04-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

We´re in Villa Hermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, on the bottom of the Gulf. Hoping to Fly to San Pedro Sula, Honduras tomorrow, take a cab to the bus terminal, then a bus to La Esperanza tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, a few more pictures:

Here´s Don and me just before taking off.

In Austin, we stopped to visit Shaya and Charles Zucker. Shaya is a past station manager of WEFT in Champaign, and is very active in community activities. They treated us royally! Here´s Shaya and me:

Last night we stayed in Tampico, I visited an old friend, then we zoomed off around the south side of the gulf. Here´s a picture of the mountains north of Veracruz:

The little plane´s doing well. we´re spending more time hassling with customs and flight-planning people than actually flying.

Peace, Bill

We have lift-off

2008-04-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

Bill and Don went to Frasca field early yesterday morning. They had packed everything in the Mooney's tiny cargo space the evening before.

It's a beautiful plane, manufactured in the 1970's, Don bought it as a wreck and lovingly restored it. Mooneys are high performance planes and this one is capable of flying at a land speed of 150 MPH. They were planning on flying to Austin for the first leg of their trip. Don planned on that journey taking five hours of flying time.

Don removed the covers and tie-downs from the plane while Bill gathered up the last bits of test equipment, transmitter manuals, and spare parts from his car. They took an important last trip to the airfield's bathroom (they can't just pull over when the need arises!) and they both climbed inside the cockpit.

Don described the cockpit as being the size of a Volkswagen Beetle's interior. I think that's overstating the size. It looks very small when you see two men pouring themselves into the seats.

They put on the noise canceling headphones since the engine and wind noise will be very loud during the flight. Bill's ear jewelry made it difficult to fit the headphones and it took some adjustment to make his ear's ready for flight.

At last Don told me to step away from the plane, he shut the door and began the pre-flight checklist. I received a wave from the cockpit and heard the engine's starter wind up.... and then wind back down. Oh dear. The cockpit door opened and Don crawled out muttering about the starter solenoid. He applied a little tuner spray to it and tried again. Contact!

They rolled out to the edge of the field, roared down the runway and took off into the morning sky towards Arkansas, Austin, and Honduras.

Just Before the Flight

2008-03-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

We're getting prepared to fly away on April 1st. Don Berliner is swinging by Urbana in his little single-engine Mooney to wisk me away to Honduras via Austin TX, and Veracruz, Mexico. Meanwhile, I want to acknowledge another donation of a huge number of transistors...all we need to rebuild all of the transmitter output modules for both transmitters...from ON Semiconductor, a really high-class manufacturer in Tuscon, AZ. Thank you so much for your support!

While we get ready, here's some pictures of me working with the Lencas of COPINH last summer......

Return to La Esperanza in April

2008-03-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

We're gearing up to return to La Esperanza to do more work on La Voz Lenca on April first. This time, it's a barnstorming trip by single engine plane! I'm getting equipment ready, rebuilding transmitter components, collecting spare parts, and packing all the stuff to be airworthy. I've gotten the digital camera working again,, so I'll be uploading pictures of the trip down and the work at La Voz Lenca as it happens.

We're still casting around for funds to make the work even more effective. Folks who would like to help out with that can contact us at primarycommunicationsproject@gmail.com. Thank you!

Peace, Bill

Mid-winter Update

2008-02-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been awhile since my last post, but things are moving along with the Lenca Radio Project. We had a lot of problems resulting from a power surge near the end of my last trip in November. I cobbled together one working transmitter with the parts I had available, so that La Voz Lenca could keep operating, but it's not up to full power, and the sound isn't the greatest.

SO - We're planning to return in April, loaded down with spare parts and test equipment, to put things right. I'm in the process of rebuilding modules and a microwave transmitter that I brought back for "homework", and I'm seeking contributions of the spare parts we need.

Even with this pared back power level, La Voz Lenca is doing great work. It's a very effective tool that the Lencas are using to improve their lives, thanks to your interest and support.

Peace, Bill

More and More

2007-11-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long gap in feeding the hungry blog. A lot of what I've been doing has been fairly complicated, but not very blogogenic. Here are some new developments, though. Late Thursday night, I decided that I had not accomplished enough so far in this visit, and also had not done enough outside of radio work, so I would delay my return and spend the next three days with my Lenca friends in a journey of recollection and commemoration. We traveled to Santa Marta, El Salvador, to celebrate the solidarity of the Lencas with the Salvadoran refugees who lived here in camps among the Lencas during the Salvadoran civil war which ended in 1992.

That was one amazing adventure, fording rivers on foot and in a bus, joining a hoard of others in a tug-of-war style mass pulling of several huge trucks up a soggy mud highway slope, passing through some beautiful scenery, while laughing to hours of Lenca humor and singing and cheering along with about 70 others. The event was beautiful, despite the sweltering Salvadoran sun. We bounced and swayed over the mountain into La Esperanza about 2 a.m. Sunday night full of dirt and memories.

Now my return to the U.S. is scheduled for Wed. the 28th. There's still a lot to do here, but things are getting done as well. Taking advantage of a day without electricity, I dug a 60 foot trench to the transmitter building from the Utopia building, and buried an audio feedline which will bring all the programming to the AM transmitter when the installation is complete. Last night we got the COPINH office computer system partly back in operation, after weeks of not being able to connect to the internet.

We're moving into the dry season here in La Esperanza. The clay streets are getting as hard as rock, though with a fine layer of dust on top. People are already cutting this down by throwing water on the streets.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Peace, Bill

Exito!!

2007-11-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

No, that doesn't mean I'm leaving yet,"ëxito" is Spanish for "success". I've just gotten the FM signal to sound a lot better, and gotten the AM tuning spiffed up enough to tune up the transmitter into it's comfortable range for the first time. The weather here is cold for Honduras (mid 40's), with a lot of wind. Makes me thankful for the inefficiency of the transmitter, which causes it to put about 1 kilowatt of heat into the transmitter building where I have my workshop set up. (None of the buildings here have heat, and many have a lot of gaps for the cool air to whistle through.)

Peace, Bill

Back in La Esperanza

2007-11-04T06:44:00.001-08:00

Sorry to be so long in writing stuff to the blog. I've been here in La Esperanza for about 1 week, but what with power outages, and rain blocking off the satellite internet reception, it's been hard to get a chance to upload stuff.

The weather here is cold [for here] -- 50 degree days, and nights probably into the lower 40's, but rainy and raw. It seems pretty cold, since none of the buildings have heat, and some are "well ventilated" to boot. The people are warm and it's really good to be back with these folks.

Right after I arrived, there was a "taller" or workshop, on organizational internal structuring and politics, part of a four session series, given by a group from Tegucigalpa and held at Utopia. Though I was doing other things, I got to enjoy great food and conversation during their breaks. [Ever tried tortillas broken up and soaked in coffee with milk and sugar? It's a strange combination, but it works! -- Kinda like rosquias, says the woman who demonstrated the delicacy. I guess I have to cultivate that taste.]

I've brought a lot of small parts and new test equipment this time which make it possible to upgrade parts of the transmitters and antenna system which need improvement. The AM station has been operating at somewhat lower power than it's licensed for, so I want to get that up to full power and make it reliable enough to run a good long time without problems.

I've rebuilt the antenna tuning unit, but it's either been really rainy or the power's been off, so I haven't been able to use the snazzy new antenna analyzer which Gray Haertig has loaned us, except to do initial checks on the tuning. Even so, that's helped a lot.

That's it till later. Peace, Bill

Getting Ready to Go Again!

2007-10-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Well, lots of preparations are underway for returning to La Esperanza at the end of this month. We received the coils and capacitors necessary to completely rebuild the Antenna Tuning Unit (ATU). This will make the transmitter "like" the antenna more, thus delivering the maximum amount of power to the listeners' radios, and wasting less in the process. In addition one added componant will help block lightning and static discharges from messing up the transmitter. Big thanks again to Gray Haertig and Kintronic Laboratories for donating these parts. And, again to Gray for lending us his brand new antenna analyzer, which, in conjunction with a laptop, will make that tuning process a quick and easy procedure. (I can't wait to try this little gizmo out!

In addition, we're bringing a lot of little parts to rebuild critical sections of the two transmitters. All in all, things should be a lot more stable and reliable when it's all done.

Keep checking the blog , especially after the 28th, for more pictures and updates from La Esperanza and La Voz Lenca!

Peace, Bill

Inauguration Day in English

2007-10-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a translation I made of Refugio's beautiful description of La Voz Lenca's inauguration day festivities, together with a few of the pictures he sent

--------------------

The inauguration festival of the La Voz Lenca [The Voice of the Lencas] on 1580 AM, began about 2:30 [last Saturday], although many people arrived early and the cooking had started the day before.

First, everybody who came from the COPINH communities had a meeting. They mentioned each community, organization and person who participated. They were asked to raise their hands if they were there, and everybody applauded for them. Also they mentioned PCP and COMPPA, as well as all the unknown people who helped to get La Voz Lenca on the air. They summarized a brief history of COPINH's project of community communication.

After that, a Lenca prayer was said around the transmitter building. The people looked to the four cardinal points and asked that it go well for the people who struggle in those four directions, and also for the communities of COPINH, and that the AM radio be a good tool for the communities.

The transmitter building was blessed, and then they walked to the base of tower, to also bless the antenna.

At that point, a live transmission began which presented the programming of La Voz Lenca. Women and men spoke in the name of the communities and projects of COPINH. Also transmitted were words of solidarity from representatives of the other organizations which had come to celebrate the birth of the AM station.

Then began the dance, during which the special transmission continued. Finally, in the kitchen, the soup and the carne asada (meat cooked in a sour sauce with onions and hot peppers), the vegetables and the tortillas were ready. The people ate, standing or sitting on the ground, like people of the country, like people of struggle.

Later some people had to go, others stayed on to dance all night.

A simple day, but very full of ceremonies and signs.

-----------------------------

Here are some more pictures --
empezando el baile

con alegria

primera transmision en vivo

sopa de toro casi lista

el corrido de la voz lenca

blessing the transmitter building

A Wonderful Inauguration Day

2007-10-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the letter I just received from Refugio of Comppa, describing the formal sign-on activities of La Voz Lenca. I'll do a translation soon, and I'll put up some pictures of the event next time I get to high speed internet. Peace, Bill
------------
La fiesta de inauguración de La Voz Lenca en el 1580 de AM, empezó como a
las 2 y media, aunque mucha gente llegó desde temprano y desde el día
anterior había empezado la cocinada.

Se reunió primero toda la gente que venía de las comunidades del COPINH,
mencionaban cada comunidad, organización y persona que participó, se
preguntaba si estaba, si estaban levantaban las manos y toda la gente les
aplaudía. También mencionaron a PCP y a COMPPA, así como a toda la gente
que sin conocerse apoyó para que Radio La Voz Lenca esté en el aire. Se
rememoró una breve historia del proyecto de comunicación comunitaria del
Copinh.

Después se hizo una oración lenca alrededor de la casa de los
transmisores. La gente miró a los cuatro puntos cardinales y pidió por que
le vaya bien a la gente que lucha en los cuatro rumbos, también se pidió
por las comunidades del Copinh y por que la radio AM sea una buena
herramienta para las comunidades.

Se bendijo la casa de los transmisores y luego se caminó a la base de la
torre, para bendecir también la antena.

De ahí inició una transmisión en vivo, que presentó la programación de la
voz Lenca, hablaron mujeres y hombres a nombre de las comunidades y
proyectos del Copinh, también se transmitieron palabras solidarias de
gente de las organizaciones que vinieron a celebrar el nacimiento de la
frecuencia AM.

Luego inició el baile, mientras continuaba la transmisión especial.
Finalmente en la cocina la sopa y la carne asada, las verduras y las
tortillas estuvieron listas, la gente comió, de pié y en el suelo, como
gente del campo, como gente de lucha.

Luego algunas personas se tuvieron que ir, otras se quedaron a bailar toda
la noche.

Un día sencillo, pero muy lleno de ceremonias y signos.

Pictures

2007-10-02T19:56:00.001-07:00

Here's pictures of people working during the construction of La Voz Lenca. There are more, but I have to find a good place to upload them. I hope you enjoy these till the next time! (You can click on any picture in this blog to enlarge it.)

Happy Birthday!

2007-09-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

La Voz Lenca is officially born. The inauguration of the station happened Saturday. Here, we dedicated a huge bonfire to the station. To match that fiery beginning, here's a photo Refugio just sent of the tower at night with the red light on top. More photos soon! Peace, Bill

Inauguration Day !!

2007-09-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Saturday, is the official inaguration day of La Voz Lenca. Even though we're 2500 miles away, I'm planning a bit of a celebration myself. Here's the word from Refugio --

Aquí el sábado es la inauguración de Radio La Voz Lenca AM. Ahorita hay
una jornada previa de capacitación para corresponsales comunitarios del
proyecto de comunicación popular del Copinh y de Radio La Voz Lenca,
además hay un pequeño encuentro de radios comunitarias de Honduras. El
remate es la fiesta de inauguración el sábado por la tarde.
Compraron una vaca, que se comerán asada, la muy pobre.

Well, no carne asada here, but I'm planning to play a bit of music from La Voz Lenca anyway. (There's a retreat at the Kalyx Center, so I can't go far astray.)

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to Ben's house last night to see some scenes from the Lenca Radio Project and to eat some fine food. Thanks much also to Ben and Zelda for putting it together, and to all the folks who made yummy food and donated money to help cover the costs of the project, and to Jane for having a birthday to add to the merriment.

AL AIRE!!!

2007-09-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Al aire!!! On the air again!!! After several days of battling with weather and resulting power line problems, La Voz Lenca is back on the air!!!

Time to come together, tomorrow night, Thursday, Sept. 27, at Ben's House, for an evening of pictures of the construction and music from La Voz Lenca. (See Ben's invitation a few postings back for details.)

Since I left there has been a substantial increase in the daily rain pattern. Instead of a couple hours of thunderstorms each evening, it's recently been raining from mid day on. Rain often causes electrical outages and brownouts occur when people turn on lights (during dreary weather as well as at night). As a result of all this, it's been very hard for Refugio to (1.) find a time when he can get a ride inside a vehicle [the bed of the pickup can get kind of wet in a hard rain.] (2.) find a time when that vehicle can navigate the muddy city streets and dirt country roads to Utopia. (3.) find electrical power with high enough voltage when he gets there.

It seems that a power surge may have blown out the limiting amplifier...a critical link in the audio chain between the receiver which picks up the FM station and the AM transmitters. For now, there's a temporary cludge working (bypassing that amplifier altogether), but this isn't a good solution for continued operation, so other options are being explored. It's so great to have a person like Refugio who understands electronics and also takes detailed photos, coupled with email, which can give us daily communication. Now problems can be solved from thousands of miles away in just a few days!

I look foward to seeing a lot of folks tomorrow night when we'll have pictures and sounds galore!

Peace, Bill

Some Good, Some Bad

2007-09-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Although I'm getting caught up on farm work (getting running water, fixing the weedmower, catching up with everything that slid during my absence) the Lenca Radio Project is still in motion. Last night I got some emails from Refugio in La Esperanza. It seems La Voz Lenca was off the air all day yesterday. After much analysis, complete with pictures of the meters and settings of the switches, it seems that a sort of minor piece of the system went dead. (Got unplugged?) We arrived at about 4 different ways to solve this problem, all using stuff on-hand in La Esperanza, so I'm hoping it's working now.

Preparations are under way for our return trip in late October - early November. The plan is to reconstruct the WGIL transmitter to give that full power, to build a better link from the studio to the transmitter via microwave, and to build a small studio in the main building at Utopia to broadcast events that happen there.

Just last night, we got news of a wonderful donation. Gray Haertig talked to Tom King, president of Kintronic Laboratories, a leading manufacturer of antenna tuning equipment. Kintronic is willing to donate the coils and provide other componants at cost to completely rebuild the Antenna Tuning Unit (ATU) -- the thing that gave me so much hassle during the setup of La Voz Lenca. That has been the weak link in the whole antenna system, and soon it will be the finest quality components, and new to boot! Thank you so much to Gray, who's already done so much for this project, for offering to buy and ship the necessary parts, and to Tom King and Kintronics for their generousity.

Getting Out and About

2007-09-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

La Voz Lenca HRJZ is getting out! [all Honduran call signs start with "HR"] That is, it's still transmitting on days when there's power, and going fairly far. Here's a bit of a summary from Refugio, as of yesterday:

"Los tres reportes hasta ahora más lejanos de que se escucha fuerte y
claramente son de: [the three furthest places with strong reception]
Comayagua, Comayagua
Siguatepeque, Comayagua y
La Paz, La Paz

además hay reportes de que se escucha fuerte y claro en: [closer reports of strong reception]
Colomoncagua, Intibucá
Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá
en la región sur del departamento de Comayagua
Marcala, La Paz
toda la frontera de Intibucá con El Salvador
Yamaranguila y Guise, Intibucá
San Francisco de Opalaca

Hay dos reportes de zonas grises, es decir, zonas donde no se escucha
bien, pero que son más cercanas que lugares lejanos donde se escucha bien."

We'll try to post a map when more reports come in. [So far, all the furthest reports , Comayagua, La Paz, and Siguatepeque, are east of La Esperanza.]

I hope you all can make it to Ben's on Thurs., the 27th, and also we're having a huge bonfire and potluck at the Kalyx Center to celebrate the Fall Equinox on Saturday night, the 22nd, to which you're all invited.

Post Launch PARTY

2007-09-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

Bill is back home and the radio station is up and running. We are still waiting to hear reports on how well the signal is getting out, but initial reports seem pretty good.

I got to hear the many details of the difficult problems Bill had to overcome to get the transmitters running and correctly tuned to the antenna. It is quite an accomplishment.

To welcome Bill back and to get a chance to share stories, we are hosting a party on Thursday the 27th of September at 7:00PM at my house. All readers of this blog are invited.

Email me at ben@peartreestudio.net to receive directions and my address.

Hope to see you there.

Ben

Go, Go, Go!

2007-09-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

This afternoon everything came together. Tuning went just right, lightning hit the tower and did absolutely nothing to the transmitter. We went on with the full 1000 watts just in time for Ecos de Opalaca, Radio Lenca's great interview and education program, then stayed on till about 6:30 pm when we all took off for a wonderful meal and good-by celebration from the good folks at COPINH. It sounds good, and already we have reports of people picking us up in Comayagua, pretty far off, about 2 1/2 hrs. by car.

Thanks to everyone who pulled so hard to get this tower up and transmitting, especially to all the great COPINH volunteers who made super human efforts and sacrificed so much to make this happen.

Set!

2007-09-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

Today, we're putting La Voz Lenca on the AM airwaves! Some final tweaking and testing this morning, then we're on the air!

Yesterday, we did some initial program transmission -- about three hours -- to the sound of drumbeats and Punta music (The "national" music of Honduras). It was Children's Day in Honduras, a day for much festivity and celebration, especially in the schools. Salvador Zuniga got on the air and asked people to report on how far the station is getting out. It may take a week or so to find out since a lot of areas don't have phone service, so the reports will come in by foot!

I'm planning on returning in a month or so to build another studio and improve the link between the studio and transmitter, but for now there's a lot of preparation to do at the Kalyx Center to get ready for a big campout there this weekend.

Peace, Bill

Ready!

2007-09-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the day! Last night I found and fixed a problem that has been hindering the tuning of the transmitter, so I'm putting it on the air today or tomorrow morning! I know it's been something short of instant gratification, but it's happening now!

It's great to be here in this land of corn twice as tall as I am, dirt streets with speed bumps and a whole different way of looking at the world, but it'll be excellent to be back with all of you too! Thanks to all you wonderful people who helped out in so many ways!

Peace, Bill

Tune Up

2007-09-08T05:08:00.000-07:00

Things are moving quickly. Gray Haertig modeled our tower on his computer, did some calculations, added his experienced insight, and wahlah! (sp?) came up with component values for the ATU that made a huge difference in the tuning. Much thanks again to Gray and to all the other engineers who contributed to the discussion via listserves.

Here's a cool picture of an ice-halo around the sun which is perched on top of the tower. Refugio took it about mid day, the day hurricane Felix passed over. Also, there's a not-so-beautiful shot of the lightning choke which COPINH volunteers made out of scrounged stuff a couple weeks ago. It's that silvery coil wound on a piece of white plastic drainpipe, and all of this is on the bottom of the antenna tuning cabinet.

Peace, Bill

In the Eye of Felix and Some Tentative Tones

2007-09-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Just a little note to let you all know that we're safe here. So far Felix has only dumped a bit of rain, threatened to blow the tin roof off of the transmitter shed, and made the usual light-jacket evening fairly cold, well really only probably in the mid 50's. It hasn't been so nice for the folks on the east coast though. First reports are just coming in to HRN, the national radio system. A lot of people live in just basic wood houses on stilts in the swampy rain forest there -- not a nice place to be in a category 5 hurricane. Tegucigalpa is bracing for a lot of rain and the mayor has evacuated the central market and steep regions of cobbled-together housing that washed away before in Hurricane Mitch. Tegus is in a narrow valley between mountains with kind of unstable slopes. The eye of the hurricane is expected to pass right over us about mid day tomorrow, but by then they're thinking it may be downgraded to a tropical storm.

Today, as Felix's winds were blowing in, I ran the first actual transmission on HRJZ, The Voice Lenca, 1580 kHz AM. Well, actually it was just a test tone, followed by a pretty distorted re-broadcast of the FM signal. The problem was that there was interference in the FM receiver from the AM transmitter being so close -- sort of a Catch 22 that can be solved by a better antenna for the FM receiver or by installing the microwave link that is the eventual design anyway. And, it's still running at just 250 watts out of the licensed 1000 watts. Between power outages and rain that have interfered with the main goal of getting the transmitters up and running at full power, I've been able to catch up on the lower priority jobs like designing the antennas for the microwave link, which need to be done before leaving.

I've got some problems with the tuning on these transmitters and the ATU as well. I'll put a technical discussion of that in the comments for this posting, so as not to clutter up the blog with technotalk.

That's it for now. I hope you all doing OK in the heavy heat that shouldn't be happening in Sept. in Illinois.

La Lucha Sigue! Bill

Out of date update.

2007-09-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

I's been a long time since I've posted anything....combination of power failures, other obligations in the evenings, and sometimes not knowing what to say. The work is going slowly, because of difficulties in finding that "sweet spot" of resonance between the transmitters, the feedline to the antenna, and then matching that to the antenna itself. I've put out a second call to engineers for help on this, and I hope it'll be resolved really soon.

Refugio, Rolando and I have been hanging out after work for awhile the last two nights to watch for static discharge on the tower with the regular evening thunderstorms. So far we haven't seen any lightning strikes, but there's a lot of crackling and snapping as a storm approaches. I've done everything I can think of to drain those charges off, and so far we haven't seen any problems ith the transmitters.

Hurricane Felix is blowing in along the northern coast. The skies have been cloudy all day, home on the range. We hear that the tropical rain forest where the Misquito Indians live on the east end of Honduras, called Misquitia, got hit pretty hard, but news travels pretty slow here. We're already getting some pretty hard rains, though being way inland and at high altitude, we aren't likely to see much else.

No word yet on exactly when we'll be on the air, or when I'll be leaving for home. Thanks far all your communications!

Base designs

2007-08-29T18:35:00.001-07:00

AM radio towers are a bit different than those for most other services. The whole tower is electrically charged with the broadcast signal. At the tower's base is a tuning box (ATU) which connects the buried feedline to the antenna. There is also a special coil, called a "choke" which separates the AM tranmitted signal from the ordinary 120 volt line current for the tower light. Here's a picture of some COPINH volunteers putting up the ATU a few days ago --

Here's a picture of the tower base, complete with the hitch-ball lightning arrestors designed by Ben.

All of that delicate and dangereous equipment at the base of the tower needs protection, and in turn, people and animals need a deterrent to keep them from touching the tower. Here's a few pictures of the fence COPINH folks built today to do that. It's made of "lomo", which is Spanish for the outside slabs with the bark on, which are the first things cut off to allow a sawmill to cut straight lumber --

Full Power and Friends

2007-08-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

The WGIL transmitter is up for transmitting at full power! I'd been trying to get either one of the the transmitters to tune up to full power, without great success. I wrote to Gray Haertig in Portland to see if he had any insights, and he put my query up on a couple listserves. Thank you Gray, and to a bunch of other engineers who responded for a cachimbasa (Lenca word for "whole hunch") of new approaches. Through a combination of those, a new discovery, and a new approach to tuning, the thing is puttin' out. I'm so relieved...actually thinking about going home soon, but first I have to tune the feedline to the antenna, put together a studio-transmitter link, check out our homemade tower light choke, and some other small stuff.

Last weekend we had a huge number of visitors at Utopia -- some good friends and lots of young folks attending a jornada -- a regional 2 day meeting -- just what the place was designed for! Yesterday, by contrast, the watchman Rolando, Timo's dog Chikin and I were the only ones there, since everyone else had left for the movilizacion in Siguatepeque. Today was much the same, except that everyone was demonstrating in La Esperanza. The main focus of this is a proposed law allowing water resources to be privetized. This is a huge deal in developing countries because people don't have the money to pay for water. Either they need to divert resources from other needs, or they must do without -- both unacceptable alternatives. People here are under no delusions about the source of these threats to their lives.

Tonight we said good-by to Nancy Vasquez who's been working here in cooperation with COMPPA. She's leaving on an early bus to go back home to Guatemala City. She has been a great facilitator, with our customs both entering Guatemala and with our complex negotiations getting into Honduras. She did a lot of documentation, made sure workers had food, covered local events for indy media, and generally tying everything together. She's a great worker and fun to be with. Thanks so much for making this project go smoother!

Peace, Bill

Looking Up

2007-08-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Things are looking better. That plan of combining the best parts of the 2 transmitter tuning assemblies worked, so now the WGIL transmitter is tuneable. In the process, I think I figured a way to fix the other mechanism too, so both transmitters should respond soon. I've been making some last minute connections to the tower too. Most people are headed off in the middle of the night for a big national mobilization for clean, un-privatized water tomorrow in Siguatepeque tomorrow and the day after, but I'm going to stay back to try to get things up and running.

Looking up too, at the tower, with this new picture from Nancy Vasquez, taken back on the night of completion, with the lingering Hurricane Dean sky, with the Utopia building and the yellow 'cool bus in the background ---

Looking Better

2007-08-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Preparations for the big sign-on day continue. The COPINH volunteers focussed on protecting the tower guy wires -- very important because a truck hitting the guy wire pier could easily bring down the tower. Leonel says he's seen a tower destroyed by a horse damaging a guy wire anchor. It's hard to imagine how, but he wasn't joking. Here's a couple photos I took:

Don Chico spent a lot of time yesterday looking for the replacement belts needed for the transmitters, without success. Looking over the mechanisms for the two transmitters, it seems it will be possible to take the best parts of both, and unite them into one working mechanism to get the WGIL transmitter running once again. Then all that needs to be done is to tune up the transmitter/feedline/tower system, install the tower lighting choke, plug an FM receiver into the AM transmitter to rebroadcast the FM signal, and we're on the air! I have a plan to rebuild the mechanism for the WDWS transmitter without those belts, so that might get done fairly soon as well. Big thanks to Ben for his offer of support on this -- It may still be needed!

peace, Bill

Of Red Lights Aloft and New Problems

2007-08-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Well, the tower light works. A pretty red object in the sky next to the moon earlier this evening. Upon returning to the COPINH office here in La Esperanza, I wasn't able to see it. This is important, because we're planning to use a sub-microwave link from the studio here in the office to the transmitter site at Utopia. We've got a 60 foot tower for the FM station here at COPINH. Probably from up there, it will be possible to make the shot. Amongst other things, folks from COPINH wound a rf choke (of lampcord wound around a piece of 4 inch PVC drainpipe), dug a 25 meter ditch to run power for the tower light, and planted the ATU (antenna tuning box) at the tower base.

I just discovered a mechanical difficulty in both transmitters, very similar to a problem I once cured in another Harris transmitter -- The Voice of Nicaragua, Shortwave -- in 1989. This has to do with belts, much like a timing belt in a modern car that has teeth on the inside, though these are alot narrower and shorter. The problem is that, with age the teeth have sheared off, disconnecting the two gears that need to be turned together exactly, just like the valve timing in a car. This makes it nearly impossible to tune up the transmitters. So tomorrow I'm going to try to extract one of the belts, then look for an automotive belt that can be cut down to fit. If I do find that, it will be the best coincidence imaginable, but the alternative of waiting 3 or 4 weeks and paying a small fortune to get raplacemets from the states, is not an option.

I played some soccer tonight with Don Chico and Ronaldo, the wat-chee-mahn (Espanglish for watchman.) Even though it was a heavy day of work, the exercise and break from work were good to have.

Thanks for your blog comments and emails.

Peace, Bill

The Whole Thing!!

2007-08-22T19:05:00.001-07:00

Late this afternoon, Leonel and crew finished the tower, topping it off with a red light (Which we haven't connected yet).

We're happy to present you with these fine photos, taken by Compañera Nancy Vasquez:

Going Up!

2007-08-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Leonel, the torrero, arrived yesterday afternoon, with a trusty little Toyota pickup loaded with three 20 foot long tower sections, a big reel of cable for the guy wires, a gin pole, some climbing gear, and two co-workers.

This morning at 7:00 a.m., the tower erection began, with lots of helpers from COPINH. In spite of a couple heavy rains, and a lot of drizzle caused by Hurricane Dean, the tower was up to 80 feet by day's end -- over halfway there!

Here's some pictures I took:

The first 20 feet put up with temporary guy wires.

Climbing high to 80 feet!

Another big hurdle -- Last night, working late in the transmitter shack, I sent out the first program -- a test tone -- a few feet to a nearby radio. It sounds pretty good! A lot of tuning is still needed, and connection work to the tower when that's done, but it's holding together OK! I think it might actually fly! Here's a look at the solid little transmitter building, with a Hurricane enhanced view of the sky over La Esperanza and the Utopia building to the right. What a beautiful place to work!

The days here are cool, but hot in the sun, with kind of cold nights (about 50 degrees). Heading home in the evenings about dusk, it's good to have.a jacket. I've been listening to La Voz Lenca on their small FM station. Really good programming, on environmental stuff especially, with great music -- Mercedes Sosa, Manu Chao, Los Torogoces de Morazan, Carlos Mejia Godoy and a lot more!

Lights and stuff

2007-08-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hay luz! The electricity is on at Utopia!! The transmitter which was donated by WGIL in Galesburg shows signs of life! It's putting out the full 1,000 watts, but I have yet to test the audio aspects. It's still kinda dark in the transmitter building since the lights are yet to be installed. The transmitter from WDWS in Champaign isn't putting out power. Probably something got disconnected in all the bumping and constant vibration of the bus.

Lots of volunteers have been painting the tower and getting the groundwork done for erecting the tower. Leonel, the "torrero" (tower erector) is scheduled to arrive tomorrow mid day. He'll be bringing the remaining supplies necessary to put up our section (the lower 60 feet), and then he'll build the remaining 90 feet on top of that. I'm kind of apprehensive about this -- we don't have many supplies -- but I think we can pull it off. We're heading out at 6:00 a.m. = Hora de Honduras of 8:00 a.m., to get an early start assembling the tower. This has all been pushed up a day earlier in the schedule to get it done before possible heavy weather if Hurricane Dean heads south toward Honduras.

This afternoon, we had a great time shoveling dirt back over the new radial wire connections at the base of the tower. Salvador, Refugio and Soltero's constant good humor keeps everyone feeling good about the work. Maybe too, it was the fine lunch of salad and fruit we all had -- a great change from the usual tortillas, beans and cheese.

More soon.

Peace, Bill

Building La Voz Lenca

2007-08-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi friends!!

Well, things are finally moving along quickly. The day after we arrived, we dug a trench from the transmitter building to the tower to bury the cable that brings the signal from the transmitter to the tower. Then we buried the cable and a flat copper strap which will help make a stronger signal, and reduce the likelihood of lightning damage. We brazed all of the 90 radial wires onto that copper strap too. This ties together most of the different sites that the wonderfiul folks of COPINH have prepared as they patiently awaited our arrival. The last shovelfulls of dirt were thrown on to bury our work just before the usual afternoon rainy-season thunderstorm hit.

Yesterday we started painting the tower sections, in preparation for erecting them on Tuesday, and we are told, electricity was turned on late last night. The workdays here end in a wild game of soccer. That soccer ball that Adrienne and Jane scrounged may be one of the most important things we brought, because it helps people relate in a different way.

This morning, we said goodby to JJ, with much thanks for his great work in capturing the soul of this project thus far. It's too bad that he couldn't have been here for the tower erection and sign-on, and that he had to experience all the intriguing intricacies of Central American buracracy instead, but, looking back, his smiling face behind the camera lens, popping up when you least expected it, was a remider that there was a bigger world out there, with a goal worth all the hassle.

We're heading off to Utopia soon, so I need to sign off for now. I'll put up some pictures soon.

Peace, Bill

Yay!!

2007-08-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

We made it!!!

After almost three weeks of traveling and waiting, we rolled into La Esperanza yesterday morning, after squeeeeeezing and straining our way over the ancient dirt road from San Miguelito, Honduras, to La Esperanza. A very steep ascent, that, with the overloaded engine needing a shower of water about every five or ten minutes. about 2/3 of the way up, we came to a very, very steep grade, with a sharp left turn at the top. I gunned the engine, with the red overheating light screaming at me to stop, but it just wouldn't go. We backed down at an angle, let the engine and transmission cool, then zig-zagged crazily up the slope. A huge bump at the top and we were over! I really had thought we might have to back all those miles down and drive back around the long, long way to La Esperanza. What a relief! After not too long, we were heading down into La Esperanza!

But, not so fast! In the center of the city, I had to make sharp right turn in very narrow streets. I watched all the roofs and signs and cars, but midway through the turn -- BANG hisssss -- I had struck a pipe sticking out by the curb and blown out one of the dual back tires. We decided to limp along on the other tire and look for a llantera. Meanwhile, having been alerted by text message, folks at COPINH were heading out to the transmitter site at Utopia to greet us, but we weren't there! About an hour later, we rolled up to the Utopia turn, but not so fast! --

We got stuck in the mud trying to make the turn onto the Utopia road! People came running, and with many rocks in the rut, and many pushers, we passed that hurdle. Almost at the end, but not so fast! The turn into the Utopia yard, amidst bumpy excavations for the tower radials (which extend right across the road), is just too sharp. After pulling out a fence post and dumping rocks around again, the folks of COPINH widen the driveway, and with a final push out of the mud, we roll to a stop in the yard, DONE.

After a few minutes of hugs and smiles of reunion with our friends, Berta, Juan, Salvador, Refugio, and many others, the unloading and inventorying begins. In about an hour, the bus breathes a sigh as the last of the small stuff is unloaded, then cautious work of manouvering the tower sections out. The two 600 lb. transmitters remain. With many people helping out, we hand-carry each transmitter over the 100 feet of rough ground to the beautiful brick transmitter building. Big cheers as the transmitters are set on their raised pad! Everything fits perfectly!! Time for real Honduran food, (beans, rice, some meat, avocado, salty cheese, and home-made tortillas), and a SHOWER!! (such a relief after 5 days of camping in the bus).

It feels so wonderful to be here in the cool, crisp mountain air, with so many wonderful and dedicated friends. JJ has to return to Philly soon to real work. We're very thankful to him for his thousands of wonderful pictures. Very few folks can capture the character and characters of an event as well as he can!
Big thank you's, too, to all you wonderful friends who made it possible to get here.

We won't know how the transmitters made it through the rough ride and constant vibration of the 3500 mile journey, because the electricity isn't quite on yet at Utopia, but they look OK. Stay tuned, the work has only just begun!! We'll be erecting the first part of the tower, with Refugio of COMPPA taking over as documentarian in a few days, then the torrero Leonel takes over to erect the top, probably on Tuesday. There's a big regional jornada planned for the end of next week, during which we're hoping to sign on!! It's a bit of a time crunch, but we have a lot of help, and everyone wants this to happen as soon as possible.

Below's an animated recap of the trip up to our arrival-

And here are the unedited galleries on JJ's archive site:
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070814a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070813a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070812a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070811a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070810a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070809a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070808a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070807a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070806a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070805a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070804a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070803a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070802a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070801a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070731a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070730a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070729a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070728a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070727a_radiopcp

Snow, out of order

2007-08-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a couple days ago, but this has been the fist chance to upload it ----

Snow in Honduras!!

Today, we're waiting at the Honduran border in El Florido for permission to circulate with the bus. All the paperwork for the equipment is done. We're free to take that to La Esperanza. We're just camping here, sitting on the termite eaten porch of the Honduran customs building waiting for one little document. Now that the weekend has passed, it seems like things are in motion to get the bus through.

Meanwhile, a tank truck of liquified carbon dioxide pulls up, and vents off a plume of gas (because of altitude?). After about 15 minutes, there's dry ice building up inside the vent pipe, pieces start breaking off, and, it's snowing! Well, no accumulation, in fact it's kind of hard to see the flakes amid the gas plume, but it's novel.

Now that Adrienne and Jane are back in Urbana, I can say how great it was to have them along....our erstwhile drivers So much great energy and understanding in the midst of really pretty trying siituations. Adrienne's painstaking mountain ascent, and hair-raising descent, after we all missed seeing a turn, and headed up the mountains toward Tuxla Gutierrez, rather than staying on the flat southern route through Mexico. If they can drive this bus under these conditions, they're experts! We were sad to see them go, but very much feel their need to get back.

Don Soltero and Don Chico, from the Lenca organization COPINH, met us when we first crossed into Honduras in Aguas Calientes. They are a great source of support, and their good humor keeps us happy, in spite of feeling so anxious to get on with the work.

They Made It

2007-08-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

I got a brief report from JJ that they are in La Esperanza and the equipment was unloaded from the bus yesterday. No other word yet, but this is a great achievment for Bill and everyone else involved in the project

HONDURAS!!

2007-08-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we´re in Honduras at last, sort of. After a mad day´s driving across Guatemala, we roared into the Guate. exit side of Aguas Calientes about 11 p.m. -- the wrong place!! Well, we knew it was. In fact, I spens a lot of time explaining that we had to leave at El Florido, by the Copan Ruins, because all of our carefully preassembled paperwork was addressed to the administrator there. But The Guatemalan side of El Florido doesn´t have computers yet, so if we left there, we´d still technically be in Guate. with all our stuff. So, we had to follow the ruta fiscal, and leave at Aguas Calientes, which we did this morning. Problem was that we couldn´t enter Honduras though. So, trapped in no-country´s land, we went back and forth between the borders, with a whole lot of help from our Guatemalan custodio, Walter, a Guatemalan capitalista Nancy (She lives in the capital, but we are taking her to La Esperanza), from Luz of COMPPA, by cel phone, and from 2 compañeros from COPINH. You don´t want to hear all of the horrible complexities. Suffice to say that we´re steaming ahead to El Florido with yet another custodio (policeman who makes sure you don´t offload anything before customs clears it.)

The bus is really slow going up mountains...about 4 m.p.h., with lots of stops for boiling over, but we´re sooooo happy to be here and only a couple days from La Esperanza. Gotta go.

Peace, bill

Rolling through Guatemala

2007-08-10T13:51:00.001-07:00

Our intrepid Radio Men and Women were held up at the Guatemalan border due to a trucker's strike. After 19 hours they were able to get through.

They are now driving through the country with a custodio. They hope to reach Honduras tonight.

Report from the Guatemalan Frontier

2007-08-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

I received a text message from JJ. They had some trouble with the starter motor which took most of the day to rectify. They are now on the Guatemalan border and plan to cross tomorrow.

Hopefully they wont have too much trouble with customs there. Once they get to the Honduran border it should be pretty smooth sailing. The group we are working with there, COPINH, managed to get the import papers signed by the Honduran Finance Minister himself.

We´re still moving!

2007-08-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, still moving on. It´s noon on Tues., and we just arrived in Arriaga, Chiapas, on Mexico´s south coast, after sleeping at a Pemex truck stop high in the mountains on hwy 185. We´ll continue on down the coast on hwy 200, and cross into Guatemala tonight or tomorrow, with luck.

JJ hasn´t had a chance to edit through all the photos on the fly, but if you want to dig through lots of photos, below are links to the unedited galleries so far:

http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070727a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070728a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070729a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070730a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/07/20070731a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070801a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070802a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070803a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070804a_radiopcp
http://jjarchive.net/2007/08/20070805a_radiopcp

Peace, Bill

From The Bottom of the Gulf

2007-08-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks!

Yay, it´s happening!!!

We just rounded the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday, we did a lot of driving along the western shore of the Gulf, with a nice break for swimming about 75 miles north of Veracruz. Last night we enjoyed the night life in Veracruz proper, dancing, listening to the Guatemala style marimba music in the central square, slurping up paletas de ronpopo con pasas. This morning, with rain pouring down, we took off around the southern side of the Gulf. Now we´re near the same latitude as Honduras so the fruits and other crops are very similar to what we´re used to there....sugar cane, guava, banana, zapote, vanilla, etc. We´re hoping to cross into Guatemala tomorrow at Tecun Uman, taking the southern route to Escuintla, then north to Guatemala City, where Jane and Adrienne will catch a plane back to Urbana, then we´ll head to the border crossing in Honduras at La Florida, near the Copan Ruins.

Thanks for your support and communication. The photo section of the last blog entry will be fixed next time we get a good place to upload.

Peace, Bill

South of the Border

2007-08-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

I just received word from JJ that the bus has crossed the border and is now driving south through Mexico. It was a very big effort to make this happen.

JJ had time to edit the photos so far into a documentry style slide show.

Take a look at:

We're Not There, But We're Here

2007-07-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

We're here at the border, in beautiful (and warm), Pharr/McAllen, TX, waiting to cross into Mexico. (It's really complex with a big bus.) We're hoping for tomorrow. If not, then we'll probably have to wait till Thursday.

In Austin, we picked up one vajero, JJ Tiziou, a wonderful photographer from Philly, who loves to document wild and far-flung expeditions. His photos will be appearing here soon, but you can check out some of the other stuff he's done by following the link to his website. He's coming down to photograph the journey and, with luck, the birth of La Voz Lenca.

Unfortunately, Ben Galewsky had to get back to C-U before even getting into Mexico. We're very thankful to him for the huge amount of work he did in preparing for this trip, as well as doing a lot of the driving on the way down.

Peace, Bill, with Jane, Adrienne and JJ

From the road

2007-07-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

We drove off from the farm at 1 am Thursday morning. Adrienne, Jane (the bus driving Zen master) and I took turns keeping the bus in continuous motion. We managed to create some comfortable, if unique sleeping quarters for everyone so off duty drivers could sleep while we carry on.

The front tire started to show some alarming wear and we needed to get them replaced outside of Little Rock. We told the manager of the tire shop our story and he managed to find some high quality used ones and we were back on the road.

We picked up our photographer at the Austin airport at 4 am Friday morning and parked the bus in the parking lot of a very fancy grocery store. We awoke this morning to hear Adrienne speaking with one of the Mexican gardners tending the landscaping.

We washed up in the bookstore bathroom and are now ready to head on to San Antonio to deliver some medicines that we are carrying and then heading on to McAllen.

The bus is working out very well and we are now completly accustomed to the reasurring drone of its engine and big wheels that keep carrying us forward.

More Photos from La Esperanza

2007-07-23T19:24:00.001-07:00

The transmitters, tower sections, and boxes of equipment were all loaded onto the bus this weekend by a hardy crew. We are finalizing some paperwork here and ready to depart on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, these inspiring photos from the transmitter site just came in from Honduras.

That Final Push

2007-07-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we decided that we can make it to the border easily in 2 1/2 days of driving, and we all have a lot of things to do here, so we're going to leave the morning of Wed., the 25th, instead of the day before. We're still sticking to our plans to begin the border crossing negotiations on Friday afternoon -- the 27th -- which is the earliest opportunity.

SO -- This weekend, we'll finish preparing the bus and Sunday, late morning, begin loading in the big equipment. For that, we need lots of help, so if you've been hoping for an opportunity to get involved, now is it!! Call me at 217-762-9561, or email btaylor@prairienet.org, or just click on that link on the right side of this blog, if you can come, so we'll know when we have a quorum. (It will take a number of people to do this smoothly.)

We can use help doing some last-minute packing of little stuff, printing out things, etc., so it's not all heavy lifting -- In fact, with enough people, no one should have to strain. If you can't come Sunday, there's going to be preparation going on nearly constantly until we leave, so just get ahold of us via the avenues above, and there will be something you can do for sure!

Peace, Bill

The Countdown Is Holding

2007-07-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we're on a bit of a hold, waiting mostly in the line for our customs negotiator to do the work for our crossing into Mexico. Things are shaping up well in Honduras. I hope to be able to post some new pictures of that soon. Mil gracias to the wonderful folks of COMPPA and COPINH who are doing a huge amount of work getting the infrastructure ready, gathering all the complex documents necessary get this stuff out of the U.S., through Mexico and Guatemala, and into Honduras.

Many great volunteers have done great work here as well. It's impossible to mention everyone, but here's a few -- Ben, Maya, Dave, Gabe, Danny, Lori, Noel, Bill, Adrienne and Jane. In addition, lots of people have helped over the years that it has taken to get this project together, giving money, attending concerts, doing publicity, giving moral support and working with equipment. You're wonderful. We wish you could all come and visit the construction and sign-on of La Voz Lenca, but meanwhile you can still get involved.

Our departure date is set (yes, set) on July 24th. We will arrive in Phar, TX, south of McAllen on July 27th, stay overnight at the border, and take off from Reynosa on the 28th. With good luck, we'll roar into La Esperanza about Aug. 6th. Keep watching this blog, especially after the 24th, to enjoy the adventure, at least vicariously.

Peace, Bill

Visible Progress in La Esperanza

2007-07-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Alas, we are still in Illinois getting equipment ready, waiting on customs clearance and taking the road test for the commercial driving license. Our partner on this project, COMPPA, has been in La Esperanza for several weeks and has been invaluable for co-ordinating things on the ground there.

The local group submitted our customs information to the Honduran government and they expect a favorable response by Tuesday. They have also been getting the site ready to install the transmitter and tower. The local group have been building the shack that will hold the transmitter and have been digging foundations for the antenna pad, as well as anchors to hold the guy wires.

They report:

The anchors are in a about square meter of concrete and tied off to a 4 foot rebar structure, the anchors themselves are equivalent to the rohn gac575501 although the bases are much heavier duty then what rohn calls for.

They did a serious foundation for the tx shack so that thing is not going to go anywhere and it should have a great base for being dry inside at least from ground level. 50cm stone foundation all the way around leaving a 3x4meter inside dimension for the whole place so that should be plenty of space. It will be a nice tx shack if it continues on the current path.

Kingpins, Frozen Nuts, and Other Diversions

2007-06-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

When we drove the bus to Urbana from the lot in Kankakee we found that it was pulling to the right rather fiercely. We did some homework to see if we could find a simple explanation for it, but everything pointed to a more major problem that could result in a disastrous tire blowout on the highway.

With the clock ticking on our temporary license plate we drove the bus over to have the front end examined. They called us back to say that the kingpins were worn out and needed replacing. They gave us a good deal on the replacements. On Thursday I used my new learners permit to drive the bus out to the Kalyx center. It's much better behaved now.

It's now parked out at there and we are prepping it for accepting the transmitters and radio tower sections.

Of course the bolts that hold the seats down are heavily corroded from salt carried in on little pupil boots. The seats were apparently bolted into the body before it was attached to the chassis, so some of the nuts are very hard to reach behind the exhaust system and the brake lines. This is now turning into a serious obstacle to getting packed.

We are also having little luck getting the copper wire that we need to build the ground plane for the antenna. We need about 2.5 miles of the stuff. The best price we can find is $3,000 for the necessary length. If you know anyone who you think would be interested in supporting this project then please show them our donate money page.

Bill did pull off a spectacular summer solstice bon fire last week. The event was well attended, everyone brought great food to share and the fire was only rivaled by the full moon in lighting up the sky.

Bus Update

2007-06-19T13:11:00.001-07:00

We've all had a go at driving and parking the new bus. It's big, but it's not too hard to drive. We've done a great deal of homework on the rules of the road and finally received confirmation from the DMV that we can call this a charitable vehicle (not a bus!) and can get away with Class B licenses instead of full commercial licenses. That simplifies things somewhat.

We are working on customs now to make sure we can get across the borders without any problems. The local group in Honduras are working with Honduran customs to get the bus and itemized radio equipment approved. We have to present this approval to Mexican customs to show that it will be going through Mexico. Apparently due to problems in Oaxaca no radio transmitters may be imported into Mexico.

Maya is very anxious to decorate the bus. She is soliciting ideas for messages to be painted on the bus. Any suggestions?

2007-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the long delay on updates; It's been a full week.

WE GOT A BUS!! (You can see it at the north end of the Urbana High School parking lot over the weekend.) It's big -- 71 passenger capacity. It runs really smoothly, just needs a little work because it pulls to the right a bit. Adrienne, Maya, Jane and Ben are excitedly plotting ways to transform the interior for the trip down. We're really excited about the prospect of driving it to Honduras.

We've been getting nice donations of stuff we need. Royden Freeland of International Crystal Manufacturing in Oklahoma gave us the crystals we need to retune the transmitters to their new frequency. Many thanks Mr Freeland and to Dan Druszkowski of Andrew Corp. in Joliet who facilitated the donation of the high quality Andrew coaxial cable to connect the transmitter to the tower, another essential part of the system.

We had a bit of a scare when initial measurements of the Utopia site in La Esperanza indicated that there wasn't room for the tower for which we have a license. After some scrambling via email, our cooperante in La Esperanza, Timo of COMPPA (Comunicadores Populares Para la Autonomia), remeasured the space, and we found that we could squeeeeeze the tower in with some fudging, and it should work fine. So, now we're back on track looking for sources of miles of copper wire (literally), and sorting out who will take responsibility for what in the tower erection. Wow, email has made it so much easier to plan these projects!

Yesterday, Maya Bauer came out to the Kalyx Center to test equipment and clean it and Robin Shealy did great work streamlining the software for scanning manuals, converting the images to text and translating that to Spanish. This greatly speeds up the process of providing Spanish documentation for the transmitters and other essential equipment. THANK YOU!!

Due to complications getting the bus, the confusion about the tower site, and the quite complicated process of getting the CDL driver's licenses necessary to drive the bus to the border, we're reluctantly pushing the departure date back a bit, so there will be a Summer Solstice celebration at the Kalyx Center on Thursday night, June 21. (Yeah, I know it's crazy to add that on to all of this.)

AND, we have some more opportunities for people with any skill level to help out. We'll be working at the Kalyx Center on Tuesday this week, and on Thursday up until the Solstice Celebration. Then, the big push to pack up everything and load it into the bus on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24. We'll need lots of help with that, so if you've got some time, we'd love to have you! Call me at 762-9561 or 649-9085 for directions, to get info about carpooling, and to let us know how many we can count on. THANK YOU!!

Thanks for all of the wonderful solidarity in this. We appreciate your participation in this effort!!

Peace, Bill

Workday at the Kalyx Center

2007-06-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

A workday was held yesterday at the Kalyx center in Montecello. We spent some time discussing the logistics of the trip and working out some time lines to get everything in place.

Bill found a very good bus for us to take down to Honduras. It has a 71 seat capacity which is great for hauling down the two refrigerator-sized AM transmitters and the 10' sections of radio tower, but might be too unwieldy and costly for the Lenca group to operate after it is donated to them. We are looking for the local group to approve the bus before we go ahead.

I got a chance to see the transmitters for the first time. They were manufactured by Harris in the 70s and were the first solid state (no tubes!) transmitters made. One of the units was actually one of the first of the line. These are venerable devices to be sure. Bill is in the process of retuning them to operate in the frequency allocated by the Honduran government to La Voz Lenca. This is not as simple as turning a dial. Some components have to be replaced and coils carefully retapped.

Meanwhile, I was trying to salvage a working PC or ten out of the big pile of donated technology that Bill has acquired for the project. Some of them are modern PCs that just need some parts swapped or software installed. Others are a real trip down memory lane for an old geek such as myself.

I keep trying to remind myself that these computers are just as useful today as they were ten years ago when they were the height of high tech.

I didn't make too much progress, but Bill was very positive and pointed out how useful it is to at least know what doesn't work.

2007-06-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

We have a new listserve, so you can get project updates sent right to your very own computer. You can sign up by following the link below right.

A bit of an update: I've been analyzing the parts of a shortwave antenna, that's been around the farm for awhile, to decide what other parts we need to reconfigure it to make the bottom of the new tower we're building in La Esperanza. If anyone wants to help out with spreading out wires, measuring, and cleaning give me a call. 762-9561 or cell 649-9085.

We're going to be doing some workdays to give anyone who wants to help out with physical stuff an opportunity. --- This week, it's all day Saturday, June 9, next week, we'll be here all day Monday, June 11. --- There's work for every skill level - scanning manuals into the computer. cleaning and painting, rebuilding equipment, analyzing computers, doing research, asking businesses for donations, etc. Call or email, or comment to this posting for directions, carpooling and to RSVP, so I know how many to expect. There's also some stuff that can be done in the comfort of your own home, online or on the phone.

The last components for retuning the transmitters just came in, so we'll start testing those shortly. Anyone wanting {increasingly rare] experience with AM transmitters is welcome to join in.

Peace, Bill

2007-06-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Watch for some changes in this site as we get the nuts ands bolts of it sorted out.

Right now, though, here's some nuts and bolts of our own:

A huge, urgent need: We got a very generous donation to buy a schoolbus to get all of the stuff for this project to Honduras, where the bus will left for the use of the Lencas, but we need someone with a commercial driver's license (CDL) to drive it. First, it needs to be driven from Kankakee to Monticello so it can be loaded for the trip, and then on about June 22, we go to Honduras, and need a driver at least as far as Mexico, and maybe the length of Mexico as well. Any CDLees out there?

We're also looking for a whole big gob of wire to make the ground plane of the vertical tower antenna we're building. We need bare wire, not necessarily new, and we need about 2 1/2 miles of it. So far, we've gotten a donation of 900 feet, so we only need 12,600 feet more. This stuff is HEAVY - about 300 lbs. if we get all 12 gauge wire, almost 700 lbs. at 8 gauge, so the extra weight on the bus is an important consideration. Nevertheless, this stuff is really expensive if bought at currently inflated, war caused scarcity prices. (315 feet just sold on eBay for over $100 with shipping.) Anybody have copper wire connections?

Peace, Bill

2007-05-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Gee, a real way to get stuff communicated, after so many years of being the Primary Communications Project. But, as Ben said up there, things are moving fast in preparing for the Lenca Radio Project. Stay tuned for ways you can be part of the excitement.

Peace, Bill

2007-05-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Primary Communications Project Blog
We have created this blog to keep project members, donors, and other interested parties up to date on the status of PCP's active projects.

We are currently preparing to drive equipment down to La Esperanza, Honduras to build La Voz Lenca (The Lenca Voice).