Of Red Lights Aloft and New Problems

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!!

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!

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

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

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!!

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

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

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!!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.