Last Wednesday night at 6:28pm on 28
February, I succeeded in completing Intelsat IS-14 commissioning of the
Diospi Suyana satellite uplink in Curahuasi.
This is a great milestone for our media project as it sets the stage for
the program to distribute to the FM transmission sites.
It also means our Gospel radio program will now reach all
of Latin America via satellite – some 400,000,000 Spanish speaking
people! Albeit homes would need a 2.4m sized
C-Band satellite dish of which there are a few about. More commonly seen on hotels. I have no official figures on how many, but
even if only 0.1% have such a satellite dish pointed at Intelsat 14 (my
estimate), this still bolsters our hearers by 400,000 people. However keeping in mind that our primary
purpose of the satellite is to deliver our programme to our FM transmission
sites. There is insufficient
telecommunication infrastructure in Perú to achieve this reliably or
economically by other means.
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| Intelsat IS-14 C-Band satellite beam coverage used by our Diospi Suyana radio carrier. |
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| Preparations being made for the satellite commissioning with Intelsat earlier in the day. |
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| Final technical planning in my office. |
Here is a link to a Diospi post that Klaus put up last week http://www.diospi-suyana.de/diospi-suyana-uplink-mit-satelliten-verbunden/?lang=en
And the Pioneers Australia OARF
committee made an AUD $10,000 grant to our broadcast project (I understand in
response to my last internal OARF progress report). What a great blessing, as this enabled us to
purchase the remaining components of our remote site telemetry system for site
security and service monitoring. It will
save countless hours in travelling to make personal visits to check up on our
distant FM transmission sites.
The telemetry equipment is in
two parts; one from ND Satcom in Germany via the next Diospi Suyana shipping
container due to arrive in Curahuasi in May.
And the other from Maximation in Australia, due to arrive in Curahuasi
in April.
On the FM transmission front, we are well on the way to
rolling out our first 5 transmission sites – Curahuasi, Andahuylas,
Chincheros/Uripa, Puno and Puerto Maldonado.
With the exception of Curahuasi which is already broadcasting FM and TV,
the other 4 sites are constructed but without the transmission equipment yet installed. The equipment racks are built and power is
connected to the sites. But we await
cables, connectors and antenna mounting accessories which we ordered some 3
months ago now – painfully slow supply times in comparison to Australia.
Approximately 75% of Diospi Suyana patients come from the
above noted regions. Some 220,000
patients in all have been attended to at Diospi Suyana since October 2007.
Our 6th site Echarati is awaiting the
ratification of the FM license transfer by the Perú regulator MTC to Diospi
Suyana before we can proceed with the construction. It has been a long wait but we are hopeful it
will come about soon.
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| Here are our 6 Diospi Suyana Mechanical Dept. made equipment racks in readiness for installation at our 6 remote transmission sites. |
Moreover Klaus plans a wider expansion of the Diospi Suyana
network in the future – subject to licensing and funding of course. These future sites are (with populations in
brackets); Cusco (450,000), Abancay (100,000), Sicuani (50,000), Quillabamba (30,000),
Juliaca (250,000) and Anta Province (60,000).
This would bring the total number of Diospi Suyana broadcast
transmission sites to 11 and with a total FM radio audience reach of 1,570,000
people.
Note Cusco is a key market for Diospi Suyana, but FM
licenses normally cost in the order of $500,000 so we are very much in faith
believing for this funding in the future.
Thank you for your prayers and support – not overlooking
that also from my amazing wife and family whilst on mission here in Perú.
Regards,
Chris
