Mission Accomplished with the Launch of Cusco FM 100.1 MHz and Urcos FM 100.9 MHz

 Saturday 04 Feb 2023

As I reflect on the trip, I believe it has been an amazing success.  I say “amazing” as despite our initially planned travels to include other Diospi FM sites which were prevented due to blockades and political protests, we were still able to utilise all the time we had to achieve our primary objectives.  In fact I am convinced our altered itinerary was the best result for what we really needed to get done.

Sadly, some protests were quite violent resulting in some 49 people killed by the date we left.  These were primarily in the Lima and Juliaca circa. Lake Puno areas.  We thus avoided all the violent protest areas where we have FM site interests such as Puno, Puerto Maldonado, Andahuaylas and Ayacucho.  The fear is that these protests will worsen and develop into civil war in the country due to the seemingly un-wielding government corruption and an unwillingness to promptly commit to re-elections since the former president was impeached and gaoled in December. I am informed Peru is largely under control of some 20 wealthy families who form a power cartel in the country.  As long as this dictatorial regime persists, justice will not be realised for the middle and lower class.  The voice of the people is now getting louder and we hope and pray more lives won’t be lost in the process.

We still visited the new remote FM sites’ of Abancay (twice), Urcos and Cusco.  Plus multiple visits of the local Curahuasi TV & FM transmission site and the majority of time spent making some significant upgrades and repairs to the hospital Central de Medios (broadcast studios and transmission hub).  However the biggest milestone of these site visits is the launch of the Cusco site just yesterday – taking the premier position in the Diospi network due to its coverage of some half a million people.  Dr Klaus in his usual manner had posted this auspicious occasion on the Diospi Suyana website within the hour from the launch of this service (as found here: https://www.diospi-suyana.de/breaking-news-from-1750-diospi-suyana-broadcasts-in-the-city-of-cusco/?lang=en)  I was humbled by the recognition given by Klaus for my part of this chapter.

Just two more Diospi FM sites are now outstanding to bring the number up to 12 FM transmission sites and one TV transmission site.  These are Anta and Ayacucho which will extend our total coverage estimate up to 1,973,000 listeners in the south of Peru (refer to my blog of Saturday 31 Dec 2022 for an itemisation).  We believe this fulfils the prophecy from LifeSource Church circa. 1997 that said I would reach millions of people with the Gospel and we see this coming to pass through our direct contribution to Diospi Suyana radio and TV in Peru.

The timing of each of my Diospi site visits was nothing short of miraculous in the face of the chaotic political demonstrations in this country at the moment.  For example travelling to Cusco was on one of two days the Panamericana highway blockade was removed in the period we were there.  This could not have been planned.  And it preceded our need to be in Cusco to catch our return flight to Australia.

Isaac was a terrific help to me throughout, from assisting me with the engineering aspects (and learning along the way), to being seriously beneficial with my Spanish comprehension, as I find not all native speakers are so easy to grasp.  But Isaac’s additional Spanish studies over the past couple of years proved invaluable.  And also his help with logistics of moving stuff around as/when needed with his ever fun persona made him a joy to be with the whole time.   I invited Isaac to write some of his own thoughts of our trip for this blog which he was happy to do, copied as follows:

It was great to be back in Peru. Great to see Cusco, Curahuasi, and the mountains all again. The place is nothing like Australia. Adobe houses, rubbish-filled streets, stray dogs everywhere, and poverty on all sides. Not what one would think to find an exciting thing to come back to, but it was for us. After finally getting to Curahuasi, I noticed a few changes. The place was mostly the same, however just with a new building here and a changed building there. Not enough to feel different, but enough to be noticeable. However, the hospital was practically the same. It felt crazy to be back.

My work with Dad was a great experience! I learnt a number of on-the-job skills, such as analysing problems in broadcast equipment, managing towers, helping out with installing cables and providing moral support. I was also given an amazing opportunity to refresh and practice my Spanish as I helped translate for Dad, and chat with old and new friends. The time was also a spiritually moving experience, letting me see again firsthand how blessed we are, and how in need these people are, not only for money or a stable government but for Jesus Christ.

 Here is my summary of the main objectives achieved:

1. Install the satellite test loop translator at the Curahuasi Centro de Medios to enable fixing the satellite telemetry system.
2. Worked with ND Satcom engineers in China for a number of days to identify the complex fault with the satellite telemetry system using the new test loop translator (which was absolutely necessary!).
3. Install a new FM audio processor (Orban Optimod 6300) to greatly improve the radio sound across the entire network.
4. Install a new rack audio monitoring system to assist local studio staff to quickly identify any radio audio distribution issues for both satellite uplink and downlink.
5. A major broadcast centre rack cabling tidy up which was overdue after years of my absence
6. Repair the Abancay FM site radio transmitter.
7. Remediate the Abancay FM site lightning protection system installation and commission the FM antenna system.
8. Remediate the Curahuasi FM site TV and radio RF feeder cables and recommission these antennas.
9. Design and have fabricated the Curahuasi TV antenna panel mount position changes to improve coverage (to be installed by local rigger next week).
10. Audit the Urcos FM site for cable remediation and commission the FM antenna system.
11. Remediate the Cusco FM site installation and complete the installation. Commission the transmitter system to launch this new service on Monday 23 January.
12. Updated Centro de Medios drawings and made many notes to correct and reissue many other drawings for staff reference.
13. Compile a work list for things that are missing and need to be followed up in the near future to complete Curahuasi, Abancay, Urcos and Cusco to an acceptable standard.

Sorry this is possibly a bit technical for most, but I know some readers will appreciate the detail! J.  Even for these things to happen, there were so many miraculous events – too many to write about here.

After Cusco FM was launched, I was overwhelmed the next day to hear an article broadcast by broadcast centre General Manager, Doris de Llerena-Manco, that recognised our Welch Family in Peru contribution to Diospi Radio from the beginning in 2016 (recounting some of the miraculous happenings) for those 3 years and again now for this short 3 week trip.  This includes all the supporters that enabled it to happen and a big THANK YOU to you all.

Just this week (Thursday 2 February) from Perth I continued to support Diospi with AutoCAD design drawing support for the new FM site in Anta which is about to commence construction. This was gratefully received as I was able to correct some fundamental errors just in time.

 The following are a montage of photos of the second half of our trip (in chronological order);

Isaac posing in front of our Curahuasi radio and TV transmission site (30m tower) during a maintenance visit.

Here is our Rohde & Schwarz RF analyser which we bought at auction in 2015 in faith before our Peru mission began. We sold this to Diospi Suyana in 2016 to enable importation into Peru (albeit still has our Welch Family Investments label on the front to remind us 😊).

Me at work reconnecting an RF connector onto a cut back feeder cable for the TV signal to complete an installation that was done temporarily back in 2017. Another installation not previously finished due to time constraints.

Here I am testing the antenna with our R&S RF analyser after fitting a new RF connector and making some FM antenna element adjustments.

On Sunday 15 January, we enjoyed a lunch with the Centro de Medios (Broadcast Centre) team and their families in our old house where now Doris de Llerena lives with her husband Emilio (original owner of the casa la hacienda farmhouse and who we rented it from).

Isaac and I enjoyed a nostalgic visit to our old farmhouse home of 2 ½ years from 2016 to 2019. So many memories here.  So much of my renovation work still enjoyed now by Doris and Emilio.

Here Isaac learns how to fit a crimp RF connector to a new cable we installed for a new test system on our satellite uplink antenna.

The main 2.4m satellite uplink of the Diospi Suyana Centro de Medios (in background). This has 1+1 fully redundant uplink and downlink equipment to optimum service availability for our Peru radio network (and indeed, all of Latin America direct to home!).

 

Here can be seen the uplink test loop translator cross-guide-coupler now installed by me and which was then used to fault find the satellite telemetry problems.

 

Isaac and I take a moment to mark the completed upgraded and refurbished Centro de Medios satellite uplink antenna.

Isaac and me on top of the Cusco 30m broadcast tower (hospital Diospi Suyana rooftop seen in background immediately to the right of my helmet).

A blockade on the Panamericana en route to Cusco which had been cleared enough to allow one lane of traffic past. The 2 day opening enabled critical supply lines to get through to stock shop shelves after some 3 weeks of total blockade and protests.

 

The Diospi Suyana Hilux on the side of the Panamericana which was cleared for just 2 days during our entire Peru visit, being when we needed to get to Cusco (a clear answer to prayer!).

Driving on the Panamericana through the rural town of Izcuchaca (where it was blocked for 10km on our arrival) I noticed a baby in the arms of its mother riding the back of the motorbike (too small for a helmet 😟).

What a relief when we arrived in Cusco 2 days before our return flight after some 3 weeks of the Panamericana being blocked. This is a luxury hotel afforded as there are currently nearly zero tourists in Cusco due to political violence. We were the only guests in this hotel (thus the free upgrade 😁).

This is the vista from the Diospi Suyana Urcos FM site servicing both sides of the valley from the hilltop 400 metres above the amazing blue lake (3,156m AMSL) in the centre. Note the legacy broadcast sites constructed of adobe (mud brick) near our new Diospi FM site (behind - not in view).

 

On Sunday 22 January we arrived in time to climb the tower and inspect and RL test the Diospi Suyana Urcos site FM 100.9 MHz antenna.  This was the very day we then cut over to the new DB Electronica transmitters to air (as the temporary FM transmitter what was being used behind me in the photo had failed 2 days before).  Here I am posing with Cusco based missionary engineer, Señor Victor Moreno who I worked with during this Peru trip and shared much of our Australian broadcast ways (of which he so genuinely appreciated).

 

This is my Diospi colleague Señor David Manco in a Cusco electrical hardware shop where we needed to pick up some earthing supplies to complete our FM installation.

I stopped to buy some soft drinks from this lady from her shop near our Cusco FM site. Note the dirt kitchen floor is typical of homes in southern Peru.

This is the home / shop front of the vendor from whom I bought some soft drinks near our Cusco FM site.

The broadcast hill of Cusco of which Diospi Suyana FM tower now stands (centre) amongst the some 50 other towers (both forward and behind this photo).

An aspect of local residents opposite our Cusco FM transmission site. Note the adobe (mud brick) walls and makeshift construction.

A typical home in Cusco city heights near our FM transmitter site revealing the poverty in the region we are reaching.

The Diospi Suyana FM 100.1 MHz site and tower with our Centro de Medios Hilux 4x4 outside.

At 5:50pm Monday 23 January, a team celebration was had with the launch of Cusco FM 100.1 MHz. Note Dr Klaus, Doris & Louis made the 2.5 hr trip from Curahuasi Hospital to celebrate for about an hour, and then turn around to return before the Panamericana was again blocked at midnight.

Another group celebration photo pose this time in front of the satellite antenna, with Doris officially cutting the ribbon.

Finally on board a Cusco flight to home. Our previous flight the night before was cancelled due to political protests.  Another miracle, as our new route via Auckland was just in time as hours after we transferred to Perth, the Auckland International Airport was closed for days due to flooding from torrential rains.

 

Isaac and I received a most amazing loving family welcome at Perth International airport.

 

And finally home again! 😁

I want to sign off with this which came to me about midway during this visit to Peru:

Isaiah 42:1-4 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.  In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

The take away message here is that Jesus Christ is the only hope for national justice. No government, no movement, no peacekeeping force or other group will ultimately succeed delivering true Peace. This is why Diospi radio is relevant right now in Peru, to get the message of truth to as many as possible.  I was able to encourage the Diospi Centro de Medios team with this and to stand firm on the unshakeable Word of God. As all else will fade away (Matthew 24:35).

Thank you, Chris

A Midway Peru Trip Update

Friday 13 Jan 2023

After our 46 hour flight including a lovely catch up with our good friend Rob Morton during our Sydney stopover at the International Airport, then another stopover in Houston, Texas, and then another in Lima – we were pretty tired when Isaac and I finally touched down in Cusco as sleep sitting almost vertical was hard to realise.  

But it didn’t stop there as we then found a political blockade between Cusco and Curahuasi.  Normally a 2.5 hour journey in a colectivo (shared passenger taxi) but in our case it took us some 12 hours.  By that time Isaac and I were REALLY tired! J

The extended journey to Curahuasi included a 5 hour delay getting our initial colectivo (due to road blockade) and then a 3 hour walk with our bags for 10km over and under about 20 blockages consisting of felled trees, earthen walls, rocks/boulders, hundreds of broken bottles, barbed wire and even in one place, a steel pole fence welded across the Panamericana highway from one bridge railing to another!  See photos below. Keep in mind in this part of Peru there usually no roads to bypass the Panamericana due to the mountainous terrain and economics.

One of numerous rock and boulder blockades.

A welded steel fence blockade midway across a bridge, from railing to railing.

 

One of many earthen blockades.

One of many about 5 or 6 felled tree blockades.

During our 10km “hike” past the blockades, one of our bags broke and a colectivo companion, René, carried this bag on his shoulders almost all the distance. What an angel provision he was for us in the thirst quenching heat. René was an ambulance driver of nearby township of Limatambo.

 

Here Isaac and I finally arrive at Diospi Suyana after some 58 hours of negligible travel sleep.

On the other side of all this mess, we caught another colectivo (at elevated price taking advantage of the situation), to finally arrive and be warmly greeted by Diospi Suyana including many familiar faces, not the least being Dr Martina John.  Dr Klaus is in Germany and would be back the following Saturday (i.e. tomorrow at the time of writing).

These blockades were placed by disgruntled Quechua rural communities due to extreme long term political corruption in Peru and worsening living standards.  The catalyst being the appointment of vice president, Dina Boluarte serving as the President of Peru on 7 December 2022 when the president elect, Pedro Castillo, was impeached and removed from office by the Congress of Peru after attempting a self-coup.  Without going into this situation any further, except to say Peru’s 5 former presidents are in gaol due to corruption, government in Peru is a mess and the poverty stricken Quechuas have had enough.

On our first travel recovery day in the afternoon, young and enthusiastic Centro de Medios (Broadcast centre) employee responsible for transmission operations, Mr David Hanco Conchacalla, knocks on our hospital apartment door unannounced (as it happens I was fast asleep).  He asked to take us through the many issues they were hoping I was going to address whilst here.  We obliged and after a few hours we find it was quite a list, and this did not include the remote FM site installations.  Albeit based on the current level of political protest becoming more violent as each day progressed, the likelihood of such travel now seems unlikely.  A full agenda in Curahuasi was a good thing.

A new relatively local Peruvian technician, Mr Victor Moreno, was to adjoin me for the duration of our visit.  He brings some 30 years of experience in the sector working for a number of Peru businesses.  He arrived at our hospital unit on the Sunday to go through the work for the next few hours before we had to leave for dinner.  We got on quite well despite my struggling Spanish.  Isaac was able to fill in some gaps for me more than once.  

We visited the two nearby Diospi transmission sites of Curahuasi and Abancay to assess the work required in those places from incomplete or faulty installations.  We found about half of the 30km Panamericana route from Curahuasi to the 4000m high Abancay pass where our FM transmitter site is located, was blocked down to one lane by rocks and trees. It was totally blocked earlier but now one lane was cleared to necessitate getting critical resources though to southern Peru.  

We also learned in some areas of Peru the protests are turning increasingly violent.  On just one night this week some 17 people were shot dead in the region of Puno (I was intending on going there to maintain our Puno FM site, but not now).  And as of this writing, some 50 people have been killed in these protests across all of Peru.  We will be exercising extreme caution and will amend our Diospi remote FM site visit plans accordingly.

Taken at the 4000m elevation Abancay Diospi FM transmitter site. L to R: me, Snr David Hanco, Isaac, Snr Sabino Cutipa & Snr Victor Moreno.

Snr Victor Moreno and me fitting a new cross-guide coupler on our satellite uplink antenna to enable testing of our telemetry problems.

 

Me in front of “my” Diospi hospital Satellite Uplink facility (photo by Isaac ☺).

Isaac and me fitting 4 new pieces of equipment to the Centro de Medios equipment rack, including an Orban "Optimod 6300" FM digital audio processor to greatly improve sound quality of the entire Diospi radio network.

As it happens, today is my 27^th wedding anniversary with my amazing and most beautiful bride, Sandi. We find ourselves some 14,825 km apart on this day, and looking forward to being reunited again in 2 weeks.  As anyone who knows her, she has an incredible heart, attitude and faithfulness toward God, family, people and life.  Without her support this trip to Peru would not have gotten past the idea stage.  And without her I would not be half the person I am today.

Feeling the heat on our wedding day in Timbertown, NSW 13 Jan 1996 ☺

 

Thank you for your support in what we are doing here in Peru to improve the lives of millions of impoverished and marginalised people.

Chris