Abancay FM On Air

Tuesday 31 Aug 2021

On Saturday 7 August we saw the culmination of a lot effort dragged out in slow motion over some 18 months due to trying circumstances – the most notable being COVID-19 of course.  This resulted in extended lockdowns of which Peru has some of the strictest in the world (but that’s another story).  Not to mention our main installation technician, Luis Condori (who during my last 2 years in Peru I instructed to install to my standards), contracted the virus himself whilst in Lima and was out of action for over a month.

Diospi Abanacy FM tower is the centre tallest tower banded red and white.

The city of Abancay 1,700 m below. Our FM reaches this valley and beyond.

Diospi Suyana also encountered extended delays with the Peru power authority Electro Sur, who needed to make the electrical connection to our 4,077 m high mountain top site needing many new poles, a transformer and wires.  I had provided all my installation drawings (in Spanish) to the team on the ground in Peru, including; site construction drawing including tower earthing, electrical system line drawing, transmitter equipment rack layout, wiring block diagram, satellite antenna drawing etc.

But in the end, perseverance prevailed and our latest FM 92.7 MHz was launched to reach the city of Abancay and its surrounds!

Abancay is a thriving bustling city built on a mountainside slope, with town centre at 2,377 m above sea level.  Our coverage extends beyond Abancay itself to reach our computer predicted population of 136,000 FM listeners in the region.

There are a number of things needing completion including our satellite telemetry which is something only I can do, and the security system install that monitors and control all the transmission equipment at the site.  But those things will need to wait for a future opportunity for my return to Peru.

Following is a brief photo montage of this, our 7^th FM site in Peru.

Assembling the satellite antenna for Diospi audio signal reception.

The final connections made to the electrical transformer.

My colleague, Peru technician Luis Condori, who installed my new generation FM rack (built to my design in Italy).

Chris providing support (viz. calling the shots ☺) from home in Canberra.

Our computer prediction of our Abancay FM coverage

So another satisfying result.  The next Diospi FM site, Sicuani, is also nearing completion to allow a similar installation to take place, likely in the next month or so.

Thank you for those that still support us by prayer to enable this good work to miraculously continue.

Chris