Engineers Help Train Ecuadorian Telecommunications Staff in Digital Technology

By Ralph Kurtenbach

Ecuador’s telecommunications authorities have agreed to explore and test the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) international digital radio standard with help from two organizations based in the small South American country.

Radio Station HCJB and the Unión Nacional de Periodistas (UNP or National Journalists’ Union) representatives agreed with the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUPERTEL) to offer training and assist in testing the DRM standard that Ecuador is considering. SUPERTEL will also evaluate other digital radio standards.

After a short signing ceremony in Ecuador’s capital city of Quito on Friday, Oct. 7, training sessions with SUPERTEL technicians began four days later on the campus of Radio Station HCJB.

DRM is an open global standard with intellectual property contributions shared by the consortium members. As an associate member of the consortium, the mission has conducted periodic shortwave DRM tests since 2000. Engineers at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., have also helped develop DRM transmission equipment.

In recent years the governments of India and Russia have selected DRM as the standard for broadcasting bands in those countries. In Latin America, the DRM standard is under consideration by Brazil where the Ministry of Communication held a seminar on digital radio standards in September. DRM consortium members participated in the high-level seminar in the capital, Brasilia.

Many in the broadcasting industry agree that the success of DRM hinges on the availability of low-cost receivers. Manufacturers displayed the receivers (including a USB receiver, stand-alone and car receivers, and one with a GPS system) at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam in September.

HCJB Global Voice’s roots run deep in Ecuador’s broadcasting history, beginning regular radio broadcasts in 1931.Then three decades later the station, established by evangelical missionaries, launched regular television broadcasts. Staff engineers have also developed technologies in the vanguard of the broadcasting industry.

Sources: HCJB Global, DRM

Note: This story appears with a short DRM digital radio promotional video at the Call of the Andes blog site, http://calloftheandes.wordpress.com/

(Harold Goerzen, senior editor, HCJB Global)

Update on HCJB Global in Haiti

Aftershock Rattles Haiti as HCJB Global/Samaritan's Purse Team Continues Work

Sources: HCJB Global, Baptist Haiti Mission, World Gospel Mission, Associated Press, BBC (written by Ralph Kurtenbach and Harold Goerzen)

A 5.9-strength aftershock early Wednesday, collapsing already-damaged buildings, but the HCJB Global Hands emergency medical team working at the Baptist Haiti Mission (BHM) hospital in Port-au-Prince reported they're all fine.

The seven-member team continues working 12-hour surgical shifts, treating those injured in the Jan. 12 quake that devastated Haiti's capital.

The powerful aftershock, centered about 35 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, sent Haitians screaming into the streets, collapsing buildings, cracking roads and adding to the trauma of a nation stunned by an apocalyptic quake eight days ago. At least one woman, traumatized by the aftershock, died of a heart attack in Port-au-Prince. The jolt matched the strongest of the tremors since the original 7.0-magnitude quake.

The multi-specialty team, working in conjunction with Samaritan's Purse, a North Carolina-based Christian aid group, arrived Friday, Jan. 15, from Ecuador. While two surgeons, an anesthesiologist, a nurse and two family physicians have worked at the hospital with the BHM staff, water engineer Martin Harrison set up a Water Missions International (WMI) filtration plant that is now chlorinating pond water for use at the hospital compound.

"Supplies are now improving as the WMI unit produces 10,000 gallons of drinking water per day at full output," Harrison said. "We are taking water from a fishpond of all places, passing this through the WMI water filter and filling a cistern beneath the hospital."

Family physician Steve Nelson said the team is giving priority to the most severe cases. "We non-surgical types were out on the floors trying to triage which cases were most likely to get complicated if left longer," he explained. "Sepsis, infected compound fractures and little kids made up our priority list." With more complicated cases, the surgical workers totaled 15 operations in one day, finishing after midnight.

"They are not seeing any simple breaks or fractures," Krys Baker, the hospital administrator, said of the surgical teams. "Many bones are crushed, making surgeries very difficult. They are also seeing a lot of infections. Many people have waited to come to the hospital and as a result they are having to do amputations." Infectious diseases have not shown up yet, according to a BBC report, but tetanus and gangrene are a threat to the injured.

Several days after HCJB Global's team arrived, another 17 physicians and nurses arrived from Samaritan's Purse. Upon staffing a second operating room, the 100-bed hospital can now treat more injured Haitians.

In spite of limitations on fuel, water and Internet connection, the team members' contact with their families in Ecuador has been constant. Missionary Kim Barton said from Shell, Ecuador, that her husband, Paul, "mentioned the aftershock because it woke him up. He was calling to try to find more tetanus [vaccine]." The Bartons serve at HCJB Global's jungle hospital in Shell where Paul is an anesthesiologist and his wife, Kim, is a pediatrician.

Also from the Shell hospital, German surgeon Eckehart Wolff lay on a surgery table to donate his own blood to a patient named Alexis who was suffering from severe internal abdominal bleeding. "The lady was stable this morning; however, sadly, she died this afternoon. She must have been crushed by something in the quake," said Harrison.

There is joy amid such suffering, Nelson said, recounting how family physician Marcos Nelson's patient, a young girl, began to sing even as the physician cleaned her wound. Anesthetized from pain but still conscious, the girl had a wound that revealed something serious enough for her to be placed first on the list for the next morning.

"Then we all heard her start singing," Steve Nelson related, "first in sort of a low voice and later stronger ... and it seemed happier! It was in Creole, so of course none of the Spanish and English speakers could know what she was saying ... but a translator brightened up nearby and said she is singing, 'I am saved, I am saved, I am saved!'"

The aftershock also rattled the nerves of people at partner ministry Radio Lumière, which only suffered minor damage in the original quake, although three of the staff members were killed while they were away from the station.

"Everyone there was OK [following the aftershock]," said Timothy Rickel, vice president of communication at World Gospel Mission (WGM). "Most people are sleeping outdoors anyway."

WGM engineer Paul Shingledecker helped put the station back on the air Sunday, Jan. 17, enabling the Radio Lumière to aid in communications and send out a message of hope to beleaguered Haitians.

"There is no city power, and it will be some time before there will be any," Shingledecker added. "I've seen lines down all over the city, including major high-tension lines. The station is entirely dependent on back-up generators. Some diesel is available, though not a lot yet. But money to buy it is the major factor."

A call to Radio Lumière's satellite service produced wider bandwidth for the station to stream audio on the Internet. "This is a major praise," said Rickel.

An HCJB Global engineer and others working at Radio Lumière when the Jan. 12 quake struck decided to "ride out the earthquake in the building," according to David Russell who heads the HCJB Global Technology Center in Indiana.

Alan Good had traveled to Haiti on Jan. 6 to work on the station's FM, Stereo 92. "He spent two nights there following the quake, awaiting news from his Haitian host family," Russell said. "It turned out that they also escaped injury."

With help from a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot, Good re-established contact with Russell and was flown back to the U.S. on Sunday.

HCJB Global Physicians Arrive in Haiti for Relief Work with Samaritan’s Purse

Sources: HCJB Global, Samaritan's Purse, World Gospel Mission (written by Ralph Kurtenbach and Harold Goerzen)

As relief teams attempt to reach earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince, a multinational medical and water sanitation team from HCJB Global Hands in Ecuador is praising God for its arrival in the Haitian capital Friday, Jan. 15.

"The situation is really desperate, and safety is an increasing problem as people get more frantic for water, food and medical help," said Martin Harrison, a British water engineer on the seven-member emergency medical response team in Florida, on Thursday. "We want to get on with the job, but we're daunted by the very serious nature of the situation. Please pray for the team and that God would protect us and get us there in his perfect way and timing."

"We are certain that the medical people we are slated to relieve are so very tired after this now 48-hour marathon in the hospital," said family physician Steve Nelson on Thursday as the team waited to catch an emergency flight at the airport in West Palm Beach, Fla. The team arrived in Port-au-Prince Friday morning.

Another ministry, Samaritan's Purse (SP), is sponsoring the HCJB Global team in Haiti and handling its logistics. SP is centering its medical relief efforts at a 100-bed hospital in Port-au-Prince operated by a local partner, Baptist Haiti Mission. The hospital, 20 miles from the quake's epicenter, suffered only minor damage and has electricity from back-up generators.

Members of the HCJB Global team include Ecuadorian surgeon Leonardo Febres, German surgeon Eckehart Wolff, U.S. anesthesiologist Paul Barton, U.S. family physicians Steve Nelson and Marcos Nelson, Harrison and International Healthcare Director Sheila Leech, a British nurse who heads the group. Most have assisted after previous disasters elsewhere such as in quake zones of Indonesia and Pakistan, Lebanon after war, and flooded areas of Mexico and Ecuador.

Likewise, the SP team consists of veterans of many disaster responses, but even they were shocked by what they encountered upon their arrival. "The streets are full of people who have no homes to go back to," said Dr. David Gettle, a medical adviser. "They're running out of food, fuel and water. The situation is desperate and tense, and there is tremendous suffering."

A cargo plane chartered by SP has made several flights to Port-au-Prince since Wednesday, transporting 11 members of its own disaster team along with rolls of plastic for temporary shelters, blankets, hygiene kits, jerry cans, flashlights, water purification sachets, water purification kits and two community water filters.

The primary goal of HCJB Global's team is to bring medical aid and clean water to the injured while also addressing the spiritual needs of the Haitian earthquake victims. "This is an opportunity to show God's love in a tangible way," said HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. "We feel privileged to play a small part in this emergency operation."

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck on Tuesday, Jan. 12, even as an HCJB Global Voice engineer was in Port-au-Prince to do technical work for partner ministry Radio Lumière. The engineer and three others (two from the U.S.) escaped injury.

World Gospel Mission (WGM) is sending Paul Shingledecker to Haiti on Saturday to assess the damage at Radio Lumière, get it back on the air and meet with church and radio leaders to begin building a long-term strategy for assisting Haiti. Shingledecker, who served as a missionary in Haiti for 23 years, will also be checking on radio staff members, some of whom are feared dead.

"The station is still standing," said Tim Rickel, WGM's vice president for communication. "It is structurally sound, although many things have fallen off the shelves. All of the radio towers are also standing." He said the station has back-up generators to supply electricity, but they are dependent on diesel fuel which is in short supply.

Radio Lumière, a WGM partner ministry operated by the Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti, consists of nine radio stations and a television station. It covers 90 percent of Haiti with the message of Christ's love.

Another HCJB Global cooperating ministry, radio station 4VEH, operated by One Mission Society (formerly OMS International) in Cap-Haitien, was undamaged.

"We want to be able to show the face of Jesus as we work with our hands. We trust the name of Jesus will be lifted up in all that we do," said Steve Nelson.

Support of HCJB Global's efforts will help provide medical supplies and basic necessities such as sleeping bags, flashlights, tents and emergency water filters. Plans are under way to send additional teams in the weeks to come.

The most recent news can be found at www.twitter.com/hcjbglobal In order to donate to the relief efforts, please visit www.hcjbglobal.org.

Since 1931, HCJB Global's passion has been to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Using mass media, healthcare and education, and working with partners around the world, HCJB Global has ministries in more than 100 countries. Together with local partners, the ministry airs the gospel
in more than 120 languages and dialects. Thousands of listeners and healthcare patients are meeting Jesus. Local believers are being trained as missionaries, pastors, broadcasters and healthcare providers.

Farewell to broadcasting site after nearly 60 years

Just stepping on the property one knew that it was a special place. Others declared that it was holy ground.Whatever a person's viewpoint, these 110 acres of rolling green fields with a spectacular view of the perfect snow-covered volcanic cone of Mount Cotopaxi to the south were a single point from which shortwave radio programmes could be beamed from Ecuador to the four corners of the earth.Pifo, as the transmitter site for Radio Station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, was known ...

Read the full report here :
www.hcjb.org.uk/global-news/farewell-to-broadcasting-site-after-nearly-60-years.html

HCJB to terminate Pifo - future of DXPL unknown

The appended message was received from Allen Graham, HCJB, Ecuador on August 12.
Regards from Melbourne!

Bob Padula

~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello Bob,
This past weekend on the DX Partyline I shared the following news:

HCJB Ecuador will end its shortwave transmissions from Pifo on September30, 2009 except for one frequency in Portuguese which will continueuntil mid-November. We are awaiting the official Press Release whichwill have more details. The administrative decision was made due to anumber of factors. I feel obliged to not say anything further until theofficial announcement is released.

The future of the DX Partyline is still uncertain at this moment. When Iknow more, I will let you know.

Thanks for all of your support over the years. We really need it now more than ever.

Allen Graham

(Via CumbreDX)

HCJB Global Voice Moves Up End Date of Shortwave Broadcasts from Ecuador

The end date for international broadcasts from Radio Station HCJB in Ecuador has been moved up as the missionary radio ministry defines new strategies for future outreach.Anticipating the opening of the new Quito airport near the station's international transmitter site in Pifo, staff member have already dismantled all but 14 antennas and towers. Present shortwave broadcasts in Portuguese, Spanish, German and indigenous languages, including Quichua, had earlier been announced to end no later than April 1, 2010. These international broadcasts will cease between September and November 2009.Announcing the earlier closure date of Pifo, Graham Bulmer, HCJB Global's director for the Latin America Region, said, "These times stretch us, causing us both to doubt and to grow in faith and hopefully drive us to confess our dependence on God. We believe He is guiding us. We hold all things with open hands and pursue understanding of what God expects of us as stewards of the resources of His kingdom."The Pifo closure will impact Radio Station HCJB's Quichua Language Service with some programming moving from the shortwave frequencies to local AM and FM channels. Investigations are also being made regarding the possibility of transferring HCJB-2, the ministry's 37-year-old FM station in Guayaquil (Ecuador's largest city), into the hands of local partners.The mission's newer strategy, begun in the 1990s, has been to reduce its emphasis on shortwave in Latin America while focusing on "radio planting" or assisting local ministries realize their dream of beginning a Christian radio ministry. More than 300 local stations have been helped in these endeavors worldwide, including about 60 in Latin America. HCJB Global also continues to expand its training ministries across the region."The way people consume media has changed," said HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. "So we have the opportunity to change to delivery systems such as satellite, FM Internet and podcasting. The closing of shortwave in Latin America is strategic because of the planting of local FM radio stations across the region and around the world. These stations are staffed and programmed by local believers who can speak to the culture in their own communities."Pederson recently told the staff that a high priority for the mission is its initiative for Latin America called Corrientes that launches in October. The coalition of more than 10 Christian organizations involves training Latin Americans for bi-vocational mission work around the world.

(Source : HCJB)

HCJB Global-UK Set to Relaunch Free Audio Online Site

HCJB Global-UK announced that it will officially relaunch its free audio online site on Monday, March 16, providing short inspirational audio clips for teachers, church workers and radio broadcasters. Audiopot (www.audiopot.org) is Britain's only online library of creative Christian audio, containing nearly 2,000 clips, including award-winning material from the country's top Christian radio production groups. The audio spots are available to preview and download at no charge. "Everything on Audiopot is designed to challenge a non-Christian audience about the Christian faith," said HCJB Global-UK Director Colin Lowther. "It consists of thoughts, interviews, features, drama, faith stories and Christian commercials, all of which are creative, thought-provoking and rarely longer than three minutes. You won't find any sermons on Audiopot!" The improved website includes an innovative page for teachers and those who work in education. "Teachers are always on the lookout for creative ways to get to the heart of the matter with young people, so the EDSPACE section of the website is a place for them to find audio that will shed new light on spiritual topics, using humor and real life stories, keeping everything firmly in the culture of today," Lowther added.

Read the full story here :

http://www.hcjb.org/news/hcjb_global_in_the_news/hcjb_global-uk_set_to_relaunch_free_audio_online_site.html