12 June, 2013 Quick Report on Radio Vieques Construction Process New Donations: 1000.00 from Burr at Hacienda Tamarindo; ‘ 10,000 from RV Cyber Art Auction Friends of Radio Vieques: Yesterday we took another important step in the creation of Radio Vieques, our community radio station that will be up and running in early July. On the roof of Seagate Hotel, thanks to the solidarity of Penny Miller and the memory/solidarity of Mike Diaz, we installed the mini tower for the microwave dish (to be placed today) that will send the signal from our studio in the Fort over to the RV antenna/transmitter on Culebra, then out ‘to the world’!!.. or.. at least by FM signal to the Eastern part of Puerto Rico. (RV should be streaming on the internet shortly after regular transmission begins) For the past week and a half, crews of volunteer engineers and other radio tech specialists from the US, Puerto Rico and Vieques have been working on preparing the studio, microwave units, transmitter and antennae. The coordination for this work has been, and continues to be an enormous challenge. We’ve moved a very large amount of very large and not so large equipment and materiales from Nova Scotia, Vermont, Florida, New Jersey and other places, to San Juan, Fajardo, Vieques and Culebra. The logistics are daunting, particularly considering the realities of our ferry system. We’ve had great support from Vieques Air Link, Air Flamenco Flamenco, ATM and for housing people Hacienda Tamarindo, Flamboyan Guest House (Duffy’s), Quique and Marta Cánovas and Sylvia Lleras in Culebra; Avis car rental in Culebra and many others on both islands. This weekend, a specialized tower crew (Alfredo Colón and Nacky Latorre) will install our antenna and microwave unit at 170 and 140 feet, respectively on the Crown Castle tower at Culebra, under the direction of our lead engineer, Michael Brown (Brown Broadcast Services) of Oregon and Jorge González of Puerto Rico. Viequense surveyor, Antonio Sanes, will provide technical services as well as Tom Voorhees (Washington state) on Culebra. We’ve purchased over 50 thousand dollars in equipment over the past couple months and continue to spend on more equipment and materiales as well as costs for transport, food and other items for our volunteer crews. Fundraising efforts are ongoing with cyber spaces at radiovieques.net and info on our RV Facebook Page. On June 22, our solidarity team on the main island will hold a Radio Marathon, thanks to a donation of several hours by Radio Isla 1320, one PR’s most important news/talk stations, in collaboration with the PR Bar Association. A second round of the Cyber Art Auction and the continuing sales of the virtual album, Artistas por Vieques (a4md.org), combined with upcoming activities in Orlando and New York will bring more need revenue. Burr Vail, of Hacienda Tamarindo, came to the Fort yesterday to personally deliver a one thousand dollar donation. This is the second such donation this month (we received a 1000.00 anonymous donation from another member of the North American Vieques community earlier this month). These donations are of particular significance for they recognize the great potential for Radio Vieques to foster good community relations across cultural and other differences and push for a better quality of life for all Vieques residents. We are very greatful to all who have donated in so many ways so far. But there’s still much more to be done. So, please give thought to supporting Radio Vieques by donating through Pay Pal at radiovieques.org, or sending a cheque to Radio Vieques PO Box 1424 Vieques, PR 00765. Or, come by and talk about Radio Vieques if you’d like more info before donating. We’re at the Fort most of the time (787 741-4688). You can also call 787 375-0525 and talk to Robert Rabin, RV Director (fotos: Penny Miller at the "Michael Díaz - Radio Vieques Microwave Tower" on Seagate roof; RV team at microwave site.)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:19:08 +0000
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