[IRCA] Here's an interesting sidebar to the Haiti Disaster

["Rene Tetro" <rtetro@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From Tom Taylor's column on today's Radio-Info newsletter

 

 

Haiti's newest radio station is broadcasting from the skies. 

Thanks to a specially-equipped U.S. Air Force C-130 that's flying
very slowly above the Caribbean country, broadcasting an AM signal
in Creole. The programming is mostly Voice of America, though CNN
<http://radio-info.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16f606482a795f
a597872a8f1&id=5dec445cae&e=491e0cea53>  says there are also
announcements from Haitian officials about the latest on the
earthquake emergency. The AM antenna is a 264-foot "long wire"
that's "dangling from [the plane's] belly like a plumb line." It's
kept vertical by a 500-pound lead weight - not exactly your usual
antenna setup on the ground. The plane also has four FM antennas,
mounted on the wings and fuselage of the workhorse aircraft. They
call the plane "Commando Solo" - and the CNN report is a great
reminder of radio's role during emergencies. Just to make sure the
target audience can hear the Commando Solo, the Department of
Defense has distributed thousands of solar and hand- crank-operated
radios. 

 

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