[cr-india] Community radio for disaster preparedness

[mahesh acharya]

Hi Vikram, Anshu and all!

I absolutely agree with you Vikram, if I got you right that hybrid/or convergent RADIO based COMMUNICATION technology(Radio Broadcast, Wireless Internet, HAM radio, citizen band, how many of you know that under a Minister of Parliament Local Development Scheme, MP ca sanction few lakhs for HAM and Citizen Band Radio initiatives?)should be used in the current circumstances that is obstructing community radio movement in our country. I suggest this because the government cleverly sidelined voluntary organizations to be able to run CR broadcast directly. 

'Where there is a will, there is a way',why not consult vice chancellors/head of departments of 32 Agriculture Universities in India for a dialogue to support CR movement? These guys are eligble to apply for the license, they got REGULAR funding and more over the CR radio stations CAN be located in the village/town where the University has its training campus for the farmer folks. I got positive response from University of Agriculture Sciences here in Bangalore, late last year.
 
Coming to radio based technology, there is enough scope  to get hybrid technology going but what is missing is te ability to TRY. May be we are scattered all over the place and just cannot get about TRYING and more importantly, SUSTAINING  Consider some of the possible options that CAN BE adopted by voluntary organizations without a need for CR license. Of course it will make hell of difference if VO have their own. Here goes

1. Some Radio sets available the market can receieve TV signals. In other words these sets are able to receieve aduio frequency of TV programs broadcast over the air. Regional Govt run/owned TV channel do not broadcast 24 hrs.     
So why not broadcast half-hour community oriented programs using the infrastructure? The programs(agriculture based to begin with as entry point )can be made in studios managed by the community. The greatest advantage is the mobility of the listener. He/she/they need not close to the radio. They can carryout their job. Such a mobility is difficult with other technologies say Internet audio streaming. 

2. Anshu you may want to consider this, I understand that you are pro Internet technology provided that rural Internet deliverables is for real. 802.11's limitation was distance some years ago. Not any more now. By using high gain antenna at transmission and reciption, the distance can be increased to over 30km line of sight. Even we get coverage of 10km radius, radio programs can broadcast/streamed using 802.11.  A receiever can be designed to receieve such a broadcast. Why not throw up a open competion to students in Universities to design a 802.11 based receiever?  Without any effort you can get lots of prototypes and select the best and sell it!
Who cares for CR license? It is either now or never. IF Kamal can make a low cost transmitter I dont think why it is not possible to the same with 802.11. May be Vikram can educate us in this. 

3. Here is another one. Cell phone technology. Fancy cell phones are flooded in the market. The recent   introduction of Sony cell-phone with walkman is great. Now how about integrating a radio too. Radio programs can be broadcast directly on cell phone fqs (no it will not jam the spectrum), radio programs could be accessed directly from the cell phone-radio server. The unit need not tiny. IT can house a large speaker so that the person can listen comfortable just like ordinary radio.

These are my 2 cents people. There has to be development labrotary across the country testinng, inventing or re-inventing. I mentioed this earlier in this forum. In one of the CR training in Garhwal, one a trainee used just an ordinary FM mikes and tape-cum-radio cassette player to broadcast program from training center located midway in valley to a group 300 meters below the training center. Now without any formal training if he could do it, why not the techies who are trained? The next generation of phone would be convergent of other media technology. What we can ask for is just the radio part. Now who said you want a license for cell phone? Use the cell phone infrastructure; the towers for transmission, the servers for audio data, the staff to the job of loading the program. Who would benefit at the end the listener of the program.

Sure all this needs effort, tme and funding resources that i know. How to get about all this is the main hurdle.

No single radio technology can provide compelte soultion, but each one can complement the other. Internet, community radio, citizen band radio and Ham radio have their own special role under different circumstances  as Vikram and Anshu mentioned.

cheers!
mahesh
VU3MBV

In case any one is interested in knowing role of agriculture universites in promoting CR, can click on this link.

http://www.i4donline.net/aug04/indian_universities_full.asp
Mahesh Acharya
VU3MBV