This is pretty much what December looked like, but now that we've had several sunny days I finally got to mow.

We’ve had pretty smooth sailing here lately. Maybe after those two big lightning hits last fall, anything seems like smooth sailing. As a result, we’ve been able to press on with accomplishing some of our dreams here at Radio HRGS. I even managed to mow the yard, but it wasn’t quite dry enough to get one little spot. More about that in the Audio Update at the bottom of the post. And I’ll tell you all about our new Facebook page in a little bit. First, let’s get caught up on other stuff.

The new phone system is virtually done. I still need to get a line out to the audio shop so we can talk from there. The intercom feature will really come in handy sometimes. Mildred and Peter now each have their own phones in the office right where they want them. I got that part done today. The new phones look and sound way better than the old ones.

We now have Sunrise Serenade on the AM channel again. In the “old days” we used to air exactly the same thing on AM and FM. When we made the change to having Spanish on one channel and English on the other, we effectively doubled our available hours for programs and music, but we also made it so that our AM listeners were hearing Spanish programming in the early morning when we air Sunrise Serenade. Many people said they missed it, especially the people out on the Utila Cays who depended on our morning weather forecast before heading out in their boats. This Monday we finally managed to get Sunrise Serenade onto the AM. It’s prerecorded and we have to get to the studio a little earlier to get the weather forecast recorded and put in place, but we think it’s worth it.

And then there is Facebook. Radio HRGS has finally entered the 21st century and we are on Facebook. You’ll find our English page right here. If you like Spanish better, you can see what Romel Hernandez is up to right here. If, after listening to the HRGS Update (below), you want to see those videos Peter & I were talking about, you should be able to find them on the English Facebook page. We have questions for our listeners as well as links to YouTube videos of some of our music so you can see the artists as well as hear them. It’s a work in progress and we’ll be adding things as time and the creative juices allow.

A while ago, I’d said we were working on a surprise for our listeners. We were talking about putting Sunrise Serenade onto the AM, of course. Now we are talking about another surprise that I think lots of people will like. But I can’t tell you what it is till I know if we can actually accomplish it. That’s my next project. I can’t say what it is, but it involves making some cables and setting up a computer to use them. That’s all I’ll say for now. You’re welcome to try to guess what it is for now. Anyone who gets it right gets a free trip to the beach here on Roatán. But not a free trip TO Roatán.

“Sometimes I think my life would make a great TV movie.  It even has the part where they say, “Stand by. We are experiencing temporary difficulties.”  ~Robert Brault

We’ve certainly had our share of technical difficulties lately. Last week, on Friday afternoon, the FM went off the air. The link between the studios and the transmitter refused to communicate. It said it had a link, but wouldn’t send data. After fussing with it for over an hour at this end, I decided I’d better investigate the transmitter end of things. I was almost there when the radio came back on all by itself. Since it was dark and raining, I turned right around before I got to the place where I got stuck on the last trip. I’ll let the Audio Update at the bottom of this post tell the rest of that story as well as some other things going on here.

What didn’t make the Update was what happened Tuesday morning, the day after we recorded the Update. The link went down again. Peter and I worked at it for well over four hours. We finally decided we had to get back on the air one way or another. So we took the FM computer back to the transmitter building. Rats!! But at least we were back on the air. Late that afternoon I hit upon an idea I should have had sooner but the symptoms were highly confusing. I wondered if some other wi-fi system was interfering. Peter was on his way up to the transmitter with the next day’s programs, so I called him and asked him to change the channel on that data radio while he was there. Presto!! The link was back.

We left the computer up at the transmitter while I did some more fine tuning on the radios, including upgrading them to the newest firmware. Yesterday I got all that done and brought the FM computer back down to the studio. Then this morning the link went down AGAIN! We tried changing the data radio channels several times. Nothing worked. Last time we had this I had tried unplugging everything else from the network, but it didn’t help. This time there were other strange network things going on so as a start, I pulled the cable from the wireless access point (AP) between the shop and the houses. All of a sudden the link was back. I plugged the AP back in and the link went down again. Looks pretty definitive to me, but so did changing the channel on Tuesday. Spiritual warfare? I’ll let you decide.

There is a story about two men walking through a field one day. They spotted an enraged bull and the bull was coming their way in a hurry. They sprinted toward the nearest fence as fast as they could run, but the bull was closing the gap. It was soon apparent they wouldn’t make it.

Terrified, the one shouted to the other, “Put up a prayer, John. We’re in for it!”

John answered, “I can’t. I’ve never made a public prayer in my life.”

“But you have to!” his companion gasped. “The bull is catching up to us.”

“All right,” panted John, “I’ll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: ‘O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.’”

Around the table - Olivia, Sandi (standing), Mildred, Marc, Peter, Joshua, Raul, Myra, Johnny

Mildred and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with Peter and Sandi Thursday. The food was just amazing. But more than that I’m thankful for friends like Peter and Sandi and for the other friends who were there, especially our island friends.

I also confess that I am missing family with more than usual intensity this time of year. But I sure am thankful that God led Jesse into such a wonderful family when he married Kristin. Praise God for those sweet friendships Jesse has with the Reilly family.

I met a guy today who has come back to the island for a visit. He lives in the Seattle area now. He observed that Roatán is a hard place in which to live. It reminded me again that I would never choose to live here except in obedience to Jesus. Even among the challenges of life in one of the poorest countries in the world, I’m thankful for more things, people, and situations than I could list in a lifetime. Thank You, Jesus, for Mildred. Next to salvation itself, she’s the most precious thing You’ve given to me. Thank You for coworkers with whom we get along so well. Thank you for the amazing gift of putting Mildred and me into a ministry that is making a difference in the lives of countless people in two different languages. Wow! And a special thank you to and for those of you whose prayers and financial gifts have made our participation in this amazing radio station possible.

My dad was a carpenter who had a whole trunk full of tools — a car trunk, that is, a ’55 Chevy Bel Air trunk to be more precise. One day, when I was in the fifth or sixth grade (if I remember right), we had a huge snowstorm. Our garage was in the alley and, when he got home from work that day, there was no way for my dad to get the car through the alley and into the garage. That would have required shoveling a path wide enough for the car through a half a city block of two-feet deep snow. He had to park on the street. The snow continued to fall throughout the night and the plows continued to plow.

I don't have any pictures of Dad's car, but this is how deeply it was buried.

When he tried to go to work the next morning our car, with his tools in the trunk, was buried under a ten foot deep ridge of snow and ice left by the overnight snowplows. We couldn’t even tell exactly where it was. To say that Dad was displeased would be like calling the Pacific Ocean a puddle. He eventually found a way to work and had to borrow tools from co-workers while every day, before and after school, I shoveled at that monstrous pile of snow. I don’t remember how many days it took, but I thought I’d never get done.

I’ve felt a little like that during the past two weeks since our return from vacation. This digging out is taking longer than my childhood assignment, but at least my fingers and feet aren’t frozen. Here’s a little list of our accomplishments so far in recovering from the big lightning hit, as well as some other things that we fixed along the way. It’s been a little like damage control on a navy ship, thankfully without the human casualties.

• Solidified network communications between the audio shop and the transmitter building.
• Reestablished network communications between the audio shop and the studio building.
• Reestablished network communications between the mission houses and the studio building. This is vital since the satellite dish got hit and this link is our route to the Internet and the FTP sites we have to use to get all our radio programs until the satellite dish is working again.
• Determined that it is the LNB of the satellite dish that is bad and ordered a replacement.
• Brought the FM broadcast computer back from the transmitter building to the studio on Friday. Yesterday we were finally able to have our first live Request and Dedication program since October 14.
• Installed a device that enables us to turn power on and off to some of the transmitter building equipment via a web browser from any computer on the radio station’s network.
• Replaced the starting battery for the transmitter site auxiliary generator and we are close to deciding on a replacement battery charger for that machine.
• Made improvements to over-all network performance.
• Developed and implemented a work around to re-enable auto starting and transfer of the station’s generator until we have time to get RECO to fix a problem on their high voltage lines.

Except for the satellite dish problem and the extra work that generates, I think life is nearly back to normal here. But there is still a lot to do.

• Replace the lightning rod on the tower here at the radio station.
• Install the new LNB on the satellite dish, once we get it.
• Coordinate with RECO to get us back to three phase electrical service.
• Replace our well pipe and the pump’s electrical cable and see if we can get it deeper into the well. We hope that will help us be able to go back to supplying the community with water for four hours a day. We have had to cut back to two hours a day even with all the rain we’ve had.
• Decide if we want to keep the AM computer at the transmitter site or bring it back to the studios. Since we do not do live broadcasts on AM, it will be happy wherever we put it. We just need to figure out what is best for us.

The list of things to do is essentially infinite, so I’ll stop there. I don’t think any of our listeners — or really anyone other than our staff — can comprehend what it’s been like for the past two and a half months here. I’ll just say that this sudden spurt of successes over the past week have really lifted my spirits. So, too, have some of the comments I’ve heard from listeners. One of them told me Friday how he could see that Satan would be out to get us because of all the Biblical truths people are hearing on HRGS. I guess if you’re going to take a poke at the enemy, you shouldn’t be surprised if he swings back at you. He fights dirty, too, but the battle is still ours because of Christ. Thanks for praying for us.

Cruise Ship From Plaza Mar

Here’s a look from one of the grocery stores we shop at. Roatán can be beautiful even in rainy season.

Resident Visa!

It’s here at last! Well, sort of. Our lawyer in Tegucigalpa has our resident visa cards now. He was so excited that he even sent us scanned images of them. Normally, he would put them on a Sosa flight to Roatán and we would get them next day. But this time, all he has to do is meet us at the airport in Tegus tomorrow. That’s because …

Vacation!

Yes, we are going to take a little vacation. Our friends, the Mittens, who lived and served here with us and had to leave for medical reasons now live in the mountain city of Siguatepeque. Mildred and I have never taken an in-country vacation in all our years here, so we are finally going to do that tomorrow. We are very excited about going to visit the Mittens and doing some sight seeing with them. They need to be in Tegucigalpa tomorrow to work on their resident visas, so we will fly there and meet them at the airport. Our lawyer will also meet us to give us our official cards. At least that is the plan. Once we make all those connections, we’ll all eight (Travis and Emily have four daughters.) pile into their seven-passenger SUV to go to their house in Siguatepeque.

While visiting the Mittens, we’ll make the drive over to Copan for everyone’s first ever visit to the Maya ruins there. You can only begin to appreciate our excitement about that! Expect pictures. Maybe a video, too.

When we get back from Siguatepeque, we have two days to get ready for a two week trip to Ohio. Mildred’s dad has been having a really tough time with his heath and we just felt like it was time to go see them again. We are looking forward to catching up with them and lots of other family during that brief visit. A few days after we get back here, we will be seeing some dear friends from Tampa who are visiting on a cruise ship. We love showing off Roatán to our friends, so that will be big fun.

STL!

STL stands for studio transmitter link. You probably remember that that’s what took the lightning hit several weeks ago while Peter and Sandi were on vacation. Today, we finally got things almost totally back to normal. It took a couple weeks or so to get the replacement data radio sent here. Then we ran into several technical snags. But yesterday we got all the snags cleared away and this morning we finished putting the desk together for the FM computer.

Since we had no link to the transmitter, I had had to take the AM and FM computers to the transmitter building about 20-30 minutes away (4-5 miles in a straight line) and we then had to take programming up there every day and could not do any live programming. Once we got the link and desk ready as of this morning, Peter and I went up and grabbed the FM computer and brought it down here. We are now running normally on the FM, just like before the lightning. Yay, God!!! The AM computer is still in the transmitter building, but that does not really affect our operations. Here’s a quick little video I slapped together showing the practical conclusion of our STL replacement saga.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What with the water well issues, the termites, and even a parade, I haven’t given you much news lately on the ramifications of the lightning strike we suffered a few weeks ago.  That’s largely because there wasn’t any news until the new radio and an identical spare arrived last Thursday. I spent a few days sorting out what needed to be done and getting the replacement data link radio ready to go into service. Peter and I started the actual installation this Tuesday. “How hard could that be?” you ask. Well, I thought it would be easy, too.

Peter - a station manager who climbs towers!

We finally have a link established, but it still is not ready for prime time. In the troubleshooting process, we took down the antenna dish (among other things) thinking it might also have problems and then put up the old rusty dish we had taken down in March. It turns out that the problem (the one in addition to a dead radio) was elsewhere, so Peter will have to change out the dishes again on Monday. When he does that, I think I should be able to get the signal strength back to where it should be and we can begin putting all the computers back where they belong and then be able to resume live broadcasts of Request and Dedication. Our R&D numbers have really sagged since we started having to prerecord the program.

But what we have now is still a huge blessing. We have a solid enough link to copy files from the studio computers to the on air computers up in the transmitter building. That saves us an hour or more per day as well as the daily physical beating we got from the road as we took those files up there on an external hard drive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We probably could voice track directly to the broadcast computers now, but I elected not to set that up yet. That’s because, when we replace the dish on Monday, no one would be able to do studio work until we got the link working again. So, for now, I just use a little program to automatically copy the files up there every couple of hours.

Once we finish fixing the rust on the new dish, we’ll put that up — Monday, if all goes well — and then we can voice track straight to the broadcast computers. The next step will be to get the FM studio desk reassembled after the termite eradication. We also want to convert one of the studio computers and use it to replace the FM computer. The FM computer is getting flakier and flakier, but that job might have to wait. Mildred and I are taking a much needed week of vacation starting the middle of next week.

Mildred's parents, Ivan & Marilyn

A few days after that, we have plane tickets to go to Ohio for two weeks. Mildred’s dad’s health is declining and we really need to spend some time with family. One never knows how many opportunities there will be. Jesse and Kristin will be there for several days too since they will be passing through on their way to and from Niagara Falls in celebration of their fifth wedding anniversary. We are anticipating some wonderful times together. Jesse just got his first digital SLR camera, so he and I are expecting to have some great times capturing images and sharing them.

Kristin & Jesse

If you still have time after reading all this and watching the video about our data link repairs, have a listen to the HRGS Audio Update below. In the Update, we talk about the Silseths’ missing luggage. Happily, they finally did get it after our recording session. In fact, if you haven’t already watched the video, I suggest listening to the Update first, and then watching the video.