[Expert-list] interest in Open FM radio stations for rural Africa

[sekiku Joseph]

Dear Friends,

Last week I had the opportunity to host Mr. Ian Howard who together with Frederick Renet and manage the Adapted Consulting Inc. Although our focus was on wireless networks, my recent involvement in radio made Mr. Ian to disclose to me the advances so far made in the radio sector. In the real fact, Adapted Consulting are in line with the cry of most Telecentres particularly Mr. Renatus raphael from Kibengwe Telecentre. But there is some good news:

Adapted Consulting have in the spirit of commons, produced what is called OPEN FM, a new open source radio station. OpenFM is a low power, affordable open source FM radio station created for use in remote areas.  The system has been designed with harsh weather conditions in mind; it is able to withstand heat, dust and humidity with little manual intervention. It functions on solar power and so is particularly suited for rural environments that lack dependable electricity. OpenFM consists of a low power FM transmitter; antenna; low bandwidth, low power computer; mixing board; and open source audio software. 

    The open source component of the OpenFM is perhaps the station's most innovative attribute.  The design has been registered using the creative commons license, which means that the blueprint of the device is available to those who wish to create their own OpenFM or amend the equipment. 

Now the important thing is follow-up. Mr. Ian expressed that he is willing to conduct ONLSITE training on how to make the open FM radio stations. Constructed on-site, would make them more affordable. Still, the Open FM design has been specifically tested for harsh conditions like the one most telecentres face.

What is required:

Interested telecentres/ Networks should send in their requests to me and I would compile the expression of interest into a project document. I think that IDRC would be willing to support such a training. Mr. Mayanja Meddie would well be in position to help us source funding for the parts to be used in the training. I am cc Mr. ian Howard this email.

Should ideas emerge in this line, let us share them and see how to move forward.


Regards,

Joseph sekiku
Contact address:

FADECO TELECENTRE
P. O. Box 223
Karagwe- Kagera region

Tel/Fax: +255 28 2223024 (office)
Tel: +255 28 2223033 (FADECO RADIO)
Cell: +255 754 605682

Skype ID = jsekiku
Yahoo ID= sekiku2002
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