Village Radio Owner's Manual. - book reviews

Dean Stephens is one of the leading proponents of Village Radio, his term for a "low-power low-cost, low-tech, selfcontained radio station capable of being received anywhere in o geographic village community." Following his recipe, a solor-powered AM or FA4 station con be built for $200-$2,000. Unfortunately, there's a glaring omission in this inspiring, nicely ilustrated pamphlet: Stephens doesn't tell where to buy or how to build a transmitter. He probably didn't want to upset the government bureaus that regulate broadcasting. They might otherwise find this quidebook too empowering.

* Since Village Radio should be part of a community's existence, live coverage of sports, social events, tribal councils, field interviews, music and cultural happenings are apt to form a major part of its daily routine. Market reports are another good example of informational content. Today's price of coffee may be vital: not only to the villager buying next week's supplies, but to the farmer who has to decide whether to bring the crop to market.

Most of the world's villages have no electricity. Fortunately for Village Radio, it can be powered by independent energy sources, such as wind, water and the sun. in the first two systems, mechanical energy from the wind or moving water is used to drive a turbine that charges a battery bank; in a solar-powered system, the battery is charged by energy converted from the light of the sun. The latter system will be the focus of this section.

At the heart of a solar-charged Village Radio power supply is the photovoltaic panel(PV), which is mounted atop a roof or in some other sunny place. The PV is normally positioned to face the sun at midday during the equirox, but in some instances this angle can be changed to compensate for seasonal variations. As an example, the PV at a site located at 25 degrees North Latitude would be angled 25 degrees off of perpendicular, looking to the south. in the Southern Hemisphere, solar panels will face north of perpendicular.

Figure 6 depicts a complete Village Radio setup like the one calculated above, including 60-watt photovoltaic panel, 120 Amp Hour storage battery, 12-watt dome light, 5-channel mixer, microphones, turntables, cassette players, headphones, 2-4 watt AM transmitter, power meter, antenna tuner and long wire antenna, showing both power and audio connections. This block diagram of a typical Village Radio can serve as a "road map" for the design and hookup of both larger and smaller systems.

Village Radio

Owner's Manual K. Dean Stephens, 1990; 28 pp.

$5 postpaid from The Vanguard Trust, H C-02; Box 14765, Arecibo, PR 00612

COPYRIGHT 1991 Point Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group