Petra indicates that she really doesn't enjoy taking baths, but she will allow me to bath her. Actually, she's really quite good about getting wet, but she prefers to be dry.
Life and times of the Hamm family in Quito, Ecuador.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Bath time...
Petra indicates that she really doesn't enjoy taking baths, but she will allow me to bath her. Actually, she's really quite good about getting wet, but she prefers to be dry.
Play Dough
For his birthday, Joel received a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head Play Dough set. Play Dough is one of his favourate items to play with, I think it's his creative side coming out.He can work for hours building things with Play Dough. With just a little help from Mom, he built this pair of potato heads. Not bad for four years old!
Ready for Quito Day
Joshua's school had a day where you came dressed up as someone from the era of the independence day of Quito. Always wanting to be a policeman, Joshua wanted to go dressed up as one.Marlene worked on putting together the clothes that he had so that it looked like a uniform. The only thing that we didn't have was the hat which during the festivities, can be had for about $1.
He thouroughly enjoyed the costume and had a lot of fun posing for his friends when the bus came to pick him up for school.
December 6 is Quito's Independence Day from Spain, just in case you were wondering. (And yes, I'm slow at putting this update on the blog!)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Petra
Petra is our new pet dog. Well, not so new really. She's now been with us for two months. She is cute dog and loves the boys (and us) and the boys love her. 
Given what she puts up with from them, it's obvious that she loves them!
It's quite funny watching her reaction when I bring out her leash. She gets all excited but comes and sits next to me so that I can hook up the leash. Of course, once that happens, it's like grabbing a tiger by the tail. She is quite strong and will pulll me all the way to HCJB, where she knows I'll let her off her leash so she can get down to hunting. She loves to go after the pigeons that fly around here. (She does a pretty good job of helping to keep the population down some.)
Given what she puts up with from them, it's obvious that she loves them!It's quite funny watching her reaction when I bring out her leash. She gets all excited but comes and sits next to me so that I can hook up the leash. Of course, once that happens, it's like grabbing a tiger by the tail. She is quite strong and will pulll me all the way to HCJB, where she knows I'll let her off her leash so she can get down to hunting. She loves to go after the pigeons that fly around here. (She does a pretty good job of helping to keep the population down some.)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Reflection: Missionary Radio Station Broadcasts the Gospel for Nearly 6 Decades
Source: Kenneth D. MacHarg, missionary journalist
Just stepping on the property one knew that it was a special place. Others declared that it was holy ground.
Whatever a person’s viewpoint, these 130 acres of rolling green fields with a spectacular view of the perfect snow-covered volcanic cone of Mount Cotopaxi to the south were a single point from which shortwave radio programs could be beamed from Ecuador to the four corners of the earth.
Pifo, as the transmitter site for Radio Station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, was known, could only be described in superlatives: one of the largest radio stations in the world; the home of one of the largest broadcast antennas ever built; one of the few places in the world where radio broadcasts could reach around the globe; the place from which the gospel of Jesus Christ could be heard by listeners in each of the world’s countries.
Even before entering the property, a visitor approaching the transmitter site from Quito could see red-and-white towers poking up into the sky.
Passing through the entry gate just east of the town of Pifo, one saw 31 arrays of steel towers and curtains of wire spread out. Clustered near the transmitter and maintenance buildings were the homes of resident engineers.
Each of those unique structures with their complex web of reflecting curtains was designed to throw a powerful signal to a specific target, be it North or South America, Europe, the South Pacific, East Asia or West Central Africa. Smaller antennas, configured in a different manner, served to send programs in the Quichua dialects straight up where they would bounce off electronically charged layers far beyond the reach of the highest-flying airliner and bounce back down like an umbrella over the Andes where those descendants of the Inca civilizations still live.
In the large transmitter building, 10 behemoths of electronic genius pumped out hundreds of thousands of watts of signal power, much of it generated in HCJB Global’s own hydroelectric plants even higher in those majestic mountains.
Some of those technological marvels were commercial brands known to radio engineers around the world: RCA, Harris, Siemens. Others, including the super-power, 500,000-watt HC500, were built by HCJB Global’s engineers in Ecuador and Elkhart, Ind.
None of these were ordinary, run-of-the mill transmitters. No, they were specifically built for or adapted to Pifo’s extraordinary altitude of 8,600 feet where the air is thin and electrical arcing between components could quickly burn up precious parts and force an expensive and crucial piece of equipment off the air.
Hidden away in the roof of this fascinating building was a switcher unit, or to be more precise, dozens of switchers. These connected the appropriate transmitter to its scheduled antenna to beam the Christian message from Pifo in the morning to missionaries in the Brazilian Amazon or to German settlers in Paraguay and Argentina. In the afternoon they helped send programs to eager listeners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; in the evening to enthusiastic listeners in the Americas and the Caribbean and in the wee hours of the morning to others in East Asia and the South Pacific.
While the transmitters were impressive, it was the antennas that were awe-inspiring. Whether seen against the backdrop of the setting sun or with Cotopaxi visible through their web-like patterns, these tall towers, reaching as high as 417 feet and holding two or three curtains of wires were fascinating as they invisibly bounced hundreds of thousands of watts of power, carrying the life-giving message of the gospel to people trapped behind the Iron Curtain, confined in the totalitarian state that was the Soviet Union. Also nurtured were those hidden behind the veil of Mideast nations or casually listening in their homes and offices in North America, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific.
It’s hard for those without engineering experience to understand how an array of thin wires can bounce an electric signal against another similar curtain and have that signal and its message arrive at a radio receiver 6,000 miles away.
But, the antennas and transmitters of Pifo, Ecuador, did just that, broadcasting at times in up to 18 languages a day, around the clock, around the world.
While the technology was fascinating, even more compelling were the people who made it happen—those men and women who relocated to the beautiful South American country of Ecuador over the years so that they could build a radio station that would carry a message of hope and life to listeners around the world.
Those engineers and technicians gave up what could have been lucrative careers back home to make certain that people in Ecuador and El Salvador, Germany and Greece, Russia and Romania could hear the life-giving message of Jesus Christ in their own language on their own radios.
These people, from a multitude of nationalities, were innovators and geniuses in their own right. They designed the cubical quad antenna to prevent electrical arcing at the tips of antenna wires and made that model available for personal, military and commercial use around the world.
They built and operated the “steerable antenna,” said to be one of the largest broadcast antennas ever built and the only one of its design ever constructed. They fabricated transmitters, antennas and components almost out of barbed wire and tin cans when standard supplies were not available. They utilized propagation possibilities (characteristics that allowed the signal to span long distances) that were unknown to others at the time, yet allowed the signal of Radio Station HCJB to reach the ends of the earth.
Why did they do this? Because they had learned that God, who created the world and everything in it, including the fascinating science of radio broadcasting, cares about His creation and wishes that each and every person, from every tongue and nation, will know His love for them. And, they discovered the truth of God as it is written in the Bible and the love, forgiveness and salvation of God which results in eternal life through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who is the friend of sinners and the Savior of the world.
Today, those fields from which gospel programming was broadcast for almost 60 years are silent and almost empty. Gone are the huge towers and miles of wire that stretched across the green grass. Now gone silent are the transmitters* that labored day in and day out to transform the programs into a signal that would be carried around the world.
The site, which began broadcasting in 1953, will sign off for good on Sept. 30. A changing world and changing methods of mass communication have challenged Radio Station HCJB to move on to new ways of sharing that same message of hope. Today, satellite television and radio, the ability of local Christians to launch their own stations in communities where such broadcasters were forbidden or impossible in the past, the availability of other shortwave transmitting sites, the Internet, podcasts, social networking sites and Internet radio have become additional means of receiving information, entertainment and inspiration.
Pifo has become silent and the engineers and program producers have moved on. But today in every country of the world there are churches meeting, worshiping and serving because they practice what they heard on the station. There are entire communities and nations and people groups that proudly bear the name Christian because listeners heard the message emanating from Pifo. And, there are people, believers in Jesus Christ, who will attest to how their lives were transformed by Him and how today they are followers of Jesus because of what they heard from Pifo.
To God be the glory!
------------------------------------------
* Broadcasts in Portuguese, German and Kulina are scheduled to continue from Pifo until November 15 on a powerful transmitter, an HC100. (German will be both analog and DRM digital broadcasts.) The Port & Kulina are on 11920 kHz. German is on 9780 kHz (analog) and 15280 (DRM).
Broadcasts in Spanish, Quichua, Waorani and Cofán are to continue on a regional frequency, 6050 kHz, which is to be assumed by Vozandes Media.
The official closure date for the Pifo transmitter site was Sept. 30, decreasing shortwave transmissions from 64 to 23 hours per day. This will decrease to seven hours per day on October 31, followed by the last transmissions (Portuguese, German and Kulina) from Pifo on November 15.
Editor’s Note: Ken MacHarg served in Ecuador with HCJB Global from 1990 to 1998. He and his wife, Polly, retired from Latin America Mission in 2006 and now live in Carrollton, Ga. His website is www.missionaryjournalist.net.
Just stepping on the property one knew that it was a special place. Others declared that it was holy ground.
Whatever a person’s viewpoint, these 130 acres of rolling green fields with a spectacular view of the perfect snow-covered volcanic cone of Mount Cotopaxi to the south were a single point from which shortwave radio programs could be beamed from Ecuador to the four corners of the earth.
Pifo, as the transmitter site for Radio Station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, was known, could only be described in superlatives: one of the largest radio stations in the world; the home of one of the largest broadcast antennas ever built; one of the few places in the world where radio broadcasts could reach around the globe; the place from which the gospel of Jesus Christ could be heard by listeners in each of the world’s countries.
Even before entering the property, a visitor approaching the transmitter site from Quito could see red-and-white towers poking up into the sky.
Passing through the entry gate just east of the town of Pifo, one saw 31 arrays of steel towers and curtains of wire spread out. Clustered near the transmitter and maintenance buildings were the homes of resident engineers.
Each of those unique structures with their complex web of reflecting curtains was designed to throw a powerful signal to a specific target, be it North or South America, Europe, the South Pacific, East Asia or West Central Africa. Smaller antennas, configured in a different manner, served to send programs in the Quichua dialects straight up where they would bounce off electronically charged layers far beyond the reach of the highest-flying airliner and bounce back down like an umbrella over the Andes where those descendants of the Inca civilizations still live.
In the large transmitter building, 10 behemoths of electronic genius pumped out hundreds of thousands of watts of signal power, much of it generated in HCJB Global’s own hydroelectric plants even higher in those majestic mountains.
Some of those technological marvels were commercial brands known to radio engineers around the world: RCA, Harris, Siemens. Others, including the super-power, 500,000-watt HC500, were built by HCJB Global’s engineers in Ecuador and Elkhart, Ind.
None of these were ordinary, run-of-the mill transmitters. No, they were specifically built for or adapted to Pifo’s extraordinary altitude of 8,600 feet where the air is thin and electrical arcing between components could quickly burn up precious parts and force an expensive and crucial piece of equipment off the air.
Hidden away in the roof of this fascinating building was a switcher unit, or to be more precise, dozens of switchers. These connected the appropriate transmitter to its scheduled antenna to beam the Christian message from Pifo in the morning to missionaries in the Brazilian Amazon or to German settlers in Paraguay and Argentina. In the afternoon they helped send programs to eager listeners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; in the evening to enthusiastic listeners in the Americas and the Caribbean and in the wee hours of the morning to others in East Asia and the South Pacific.
While the transmitters were impressive, it was the antennas that were awe-inspiring. Whether seen against the backdrop of the setting sun or with Cotopaxi visible through their web-like patterns, these tall towers, reaching as high as 417 feet and holding two or three curtains of wires were fascinating as they invisibly bounced hundreds of thousands of watts of power, carrying the life-giving message of the gospel to people trapped behind the Iron Curtain, confined in the totalitarian state that was the Soviet Union. Also nurtured were those hidden behind the veil of Mideast nations or casually listening in their homes and offices in North America, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific.
It’s hard for those without engineering experience to understand how an array of thin wires can bounce an electric signal against another similar curtain and have that signal and its message arrive at a radio receiver 6,000 miles away.
But, the antennas and transmitters of Pifo, Ecuador, did just that, broadcasting at times in up to 18 languages a day, around the clock, around the world.
While the technology was fascinating, even more compelling were the people who made it happen—those men and women who relocated to the beautiful South American country of Ecuador over the years so that they could build a radio station that would carry a message of hope and life to listeners around the world.
Those engineers and technicians gave up what could have been lucrative careers back home to make certain that people in Ecuador and El Salvador, Germany and Greece, Russia and Romania could hear the life-giving message of Jesus Christ in their own language on their own radios.
These people, from a multitude of nationalities, were innovators and geniuses in their own right. They designed the cubical quad antenna to prevent electrical arcing at the tips of antenna wires and made that model available for personal, military and commercial use around the world.
They built and operated the “steerable antenna,” said to be one of the largest broadcast antennas ever built and the only one of its design ever constructed. They fabricated transmitters, antennas and components almost out of barbed wire and tin cans when standard supplies were not available. They utilized propagation possibilities (characteristics that allowed the signal to span long distances) that were unknown to others at the time, yet allowed the signal of Radio Station HCJB to reach the ends of the earth.
Why did they do this? Because they had learned that God, who created the world and everything in it, including the fascinating science of radio broadcasting, cares about His creation and wishes that each and every person, from every tongue and nation, will know His love for them. And, they discovered the truth of God as it is written in the Bible and the love, forgiveness and salvation of God which results in eternal life through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who is the friend of sinners and the Savior of the world.
Today, those fields from which gospel programming was broadcast for almost 60 years are silent and almost empty. Gone are the huge towers and miles of wire that stretched across the green grass. Now gone silent are the transmitters* that labored day in and day out to transform the programs into a signal that would be carried around the world.
The site, which began broadcasting in 1953, will sign off for good on Sept. 30. A changing world and changing methods of mass communication have challenged Radio Station HCJB to move on to new ways of sharing that same message of hope. Today, satellite television and radio, the ability of local Christians to launch their own stations in communities where such broadcasters were forbidden or impossible in the past, the availability of other shortwave transmitting sites, the Internet, podcasts, social networking sites and Internet radio have become additional means of receiving information, entertainment and inspiration.
Pifo has become silent and the engineers and program producers have moved on. But today in every country of the world there are churches meeting, worshiping and serving because they practice what they heard on the station. There are entire communities and nations and people groups that proudly bear the name Christian because listeners heard the message emanating from Pifo. And, there are people, believers in Jesus Christ, who will attest to how their lives were transformed by Him and how today they are followers of Jesus because of what they heard from Pifo.
To God be the glory!
------------------------------------------
* Broadcasts in Portuguese, German and Kulina are scheduled to continue from Pifo until November 15 on a powerful transmitter, an HC100. (German will be both analog and DRM digital broadcasts.) The Port & Kulina are on 11920 kHz. German is on 9780 kHz (analog) and 15280 (DRM).
Broadcasts in Spanish, Quichua, Waorani and Cofán are to continue on a regional frequency, 6050 kHz, which is to be assumed by Vozandes Media.
The official closure date for the Pifo transmitter site was Sept. 30, decreasing shortwave transmissions from 64 to 23 hours per day. This will decrease to seven hours per day on October 31, followed by the last transmissions (Portuguese, German and Kulina) from Pifo on November 15.
Editor’s Note: Ken MacHarg served in Ecuador with HCJB Global from 1990 to 1998. He and his wife, Polly, retired from Latin America Mission in 2006 and now live in Carrollton, Ga. His website is www.missionaryjournalist.net.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Ready for school
In the afternoon, he gets back home, much more tired than when he left in the morning. Once a month he even gets to go swimming.
He is doing well in school and his teacher many times asks him to help her with the other students.
Sent from my BlackBerry
Monday, September 7, 2009
First day of school
Today was the first day of classes in Quito for primary and secondary schools. Joshua was going to the school for the "big children" entering his first day of kindergarten.
The first day of school here is a bit of a cultural experience. As part of the first-day, the principal and teachers spoke for a few minutes to all the students (in the preschool section) and their parents. We then took turns introducing ourselves and our children.
There were grandparents, uncles and aunts, and other immediate family there for the first day of school.
All-in-all, rather nice to at least see the parents of the other children, even though we didn't get much chance to converse with them.
I'll post a photo of Joshua in his school uniform tomorrow.
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