Kari Lake previews her plans for Voice of America in the next Administration.

[TheBigA]

How about a source that the FCC is implementing project 2025 right now…you don’t have one.

See above

 

[bobjim45]

Yes a lot of those are opinion pieces, you know what opinion is? Nothing in there about implementing project 2025.

 

[TheBigA]

Yes a lot of those are opinion pieces, you know what opinion is? Nothing in there about implementing project 2025.

Maybe you missed this:

There have also been other Trump administration moves outside of his executive orders that appear to come directly from Project 2025, such as directing the Federal Communications Commission to investigate NPR and PBS for alleged violations of sponsorship advertising rules.

It's only been 3 weeks. Carr doesn't have a majority on the commission yet. He's waiting on the 5th to be confirmed.

 

[RadioFan2J3]

The real issue is that nobody listens. For example, the VOA's semi-autonomous Radio Martí Program broadcasts with 100,000 watts on 1180. Of course, there are over 20 stations all across Cuba on 1180 running one of that nation's national networks with an aggregate power of about half a million watts. That is like driving your car into a wall, and then backing up and doing it again and again and again hoping that sometime the solid wall will fall over.

David, I have a slightly different take on this.

Running the 1180 transmitter at Marathon isn't a large portion of the USAGM budget. If the current regime in Cuba believes that the Radio Marti message is so toxic that they need to run 29 transmitters across the island, 500kW combined power to jam Marathon, let them do it. I don't have any concrete numbers, but I would submit that the cost of running those 29 transmitters (and maybe more) is a higher percentage of the Cuban government's budget than Marathon's share of the USAGM budget.

Similarly, any USAGM program which is being jammed is an even better reason for USAGM to continue to transmit in those languages. I seem to recall a number bantered about in the agency years ago that effective jamming of a program costs the jammer at least ten times the money spent on the program transmission. Any program which is being jammed should be a clue to the Washington programmers to use more transmitters and frequencies to overwhelm the jamming process.

 

[davideduardo]

David, I have a slightly different take on this.

Running the 1180 transmitter at Marathon isn't a large portion of the USAGM budget. If the current regime in Cuba believes that the Radio Marti message is so toxic that they need to run 29 transmitters across the island, 500kW combined power to jam Marathon, let them do it. I don't have any concrete numbers, but I would submit that the cost of running those 29 transmitters (and maybe more) is a higher percentage of the Cuban government's budget than Marathon's share of the USAGM budget.

Actually, since Cuba has 100% state run radio, they simply have delegated one of the national networks to 1180 and use all the transmitters to cover the 800 mile wide nation. They would be running those stations anyway, even if Martí did not exist. Blocking Martí is just a secondary benefit.

Cuba has a bunch of total national networks, all with 30 or more stations. It also has several regional networks as well as a few local stations.

Similarly, any USAGM program which is being jammed is an even better reason for USAGM to continue to transmit in those languages. I seem to recall a number bantered about in the agency years ago that effective jamming of a program costs the jammer at least ten times the money spent on the program transmission.

But Cuba is not "jamming" Martí. They are simply running many of the stations in one of their networks on the same frequency, effectively blocking Martí at the same time as providing a national service all over the island.

Any program which is being jammed should be a clue to the Washington programmers to use more transmitters and frequencies to overwhelm the jamming process.

Martí has been on the air for decades; I did my first evaluation of them in the mid-80's. They were 100 kw on 1180 then and now. 530 was tried for a while, as was even airborne broadcasts from a plane dangling an antenna. They have never, in over 40 years, changed the facility.

And Cuba is trying to move radio to all-FM, where outside signals will not reach that nation at all..

 

[gr8oldies]

Actually, since Cuba has 100% state run radio, they simply have delegated one of the national networks to 1180 and use all the transmitters to cover the 800 mile wide nation. They would be running those stations anyway, even if Martí did not exist. Blocking Martí is just a secondary benefit.

Cuba has a bunch of total national networks, all with 30 or more stations. It also has several regional networks as well as a few local stations.

But Cuba is not "jamming" Martí. They are simply running many of the stations in one of their networks on the same frequency, effectively blocking Martí at the same time as providing a national service all over the island.

Martí has been on the air for decades; I did my first evaluation of them in the mid-80's. They were 100 kw on 1180 then and now. 530 was tried for a while, as was even airborne broadcasts from a plane dangling an antenna. They have never, in over 40 years, changed the facility.

And Cuba is trying to move radio to all-FM, where outside signals will not reach that nation at all..

That (airborne broadcasts) sounds like the long-defunct Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction, licensed to Montpelier, Indiana in the 60s.

 

[RadioFan2J3]

Martí has been on the air for decades; I did my first evaluation of them in the mid-80's. They were 100 kw on 1180 then and now. 530 was tried for a while, as was even airborne broadcasts from a plane dangling an antenna. They have never, in over 40 years, changed the facility.

Going from memory, the original Marathon site was a three tower array, based on my visit there in the early 1980s.

Later, the site was upgraded to a four tower array, and in the interim, 1180 was broadcast from an array over at Saddlebunch Key.

I don't have a definitive timeframe for that Marathon shutdown to move to Saddlebunch Key, just a year range, but that operations moved from Saddlebunch back to Marathon at some point in 1988. My notes indicate that Marti engineering moved its transmissions to a temporary U.S. Army Gates BC-50-C transmitter
and a four tower array on Saddlebunch Key tuned to 1180 kHz until 1988. I'd have to venture a guess is that Saddlebunch was used probably starting in maybe 1986 or so.

I never did determine if that transmitter operation at Saddlebunch was done by Radio Marti personnel or US Navy personnel.

Again, going from memory, I think the original transmitter at Marathon was a Gates BC-50C, then I think there was an upgrade to two Continental 317Cs and the current transmitter is a Harris 3DX100.

In regards to 530kHz, wasn't that more one of the Commando Solo airborne operations? I could be wrong, but I don't think 530 was ever a Radio Marti land based transmitter operation. And I've been wrong before.

 

[Mediafrog+]

But Cuba is not "jamming" Martí. They are simply running many of the stations in one of their networks on the same frequency, effectively blocking Martí at the same time as providing a national service all over the island.

Cuba does try to block the Radio Marti shortwave frequencies with traditional noise jamming. I have no idea of how effective that is within that country, but here in Houston the Marti audio is well on top, with the jamming often low level or barely noticeable.

Cuba is doing the same thing on 1180 that China does to block foreign shortwave broadcasts, that is to step on them with transmitters carrying one of the domestic radio networks.

Martí has been on the air for decades; I did my first evaluation of them in the mid-80's. They were 100 kw on 1180 then and now.

Prior to Radio Marti the 1180 Marathon facility carried the VOA Spanish language service, four hours in the morning and five and a half hours in the evening. IIRC it was 50kw in those days, with the facility upgraded when Marti launched.

I recall hearing the 1180 VOA Spanish in Austin in the late 1960s. WHAM was fairly rare there.

 

[Mediafrog+]

That (airborne broadcasts) sounds like the long-defunct Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction, licensed to Montpelier, Indiana in the 60s.

I seem to recall that airborne TV transmissions, as well as a tethered balloon, were tried on UHF channels for reception of TV Marti in Cuba. Is TV Marti still a thing? Haven’t paid attention to any TV efforts recently.

 

[TheBigA]

Martí has been on the air for decades; I did my first evaluation of them in the mid-80's. They were 100 kw on 1180 then and now. 530 was tried for a while, as was even airborne broadcasts from a plane dangling an antenna. They have never, in over 40 years, changed the facility.

The question I have for this administration is what's the upside of presenting a positive view of the US to these countries when they also trying to shut down migration. Seems contradictory to me.

 

[gr8oldies]

Cuba does try to block the Radio Marti shortwave frequencies with traditional noise jamming. I have no idea of how effective that is within that country, but here in Houston the Marti audio is well on top, with the jamming often low level or barely noticeable.

Cuba is doing the same thing on 1180 that China does to block foreign shortwave broadcasts, that is to step on them with transmitters carrying one of the domestic radio networks.

Prior to Radio Marti the 1180 Marathon facility carried the VOA Spanish language service, four hours in the morning and five and a half hours in the evening. IIRC it was 50kw in those days, with the facility upgraded when Marti launched.

I recall hearing the 1180 VOA Spanish in Austin in the late 1960s. WHAM was fairly rare there.

I'm thinking VOA Marathon wasn't as directional as Radio Marti. I caught it once in Ohio.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Cuba does try to block the Radio Marti shortwave frequencies with traditional noise jamming. I have no idea of how effective that is within that country, but here in Houston the Marti audio is well on top, with the jamming often low level or barely noticeable.

Cuba is doing the same thing on 1180 that China does to block foreign shortwave broadcasts, that is to step on them with transmitters carrying one of the domestic radio networks.

Prior to Radio Marti the 1180 Marathon facility carried the VOA Spanish language service, four hours in the morning and five and a half hours in the evening. IIRC it was 50kw in those days, with the facility upgraded when Marti launched.

I recall hearing the 1180 VOA Spanish in Austin in the late 1960s. WHAM was fairly rare there.

the jamming of Marti is mostly what i call jet engine white noise on shortwave.. or its electrionic pulse buzzing. ive heard both

 

[RadioFan2J3]

Prior to Radio Marti the 1180 Marathon facility carried the VOA Spanish language service, four hours in the morning and five and a half hours in the evening. IIRC it was 50kw in those days, with the facility upgraded when Marti launched.

That pre-Radio Marti feed was a five kHz phone circuit from Greenville C Site to Marathon. I guess it was cheaper to run the circuit from Greenville to Marathon than to run the circuit from Washington Master Control to Marathon.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Cuba does try to block the Radio Marti shortwave frequencies with traditional noise jamming. I have no idea of how effective that is within that country, but here in Houston the Marti audio is well on top, with the jamming often low level or barely noticeable.

Cuba is doing the same thing on 1180 that China does to block foreign shortwave broadcasts, that is to step on them with transmitters carrying one of the domestic radio networks.

Prior to Radio Marti the 1180 Marathon facility carried the VOA Spanish language service, four hours in the morning and five and a half hours in the evening. IIRC it was 50kw in those days, with the facility upgraded when Marti launched.

I recall hearing the 1180 VOA Spanish in Austin in the late 1960s. WHAM was fairly rare there.

the jamming of Marti is mostly what i call jet engine white noise on shortwave.. or its electrionic pulse buzzing. ive heard both

 

[davideduardo]

That (airborne broadcasts) sounds like the long-defunct Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction, licensed to Montpelier, Indiana in the 60s.

Yes, but the first system used was designed for radio and used a very long wire dragged from the plane as the "mast" and the plane itself as ground. The system was created for broadcasting to war zones and built by one of the military agencies. Under the named "commando solo" it was a USAF C-130 specially equipped. Later, the Commando Solo planes were retrofitted for TV as well.

A USAF C-130 now serving as the broadcast platform for Radio and Television Marti will not be redeployed from southern Florida to Iraq, officials said. PresidentBush has reportedly put a high value on the Hercules' mission tobeam pro-US messages into Cuba that it won't be redeployed until areplacement aircraft can be purchased and equipped.


''The president has made the decision that we would do what wecould to break through the information blockade imposed by theCastro regime,'' an unnamed State Department official told Miami'sEl Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald. The statement came on theheels of reports about concerns raised by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen(R-FL) that the Pentagon's C-130 Commando Solo plane could be takenoff the Cuba mission and sent to Iraq. ''As far as we know. . .until the permanent platform is available, the C-130 isflying.''


The issue is money -- the $10 million needed to replace theCommando Solo aircraft, said the State Department official. ''Noone presumed that the battle for the $10 million was going to be aslam-dunk,'' the official said. "At this point, the administrationis working on that issue. I remain confident that we're going toget the money.''

​

Commando Solo missions -- there have been 39 of them sinceAugust, 2004 -- are reportedly deemed by the administration to bevital, since military officials think a moving broadcast platformis harder for the Cuban government to jam.

Radio Marti Broadcast Plane Won't Go Away | Aero-News Network

Commando Solo C-130 Was Slated For Iraq A USAF C-130 now serving as the broadcast platform for Radio and Television Marti will not be redeployed from| Published: Fri, Jun 24, 2005 | Aero-News Network

www.aero-news.net

 

[davideduardo]

the jamming of Marti is mostly what i call jet engine white noise on shortwave.. or its electrionic pulse buzzing. ive heard both

But on AM, it is simply the regular programming of one of the Cuban radio networks.

Of course, SW radios are not sold in Cuba, making listening to anything on that band impossible. And Amazon does not deliver there.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm thinking VOA Marathon wasn't as directional as Radio Marti. I caught it once in Ohio.

Both were widely heard by DXers, despite heavy protection to WHAM. Still, for the right DX conditions 50 watts from California can be heard in New York.

In Miami, in Little Havana (Calle 8) I checked the signal several times on a car radio. It was there, but under the noise levels. That was when I was doing work for Martí, so I was interested in hearing it directly rather than the tapes they sent me.

 

[davideduardo]

Cuba does try to block the Radio Marti shortwave frequencies with traditional noise jamming. I have no idea of how effective that is within that country, but here in Houston the Marti audio is well on top, with the jamming often low level or barely noticeable.

Cuba is doing the same thing on 1180 that China does to block foreign shortwave broadcasts, that is to step on them with transmitters carrying one of the domestic radio networks.

And all the broadcast gear in Cuba now is Chinese. They rebuilt the AM system and radically expanded FM.

Prior to Radio Marti the 1180 Marathon facility carried the VOA Spanish language service, four hours in the morning and five and a half hours in the evening. IIRC it was 50kw in those days, with the facility upgraded when Marti launched.

Same site, different power. If you get on the site, you can see that nothing else can or would fit there.

I recall hearing the 1180 VOA Spanish in Austin in the late 1960s. WHAM was fairly rare there.

And we should not forget 1165, Radio Swan / Radio Américas which went on the air in later 1960 from Swan Island and was administered by a bunch of really CIA looking guys in Robert Hall suits out of an office just off Flagler that was shared by the HQ of AIR (Asociación Interamerican de Radiodifusion) which is the Latin American equivalent of NAB.

The Swan facility had a two tower directional system on the joint Honduras / US island, and I was able to do the round trip for staff and supplies in 1962 IIRC.

 

[gr8oldies]

Both were widely heard by DXers, despite heavy protection to WHAM. Still, for the right DX conditions 50 watts from California can be heard in New York.

In Miami, in Little Havana (Calle 8) I checked the signal several times on a car radio. It was there, but under the noise levels. That was when I was doing work for Martí, so I was interested in hearing it directly rather than the tapes they sent me.

I remember the jamming toward VOA Marathon and WQBA back in 1980. I don't know if they used a buzz sound or just broadcast off frequency to cause a het. During one of a couple of visits to Miami for my 2nd and 1st Class license test, I could still hear the buzz/het under WQBA. I stayed at a motel in a Cuban area where WQBA was playing in the neighborhood.

 

[davideduardo]

I remember the jamming toward VOA Marathon and WQBA back in 1980. I don't know if they used a buzz sound or just broadcast off frequency to cause a het. During one of a couple of visits to Miami for my 2nd and 1st Class license test, I could still hear the buzz/het under WQBA. I stayed at a motel in a Cuban area where WQBA was playing in the neighborhood.

By 1980, we had WQBA, WRHC (1550) WOCN (1450), WCMQ (1220) all on AM, as well as WCMQ-FM and WQBA-FM. I was with Metroplex and responsible for WHTT. By that time, WQBA had declined a lot and the big talk station was Cadena Azul on 1550.