Aug. 27, 2010

Source: HCJB Global (written by Jean Muehlfelt)

For most of us, summer is a time in which we take a much-needed break from the office or school in search of refreshment. We call it a vacation. This summer Jared King chose a different path from his intense engineering studies at college. He signed up for a summer internship with HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind.

He was no stranger to HCJB Global. King's current school adviser had previously worked for Crown International, the firm that had built transmitters for HCJB Global. Recently one of his professors invited King to visit Haiti, helping provide technical assistance on an automation system for a partner radio station in Port-au-Prince. It was there that King met Alan Good, an Elkhart-based missionary who was helping the same partner.

The encounter in Haiti that King had with HCJB Global led him to choose a summer of learning and advancing his engineering skills through a project in the Elkhart office. He was assigned to work with Mark Kerk, a project engineer, and spent two months working on the HC100 (100,000-watt shortwave transmitter) refurbishment project.

Because of the new Quito airport being built, the radio station antennas were forced to be taken down at HCJB Global's largest installation about a year ago. Two transmitters, including the first of its kind designed and built by HCJB Global 20 years ago, were shipped back to Elkhart to be refurbished, updated and prepared for shipment to other broadcast sites.

King concentrated on replacing old components, often having to ensure that parts manufacturers from 20 years ago were still in business and able to support the upgrade. The specific transmitter King worked on will soon find its home at a broadcast site in Australia. Both HC100s are undergoing upgrades to add digital broadcast capability.

He also prepared equipment to test the transmitters-an effort that required a lot of time. Because the HCJB Global Technology Center doesn't have a license to broadcast in Elkhart, King helped refurbish a "dummy load" which will allow HCJB Global to test the transmitters without actually broadcasting a signal. "We have made some good progress," he said.

The HC100s produce a powerful signal. During the Cold War era, people behind the Iron Curtain in the former Soviet Union heard the shortwave signal all the way from Ecuador. Upgrading the transmitters to digital will allow HCJB Global in Australia to provide a much-improved quality of signal to its listeners in various countries.

King emphasized how Americans may consider radio an archaic technology. "In the U.S. we forget how important radio is because we have so much access to other media. We think radio is a dying technology because we have video. Radio is an important medium in other countries," he said.

Although King is unsure exactly what he wants to do once he graduates in May 2012, he hopes to work with radio technology. Through his internship at the HCJB Global Technology Center, he understands how radio, engineering and missions all interrelate.

"It gives me a vision of where I am going once I graduate; having those connections with HCJB Global and its partners," he commented. "If I don't work for HCJB Global, I can work for a broadcasting company or another radio mission agency. My vision and awareness of radio has been expanded since I arrived here in Elkhart."

King also expressed the need for a younger generation of engineers to consider radio technologies and the mission field. "There is a need for younger people to come and take up some of those positions. There's a real need in this area," he explained.

If he does work in technical missions, he's grateful for the training he received in Elkhart this summer. "I want to look back and say, 'This was my start,'" King said.