A community radio station for less than Rs 1,000
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COMMENTS 
Indian engineer-activist Arun Mehta discusses the innovative uses of low-powered FM
Arun Mehta (52) is an engineer-activist from India. He moderates various discussion groups in cyberspace and is also CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of the Radiophony.com network.
One of the few alumni of India's prestigious Indian Institute of Technology who decided to stay in India and not add to the country's brain-drain, Mehta has been a long-time campaigner for the apt use of technology. Recently, he moved into teaching computing science at the JMIT, near Karnal in Haryana. He is known for his work in campaigning to open up radio broadcasting to the Indian citizen. He also works with the issue of ICT-for-disability.
Why do you see radio as particularly relevant to the 'developing' world? Can you give some examples of its efficacy?
We are looking at innovative uses of low-powered FM.
For one, there's community radio (where low-powered FM broadcasting is open to non-profit groups). In India, we are relying on the fact that 50 milliwatt FM transmitters are commonly available in the market; we assume the use of this is legal. So, in 2002-2003, we set up a 50 milliwatt transmitter in Oravakal village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.
It's possible to set up a simple, low-powered community radio station for under Rs 1,000 (US$ 25).
The other application we've deployed is simultaneous translation. For example, at the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad in 2003, we did simultaneous translation for more than 8,000 people. In three languages -- Telugu, Hindi and English.
We put up three low-powered FM radio transmitters in each hall, one for each language, all set to broadcast at different frequencies. Participants were given tiny Chinese-made FM radios with earphones. Each participant tuned the radio to his or her language's frequency, and then could walk around, even get a cup of coffee, and still keep listening.
Basically, this was simultaneous translation for under US$ 1 per participant. When you're talking about 8,000 participants, you can't do (multiple-language) translation in any other way that's affordable. The radio becomes part of the conference kit; it's also a very nice item to carry home.
You mentioned the use of low-powered FM radio in keeping noise pollution down too...
Yes, concerts without noise pollution. That's another application.
Our concept for such concerts is distributed sound. Rather than having one large set of speakers, what we do is feed the audio to a low-powered FM transmitter. Then we place radios where the people are sitting.
So, rather than producing sound at one end of the hall and expecting people at the other end to hear it, we produce the sound only where it is actually being consumed.
We tried this out at the Banganga festival near Malabar Hill, in Mumbai, which is held in January every year. Incidentally, the organisers were forced to cancel it one year due to the noise pollution.
Earlier, they were consuming something like 2.5 kilowatts of power. Our system used only 30 watts of power. What that reflects is how much, or how little, sound you're creating. You go 20 metres away, and you can't hear a thing. Yet, at the venue there's excellent sound.
Doesn't that result in loss of sound quality?
In fact, the quality is better. When you're pumping a lot of power into one large speaker it doesn't behave in a linear fashion. If you have small amounts of power going into a large number of speakers, you get better sound.
Isn't it more than a bit ironic that your work is being appreciated at various international venues, but hardly gets the attention it deserves from the authorities in India?
Yeah. We've demonstrated this at events like Asia Source (an international event for NGOs held in Bangalore, in early-2005), Radiocracy in Cardiff (Wales), around 2000, and at Africa Source II held in Uganda recently.
This is very simple, inexpensive technology. The parts that go into the 50 milliwatt transmitter are under $ 2. They are available in any small town where radio and TVs are repaired.
What are the legal issues blocking the deployment of such solutions in India today?
In India we have the most absurd system of spectrum management. If you go strictly by the letter of the law you need to get clearance from 34 governments before putting up a tubelight in your house!
Anything above 1 milliwatt requires a licence. There are only two exceptions -- certain kinds of cordless telephones and the 2.4 gigahertz wifi.
The entire approach to the handling of spectrum is a huge millstone around all our development activities. Because in rural areas you're not able to take wires to people's homes. You need wireless. And the government has a complete stranglehold over it. It only very reluctantly gives any new licences; and this often takes years.
What's the way forward then, in such a situation?
The dilemma for the government in handling spectrum is that it basically knows just two ways. One is that you auction out the spectrum. In India, you know what a terrible experience that is. Take the case of FM licences or basic services. The whole thing is a mess.
The other way is a 'beauty contest'. You try and identify which are the better applications of technology and allocate spectrum to those. The problem here is that it becomes a total pull-and-push game of vested interests. And, you're expecting the government to play technology god, which is ridiculous in this day and age.
The only sensible way to deal with spectrum is 'open spectrum'. What governments can do is to lay down rules for social behaviour -- ensuring that you maintain low power levels, that you don't hog any segment of the spectrum. It's the basic rules of wifi.
The classical way of dealing with spectrum is based on old technology where they gave you an exclusive slice of the spectrum, and only you could use that spectrum. Modern technology where you have smart radios allows you to share spectrums, like in wifi. This works spectacularly well.
--Frederick Noronha
InfoChange News & Features, February 2006