Radio and TV Martí begin aircraft broadcasts

Posted on Thu, Oct. 26, 2006

Radio and TV Martí begin aircraft broadcasts
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON - Radio and TV Martí have officially launched their new
aircraft-based broadcasts with a program sure to please their Cuban
audiences -- baseball's World Series.

The new G1 twin turboprop, based in Key West, is to be airborne between
6 and 11 every night except Sunday in an attempt to bypass Cuban
government jamming of the stations' previously stationary broadcasting
facilities.

After several weeks of testing, the aircraft officially began beaming
the regular Martí broadcasts Tuesday, starting with Game 3 of the World
Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers.

Although Cubans could rarely view the previous land-based broadcasts
because of the government jamming, anecdotal evidence suggests some have
been receiving the airborne transmissions, especially outside the Havana
area, said the stations' chief of staff and spokesman, Alberto Mascaro.

''We did have some reports in the last few weeks of reception,'' he said
in a telephone interview during a trip to Washington.

The Bush administration hopes the aircraft, which replaces broadcasting
blimps once tethered in the Florida Keys but destroyed by hurricanes,
will prove a more robust platform for defeating the Cuban jamming. Some
Cuban-American activists have long lobbied for the shift to aircraft.

But the aircraft is still restricted to flying within U.S. airspace to
avoid violating international broadcasting regulations. Some
Cuban-American lawmakers are pushing the administration to let the plane
fly in international airspace, which would make it even harder on the
Cuban jammers.

The Cuban government has argued that all Radio and TV Martí broadcasts
are illegal.

Last week, Cuba's acting ambassador before the United Nations, Ileana
Núñez, told the General Assembly that on Aug. 11, Cuba detected
simultaneous broadcasts from two aircraft in the 213 MHz frequency that
interfered with island stations.

Mascaro said the new aircraft is broadcasting on TV's Channel 20
frequency and will not broadcast Radio Martí on the FM frequency. The
plane is also capable of broadcasting live Martí signals.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/15849856.htm