[HCDX] Freeplay radios article

[Don Moore <mooredxer@xxxxxxxxx>]

The following article was posted to the DEVMEDIA list.

-----Original Message-----
From: Frederick Noronha [mailto:fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 12:05 AM
To: gkd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [GKD] Wind-up Radios Being Well Received


FREEPLAY SAYS NEW MODELS BEING WELL RECEIVED IN THE FIELD...

Pioneering 'wind-up' radios are being made in new models that are
better
equipped to take on the requirements of rugged Third World
conditions,
the Freeplay Foundation has said.

Freeplay Foundation stresses that its involvement is in "initiatives
to
make access to education and information a reality for all", and has
an
specific relationship with the Freeplay Energy group.

Freeplay Energy, established in 1995, is a business-to-business
technology organisation that secures production for its self-powered
products and markets them worldwide.

The Freeplay Foundation, set up in 1998, is a UK-registered
not-for-profit organisation, with its own board of directors that
includes Terry Waite, Baroness Lynda Chalker, Hylton Appelbaum and
Ambassador Andrew Bearpark. Its mandate is "to apply self-powered
technology to advance the quality of life in developing nations".

Not an implementing organisation, the Freeplay Foundation works with
governments, international aid agencies and donor organisations as
well
as broadcasters and content providers to facilitate radio education
and
information initiatives.

The Freeplay Energy Group is itself a young company, only six years
old.
Over the past six years the company has developed five different
radio
models. These have brought in differing suitability-levels from the
field.

FPR1 was the first model radio and was used in developmental projects
in
the beginning, but no longer.  It is not sold, says Ms Pearson,
because
with the winding mechanism on the side, "people in rural areas could
wind it in an anti-clockwise direction which breaks the winding
mechanism".

Said Ms Pearson: "As in all technology, improvements are made and
this
radio has been replaced with much more robust models.  The winding
mechanism has been placed on the back of later models and cannot be
wound in the incorrect direction."

She added that Freeplay's Technology Division monitors field feedback
and every effort is made to improve the technology and products to
achieve optimum performance under all conditions.

Other Freeplay models, like the Global Shortwave model, says Ms
Pearson,
has proven to be a "very high performance radio, more robust and
which
has achieved excellent reports from the field".

She added that over 7100 units of this model radio were sent into
Mozambique at the beginning of last year as an integral part of a
DFID
funded emergency communications initiative.

"A formal evaluation of this radio as a tool for emergency
communications has recently been completed by a team of final year
students from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service from New
York
University. The executive summary of this research is available on
the
Foundation's website on www.freeplayfoundation.org," Pearson added.

In addition, she pointed to another product, the Freeplay Plus,
similar
in size and weight to the GSW, which is an AM/FM/SW1/SW2 radio with a
rechargeable battery and an emergency light incorporated on the side,
a
radio with a torch.

"This radio is excellent for group listening and when fully charged
(either by winding, solar or the adaptor) will play for up to 14
hours,
providing both light and sound without the need for electricity or
conventional batteries," added Pearson.

She said the Freeplay Plus has been chosen by the African Centre of
Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD). It is to be used
for the first phase of a project, funded by USAID, using satellite
and
FM radio technology to communicate vital weather information to
agricultural and nomadic communities in six African countries.

"This initiative combines a solar-powered satellite receiver and
Freeplay radios. Information is downloaded from the Internet via a
satellite connection. It is then translated and broadcast via a
community FM radio station. Villagers, nomads and farmers living in
remote and poorly served areas receive broadcasts on Freeplay
radios,"
said Pearson.

Freeplay Foundation says a radio communiciations initiative needs for
'vital components' to succeed -- appropriate content, radios allowing
sustainable access to all groups, coordinated distribution of the
radios, and measurement of effectiveness against objectives.

"The findings of the Mozambique evaluation reinforced this
standpoint,"
said Pearson, the Executive Director of Freeplay Foundation.

Contact details: Kristine Pearson <kpearson@xxxxxxxxxxx>

=====
Don Moore     mooredxer@xxxxxxxxx
Radio: http://donmoore.tripod.com  <-------NEW URL
Family History: http://members.xoom.com/patepluma
General: http://donmoore.tripod.com/mainmenu.htm

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