Mission Ecuador

Here's one of the projects we've been working on. When these portable HF radio units are completed they will be flown out to various jungle stations, enabling communication with the MAF base in Shell including emergency flight requests and weather reporting.

There are two compartments in these boxes. The lower one, which you can see in the closest box, is where the battery is mounted. When these are finished, this compartment will not be easily accessible as there is a strong temptation in remote locations to "borrow" the battery for other purposes, rendering the radio useless. The upper compartment is where the radio itself is mounted and a lid over the radio completes the unit, making it essentially weather-tight. These radios will be solar-powered and connect to an external antenna.

Sixty of the approx. 200 airstrips MAF services from Shell currently have radios. The seven radios we're working on will either replace worn-out units or be placed in new locations.