Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Bob Colegrove, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
No mention of UTC or frequency in the attached. Made my day, but some folks apparently were not amused.
Source was “Short-Wave Report” by Hank Bennett, Popular Electronics, Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., New York, p. 86, March 1959.
Regards,
Bob Colegrove
This absolutely made my day as well, Bob! What a delightful bit of pranksterism from our esteemed DXing history.
Almost as bad as the QSL reported to NASWA’s QSL column editor Sam Barto from XEROX, Radio Duplicato in Mexico.
Back in those days there was also “Radio Vigo” (Spain) that was reported on many shortwave frequencies that also turned out to be a hoax. I believe both of these hoaxes originated in Scandinavia, where many of the most active DXers resided at the time.
Perhaps Nibi-Nibi is a play on words. According to the web, “nibi” means water in the Ojibwe language (related to the Chippewa in Canada). Thus, the Nibi-Nibi Islands are the Water-Water Islands and perhaps indistinguishable from the water around them, making them imaginary.
Sadly, it’s too late to ask Hank if he had any Chippewa friends!
Hank, W2PNA, was the long-time SWLing editor for Popular Electronics and the Newark News Radio Club Bulletin. He administered the WPE monitor registration program for PE, and authored The Complete Shortwave Listener’s Handbook, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Shortwave-Listeners-Handbook/dp/0830626557/ref=sr_1_2.