by Dan Greenall
50 years ago, Voice of America broadcasts could be found all over the shortwave dial.
In addition to a number of transmitter sites located stateside, the VOA used to broadcast from a number of other facilities located in overseas countries in order to help get its signal into all corners of the globe. Many of these “relay” stations made for challenging DX catches and there was even an award offered by NASWA to those providing sufficient proof of reception of them all. An example of this can be found on this link: https://k5nd.net/2011/06/voice-of-america/
The familiar tune of Yankee Doodle (heard at the beginning and end of a transmission) along with station ID in English would often include the particular transmitter site in use. Several old recordings of these can be found on my links to these on the Internet Archive.
Technical staff hired to help maintain equipment at overseas facilities were often licensed amateur radio operators. See the attached scans of two QSL cards from amateurs who worked at the station near Monrovia, Liberia.
Most of the various VOA transmitter sites are listed below. Some include links that will lead to related historical information, articles and/or photographs and are well worth exploring.
VOA Greenville NC
- https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/facilities/48-years-old-and-still-a-flamethrower
- Tour of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station
VOA Bethany OH
VOA Dixon/Delano CA
- https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Speedx/90s/SWRT-1994-10.pdf
- https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/last-of-voas-wartime-transmitting-stations-goes-dark
- http://www.theradiohistorian.org/Dixon/Dixon1.html
- https://www.eham.net/article/14253
VOA Marathon, FL
- https://onetuberadio.com/2023/08/03/voa-marathon-fl-1963/
- https://www.fybush.com/site-20250321/
- https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/60s/63/Pop-1963-08.pdf
VOA Wooferton UK
VOA Kavala Greece
VOA Thessaloniki Greece
VOA Rhodes, Dodecanese Islands
VOA Monrovia, Liberia
VOA Tangier, Morocco
VOA Okinawa, Ryuku Islands
VOA Poro/Tinang, Philippines
VOA Udon Thani, Thailand
VOA, Sri Lanka
VOA Sao Tome
VOA Botswana
- https://voamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Botswana-VOA-Relay-Station.pdf
- http://www.paws.dircon.co.uk/Bots6a.htm
A year ago, in January 2025, I made a couple of recordings, using remote SDR receivers, of some Voice of America programs being broadcast from their Botswana transmitter site. These have been uploaded to archive.org and can be found here: https://archive.org/details/voa-africa-via-botswana-relay-january-19-2025
Since March 16, 2025, it seems the only former VOA transmitters being used are Greenville, NC (Radio Marti), Tinang, Philippines (Radyo Pilipinas world service), and Wooferton, UK (BBC and others).
Thanks for this, the best history of the Dixon station that I have seen. I’ve been aware of a small part of the history of the Dixon site since I moved here in 2004, but this article fills in many blanks, even though most of the info is years old by now. I see a Dixon aeronautical HF service referenced in the 2025 WRTH but have never received any transmissions.
I hope to collect more information for the benefit of our Dixon Historical group, perhaps a static display of some kind for the museum they operate. This article will help a lot.
If I recall correctly there were “slightly” different versions of Yankee Doodle depending upon the transmitter site