Category Archives: Nostalgia

1976 U.S. Bicentennial Callsigns

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

In 1976, amateur radio operators in the United States were allowed the option of using a special prefix in place of their regular one to celebrate the country’s bicentennial year. Many amateurs issued special QSL cards for this bearing the new prefix, making reference to the US bicentennial year on the front.

Others simply modified their existing cards. The bicentennial commissions in Massachusetts and South Dakota even made up fill-in-the-blank commemorative QSL cards.

WL1CEN was a special events station in Lexington, Massachusetts, that appears to have been operating earlier in 1975.

The American Radio Relay League also issued a bicentennial WAS award to amateurs making contacts with all 50 U.S. states during 1976.

Here is a link to more bicentennial QSL’s

https://archive.org/details/ac-2-ghk-4-front

I wonder what’s going on this year, as I am not QRV at the moment?

Dan Greenall, VE3HLC

Shortwave Memories — World Radio-TV Handbook

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by Karl D. Forth

Reading through the 1971 World Radio-TV Handbook only as a reference source was interesting, but as I started listening more I also realized I felt part of what was happening – I could hear many of the countries described, one way or another.

I’ve always liked directories. You can often learn more of what’s happening than you can in a textbook.

The 25th edition of the directory of international radio and television was published in 1971 in English in Hvidovre, Denmark, and printed in Great Britain.

Looking at the information, organized by continent and country, you discovered that most European countries had a domestic network of AM and FM stations, including some very high-powered AM stations, along with domestic shortwave services and a full complement of what were called foreign services, the international broadcasts.

In Africa, many listeners got their news from domestic shortwave broadcasters and some AM stations. In 1971, FM had not penetrated Africa except in a few places. Likewise, Asia had few FM broadcasters outside of Japan and a few other countries. All domestic broadcasts in Indonesia, for example, were on shortwave, there was no AM broadcasting at that time.

I counted almost 75 advertisers in the 1971 WRTH, including many shortwave stations and makers of professional recording and studio equipment.

Advertisers included Radio Moscow, Shure stereo cartridges, Voice of America, Radio RSA from South Africa, Radio Sweden, Continental Electronics, Hallicrafters, a Chicago area maker of shortwave radios, and Hammarlund Mfg. Co., a maker of top-line receivers.

WRTH also had the music signature and description of the interval signal for dozens of stations.

The United States listing in WRTH had only AM mediumwave stations with more than 10 kW, and no FM stations listed. Also included were Voice of America, and shortwave stations AFRTS, KGEI, WNYW, and WINB.

Central and South America still had a bounty of mediumwave and shortwave stations, including many smaller private stations

More than 23 countries were listed with DX programs. WRTH also listed time signal stations (almost every major country had one) and programs in Esperanto. TV had not achieved widespread coverage in many areas, although most countries had at least a few over-the-air channels.

I should mention two other publications from 1971, both well-written and informative. The first issue of Communications World in 1971, from Davis Publications, was written by Don Jensen and was a great introduction to the hobby. That same year, Communications Handbook, published by Popular Electronics, came out, with a mediumwave and shortwave DXing overview written by Richard Wood that also featured very good descriptive writing and information.

Karl D. Forth has been interested in radio and DXing for more than 50 years. This story was included in the book Radio Nights and Distant Signals.

Karl D. Forth has been interested in radio and DXing for more than 50 years. This story was included in the book Radio Nights and Distant Signals.

Please note: all Amazon links are affiliate links that support the SWLing Post at no cost to you.

Shortwave Memories — Ghana’s North American Service

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by Karl D. Forth

Many of the African nations achieved independence in the 1960s, and as they raised their new national flag they wanted to be connected to the outside world. One of the first things they often did was build an airport so they could be accessible. The second was setting up a shortwave radio station so their national voice could be heard both domestically and internationally.

Radio Ghana, an early independent country (1957), took this a step further by establishing a North American shortwave service, audible in the mid-afternoon in the eastern United States. In my early listening months, this was one of the more exotic places I could receive on my portable shortwave radio.

I sent them a letter, seeking a QSL card verifying reception, and more information. Employees at the Accra General Post Office gathered letters, rather infamously so, and a few weeks later I received a pen pal aerogram from a postal worker in Accra. At the time, this was welcome and a little bit exciting. I remember showing the first letter to my mother and father. They seemed to approve, with a reaction of “this hobby may not be so bad.”

My correspondence with the postal employee continued for a year or two, beyond the life of the North American service. He never did ask for money or anything else (many other listeners received requests for money from other postal workers), but he did dispense a bit of advice that I’ve always remembered. After learning that I was a high school student, he advised: Don’t Play With Books. That means don’t screw around with your educational opportunity.

Ghana Broadcasting Corp. had a number of frequencies for domestic broadcasts in places such as Ejura and Tema. The external service was based in the capital, Accra, and its broadcasts included two frequencies to North America from 2000 to 2100 GMT daily.

For many years after the North American service ended, Ghana could be heard on several 60 meter frequencies in the late evening and sometimes during late winter afternoons.

Karl D. Forth has been interested in radio and DXing for more than 50 years. This story was included in the book Radio Nights and Distant Signals.

Please note: all Amazon links are affiliate links that support the SWLing Post at no cost to you.

Time Stations from the 1970s Heard in Ontario, Canada — And What You Can Still Hear Today

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by Dan Greenall

Time and standard frequency stations have been around for a long time. In my early years of DXing, there were more than 20 of them scattered all over the globe. These two pages from the 1972 World Radio TV Handbook show what could be heard back then, along with the frequencies used.

A page from the 1975 WRTVH indicates the arrival of BPM.

I managed to log at least ten of them from my listening post in southern Ontario, Canada. They are listed below, some of them including links to recordings I made, have survived for over half a century.

WWV, Fort Collins, CO (change of format in 1971)

WWVH, Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii

YVTO, Caracas, Venezuela

LOL, Buenos Aires, Argentina

VNG, Lyndhurst, Victoria, Australia

JJY, Tokyo, Japan

BPM, Shaanxi Province, China

CHU, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

RID, Irkutsk, USSR

FTK77, Bureau International de l’Heure, Paris, France

A link to some of their vintage QSL cards can be found here: https://archive.org/details/vng-australia-1971

Time stations in 2026

Today, only a handful of these time signal stations remain on shortwave. Most are listed below.

BPM, Shaanxi Province, China (70 km northeast of Lintong) 2500, 5000, 10000 and 15000 kHz

ID given twice per hour during the 29th and 59th minute. BPM was sent 10 times in CW, then the announcement in Chinese was given twice.

RWM, near Moscow, Russia 4996, 9996 and 14996 kHz

ID’s given twice per hour. During 9th and 39th minute, RWM sent 21 times in CW.

CHU, Ottawa, Ontario Canada 3330 kHz, 7850 and 14670 kHz

ID and time announcement (English/French) in UTC, last 9 seconds of each minute. Scheduled to close June 22, 2026.

WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA 2500, 5000, 10000, 15000, and 20000 kHz

Time announcement (UTC) in English, each minute (male voice). Station ID at :00 and :30 minutes.

WWVH, Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii 2500, 5000, 10000 and 15000 kHz

Time announcement (UTC) in English, each minute (female voice). Station ID at :29 and :59 minutes.

Best to log the remaining ones before their time runs out.

BBC Radio 4 explores shortwave broadcasting and soft power

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Today, BBC Radio 4 will air The Sound of Soft Power, a documentary presented by Josephine McDermott exploring the history of international broadcasting and the role shortwave radio played as a tool of soft power during the Second World War and Cold War.

The program features a number of familiar voices from shortwave history, including Lord Haw-Haw, Mildred Gillars, Doris Maxina of Moscow Mailbag, and June Taylor.

The documentary also revisits stations and programs remembered fondly by many DXers, including Radio Netherlands’ Happy Station Show and Radio Berlin International.

I was pleased to play a small role in assisting with research for the program, and recordings from the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive were also used in the production.

For anyone interested in the history of shortwave broadcasting and international radio, this will be well worth a listen.

The Sound of Soft Power airs today on BBC Radio 4 and will also be available via BBC Sounds.

From Compactrons to Nuvistors: Vacuum Tubes’ Last Hurrah

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dennis Dura, who shares this article from Hackaday that explores the fascinating “last gasp” innovations of vacuum tube technology long after transistors had already begun taking over the electronics industry. The article dives into late-era tube developments like compactrons, lighthouse tubes, and RCA’s remarkable nuvistor—tiny, rugged, low-noise tubes that pushed thermionic technology to its limits in applications ranging from military gear to high-end audio and RF equipment. It’s a terrific read.

Click here to read: The Vacuum Tube’s Last Stand(s)

DXing from another country – Bermuda 1975

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by Dan Greenall

A half-century ago, long before the internet, e-mail, and SDRs, I was fortunate to visit the islands of Bermuda. In addition to meeting up with a fellow amateur radio operator, whom I had contacted from my home QTH in Ontario, Canada, I was able to do some listening on the AM broadcast band, as well as FM, on an inexpensive portable receiver from Radio Shack that I had brought along with me. To this day, I still have the recordings of a few medium wave “catches” that I made, a few from the Caribbean, and a few from the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and Canada.

You can hear them by following this link to the Internet Archive.
https://archive.org/details/bcb-dx-from-bermuda-1975

As well, I recorded station ID’s of all the AM (3) and FM (2) local radio stations in Bermuda.

According to the 1975 World Radio TV Handbook, there were only 4 FM outlets, as the 94.9 FM outlet is not listed. Here is the link to these on the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/bermuda-radio-airchecks-1975

Today, I can DX from another country without leaving home (through the use of various worldwide SDR’s), though I have to admit that some of the magic is missing.