Category Archives: Radio History

John Lennon and the Sony ICF-2001

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icf2001l

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Robert Yowell, who writes:

“I happen to be a huge Beatles fan, and especially a fan of John Lennon’s solo music as well. The last album he recorded was “Double Fantasy” which was made in New York City during the summer of 1980.

As you probably know, Sony introduced that same year the revolutionary ICF-2001 PLL synthesized receiver. John was known to have been a great fan of home electronics, especially those produced by Sony and other Japanese manufacturers. He also was a great fan of radio – as his appearances on the local WNEW-FM rock music station in NYC in the 70’s attest to.”

Photo credit: Bob Gruen, a photographer who photographed John many times during the latter part of his life in New York City.

Photo credit: Bob Gruen who photographed John Lennon many times during the latter part of his life in New York City.

“The attached photo was taken at the NYC studio called “The Record Plant” during the making of the album “Double Fantasy” in 1980.While I cannot be 100% sure that the ICF-2001 sitting on the table belonged to John – I think it is extremely likely. He still stayed in regular contact with his native England, and at this pre-Internet time, the only easy way for him to listen to the BBC was through this radio.

Another possibility is John enjoyed experimenting with new sounds in his music. During the Beatles, he even plugged in a radio into the sound mixing board when the song “I Am the Walrus” was recorded. You can hear at the end of the song a heterodyne whistle of tuning in a station as it settles on the BBC during a reading of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Perhaps John was intending to do something similar in the studio the day this photo was taken?”

I imagine that was a good possibility, Robert. Again, many thanks for this bit of Lennon history.

For those of you who have never heard “I am the Walrus,” you can listen below courtesy of YouTube:

Tearing down an Elephant Cage

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800px-CDAA_Elmendorf_AFBThis past week, I posted a couple of articles about Wullenweber antennas (a.k.a. “Elephant Cages”). Many thanks to Andrea Borgnino who shares this article by Joseph Trevithick
via Medium.com:

The U.S. Air Force Is Tearing Down a Giant Spy Antenna: ’Elephant cages’ are a dying breed

The U.S. Air Force has started tearing down a massive antenna in Japan. Once used to scan airwaves around the world, these systems have become obsolete as countries change how they communicate.

On Oct. 15, workers began removing the antenna—designated AN/FLR-9—at Misawa air base in Japan. The demolition has been on the flying branch’s agenda for more than a year now.

“Technology and fiscal constraints have driven Misawa Security Operations Center to seek new ways of doing business,” Col. Joseph Winters told Air Force reporters. The antenna—which is almost 1,500 feet wide—should be completely gone by the end of 2015.

Misawa’s system was one of eight AN/FLR-9s the Pentagon built in the United States, Europe and the Pacific during the 1960s. The site actually has three concentric rings of smaller antennae, hence the popular “elephant cage” nickname.

Continue reading on Medium.com…

Mike recalls visiting the original Wullenweber test site

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Illinois

In response to our post Uncovering Wullenweber’s “Elephant Cages,” Mike comments:

Sometime back around 2005-2009, I was doing maintenance on a NOAA climate station near Bondville, IL, and noticed several tall utility poles in the distance. As I figured they looked suspiciously like an antenna array, I asked the site caretaker (it was University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana farm) what they were. He happily took me to see what was left of the original Wullenweber test site, built under contract for the US government for testing by Dr. Hayden. All that remained then was several utility poles, and some transmission line sticking out of the ground.

SanDiego

I’ve also seen the Navy’s array at Imperial Beach, CA (near San Diego), down the highway from the SEAL base, and it’s very impressive. It’s clearly visible from the highway, and though I’ve read it was supposed to come down years ago, its still standing. Makes me wonder if it’s still in use.

AK

Another interesting site I’ve seen is outside of Barrow, Alaska. Near remnants of the DEW Line is a joint USAF/FAA radar station, with a single white domed antenna. I don’t remember exactly, but pretty close to it is what looks to me like a “mini” Elephant Cage. From what I recall, it was a single ring of fairly short towers, surrounding a small central building. When I asked about the facility, I was only told it belonged to an “unnamed agency.”

The first 2 are clearly visible from the following link, while the Barrow site doesn’t stand out enough to be obvious in the Google images.

Click on the “markers” button in the lower right to jump to all the sites: http://tinyurl.com/k5jhxuv

Many thanks, Mike!

Uncovering Wullenweber’s “Elephant Cages”

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800px-CDAA_Elmendorf_AFBMany thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill Patalon, for sharing this article via Gizmodo:

In the early days of electronic espionage, the US intelligence community didn’t have the benefit of all-seeing spy satellites—it had to intercept and interpret high-frequency radio waves transmitted by the Soviet Union. To do so, the Americans relied on a network of mysterious structures whose real purpose was kept highly classified throughout the Cold War.

Nicknamed “Elephant Cages” by outside observers, these structures were actually high-frequency antenna arrays, part of the US military’s AN/FLR-9 “Iron Horse” system. These arrays, commonly known as “Wullenweber” antennas—and named after German WWII scientist, Dr. Hans Rindfleisch was Wullenwever—are a type of Circularly Disposed Antenna Array (CDAA). They can be used for a variety of purposes from intelligence gathering and identifying high-value targets to navigation and search and rescue operations.

Each elephant cage consisted of an inner ring of antennas tuned for high frequency waves surrounded by one or more outer rings tuned for lower frequencies. These antennas would listen for HF radio waves bouncing off the ionosphere (which is what also allows HF radios to communicate beyond the horizon) and triangulate the precise location of the signal’s source.

Click here to continue reading at Gizmodo…

If you’d like to read more about “Elephant Cages” check out the following links:

RNZ Sounds Historical: 90 years since first NZ/UK radio contact

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london-geographical-institute_the-peoples-atlas_1920_dominion-of-new-zealand_3012_3992_600

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Frank Holden, for sharing this episode of Sounds Historical via Radio New Zealand. In commemoration of the first radio link between New Zealand and the UK, host Jim Sullivan features a 1964 recording of New Zealand radio pioneers, Frank and Brenda Bell:

(Source: Radio New Zealand)

The first radio link between New Zealand and England took place 90 years ago yesterday and last night it was re-enacted. In 1964 at the time of the 40th anniversary Frank and Brenda Bell recalled the 1924 event which Frank Bell orchestrated from their home in Shag Valley, East Otago. His sister Brenda recalls the historic occasion from her home. The recording was made at Shag Valley to mark the 40th anniversary between Frank and Cecil Goyder of London. Allan Frame and Clive Liddell also recall the event. Then Martin Balch reports from the vents at Shag Valley Station on 18 October 2014. He talks to Mike ZL4OL from Dunedin, Dave Mulder, ZL4DK and Mike Mather ZL2CC from Gisborne. Frank Bells’ great-grandchildren Henry and Lucy re-create the 1924 event by talking to children at Mill Hill School, London.

Below, I have embedded audio players for Part 1 and Part 2 of Sounds Historical. While I would encourage you to listen to the whole show, you’ll find the anniversary recording in Part 2 beginning around 36:00. Enjoy:

Part 1

Part 2

If you’d like to read more about this historic event, check out this article on nzhistory.net.nz. The Otago Daily Times also features a photo of the transmitter the Bells used.

I’m a little surprised to discover no articles about Frank or Brenda Bell on Wikipedia (of course, their uncle, Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell is featured).

The BBC Genome Project

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RadioTimes

Many thanks to Mike Barraclough who shares this news:

“BBC has today launched a website publishing every BBC programme ever broadcast by the Corporation from digitised editions of the Radio Times 1923-2009. Getting occasional internal errors at the moment presumably due to heavy use following publicity. Well designed and easy to search. http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/“

The archive is quite deep–if you’re the nostalgic type, expect to spend a few hours browsing.