Tag Archives: Radio Canada International

CBC: “1940s transmitter finds new home in old jail”

Some of you might recall our story about this 1940s RCA transmitter–here’s is the follow-up:

(Source: CBC via Mike Hansgen)

The massive transmitter is being moved from the former RCI site to the former Dorchester jail

Bill Steele is a collector of odd things. A year ago, for example, he bought the site of the last double hanging in New Brunswick.

His latest purchase is less morbid but also a rare find: a massive 1940 shortwave transmitter that once broadcast Canada’s stories around the world.

The transmitter was installed around the end of the Second World War and used until the 1970s. The Radio Canada International site outside Sackville continued to broadcast, but the 50 kW transmitter, five metres long and 2½ metres wide, was decommissioned and used as a showpiece.

The RCI property was bought in February 2017 by Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., which had no use for the non-functioning equipment and put it up for sale.

Steele couldn’t help himself.

“I like weird and unusual stuff,” he said. “That’s why I’m putting it in my jail.”

He bought his jail — now a gym and bed and breakfast — last year as a retirement project. Guests bunk in a decommissioned jail cell.

The jail built in the 19th century was where the Bannister brothers of Berry Mills were hanged for murder in 1936, the last double hanging in the province.

Steele’s enthusiasm for historical objects is infectious even when he talks about the paperwork that comes with his latest purchase.

[…]Steele is hoping anyone with stories about the transmitter will share them with him on his Dorchester jail Facebook page, because, as Steele is the first to admit, this isn’t his area of expertise.

“I’ve never touched a shortwave radio, but look it, I’m going to have the biggest one in Canada.”

Click here to view at the CBC website.

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CBC News picks up story about sale of RCI’s WWII era transmitter

After posting a story last week about finding a home for the old RCA transmitter at the former RCI Sackville site, I was approached by CBC reporter, Tori Weldon, who recently put together this piece:

(Source: CBC News)

‘It’s like Frankenstein’s lab’: Massive 78-year-old transmitter for sale

Mi’kmaq group hopes it finds ‘a good home’

A piece of radio history could be yours for $5,000.

A 1940 RCA 50 kW shortwave transmitter, located at the decommissioned Radio Canada International Site in Sackville, is up for sale.

The transmitter is a small room, about five metres long by two-and-a-half metres wide, and it’s filled with lever, buttons, glass tubes and wires.

The property was bought in February 2017 by Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Incorporated (MTI), a group of Mi’Kmaq First Nations. Jesse John Simon, the group’s executive director, said workers are still taking electronic components apart and removing old equipment that won’t be needed now that property is no longer a broadcast site.

The old transmitter doesn’t work anymore, said Marc Goldstein, an electrical engineer helping to take out equipment no longer needed, adding it was decommissioned in the 1970s.
“It took three men to operate this radio,” he said.
“We’re trying to find a home for it.”[…]

Click here to read the full story at CBC News.

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Want a gorgeous 1940 RCA 50 kW shortwave transmitter from the RCI Sackville station?

Many thanks to Amanda Dawn Christie who contacted me this morning regarding a message she received from Marc Goldstein, who is seeking a home for a beautiful piece of international broadcasting history. Marc writes:

We have been dismantling equipment at Radio Canada in Sackville, New Brunswick since July of last year. Most of the contents have been removed.

The original 1940 RCA 50 KW transmitter is still intact. First Nation’s–the current owner of the site–is looking for a home for this piece of history. […] I am hoping you may know someone, or an organization who may help preserve the radio. First Nations has requested $5,000 Canadian for the radio, and will remove and ready it for shipping at their expense.

Thanks for passing this information along, Amanda!

I actually snapped photos of this very transmitter when I visited the Sackville site in 2012–a few months before the site shut down. It’s an elegant piece:

I have no idea if this RCA transmitter is serviceable, but I did contact WBCQ with details just in case (if you recall, they’re in need of a 50 kW transmitter).

If you’re interested in purchasing this transmitter, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with Marc Goldstein.

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Ian’s 80th birthday celebration

Ian McFarland (Photo: Colin Newell at DXer.ca)

Earlier this month, Colin Newell asked SWLing Post readers for birthday wishes and memories to share with former Radio Canada International host, Ian McFarland.

Yesterday, I received the following message from Colin:

“For a guy who just turned 80, Ian McFarland looks and sounds amazing.

For the 50+ folks that sent their best wishes for this veteran of World Band Radio, thank you, thank you and thank you.”

Colin has posted photos over at DXer.ca.

You’re right, Colin…Ian looks great! Thanks everyone!

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Let’s wish Ian a Happy Birthday!

Ian McFarland (photo courtesy: DXer.ca)

Many thanks to DXer.ca host, Colin Newell, who requests your help:

Ian McFarland is celebrating a very important birthday in July! Please join me in congratulating Ian in this milestone by sending me your best wishes for Ian to our contact e-mail.

I will transcribe all of these notes onto one big card for Ian! Ian McFarland has given so much to the World of World-band radio – and now is a great time to recognize this. Don’t be shy! Send a note

Thanks for putting together this card for Ian!

Readers, please contact Colin directly via this link to send your greetings to Ian!

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RCI Sackville land sold to Mi’kmaq group

View of the western cluster of curtain antennas from the roof of RCI Sackville’s transmissions building. I took this photo in 2012 while the site was still in operation. (Photo: The SWLing Post) –Click to enlarge

(Source: CBC News)

A Mi’kmaq group has bought the land outside Sackville where 13 Radio Canada International towers stood for decades, CBC-Radio Canada confirmed Friday.

Five years after the Tantramar Marsh site was put up for sale, the New Brunswick non-profit Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn bought it for an undisclosed price.

“This transaction closes the book on an interesting chapter for CBC/Radio-Canada and Canadian broadcasting in the world of international shortwave broadcasting,” CBC’s Martin Marcotte wrote in an email.

A long broadcast history

The shortwave service ran for 67 years, and the site’s towers facilitated the service around the world until budget cuts in 2012.

The 90-hectare property was initially listed with the towers, to avoid the high cost of dismantling the facility, but in 2014, CBC began dismantling the towers in hopes the blank slate would entice more buyers.

“It’s tough to take something down that served such a purpose for the country, you know, during the Second World War,” Larry Wartman, CBC’s senior manager of transmission operations for Western and Atlantic Canada, told CBC News in 2014. “There’s just not that many of them around the world anymore.”

Building the future

The New Brunswick Mi’kmaq group Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn purchased the land Thursday but has yet to announce any plans or comment on the purchase, other than to confirm it. The non-profit group’s members are the nine Mi’kmaq communities in the province.[…]

Click here to read the article on CBC News.

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Shortwave Service first English edition November 29

SX-99-Dial

(Source: Shortwave Service via Richard Langley)

On Tuesday, 29th November 2016 from 0230-0300 UTC
on 7250 kHz (to NoAM) we will broadcast our first English edition.

The topics: we speak with Rimantas Pleikys about radio jamming in former
times and today. He wrote a book about it and made a very interesting film
documentary.

And: 4 years ago, on 28th November 2012, Radio Canada International shut
down the Sackville transmission site. 2 years later the facility was
scrapped. Amanda Dawn Christie made a film called Spectres of Shortwave that
is shown at diverse film festivals at the moment. She tells the story behind
the film.

By the way: Spectres of Shortwave is shown on 28th November in Sackville at
7PM local time. Perhaps you want to join it.

All broadcasts are coming from Gavar Armenia site with a power of 100kW,
at azimuth of 330 degrees.

Reception reports and comments are highly appreciated to

<info -at- shortwaveservice.com>

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