Tag Archives: Radio Luxembourg

Radio Waves: RTL Ends Longwave, Ana Montes Released, Mystery Antennas Across Utah, RIP Mihail Mihailov, and Morse in Music

The Junglinster RTL longwave transmitter (via Wikimedia Commons)

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!


RTL Ends Longwave Service (Radio World)

On 234 kHz, the new year rang in with static, not bells or fireworks. As had been announced in October, French broadcaster RTL switched off its longwave broadcasts on January 1, 2023.

Long-time RTL presenter Georges Lang marked the occasion with a bittersweet tweet: “Voilà, c’est fini… Goodbye good old Long Waves, you did a good job for a so long time. You belong now to the history of Radio-Luxembourg and RTL.”

Groupe M6, which owns the station, noted that maintaining longwave broadcasts from the Beidweiler, Luxembourg, transmission site consumed about 6,000 megawatt-hours of electricity each year, roughly equal to the average annual energy consumption of 3,000 French people. [Continue reading…]

US releases top Cuba spy Ana Belén Montes after 20 years in prison (The Guardian)

SWLing Post contributor, Ed, shares this story and notes:

Some SWLing Post readers might be interested to learn that one of the few spies ever caught in the U.S. using shortwave numbers station transmissions to receive instructions is Ana Belén Montes, who was just released from prison after serving 20 years of her 25-year sentence.

Former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, 65, freed after being found guilty of espionage in 2002

One of the highest-ranking US officials ever proven to have spied for Cuba has been released from prison early after spending more than two decades behind bars.

Ana Belén Montes pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to commit espionage after she was accused of using her leading position as a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) official to leak information, including the identities of some US spies, to Havana. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the age of 45. Continue reading

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Reminder: Christmas on-air event to honor Radio Luxembourg

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alexander (DL4NO), who writes:

For a very long time Radio Luxembourg was *the* pop music radio in Europe, especially in Germany and GB. At a time when Germany only had its public radio system, the Radio Luxembourg was the one and only. But this is history.

At Christmas, several German shortwave broadcasters, organized by Radio DARC, will transmit on 6070 kHz in memoriam of Radio Luxembourg from Vienna. See the attached flyer [above].

Excellent! Thank you for the heads-up, Alexander!

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Mark your calendars! Christmas on-air event to honor Radio Luxembourg

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alexander (DL4NO), who writes:

For a very long time Radio Luxembourg was *the* pop music radio in Europe, especially in Germany and GB. At a time when Germany only had its public radio system, the Radio Luxembourg was the one and only. But this is history.

At Christmas, several German shortwave broadcasters, organized by Radio DARC, will transmit on 6070 kHz in memoriam of Radio Luxembourg from Vienna. See the attached flyer [above]. BTW, radio amateurs play important roles: Head of Radio DARC is Rainer, DF2NU. Moderator of “Hit AM” is Christian, DO8CN. And for “Goldrausch 6070” Eckard, DD9NF, sits in front of the microphone.

I could imagine that quite some ham spirit was used in this project.

Excellent! Thank you for the heads-up, Alexander! I’ll post a reminder closer to Christmas.

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