Tag Archives: Shortwave Memories

Shortwave Memories — Who’s Out There?

by Karl D. Forth

I can remember very early in my shortwave listening wondering how many people were tuned in to a particular broadcast at the same time I was. I was listening to Radio Portugal on a warm evening in June 1971 when I first had this thought. How many others in North America were listening to Radio Portugal, the Voice of The West, and their evening English service at 9 p.m. CDT in the summer of 1971?

The BBC, Radio Canada International, and Radio Nederland probably had a decent audience. And Radio Moscow and Radio Havana Cuba always drew some curious listeners.

What about a smaller broadcaster with an English transmission to North America? How many were listening to any international shortwave broadcaster?

How many were watching Gunsmoke or Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In compared to a feature on Portuguese oilseed production and chestnut exports?

There was no Arbitron ratings book as there was for AM and FM stations in the United States, but it’s fun to think about having a listening diary for shortwave stations, sent not to ARB’s headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland, but somewhere like Geneva, Switzerland, for tabulation.

The stations themselves didn’t know either, but they made audience estimates based on listener mail. Some stations that you may have listened to only a few times and wrote to get a QSL continued to send schedules for years after, counting you as a regular listener. When seeking funding, the stations pointed out that they sent schedules to 5,000 listeners, for example, every few months. (I’m looking at you, RAI.)

I’ve also read stories of shortwave schedules still coming to the house of parents of the listener many years after the listener moved away and started a separate life. (He or she probably picked up the schedules when they visited Mom and Dad, I figure.) Today, I’m still asking the same questions about how many are listening. The stations remaining on shortwave are, too. I’ve read some of the estimates for a major broadcaster’s over-the-air and digital audience that seem extremely optimistic.

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.

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Shortwave Memories — Castro Calling

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by Karl D. Forth

On mediumwave, Cuba was a heavyweight, with many high-powered transmitters all over the dial, exceeding the already generous allocation agreed to by the North American nations in 1941.

In 1971, Radio Havana Cuba broadcast on shortwave with Spanish to the Americas, English, French, Portuguese, and a few other languages.

Later, I saw a magazine ad from the 1960s. The ad was for Hallicrafters, a Chicago maker of shortwave radios and communications equipment. The ad showed a menacing-looking caricature of the Cuban dictator speaking and posed the question:

“Have you ever actually heard this son of a bitch?”

Fidel Castro’s understanding of radio was no accident. He studied its use in other Latin American countries and in previous coup attempts, and used it shrewdly in his own rise to power.

One program seemed to a 15-year-old to cross the line. The Voice of Vietnam was an English language program aimed at the United States that was broadcast from Havana, not Hanoi. This program seemed strident and objectionable, which may have been the goal.

Today, Cuban broadcasting is in a shambles. Hurricane Rafael flattened its largest shortwave transmitter site. Ongoing problems with the power grid and shortages of fuel have led to nationwide power outages. Many AM stations are off the air. Technicians from China who kept things running have reportedly left the country.

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 — 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.

Shortwave Memories — Go Go Radio Moscow

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by Karl D. Forth

Radio Moscow didn’t seem confrontational. We’re here, their attitude seemed to be, and we’re going to offer our opinion on things, which you may or may not like.

Looking at the World Radio-TV Handbook in the early 1970s, Radio Moscow was on dozens of frequencies from many different transmitters thousands of miles apart. The Far Eastern transmitters were 5,000 miles from Moscow.

In 1974, Radio Moscow offered programs in 64 languages, along with Russian by Radio, and a transcription service. U.S.S.R. was one of the largest broadcasters, with shortwave transmissions in many languages, from Bambara to Urdu.

“If you’d like first-hand information about the Soviet Union, its developed socialist society, the Soviet way of life and the Soviet view on major international issues tune in to Radio Moscow,” an ad for the broadcaster stated.

I thought that Radio Moscow offered a straightforward outlook, and they tried to make the programs truthful but were sometimes selective in what was covered. Their job was to promote progress that was being achieved in the Soviet Union, and to criticize the West.

(If you’re interested in the Soviet viewpoint from that time, an interesting book to read is Parting With Illusions, by Vladimir Pozner.)

One subject that got under Radio Moscow’s skin was NATO’s deployment of short-range cruise missiles in the early 1980s.

Later, there was Vasily’s Weekend, broadcast about 1990 and 1991, in the last days of the Soviet Union. The show, hosted by one Vasily Strelnikov, a Russian who had grown up mostly in America, was an informal English-language program of popular music and listener requests, a segment that must have stood in contrast to the station’s other programs.

Moscow’s exit from shortwave was sudden. It was renamed the Voice of Russia in 1993, after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The shortwave radio broadcasts were ended completely by Vladimir Putin in 2014.

Go Go Radio Moscow was an actual 45 single by Nikita the K, probably the only 45 record about a shortwave station. It was an American record and was not, as far as we know, ever played on Radio Moscow. (For the record, there is a rock band called Radio Moscow based in Iowa, not the Russian capital.)

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.

Guest Post: Mark explores a 1983 Voice of America information pack

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who shares the following guest post:

VOA Information Pack 1983

by Mark Hirst

Introduction

A recent guest post on this blog by Jock Elliott asked the question, ‘Why Listen to Shortwave?’

The comment I left at the time was my interest in how nations view themselves, and how they project that view to the world. This might be in the form of cultural exports like music, or teaching us about famous people or revered institutions in their country.

When I first started listening to shortwave in the early eighties, I never got into the habit of asking for QSL cards, being quite thrilled enough to receive programme guides in envelopes stamped with the postmark of other countries.

At the time, the primary stations for me included Radio Netherlands, Radio Sweden, Swiss Radio International, and the Voice of America. While most might send a small leaflet about their country with a frequency schedule, the information pack I received from the Voice of America stands head and shoulders above the others.

I thought readers might be interested in a brief description of this pack and with it a glimpse back into the world of 1983.

Please note that as you read the following sections, you can click on the images to view a larger version.

Package Contents

The package arrived in a manila envelope, with the logo and address of the VOA printed in the top left corner. In the top right corner is the logo of US Mail, with a declaration that postage and fees where paid for by the US Information Agency.

Package contents included:

Compliments Card
VOA Sticker
Steering the Course Magazine
VOA Magazine
May-October 1983 Programme Schedule

VOA – The Voice of America

This guide begins by outlining the mission of the VOA, emphasising its aim to be an authoritative and reliable source of news. Continue reading →

K9ZDK: Return of a Silent Key

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF), who writes:

It was one of the most sublime moments in my 55+ years in radio. Almost every night I listen to shortwave station, KNLS in Anchor Point, Alaska, from my home in Hong Kong. KNLS broadcasts to Asia and the Pacific in English, Russian and Mandarin. The English broadcast is an amazing mix of secular and Christian music and topics, science, current affairs and more. It has something for both the seeker and the saint and is one of the most informative and entertaining shows on radio.

On this particular Monday evening, August 3, 2020, I tuned in late to the English broadcast from KNLS at 1000 UTC, but went on to listen to the remainder of the show. To my complete surprise as the show closed I heard “73 de K9ZDK” in Morse code and quickly wrote down that callsign. I assumed it was the engineer on duty, obviously a ham, having a little on-air fun with a big transmitter and antenna.

A few minutes later, I also heard “CQ de K9ZDK” at the beginning of the Russian program at 1100 UTC. So, I looked up K9ZDK on QRZ.com and found it was Zavier, a young ham who had become a silent key in June of 2019.

Zavier Klingensmith (K9ZDK) Silent Key

A little more online sleuthing and a phone call later revealed that his father, Thomas, KL0K, was at the controls of KNLS that night sending Zavier’s final CQ and 73 on this planet with at least 1 million watts of power (ERP: 100KW TX + 10dBd TCI curtain array) all around Asia and the Pacific. His call on CW was heard on every English, Russian and Mandarin show that evening over 16 hours of broadcasts (two Continental 100 KW transmitters). Wow!

In Zavier’s memory, Thomas has created a DIY kit for an Iambic Keyer and is offering it for FREE (though you might want to send some $$ for his production and mailing costs…my suggestion) to anyone who asks. Details can be found at Thomas’, KL0K, QRZ page. Maybe one of the first things you can send when your keyer is completed is,”K9ZDK de YOUR CALL, 73 OM!”

Thomas, our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. Thanks for the amazing on-air tribute to Zavier. I suspect he was listening with a big, big smile!

Dan VR2HF, Hong Kong
(K7DAN, USA)