{"id":47137,"date":"2021-01-02T09:22:18","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T13:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=47137"},"modified":"2021-01-02T09:22:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T13:22:18","slug":"patrick-asks-was-james-bond-a-ham-radio-operator-and-shortwave-listener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/patrick-asks-was-james-bond-a-ham-radio-operator-and-shortwave-listener\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick asks: &#8220;Was James Bond a ham radio operator and  shortwave listener?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25302\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg 800w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM-768x465.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM-624x378.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many thanks to <em>SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Patrick, who writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Many of us have more time during the holiday season to watch good old movies on either streaming services or just old-time DVD. My favourite pastime is to watch James Bond movies, based on the books by Ian Fleming. The iconic British agent in Her Majesty&#8217;s service offers insights to technical advancements in different areas.<\/p>\n<p>The other night I was wondering if the fictional character was a licensed ham radio operator and a shortwave listener? First, let me say that he most likely had advanced techniques to master radio communications in several aspects, among them most likely amateur radio and listening to shortwave broadcasts.<\/p>\n<p>In the first movie, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0055928\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. No, (1962)<\/a>, the presence of ham radio or shortwave radio communications is most present, as noted <a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/more-radios-in-the-movies-james-bond-dr-no-1962\/\">by the SWLing Post blog<\/a> and we can also get a glimpse of what could be the BBC Monitoring Station. The matter is also discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/AeD6WL4hkGs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by Dr. Bob Heil (K9EID) on YouTube<\/a>:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AeD6WL4hkGs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But even in other James Bond movies there are different forms of radio communications. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0079574\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1979 movie Moonraker<\/a>, James Bond confronts the Dr. Holly Goodhead in Venice, Italy, by taking her purse at 01.12.15 in the movie and concludes in what seems to be a shortwave radio with morse that it is standard CIA equipment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123546-PM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25304\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123546-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123546-PM.jpg 800w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123546-PM-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123546-PM-768x457.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123546-PM-624x371.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As a commander in the Royal Navy, James Bond would know morse code as well as several aspects of shortwave band. Both at sea but also in his duties as a Secret Service agent operating abroad he most likely listened to BBC World Service and British military radio stations, numbers stations among them, Although we do not know if he carry with him a shortwave receiver or a very small shortwave transceiver. The innovative character of Q probably equipped him with the latest technology.<\/p>\n<p>In the opening scenes of the <a href=\"https:\/\/viaplay.se\/player\/default\/film\/a-view-to-a-kill-1985\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1985 movie A View To A Kill<\/a> James Bond traced a signal with a gadget that looks like a typical yellow Sony Walkman and in the movie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076752\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Spy Who Loved me (1977)<\/a> James Bond receives a message on his watch what seems to be a tape coming out from the watch, telling him to contact the Headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>In the movie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0059800\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thunderball (1965)<\/a> at 00.56 James Bond enters a room where a radio operator listening till BBC Overseas programme is listening to a news bulletin with a coded message that Big Ben had strike seven times at six o&#8217;clock.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is fun, Patrick&#8211;thanks so much for sharing! Without a doubt, in real life, Cold War era spies used the shortwaves heavily for both receiving and sending coded messages. Indeed, we believe foreign operatives still use the services of numbers stations.<\/p>\n<p>Your message is so timely: I&#8217;ve heard from both family and friends recently who are on a bit of a James Bond binge!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Patrick, who writes: Many of us have more time during the holiday season to watch good old movies on either streaming services or just old-time DVD. My favourite pastime is to watch James Bond movies, based on the books by Ian Fleming. The iconic British agent in Her Majesty&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3,305],"tags":[6139,9067,5506],"class_list":["post-47137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","category-nostalgia","tag-dr-no","tag-james-bond","tag-radios-in-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-cgh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25305,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/more-radios-in-the-movies-james-bond-dr-no-1962\/","url_meta":{"origin":47137,"position":0},"title":"More radios in the movies: James Bond &#8220;Dr. No&#8221; (1962)","author":"Thomas","date":"April 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Bruce Fisher, who adds the following to our growing archive of radios in film. Bruce writes: Here are three shots from the first few minutes of the 1962 James Bond film \"Dr. No\": The second shot is a close up of the radio in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4182017-123643-PM.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30418,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/can-you-id-this-radio-in-diamonds-are-forever\/","url_meta":{"origin":47137,"position":1},"title":"Can you ID this radio in &#8220;Diamonds Are Forever&#8221;&#8211;?","author":"Thomas","date":"January 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris, who writes: Last weekend, I watched a few old James Bond movies and this caught my attention when Blofeld was listening to a shortwave broadcast: Can anyone identify this radio? Post readers: Please comment if you can ID this radio model!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_20180117_163115_01-e1516712414940.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_20180117_163115_01-e1516712414940.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_20180117_163115_01-e1516712414940.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_20180117_163115_01-e1516712414940.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_20180117_163115_01-e1516712414940.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50229,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/radio-waves-dw-launches-sw-service-to-afghanistan-foreign-sponsorship-id-tokyo-ham-fair-2021-cancelled-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":47137,"position":2},"title":"Radio Waves: DW launches SW Service to Afghanistan, Foreign Sponsorship ID, Tokyo Ham Fair 2021 Cancelled, and the Bond of Gibraltar","author":"Thomas","date":"September 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0readers.\u00a0 To that end:\u00a0Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s Radio Waves, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Berlin-Radio-Tower-e1570374241260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Berlin-Radio-Tower-e1570374241260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Berlin-Radio-Tower-e1570374241260.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Berlin-Radio-Tower-e1570374241260.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20588,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/radio-northern-ireland-weekend-broadcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":47137,"position":3},"title":"Radio Northern Ireland Weekend Broadcasts","author":"Thomas","date":"August 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Good Afternoon everyone, Radio Northern Ireland will be broadcasting tonight 1900UTC on 6005khz via Shortwave Service in Germany, and then followed by 15770khz via WRMI at 2100 UTC and further more on 11580khz at 0130 UTC. Our show tonight is jam packed with talking and a few special shortwave\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/radio-northern-ireland-weekend-broadcasts\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"RNIe!SLnew","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/RNIeSLnew-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61540,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/is-billy-joel-a-shortwave-buff-or-ham-radio-operator\/","url_meta":{"origin":47137,"position":4},"title":"Is Billy Joel a Shortwave buff or Ham Radio operator?","author":"Thomas","date":"January 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Larry Thompson, who writes: I recently came across a photo of Billy Joel\u2019s office in Sag Harbor in an interview with Willy Geist. It looks like he has several shortwave radios or ham transceivers. Just wondering if anyone has a clue to his radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_6060.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_6060.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_6060.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_6060.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20449,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/radio-northern-ireland-wrmi-broadcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":47137,"position":5},"title":"Radio Northern Ireland WRMI Broadcast","author":"Thomas","date":"August 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Northern Ireland will be broadcasting via WRMI on 9955khz at 0130 UTC on Monday. This is a regular show from Radio Northern Ireland. Jordan Heyburn from Radio Northern Ireland has made changes to his show and he has included a news segment! Jordan said \"I decided to include a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RNIe!SLnew","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/RNIeSLnew-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}