*
Theme
-
00:00
“Birthday Serenade” -
Willi Glahe
*
Opening Announcement - 00:16
Welcome to “Wavescan”,
international DX program from Adventist World Radio
Researched and written in
Indianapolis, produced in studios of shortwave WRMI
Program outline
1.
Over the Years with PWI: USA & Europe
2. Book
Review: International Shortwave Broadcast Guide
3. International
DX News
4. Special
QSL of the Week SQOTW28: Short Term Jamming Transmission
*
Over the Years with PWI: USA & Europe - 01:02
In our continuing series of topics
regarding the shortwave stations operated by PWI, Press Wireless International,
we look at the wartime years over in islandic and continental Europe. During this era, the Press Wireless factory
on Long Island, quite near to their shortwave transmitter station at
Hicksville, manufactured many shortwave transmitters at various power levels,
including their now famous 40 kW unit, as well as their low powered mobile
units.
These PWI transmitters were shipped
to England and subsequently to continental Europe by both navy and commercial
vessels, usually with each consignment split and conveyed by different
ships. In this way, if some ships were
sunk by enemy submarine attacks, then only a partial consignment was lost, not
a complete consignment of electronic equipment.
It is known that at least one mobile station was lost in 1944 due to
enemy action, and that station still lies to this day on the floor of the
Atlantic Ocean.
Actually, Press Wireless began their
European operations in 1932 with the opening of an office in Paris France, and the
leased usage of transmitting and receiving facilities from the French PT&T
authorities in nearby country areas.
Their Paris operation collected the news flow from other countries in
Europe and fed the information to the United States via the PWI receiver
station at Little Neck on the north side of Long Island, New York.
As the onset of the European Conflict
progressed, PWI moved its European operation in the summer of 1940, initially
from Paris to Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast in the south west of France, and
then to Tours, almost in the center of France, and finally to Vichy France,
though that location was soon afterwards closed.
Towards the end of the War in
Europe, PWI began to send shipments of radio equipment from the United States,
beginning in the early part of the year 1944.
The first of the 40 kW PWI SSB transmitters to arrive on the other side
of the Atlantic was installed at Lingfield with the receiver station at Swanley
Junction, both in Surrey in the south of England. The purpose for this station was to establish
communication circuits with the United States.
Two more of these 40 kW transmitters
were transported to England; and the teams of technical radio personnel
associated with these units received their training on a similar unit located
at PWI Hicksville. In 1944, the
technical equipment and personnel were taken by ship to the British Isles.
One ship in use for this purpose was the
ex-passenger liner, “Mauretania"
which travelled across the Atlantic alone, without convoy. It was considered to be a fast ship that
could outrun any other seafaring vessels that might be in pursuit. The equipment was landed in Scotland and
taken south by road.
The radio personnel installed one of
these PWI transmitters at an army camp located at Stowe-on-Wold in
Gloucestershire, almost in the south of England. This transmitter was used for two
purposes. One was to broadcast fake
communication transmissions that would give the impression that the coming
invasion of continental Europe under what became D-Day would take place in
Calais, or perhaps even in Norway, instead of the intended Normandy; and the
other purpose was for army communications back to the United States.
Following the installation of the
transmitter in England, the PWI team landed in France and began work on the
installation of the other unit at Les Essarts, an outer
suburb of Paris. Originally, this 40 kW
PWI transmitter was planned for installation at Renne in France. However, with the progress of events at the
front line, a more advanced location, Les Essarts, was chosen.
The electronic equipment for this
station was delivered in 1,000 crates & boxes, and it was
re-assembled in 25 days by 45 personnel.
This transmitter facility was installed in buildings commandeered for
the purpose and the receiver station was located in an old farm house further
down the same road.
Power came from three Cummings diesel
generators, and rhombic antennas were beamed on the United States for
communication with PWI Little Neck, New York.
This new and rather substantial shortwave station was activated in
September 1944. A photo at the entrance
way to the station shows the callsign as CZ2T, though it identified on air
simply as Radio Paris.
The main purpose for this PWI
station in Paris was to relay news items and news commentaries from SHAEF Supreme
Headquarters American Expeditionary Forces back to the United States for
insertion into the broadcast programming of the Voice of America. On several occasions, international radio
monitors in the United States, New Zealand and Australia noted PWI Hicksville
& Paris in communication with each other for the transfer of radio news
items.
For example, in March 1945,
Radio Paris CZ2T was noted on 15920 kHz with a program relay to the United
States; and in September this station was noted on 15293 kHz with program
inserts for the NBC Blue Network. In the
reverse direction, PWI Hicksville was noted calling SHAEF Paris on several
occasions. The Hicksville channel
callsigns at the time were WPJ on 11640 kHz & WJQ on 10010 kHz.
Apparently someone in the radio
world had an insight into the workings of PWI Paris, because in September 1945,
a column editor in Australia stated that the permanence of this station was
doubtful.
However, the story does not end
here. In addition to the single 40 kW
PWI transmitter at Les Essarts, there was a multitude of other transmitters,
maybe even 15 or more. One of these was
a 10 kW shortwave broadcast transmitter that was
installed in a subsidiary building at the Les Essarts station for the relay of
radio programming from Radio Diffusion Francaise in Paris. The main coverage area from this unit was
intended to be Europe & Africa.
As far as is known, this shortwave
broadcast transmitter operated on only one channel, 9560 (9550)
kHz. The programming was always a relay
from Paris, and often in parallel with shortwave transmitters at other
locations. This station was often heard
in the United States, and sometimes in Australia & New Zealand. It was also listed in several early editions
of the World Radio Handbook.
It appears that the power of the
French shortwave station at Les Essarts was raised from 10 kW to 100 kW
somewhere around the year 1947. It is possible
then that the power level of the 40 kW transmitter was raised in the era after
peace was resumed in Europe, and after the American personnel had returned to
their homeland.
So there you have it. This PWI shortwave station located on the
edge of suburban Paris was on the air with news for newspapers, and voice reports
for radio & TV stations in the United States, as well as with program
relays for re-broadcast by the Voice of America. In addition, this shortwave station also
operated as a relay station for the international shortwave service of Radio
Diffusion Francaise.
More about PWI in Europe on another
coming occasion.
* Program
Announcement - 08:54
Allen Graham
* Publication
Review: International Shortwave Broadcast Guide - 09:43
A most remarkable shortwave book at
a most remarkable price is the Winter 2014 - 2015 edition of the comprehensive
volume, International Shortwave Broadcast Guide by Gayle van Horn at Teak
Publishing in Brasstown, North Carolina.
This twice-annual volume, now the third in this series, contains almost
500 pages of valuable and interesting information about shortwave broadcasting.
Gayle van Horn asks the question: So
why should you listen to shortwave radio?
Quite simply, she answers, because shortwave radio is your window to the
world. Throughout the world, shortwave
remains the most readily available and affordable means of mass communication
and information. It lets you listen to
voices from around the world. Shortwave
radio provides nearly instantaneous coverage of news and events from around the
Earth.
You can easily listen to shortwave
broadcast stations located in countries all around our globe, specially if you
know when to listen! That’s
where this new edition of the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide is
particularly useful.
The International Shortwave Broadcast
Guide (Winter 2014-2015 edition) is a unique information resource that provides
a 24-hour station/frequency guide to all of the known stations currently
broadcasting on shortwave radio at the time of publication. This tabulated information offers an
hour-by-hour schedule that includes all language services, frequencies and
world target areas for each broadcast station.
This new e-publication edition is an
expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide formerly printed in
the pages of Monitoring Times magazine for over 20 years. This one of a kind e-book is now published
twice a year to correspond with station seasonal time and frequency changes.
It is a splendid radio adventure to
peruse each page in the current edition of the International Shortwave
Broadcast Guide. For example, the first
chapter provides us with interesting information, all about shortwave radio. These entries are followed by hints on
accessing the international and tropical shortwave bands, together with
suggestions regarding the usage and availability of suitable shortwave radio
receivers.
The comprehensive and uniquely
complete listening guide is set out hour by hour in UTC (international radio)
timings, with the shortwave stations listed in alphabetic order of
country. If you want to listen to the
world, here is your opportunity; all of the nearly 400 pages of tabulated
listings are sprinkled here and there with a reproduction in color of an exotic
QSL card from a shortwave station somewhere on planet Earth.
Towards the end of the current
edition of the International Shortwave Broadcast
Guide you will find a listing of all current DX programs on the air shortwave,
including Wavescan with all of its many timings. The final section of this fascinating eBook
tells us about the author Gayle van Horn and her
illustrious radio backgrounds,
together with the availability of her many other radio books, each in
electronic form.
The International Shortwave Broadcast
Guide (Winter 2014-2015 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from
Amazon.com at www. amazon. com. The price for this latest edition is just a
little under US$5. Remarkable! And remember too, that frequency updates
between editions are posted on her Shortwave Central blog at:
http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/.
Now, if any of you, our listeners,
do not have access to the internet, we would suggest that you contact a friend
who is internet savvy, and ask him to download this volume, at such a low
price, on your behalf.
We can confidently recommend to you
the
new and current International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2014-2015
edition). It will be of real value to
you in your listening to the international and tropical shortwave broadcasting
bands.
We might also add, that this
valuable compendium stands just as high in the international radio world as the
annual publication, World Radio TV Handbook, and as the four volume set on
shortwave broadcasting and listening by Jerome Berg.
Is short-wave broadcasting
dead? No, not so, and far from it. Just ask those who attend the twice yearly
HFCC Planning meetings. And those who
endeavor to locate an empty spot on the shortwave dial to insert a desired
broadcast program. And those who plan
and produce DX programs. And those who
respond to listener reception reports and issue QSL cards.
Thank you Gayle van Horn, for your
splendid service to the international shortwave world!
*
Bangladesh DX News - 14:44
Salahuddin Dolar
*
Special QSL of the Week SQOTW28: Short Term Jamming Transmission
- 18:01
Thomas Drescher in Rosrath, Germany,
tells us that he also has received a QSL card from a jamming transmission. Back in the 1970s, there were several pirate
radio stations operating aboard ships anchored in open waters in the North Sea
with programming beamed to various countries in islandic and continental
Europe. One of these ships was the Mebo
2 with on air programming under the identification RNI, Radio Nordsee
International, beamed to England and Holland, though their programming at that
stage was in English and German.
The 10 kW shortwave channel for RNI
was 6210 kHz though for a few days this transmitter channel was adjusted
slightly to 6215 kHz. The Maritime Radio
Station, Radio Rogaland, located towards the southern tip of Norway, claimed
that RNI was broadcasting on a Radio Rogaland channel and so they jammed the
programming from the pirate radio ship.
The continuous loop tape message in
English from Radio Rogaland stated:
This
is a transmission from the Norwegian coast station Rogaland Radio operating in single side band mode, upper side
band, with a carrier frequency of 6215.0 kHz. The purpose of this transmission is to
clear the channel of unauthorized and out of band broadcasting, to improve reception
conditions for ships wishing to communicate with coast stations on this frequency or on
adjacent maritime channels.
Thomas Drescher sent a reception
report regarding the jamming transmission to Radio Rogaland in Norway, and he received
a QSL in response. The handwritten QSL
text was inscribed on the back of a photograph depicting two radio officers on
duty at the control panels of Radio Rogaland.
The QSL text verified the reception of Radio Rogaland on July 8, 1970.
*
Music of the World - 20:12
Norway: Folk Music
from NRK, accordion
*
Closing Announcement - 20:38
Thanks for listening to “Wavescan”,
international DX program from Adventist World Radio
Researched and written in
Indianapolis
Next week:-
1.
Railway Radio in Australia - 1
2.
Australian DX Report
3. SQOTW29
Special QSL of the Week: First Reception Report from India
Several QSL cards available. Send your AWR & KSDA reception reports
for Wavescan to the AWR address in Indianapolis; and
also to the station your radio is tuned to: WRMI or WWCR
or KVOH, or to the AWR relay stations that carry Wavescan. Remember too, you can send a reception report to each
of the DX reporters when their segment is on the
air here in Wavescan: Japan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Australia &
India. They will verify with their own colorful QSL
card. Return postage and an address
label are always appreciated.
Wavescan address:-
Box 29235
Indianapolis
Indiana 46229 USA
Wavescan @ AWR.org
Jeff White, shortwave WRMI
*
Music Outrun - 22:19
Norway: Folk Music
from NRK, continued
Accordion orchestra
Folk orchestral
Male vocal
*
Program Ends - 28:55
==============================================================================
1. Press Wireless International: Radio
Stations & Transmitters
Alphabetic Order of Country
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Country Location Topic Year to Year NWS X
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01 Alaska Anchorage PWI 194x 76
02 Atlantic Sunken ship Over the Years with PWI 1944 312
03 Australia
QL Hemmant MacArthur Radio 1943 - 1946 6 76
04 Canada Halifax APC Dartmouth temporary 1921
- 1923 305
05 Halifax APC St. Margaret’s Bay 1923 - 1932 305
06 England Stowe DecoyTransmissions 1944 312
07 Lingfield Communicate USA 1944
- 1945 312
08 Ethiopia Asmara PWI 1942 76
09 France Paris, Vichy Over the Years with PWI 1932
- 1947 312
10 Paris SHAEF CZ2T 1945 - 1946
6 76 312
11 Germany Frankfurt PWI 194x 76
12 Hawaii Honolulu PWI Station KDG 1930
- 1941 307
13 Ewa Projected PWI Station 1944 - 1945 307
14 Italy Naples PWI 1944 76
15 Philippines Manila PWI
(Globe-Mackay) 1933
- 1941 305
16 Tacloban Station PZ 1944 - 1945 305
17 Manila Station PY 1944 - 1946 307
18 Uruguay Montevideo Press Wireless 19xx
67
19 USA
MA Needham WJK, PWI 1st station 1930 - 1932 305
20 MA West
Newton Factory 193x - 1952 305
21 LI NY Hicksville Temporary VOA Relay Station 1935 - 1957 67
22 LI NY Hicksville Factory 194x
- 1952 305 307
23 LI NY Hicksville HP Transmitter School WW2 307
Mobile Units
Pentagon ==============================================================================
2. Press Wireless International:
Press
Wireless International
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year Date Information Reference
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Wireless
Backgrounds
1929 PWI
formed, dissatisfaction with WW1 news flow Time 26-8-46
1930s Serving
62 countries
WW2 Established
new factory Long Island City
WW2 Sent
several mobile stations to Europe
1945 Nov 7 PWI
Los Angeles sold into escrow for Don Wallace W6AM
1946 Aug Strike
against Press Wireless, diminishing services & income
1947 Aug 15 PWI
filed for bankruptcy
1965 PWI
acquired by ITT
19xx At
peak, PWI operated 100 transmitters at own locations
New
York, San Francisco, Manila, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo
PWI Hicksville,
Long Island, New York
1935 May Testing
as W2XGB on 4797 kHz 500 w ISWC 5-35 33
1942 Jan WCW
began test broadcasts IDXA-SPS 1-42 1
1942 Apr 20 PWI-WCW
Hicksville began VOA relay 2 hrs morning 2 hrs afternoon VOA 97.001 15-5
WW2 One
40 kW transmitter at Hicksville during WW2 REK
1944 Feb NY
stations use different call to denote service in which they are engaged R&H 2-44 35
1944 Dec 31 Appears
to be date for end of VOA relays R&H entries
1957 PWI
Hicksville closed
GF
19xx Became
a housing estate Radiomarine
PWI
Receiver Station, Little Neck, LI NY
1930 1st
Press Wireless receiver station, north side LI NR 21-7-60 21
1940s QSL
card shows receiver positions QSL card
PWI
Receiver Station, Baldwin, LI NY
1950s PWI
receiving station located at Baldwin, south side Long Island Antiqueradios
1959 PWI
Baldwin closed GF
1960 PWI
Baldwin receiver soon to close NR 21-7-60 21
PWI England
1944 Early 40
kW PWI transmitter set up at army camp in South England REK
Email
Installed
at Stowe on the Wold Gloucestershire
Left
for use by 3103rd Signal Service
Battalion, decoy transmissions
Also
used for army communications to USA
1944 May PWI
team arrived England month before D-Day
40
kW SSB PWI transmitter installed at Lingfield, Surrey
Receiver
station at Swanley Junction, Surrey
Communication
back to USA
15 kW PWI
transmitter & 400 watt Morse
1944 Jun 6 D-Day
PWI CZ2T Les
Essarts, near Paris, France
Ship
carried 40 kW PWI transmitter to Scotland
90,000
transmitters in use for Allied invasion of Europe
Originally
scheduled for installation at Renne
Delivered
in 1,000 crates & boxes, re-assembled in 25 days by 45 personnel
1944 Aug Work
began
PWI
40 kW transmitter set up in farm house location, Les Essarts, near Paris France
Power
from 3 Cummings diesel generators
Rhombic
antennas beamed on USA
Connected
to SHAEF Paris by telephone line
Receiver
station, down the road on farm property
Many other transmitters
also
Detachment
of navy personnel with own equipment
Several
units, 10 kW & less, communicate with front lines, 15 or more transmitters
Separate
building, French Paris Radio Diffusion Francaise, 10 kW
1944 Sep PWI
40 kW transmitter activated
Communicated
with PWI Hicksville
1944 Oct PWI
recently increased power, now 1 million words daily Time
1994 Nov 6
1945 May 8 VE
Day
1945 Additional
personnel came in assist operate SHAEF AM transmitter
==============================================================================
3. SQOTW28: Special QSL of the Week
Progressive Topics
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
No Call
Location Land IRM
kHz (k)W
Year Date Significance QSL NWS ——————————————————————————————————————————————————
001
7LA Launceston Tasmania AMP
1100 .1 1961 Nov 6 Emergency
transmitter C 282
002
RA Kabul
Afghanistan AMP 96.1 .01 1971
Jul 4 Experimental FM C 284
003
VOA Poro Philippines AMP 15000 LP 1984 Feb 19 Malfunctioning
exciter L 286
004
TTY Perth Australia AMP
1130 .2 1966 Jun 24 6NM
transmitter to 6ED DIYC 287
005
ICPA Kabul Afghanistan AMP 102.8 ½ 1972
Aug 27 Hotel Intercontinental DIYC 289
006
KSFO Frisco California AMP
560 5 1989
Oct 18 Temporary after
earthquake C 290
007
RM
Havana Cuba AMP 9600 100 1982
Feb 3 Relay Radio Tashkent C
291 008 NILB Central Pacific PH
10800 LP 1968 Dec 23 Apollo
Recovery, 1,000 SW L 292
009
AWR Ekala Sri
Lanka CG 11800 100 1981
Feb 21 Test broadcasts Africa &
ME C 293
010
PJC Willemstad Curacao PH
8694
1 1969 Jan 9 Morse
loop C
294
011
AFRTS Adana Turkey
AMP 1590 .01 1980
Mar 24 Plane, WL in ft DIYC 295
012
AWR Sines Portugal TD 9670
250 1977 Aug 26 Self-designed AWR card C 296
013
VoM Honhor Mongolia CL 12085
250 2012 Sep 14 Lived in Ulaan Baatar L&C 297
014
CRI Beijing China UQ
21660 2005 Sep 19 Firedrake
jammer C 298
015
RM Russia
AMP 11875 1984 May 2 Russian
jammer, BBC ARS? C 299
016
NBC Pt Moresby New Guinea VL 4890
35 2006 Mar 18 Reduced power C 300
017
RM
Murmansk Russia JB
5930 5 1979
Jan 13 Long wait DIYC & L
301 018 RM P’zavodsk Russia JB
5065 5 1979 Jan 21 Long wait DIYC & L
302
019
VLU2 Christmas Is Indian O. AMP
1420 .5 1977 Aug 23 Tried many
locations DIYC & L
303 020 XMX Christmas Is Indian O. AMP
341 .1 1977 Aug 28 Airplane
reception DIYC 304 021
AIR Pt Blair Andamans JJ 1440
1 1992 Nov 12 Emergency transmission L 305 022
ABC Shepparton Australia TA 6080 100 2011
Feb 4 Emergency transmission C
306 023 ORTB Benin
CO SW 1985 Sep 20 Hard
to hear, difficult to QSL C 307 024
WQTC Bryan USA-OH AMP
1520 .5 1986
Jul 17 Two words, Bryan Radio DIYC
308
025
AIR
Bangalore India
MKP 9690 500 2014
Feb 28 Memory of 1st radio
broadcast C 309 026
CHU Ottawa Canada BW 3330
3 2010 Sep 16 Low power TSW
C&L 310
027
SW
11 Sites Asia
TA 2 SW
2014 Jun 5 IRDR Trial Broadcasts
C 311
028
TMR Rogaland Norway TD 6210 1970
Jul 8 Jamming against RNI P 312
029
NBC Pt Moresby New Guinea JJ 3925 10 1976
Oct 25 1st report from
India C 313 030 VOA Hawaii
AMP
======================================================================================
4. SQOTW28: Special QSL of the Week
Alphabetic Listing
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Title Call City Country IRM City
Country NWS ——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Airplane
Monitoring AFRS Adana Turkey AMP Airplane Turkey
295
XMX Christmas Is Indian Ocean AMP Airplane Indian Ocean 304
Apollo
Recovery NILB USS Arlington Pacific PH Woodland H USA-CA 292
Demonstration
Transmitter TTY Perth W
Australia AMP Perth Australia 287
Difficult to hear ORTB Benin CO Norrkoping Sweden
307 Earthquake Emergency KSFO San Francisco USA AMP Eugene USA-OR 290
Emergency
Transmitter 7LA Launceston Tasmania AMP Launceston Tasmania 282
AIR Port Blair Andaman Is JJ Hyderabad India 305
ABC Shepparton Australia TA Depok
Indonesia 306 Experimental FM RA Kabul Afghanistan AMP Kabul
Afghanistan 284
First
Report: India NBC Port Moresby New Guinea JJ India 313 Jammer:
Firedrake CRI Beijing China UQ-S Norrkoping Sweden
298
Rogaland TMR Rogaland Norway TD Rosrath
Germany 312
Russian RM Russia AMP Poona India 299
Listener
Designed QSL Card AWR Sines Portugal TD Rosrath
Germany 296
Long
Wait: 11 Years XMX Christmas Is Indian Ocean AMP Airplane Indian Ocean 304
23 Years RM Murmansk Russia JB Lexington USA-MA 301
23 years RM Petrozavodsk Russia JB Lexington USA-MA
302
Low
Power CHU Ottawa Canada BW Karoonda S Australia 310
Malfunctioning
Exciter VOA Poro Philippines AMP Lahore
Pakistan 286
Many
Locations VLU2 Christmas Is Indian
Ocean AMP Carnarvon
Australia 303
Memories:
Letter from Home VOM Honhor Mongolia CL Bloomington USA-IN
297
1st Radio Broadcast AIR Bangalore India MKP Kerala India 309
Morse
Code Loop PJC Willemstad Curacao PH Woodland
H USA-CA 294
Reduced Power NBC Pt Moresby New
Guinea VL Naples USA-FL 300
Tashkent Relay RM Havana Cuba AMP Berrien S USA-MI
291 Test Broadcast AWR Ekala Sri
Lanka CG Nice France 293
IRDR 11 sites Asia TA Depok Indonesia 311
Translation
Transmitter ICPA Kabul Afghanistan AMP Kabul
Afghanistan 289
======================================================================================
