Good morning one and all, does anyone recall the exact dates of operation of the Voice of America from Munich on 173 kHz LW? I discovered this quite by chance on 18 December 1969, but at that time it was only on air between 18:00 and 22:00 UTC, the first 2 hours in English and the second 2 hours in an unknown language.
The broadcasting hours would later be extended back to 16:00 to 22:00 UTC. Of course, this being on LW would give it a much wider daytime coverage than 1196 kHz from the same site, and enabled me, for
Example, to follow the progress of Apollo 13 on its way back to Earth after the April 1970 disaster. I did not have access to short-wave radio at that time. Last time I heard Voice of America on LW was, I think, during the flight of Apollo17 in December 1972.
The transmitter was on air for extended hours to cover that flight, but as this took place during the dark hours of December MW would provide clearer coverage when it was not broadcasting in a language other than English.
(Paul David, Wembley Park, UK/BDXC)
