Another great article on radio nostalgia...thanks to Ray Robinson, Adrian Peterson, and Jeff White
Jeff: In our opening feature in Wavescan today, Ray Robinson presents the story of the Canadian Spy Transmitter. This is a true story, but it equals the mystery and suspense of any thrilling spy story you can read in any spy novel today. So, over to Ray.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. You’ll remember here in Wavescan last week, we presented the story of the 10 kW CBS shortwave transmitter W3XAU / WCAB that was on the air in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from early in 1930 to the very last day of 1941. Well, after this shortwave station was closed, it was announced at the time that the transmitter would be packed up, shipped to England, and taken over by the BBC in London.
However, that’s not what happened. We could ask the questions:
• Was this a deliberate piece of misinformation during the hectic, and sometimes shady days of World War II?
• Or was it simply a change of plans on the part of decision-making personnel?
• Or was it just a case of bad memory regarding the events of long ago?
An archived story from 2007 on the radioworld.com website ( https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/wcau-used-shortwave-in-philadelphia ) and other sites that deal specifically with the history of broadcasting in Philadelphia still state quite clearly that the WCAB shortwave transmitter was “packed up and sent over to England for use by the BBC in London.”
However, email communications between our editor-in-chief Dr. Adrian Peterson and colleagues at the BBC in England state that they have no record of the usage of this transmitter in England. At that stage, they say, the BBC was using transmitters with a rated power of 100 kW, not 10 kW. They also state that the black propaganda stations in England during World War II were using transmitters rated at 7½ kW, not 10 kW.
Likewise, the noted radio historian in the United States, Jerome Berg of suburban Boston, states that he has no information regarding the subsequent use of the 10 kW shortwave transmitter from Philadelphia.
However, a Philadelphia radio historian and transmitter engineer who used to work on both the medium wave and shortwave transmitters at the WCAU complex, Charles Higgins, came across an article about 15 years ago in QST magazine that provided a solution to the enigma. The answer?
The shortwave transmitter W3XAU / WCAB in Philadelphia was in reality sent to a secret location near Toronto in Canada where it was installed at Camp X for daily communication with Bletchley Park in England. Camp X was a secret spy training facility during World War II and it was so secret that even the current experienced radio personnel in the area still don’t know all the answers to this day.
The article in QST magazine, dated in January 2006, states that a radio transmitter, code-named Hydra, was installed at Camp X in Canada for secret communication with Bletchley Park in England on 15 MHz. In this article, Gil McElroy states that the original transmitter at Camp X was a 2½ kW unit, and that a subsequent 10 kW unit was provided by courtesy of WCAU in Philadelphia for use at this spy camp.
The only 10 kW transmitter on the air with WCAU during that era was certainly the shortwave relay unit. As confirmation, a photo in the article of the 10 kW shortwave transmitter Hydra at Camp X bears a striking resemblance to the 10 kW shortwave transmitter previously on the air in suburban Philadelphia, as shown on one of their pre-war QSL cards.
Information in the book "The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas, 1940-1945" by William Stephenson confirms the use of the Philadelphia shortwave transmitter at Camp X, and he further states that the transmitter was "overhauled" before its installation in Canada.
The spy training facility known as Camp X was opened at Oshawa, 25 miles east of Toronto on December 6, 1941, just one day before the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Radio transmission with England in secret codes was chosen, due to the fear that communications by undersea cable might be intercepted.
 |
W3XAU
/ WCAB / Hydra 10 kW Shortwave Transmitter |
 |
Camp X
– 1943 |
After the Philadelphia shortwave transmitter was refurbished, it was installed at Camp X in one of the large buildings on the property, a building that had windows placed 7 ft. above ground level for security reasons. Transmitter Hydra was inaugurated in late 1942. Three large rhombic antennas were used for the transmissions to England (and at times to South America), and also for the reception of incoming shortwave signals. As part of the local cover story in Canada, it was stated that the large rhombic antennas were part of a facility for broadcasting the programming of CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
 |
The
Hydra Building, with high windows |
Use of the Hydra shortwave transmitter extended well beyond its original World War II service. When the war ended, Hydra was taken over by the Royal Canadian Signals as the Oshawa Station, for use during the Cold War. The transmitter was finally shut down for the last time in 1969; worn out and no longer serviceable.
Camp X no longer exists, and none of the original buildings are left standing today. It would be presumed that the historic shortwave transmitter, known successively as W3XAU, WCAB, and finally as Hydra, was simply and unceremoniously scrapped.
So the story about this transmitter going to England for use by the BBC: Was it a case of bad memory, or perhaps a change of plans? No, it was not. We would suggest that it was in reality, a cover story, to disguise its real purpose for use in spy communications between North America and Europe.
And if you haven’t heard of Camp X in Ontario before, there was a good documentary film made about it in 2014 ( https://thetvdb.com/movies/camp-x ) which is now available on Amazon Prime.
Further, CBC TV in Canada made a drama series called ‘X Company’ in which a recreation of the camp is featured. https://thetvdb.com/series/x-company
There were three seasons comprising 28 episodes, which ran from 2015 to 2017, which I’d highly recommend. I was fortunate to be able to record it from TV when it first aired, but you may now be able to find it on Blu-ray, and ‘X Company’ is also available for streaming on the Roku Channel and on Apple TV+.
Back to you, Jeff.
