This episode originally aired on September 3, 2000
It was back in the year 1968 that we as a family were transferred from Perth in Western Australia to Lahore in Pakistan. Soon after our arrival at our new location, I received a letter from an international radio monitor in the United States enquiring about the small shortwave station operated by Radio Pakistan in Lahore.
I checked my radio files and noted that I had received several QSL cards for different outlets of Radio Pakistan, and that each card listed a shortwave transmitter in Lahore under the callsign APL3. The World Radio TV Handbook also listed APL3 in Lahore, as a 1 kW shortwave unit on the air on 21 different channels, though most of these were never used.
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Now, it so happened that the transmitter base for Radio Pakistan Lahore on mediumwave was located on Multan Road, just half a mile from Adventpura, the estate where we were living. On one occasion, my Pakistani assistant and I drove down to the station, and we were given a cordial welcome and a friendly guided tour. I saw the small shortwave transmitter, now off the air. I was told that there was little need for a low-powered shortwave transmitter in the Lahore area, and that there were no plans to re-activate it.
Just last year, when I made a nostalgic return visit to Pakistan, I revisited the transmitter site on Multan Road, only to discover that the entire station is gone, transferred to another location. The whole area is now a modern housing estate.
The history of Radio Pakistan Lahore, shortwave APL3, is very interesting. It would appear that this transmitter was at first on the air shortwave in Karachi under the callsign APK2. It was transferred to Lahore around 1950 and it was in service in Lahore as APL3 until about 1967. Programming was always on relay from the network of Radio Pakistan, usually from the local mediumwave station. Very few QSL cards were ever issued for this small regional shortwave unit.
Thus, the historic shortwave transmitter, 1 kW APL3, was long ago discarded, and the property is now a housing estate.
