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In this our final report on the
Kolkata scene, we draw attention to the many QSL cards and letters that have
been issued by All India Radio in Kolkata.
The QSL collection in Indianapolis holds more than 300 QSL cards and
letters from Indian radio broadcasting stations, and more than 30 are from
Kolkata itself.
The oldest Calcutta QSL is dated in
the year 1935. It is a letter addressed
to an international radio monitor who was living in Christchurch New
Zealand. The small style letterhead
itself states that it was issued by the Calcutta Station of the Indian State
Broadcasting Service and this was in the era before the now familiar All India
Radio was established. At the time,
station VUC was on the air mediumwave with 2½ kW on 810 kHz and
with 2 kW on 6110 kHz, though the QSL letter does not specify which outlet was
logged by the listener in New Zealand.
Next, VUC issued a Form Letter QSL
and our copy is dated in 1938 when the shortwave unit VUC2 was operating at 10
kW with a daily schedule of 4850 kHz morning and evening and 9530 kHz during
the day. Their first QSL card was the
Silver Logo network card which showed Calcutta with the same three frequencies,
mediumwave and shortwave.
In the 1970s, AIR Calcutta was
issuing picture postcards with the QSL text in the left panel on the address
side of the card. Those cards issued
from Calcutta showed local Calcutta scenes, such as the Howrah Bridge and the
Victoria Memorial. Those cards issued
from the AIR headquarters in New Delhi on behalf of Calcutta portrayed any
number off colorful scenes all throughout India. Many of the other Kolkata QSL cards in the
Indianapolis Heritage Collection are self-prepared Postal Cards with the QSL
text rubber stamped onto the blank side.
We should also mention that the
Calcutta-Kolkata QSL cards verify some twenty different mediumwave, shortwave
and FM channels with power ratings ranging from 2½ kW
through 10 20 & 50 kW up to 1,000 kW over a period of ¾ of
a century.
(AWR?Wavescan/NWS 298 via Adrian Peterson)