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.
(AWR-Wavescan/NWS 312)