Radio Myanmar in Burma, or Myanmar as the country is known these days, celebrated its 75th Anniversary on February 15, 2021.
It was back on February 15, 1946, that the radio broadcasting service in Rangoon Burma was restarted following the ravages of the Asian-Pacific War in the middle of the last century. We are grateful to Jose Jacob VU2JOS in Hyderabad India in alerting us to this important radio anniversary in Burma.
Here in our program Wavescan today, we honor Radio Myanmar on the occasion of their historic 75th Radio Anniversary, so let's go back to the very beginning as we trace the progressive developments in the wireless/radio scene in Burma/Myanmar. In fact, the very first wireless communication stations in Burma were installed under the British administration in India well over one hundred years ago.
Burma/Myanmar with its 55 million people is the largest of the six mainland countries of South East Asia, and it stretches for 1,300 miles north-south. The northern section is approximately diamond-shaped, 500 miles across; and the southern section is just long and narrow, and maybe 30 miles wide. The erstwhile capital city, Rangoon, or Yangon as it is known today, lies at the mouth of the Irrawaddy River, near the junction area of the larger and smaller geographic sections of Burma.
A new capital city, planned and constructed, is located in almost the center of the northern geographic section of Myanmar; it is known as Naypyidaw; and it was established in 2006. This new capital city is some 300 miles due north of the original capital city Rangoon-Yangon.
Asian peoples migrated into Burma from the north around three and four thousand years ago, and these days there are more than one hundred tribal and language groups throughout the country. The women in the sub-tribe of the Kayan people are noted for the wearing of a multitude of brass rings around the neck, and the men who catch fish on Lake Inle are noted for their leg-rowing technique while standing upright on their small boats.
British colonial influence from India began in Burma in 1824, and the territory was annexed by Great Britain more than half a century later. The British administration of Burma was separated from India in 1937; and five years later, in August 1942, Japanese forces invaded and established a military administration.
Three years later again, in July 1945, British forces (together with American and Australian participation) again took over the Burma territory. Then on January 4, 1948, Burma gained their independence. The name change, from Burma to Myanmar and from Rangoon to Yangon, took place 41 years later on June 18, 1989.
One of the major tourist attractions in Myanmar is the thousand-year-old royal city of Pagan with its extensive ruins spread over 26 square miles, together with the 13,000 large and small temples. Pagan is located 300 miles north of Rangoon, and rather close to Mandalay.
Another major tourist attraction in old Burma is the double row of stone panels that are housed in an ornate double colonnade, also near to Mandalay. Each stone panel stands about 5 feet tall, and each is about 5 inches thick. Row upon row of inscriptions in the Burmese circular script were incised into each side of each panel, and the full set of 729 stone panels contains the entire official text of the Buddhist religion.
For those who enjoy ecotourism, a visit to several of the 800 islands that stretch from the Myamna mainland out into the Andaman Sea is indeed a visit to Asia's last untouched and pristine wonderland, states the tourist brochure. Modern accommodations and amenities are sparse, but the natural beauty is idyllic.
Communication wireless came to Burma very early; in fact, back at that time, experimental Marconi wireless in Europe was less than 10 years old. During the year 1904, a whole network of primitive Morse Code wireless stations was installed throughout India, including Burma, which was administered during that era by the British Raj in India.
It is known that five wireless stations were installed in various areas of Burma in that pre World War 1 era. Those stations in Burma communicated with each other, and with similar stations in Calcutta India and with Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, sometimes direct and sometimes in a cascade relay when propagation conditions were bad.
Three letter callsigns for these stations began with the two letters RO, and we take a brief look at each of the 5 original stations in alphabetic order, beginning in 1904.
Morse Code wireless station ROB was installed at Bassein, a regional city of a quarter-million people located 120 miles west of Rangoon. Bassein is famous for the manufacture of colorful Parasol sun shades that are sold throughout Burma. Wireless station ROB communicated with Diamond Island ROD and Port Blair ROP in the Andaman Islands.
In the Burmese language, the name for Diamond Island means Beautiful Daughter Island. In 1801, the British merchant ship Mermaid was wrecked on a nearby rock; and during the Asia-Pacific War in January 1942, the river steamer Yengyua rescued the British radio operators who were serving at the wireless station. The original callsign for this wireless station was ROD.
The Mergui Archipelago in the Andaman sea off the southern coast of Burma is made up of more than 800 islands, most of which have never been thoroughly explored nor charted. Most of the local people are known as Moken, SeaGypsies, who live off the sea and move among the islands. On one of the Mergui Islands wireless stations, ROG was installed.
The wireless station listed at Table Island operated under the callsign ROI. However, that station was actually located on Slipper Island, which is a small islet attached to the northwestern point of Table Island. There was an old iron lighthouse on Table Island.
Victoria Point is a town that lies at the very southern tip of mainland Burma. Back then, the wireless station at Victoria Point operated under the callsign ROV, though one listing for this station gave the callsign as ROT, which seems to be a mistake.
In our program today, we honor the 75th anniversary of Radio Myanmar in Burma-Myanmar, and we have investigated the early wireless scene, beginning in the year 1904, and ending with World War 1. More about Burma next time.
(AWR-Wavescan 625)
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