KNLS-Anchor Point, Alaska

 

Classic KNLS QSL

Jeff: One North American shortwave broadcasting station that I don’t think we’ve ever covered in Wavescan is World Christian Broadcasting’s KNLS at Homer, Alaska, just outside the town of Anchor Point.  World Christian Broadcasting is an active member of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB), and operates two shortwave stations – KNLS, the ‘New Life Station’ in Alaska, and Madagascar World Voice, MWV, in Madagascar.  This year, World Christian Broadcasting is celebrating 50 years since it was originally incorporated in 1976, so here’s Ray Robinson to tell us something about those early years.

Summertime at KNLS

Ray:Thanks, Jeff.  In the early 1970’s during the depths of the Cold War, a small group of American Christians began to dream of using shortwave radio to share the peace of God with a troubled world.  Other Christian organizations were already doing that, of course, such as HCJB from Ecuador and Trans World Radio from Monte Carlo and Bonaire, but these folks felt there were gaps that needed to be filled, particularly in the closed communist countries of Asia, and they started to form their own vision for how those people groups could best be reached.

That vision began to take shape in July 1976 when World Christian Broadcasting was formed.  Although it is a legally independent organization, it is closely associated with the Church of Christ denomination, and the Articles of Incorporation were signed on July 30, 1976.  They particularly wanted to reach people in the Siberian region of Russia, in China, and in North Korea – areas where the Bible was not welcome and where traditional missionaries could not go.  For this purpose, they figured a transmission site in southern Alaska would be optimal, and set about finding a suitable location.

However, things don’t always go smoothly in the Arctic, and just eight months after World Christian was formed, two founding members of the Board of Directors perished in a plane crash while surveying potential sites.  They were Dr. Lowell Perry, of Abilene, Texas, and Ken Ferguson, a Californian businessman, and their deaths came as a terrible shock to the fledgling organization.

By December 1979, though, 7½ acres of land had been secured about 100 miles south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula, just outside the small town of Anchor Point.

A mile of road had to be cut through the rugged Alaskan landscape just to reach the construction site.  Wells were dug, rustic housing was built for the operators and engineers, and two antenna masts were erected.

Then, when the transmitter hall was nearly completed, tragedy struck once again.  Kevin Chamber, who had been appointed as the station manager, arrived one cold morning to see smoke coming out of both ends of the building.  The fire had been set deliberately by locals in an act of arson, apparently to force the station to go elsewhere.  Half the transmitter building was destroyed by the fire.

But fortunately, the transmitter and other major electronic components had not yet been installed, and insurance did cover most of the loss.  Chambers and his crew went to work, reconstructing the building before the winter came, and the transmitter, a Harris SW100A 100 kW unit, was successfully installed without further drama.

A giant curtain antenna was then installed, measuring about 400 feet square, suspended between the two masts.  The curtain actually consisted of sixteen separate dipole antennas, strung together in a wire mesh.  A second wire screen hanging just behind the antenna acted as a reflector to push the radio frequency radiation more efficiently towards the desired target areas.  Using huge switches at the base of the curtain, operators could electrically slew the beam of the antenna towards different parts of Asia or the Pacific Basin.

A special counterweight system was designed and installed to allow the antenna to survive Alaska’s bitter winds, ice and snow.  If high winds or heavy icing put an abnormally high load on the wires between the masts that support the antenna, the concrete counterweights, which are as large as a small car, would actually be lifted off the ground by as much as six inches, allowing the antenna to sag.  It was a protective measure to prevent the masts from being damaged by the elements.  World Christian Broadcasting obtained the FCC callsign KNLS, which stands for King’s New Life Station, and it finally went on air for the first time on July 23, 1983.

Tune in to the Audio Clip – KNLS Alaska Calling at: 

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/wavescan/episodes/2026-08-15T17_00_00-07_00

Initially, KNLS broadcast for four hours per day in Chinese, six hours per day in Russian, and an hour and a half in Ukrainian, all on frequencies in the 49-meter band.  The opening broadcast was especially memorable for those involved, because it represented the sacrifice of thousands of individuals who had donated their time, energy and financial support to bring the dream to fruition.  Dozens of people had battled Alaska’s unforgiving climate and difficult terrain to build KNLS, and founding board members Perry and Ferguson had given their very lives.

In 1989, an operations center was constructed in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.  The administrative staff and all international programming and production staff are located there.  Unlike other missionary radio stations, World Christian Broadcasting does not sell airtime to other Christian ministries, but produces 100% of the content they broadcast themselves.  Financially, they are supported primarily by donations from individuals and local Church of Christ congregations across North America.  Their programs are produced in a magazine-style format, with current affairs, commentary on the news from a Christian perspective, entertainment and business news, music, sports, interviews, health tips, and the latest developments in medicine, science and technology, as well as the Christian message and lessons from the Bible.

In 2003, a third antenna mast was erected at KNLS allowing a second curtain antenna to be installed similar to the first.  A second 100 kW transmitter was also added, a Continental 418F.  Then in 2014, the original Harris transmitter was removed and shipped to station WTWW in Lebanon, Tennessee, to be replaced in 2015 by a second Continental 100 kW unit, model 418G.

Because it is illegal even to own a Bible in 13 countries, and illegal to evangelize or proselytize in another 15 countries, World Christian Broadcasting sees it as their purpose to reach people by broadcast media, primarily shortwave, in those countries where it is not safe for traditional missionaries to go.  To this end, a second station was built in Madagascar in the early 20teens, mainly to target Asian and African countries that are hostile to Christianity.  That station went on the air on Easter Sunday, 2016 with two more 100 kW Continental 418G transmitters, and it too has also been celebrating because this year’s its 10th birthday

So, today in 2026, KNLS and Madagascar World Voice are each still operating with two 100 kW Continental transmitters.  KNLS currently broadcasts:

• in Chinese for eight hours per day, 

• in Russian for five hours per day,

• in Korean for two hours per day, and

• in English for four hours per day,

using frequencies in the 49, 41 and 31 meter bands.    The programming produced in Franklin in English, Chinese and Russian is used on both stations.  A full A26 schedule for both stations can be found online at worldchristian.org/how-to-listen.  KNLS doesn’t have a live stream as such, but some of the languages have mobile apps, and each day’s English program is available online at knls.org/home.

Additional audio clip of KNLS English intro at: 

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/wavescan/episodes/2026-08-15T17_00_00-07_00

Back to you, Jeff ...

U.K. Propagation Update

 

RSGB

RadCom Assistant Editor | August 21, 2026

Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on 20 August, 2026

Last week was characterised by geomagnetic disturbances, due to high-speed solar wind streams from coronal holes and a slightly increasing solar flux index.

The Kp index hit 5 on 18-19 August, reducing maximum useable frequencies, or MUFs, and generally being detrimental to HF propagation.

We also had more than 50 C-class solar flares and one M-class event this past week, so nothing too severe. It was coronal holes that did the damage with two large areas on the Sun. A coronal hole is an area of the Sun with open magnetic field lines that allows solar plasma to escape.

HF conditions were relatively poor during International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on Sunday, 16 August, with little DX and heavy QSB or fading. The MUF struggled to get to 21MHz, and most activity was on the 40 and 20m bands.

Some transatlantic signals were logged but they were weak and watery. That didn’t stop people from enjoying the event, though!

DX to be worked this week includes 3B8/SQ9UM from Mauritius; RI8KR from Asiatic Russia; RI1FJL operating from Franz Josef Land; V47JA on St Kitts; and V51WH and V55Y active in Namibia.

Good news this week as Propquest is back online, showing near real-time MUFs over various distances. Jim, G3YLA says this is a temporary fix pending further work.

NOAA predicts that we will see a solar flux index around 100 to 120 next week, with relatively poor geomagnetic conditions forecast for today, 23 August. The Kp index is predicted to be around 2 during the coming week.

At the time of writing, there are no coronal holes threatening HF propagation but keep an eye on solarham.com for updates.

We are still analysing the eclipse experiment data, but a video of the 80m WSPR contacts has been produced and can be found at tinyurl.com/80mWSPR

 

VHF and up propagation news:

Compiled by G3YLA and G4BAO

The return of unsettled weather last week pauses over this weekend, ending today, 23 August as a new high moves across the country from the Atlantic.

This gives a good chance for some tropo and, if the land temperatures pick up again and drift offshore, it could produce some good conditions across sea paths like the North and Irish Seas.

Before midweek, probably during Tuesday, low pressure will return and push a frontal system across the country followed by further fronts and showery periods for the rest of the week.

This could be very good for rain scatter on the GHz bands, especially if the showers turn thundery.

Meteor scatter will be largely random activity for most of the coming week. We will also see the end of the Delta Aquarids today, 23 August and the final trailing off from the Perseids, which end tomorrow, 24 August.

The solar conditions are worth monitoring after recent activity saw the Kp index reach 5 on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. Ideally, we require something a little higher to start considering auroral propagation from the southern UK.

Sporadic-E can last into the first week of September but tends to become harder to find and shorter in duration. There is no reason to stop checking, though – anytime from mid-morning to late afternoon should cover it.

For EME operators, the Moon was at apogee and at minimum declination yesterday, 22 August. With minimum peak elevation and maximum path losses, it’s a good excuse to check out the mechanics of your antenna.

144MHz sky noise is very high today, 23 August, falling back to low as the week progresses.

https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/propagation-news/2026/08/21/propagation-news-23-august-2026/

(Mike Terry, UK/BDXC)

Encore classical music from Radio Tumbrill

 

Regular Broadcast times of Encore By WRMI and Channel 292 are:

02:00 - 03:00 UTC Friday 5850 kHz WRMI to US

20:00 - 21:00 UTC Friday 15770 kHz WRMI to Europe

10:00 - 11:00 UTC Saturday 9670 kHz Channel 292 to Europe

01:00 - 02:00 UTC Sunday 5850 kHz WRMI to US and Canada

19:00 - 20:00 UTC Sunday 3955 kHz Channel 292 to Europe

02:00 - 03:00 UTC Monday 5950 kHz WRMI to the US and Canada

13:00 - 14:00 UTC Tuesday 15770 kHz WRMI to Europe, east coast of US and Iceland. (Sometimes RTTY on the lower sideband. Suggest notch out or use USB.)

 

Some Things to see on The Encore Website:

The Encore website is www.tumbril.co.uk where you will find:

Important information about funding of Encore - Radio Tumbril.

Up-to-date transmission times and frequencies.

The playlists for the most recent programmes.

An email link.

Informal reception reports as well as those requesting eQSL cards are welcome.

 

PLEASE MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION AND HELP KEEP ENCORE ON THE AIR - Go to - www.tumbril.co.uk

 

WRMI and Channel 292 are very generous with their air-time, but Encore still costs around 130 Dollars/Euros a month to broadcast.

If you can, please send a small contribution to help Encore keep going.

 

THE DONATION BUTTON is on the homepage of the website - www.tumbril.co.uk - which folks can use if they would like to support Encore.

 

(Please don't be put off by the POWR security wall when using the PAYPAL button - it is a harmless requirement of WIX the website hosting service.)

 

THIS FORTNIGHT'S PROGRAMME - First broadcast on FRIDAY 21st August by WRMI at 0200 UTC on 5850, and 2000 UTC on 15770 and then Channel 292 on SATURDAY 22nd August at 10:00 UTC on 9670 kHz:

Starts with a suite for viol consort and lute by William Lawes, a song from Franz Schubert, and the prelude from Lohengrin, Act 1, by Wagner.

After that the Shepherd's Song by Han Kun Sha, and some trumpet and organ from J S Bach.

To finish - the 2nd movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto arranged for piano and cor anglais.

 

Brice Avery - Encore - Radio Tumbril - www.tumbril.co.uk.

GMØTLY

Radio Prague International Celebrates 90 Years

 

QSL card from 2022

Radio Prague International will celebrate its 90th anniversary on August 31, marking nine decades of international broadcasting. As part of the celebration, the station plans to air a special program featuring comments and greetings from listeners around the world. Radio Prague International is part of Czech Radio, which celebrated its own 100th anniversary in 2023.

To commemorate the occasion, the station has released a new series of 10 special QSL cards, honoring its 90-year history. A look at the anniversary cards is available here:
https://english.radio.cz/radio-pragues-qsl-cards-8701722

Listeners can also enjoy an eight-part audio series exploring the history of Radio Prague and its role through the years in both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. The series is available online and through most podcast platforms:
https://english.radio.cz/prague-calling-world-8890780

Over the years, Radio Prague's QSL cards have featured everything from transmitters and broadcasting equipment to scenic views of Czech cities and countryside, as well as notable Czech personalities. The station's 40th anniversary QSL card, issued in 1976, remains a favorite among many collectors.

While Radio Prague International no longer operates its own shortwave transmitters, listeners can still hear its broadcasts on shortwave via WRMI, as well as through the World Radio Network and online streaming services.

Throwback Thursday - Early Shortwave Broadcasting in Asia

 

This week's edition of Throwback Thursday originally aired on March 18, 2001

This year is an important year for Adventist World Radio. It is the 30th anniversary of our first broadcast from a 250 kw. Marconi shortwave transmitter located at Radio Trans Europe near Sines in Portugal. In this edition of Wavescan, we continue with another episode in the very interesting story of shortwave broadcasting by the Seventh-day Adventist denomination; and on this occasion, we are in Asia.

The very first Adventist broadcast on shortwave in Asia took place in October 1937 with a series of programs in the 49 metre band over station VU7MC in Mysore, India. These broadcasts were a short series of lectures on the care of poultry, presented by an American professor at the Adventist college in Bangalore.

Radio station VU7MC began as a 30-watt unit in the home of a university professor, though later a 250 kw transmitter was imported. The broadcasting station VU7MC began as an amateur operation, and it was on the air for a period of eight years before it was taken over by the state government of Mysore. The princely state of Mysore was later absorbed into the Union state of Karnataka, and the station VU7MC was ultimately replaced by local mediumwave stations as part of the network of All India Radio.

In April 1950, the shortwave station in the Portuguese colony of Goa began to carry the syndicated American program, "Voice of Prophecy." Broadcasts of this program ended on the last Sunday in December, though the station carried other Adventist programming for another couple of years. Radio Goa at the time was on the air with just the one transmitter, a 1 kw. unit on 9610 kHz under the colonial Portuguese callsign CR8A. This station left the air when Goa was absorbed into India as a Union territory.

Eight years later, two other stations in Southern Asia inserted Adventist programming into their shortwave schedules. One was the Burma Broadcasting Service in Rangoon, 50 kw. in the 25-metre band, with the American "Voice of Prophecy." Burma is today Myanmar, Rangoon is Yangon, and the shortwave service has been increased with the installation of several additional transmitters at 50 kw.

The other station in 1958 was Radio Nepal in Kathmandu, 5 kw. in the 41-metre band, with a new health program, "Your Radio Doctor." The transmitter base at Jawalarkel contained two Australian-made shortwave transmitters at 5 kw., though this facility was subsequently closed when a larger facility was constructed out beyond the edge of the capital city. For a short period of time each year, Jawarlekhel was re-activated to keep it air-worthy for use in an emergency.

Adventist radio programming on the Voice of the Maldives was introduced in 1967, when this station was on the air with a series of locally-made low-powered shortwave transmitters. One of these units carried an External Service for coverage into India and Sri Lanka, though it was always hard to hear. The shortwave transmitter on 4740 kHz was listed with 30 kw., though in reality it was operating at just 7.5 kW.

Beginning in 1969, Radio Afghanistan carried a local translation of the health program, "Your Radio Doctor," in the two national languages, Dari and Pushto. These broadcasts were part of the programming from Radio Afghanistan, which was on the air with two channels in the tropical shortwave bands, usually at 50 kW. and 100 kW. The main base at Jakatut was destroyed later in revolutionary fighting.

Radio Bangladesh also carried a locally produced program in the Garo language in 1979, and this was also heard on tropical shortwave. These programs were on the air at the time from two locations, both quite low-powered. The older transmitter was located in suburban Dacca, and the other was on the outer edge of Dacca.

Then finally the comparatively new station NYAB in Thimpu, Bhutan broadcast with low power on shortwave the translation of "Your Radio Doctor" in two local languages. In those days the radio station in Bhutan was operated as a volunteer service by the National Youth Association of Bhutan. These days, Bhutan is on the air with several transmitters, FM and shortwave, from a new building in the same locality.

Adventist Broadcasts on Shortwave - Southern Asia

1937 (Oct), VU7MC, Mysore, India (college program)

1950 (Apr 30), CR8A, Goa (American VOP)

1953, BBS, Rangoon, Burma (American VOP, one year)

1958, R. Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal (Your Radio Doctor)

1967, MIBS, Male, Maldives

1969, R. Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan (YRD in Dari and Pashtu)

1979, R. Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Bengali)

1983, NYAB, Thimpu, Bhutan (YRD 2 languages)

(Wavescan 325)

Texas Radio Shortwave, August 20

 

August 20, 2026

1900  3975 + 6160  Shortwave Radio Gold  Eur  The Music of Boz Scaggs    

Unless otherwise shown, programs are one hour long.

Programs for Europe (Eur) and beyond on 3975 and 6160 kHz over Shortwave Radio Gold in Winsen, Germany, are transmitted with 1 kW into crossed dipole antennas.

Programs for Europe (Eur) and beyond on 6070 and 9670 kHz over Channel 292 in Rohrbach, Germany, are transmitted with 10 kW into an inverted V antenna.

Programs for North America (NAm) and beyond on 9670 kHz over Channel 292 are transmitted with 10 kW into a 10.5 dB gain beam antenna.

Texas Radio Shortwave uses a version of The Yellow Rose of Texas as its Interval Signal/Signature Song.

Texas Radio Shortwave verifies correct, detailed reception reports by electronic QSL. This includes reports from listeners using remote receivers (SDRs). Texas Radio

Shortwave's email is texasradioshortwave@protonmail.com.

Many TRSW programs are archived at www.mixcloud.com/texasradiosw.

Texas Radio Shortwave's Facebook page is www.facebook.com/texasradiosw.

Texas Radio Shortwave's Listeners' Group Facebook page is www.facebook.com/groups/580199276066655/.

texasradioshortwave@protonmail.com

(TRSW)      

Audio for Jen's Eclectic Views & Real Deal for August 16, now available

 

If you missed the August 16th, no problem ... it is now available for listening and downloading. 

Jen's Link 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6svx9p91fe201x2v7le23/Jen-s-Eclectic-Views-Real-Deal-For-Sun.-Aug.-16th-17-20plus-heard-on-Unique.mp3?rlkey=549vr56awjyx1cfmq7at2pc3g&dl=0

Jen's Tiny URL https://tinyurl.com/3nayrhbb

For contact pleasure.

JenUR@proton.me

Thanks.

Jen In The RAD

Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins, August 17, 2026

 Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts

:Issued: 2026 Aug 17 0058 UTC

# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center

# Product description and SWPC web contact www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services

#

#                Weekly Highlights and Forecasts

#

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 10 - 16 August 2026

Solar activity ranged from very low to low levels throughout the

period. No R1 (Minor) or greater events were observed. The largest

flare was a C8.2/Sn at 16/1928 UTC from Region 4506 (N12, L=215,

class/area=Dao/100 on 16 Aug). An associated CME was observed in

LASCO C2 imagery following the C8.2 flare, but analysis is ongoing

in order to determine any Earth-directed component. Other activity

included the lift-off of a large filament near S16E22 at 14/0332 UTC

which produced a CME that is expected to arrive on 17-18 Aug. 

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was

normal to moderate levels throughout the period. 

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet or quiet to unsettled levels

throughout the period. 

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 17 August - 12 September 2026

Solar activity is expected to range from very low to low levels

throughout the outlook period, with a slight chance for an R1-R2

(Minor-Moderate) event. 

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is

expected to reach high levels on 19-20, 23-24, and 28 Aug. Normal to

moderate levels are expected to prevail throughout the remainder of

the outlook period. 

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to reach active levels on

17-18 Aug due to the anticipated arrival of a CME that left the Sun

on 14 Aug. Active conditions are expected again on 21-22 Aug and 04

Sep due to the influences of a CH HSS. Quiet and quiet to unsettled

conditions are expected to prevail throughout the remainder of the

outlook period. 

Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt

:Issued: 2026 Aug 17 0058 UTC

# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center

# Product description and SWPC contact: www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services

#

#      27-day Space Weather Outlook Table

#                Issued 2026-08-17

#

#   UTC      Radio Flux   Planetary   Largest

#  Date       10.7 cm      A Index    Kp Index

2026 Aug 17     130          15          4

2026 Aug 18     125          12          4

2026 Aug 19     130           5          2

2026 Aug 20     130           5          2

2026 Aug 21     125          12          4

2026 Aug 22     125          12          4

2026 Aug 23     120          10          3

2026 Aug 24     115           8          3

2026 Aug 25     115           5          2

2026 Aug 26     110           5          2

2026 Aug 27     110           5          2

2026 Aug 28     110           5          2

2026 Aug 29     110           5          2

2026 Aug 30     110           5          2

2026 Aug 31     105           5          2

2026 Sep 01     105           5          2

2026 Sep 02     105           5          2

2026 Sep 03     100           5          2

2026 Sep 04      95          15          3

2026 Sep 05      95           8          3

2026 Sep 06      90           5          2

2026 Sep 07      90           5          2

2026 Sep 08      95           5          2

2026 Sep 09      95           5          2

2026 Sep 10     100           5          2

2026 Sep 11     100           5          2

2026 Sep 12     105           5          2

(NOAA)

Independence Day Coverage from India's Akashvani

AIR QSL

India is celebrating its 80th Independence Day on 15 August 2026. 

Details of special programs by Akashvani for the occasion include:

On August 14, 2026 (Friday) 1330 UTC Akashvani will air the Address to the Nation on the eve of Independence Day in Hindi and English by Smt. Droupadi Murmu, Hon'ble President of India. All stations of Akashvani will relay the address on mediumwave, FM and shortwave. 

Live Streaming: https://akashvani.gov.in/radio/live.php

 

August 15, 2026 (Saturday) 0130-0240 UTC 

Red Fort

Akashvani  Home Service stations will broadcast live commentary in English and Hindi on the Flag Hoisting and Prime Minister's address to the nation. The address will be held at the Red Fort, New Delhi, 0130-0240 UTC on August 15 on the following schedule:

English

15260 kHz (Bengaluru)- 250 kW   

Hindi

9740 kHz (New Delhi) -  100 kW

15410 kHz (Bangalore) - 250 kW

Baluchi, Burmese, Indonesian and Nepali external services will not air on August 15. The External Service will begin with India's national anthem, Vande Mataram. 

Reception Reports may be posted online at: https://feedback.prasarbharati.org (or)  via email: spectrum-manager@prasarbharati.gov.in

Postal Address:

Director (Spectrum Management & Synergy)

Akashvani/ All India Radio,

Room No. 204, Akashvani Bhawan

Parliament Street

New Delhi110001, India 

(SW/RP/FH-Teak Publishing)

Barbados on Shortwave

 

Special thanks to Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing this week's Wavescan feature on Barbados

Jeff: If you were a shortwave broadcast DXer back in the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s, Barbados was probably on your want list.  Most people know that Barbados is in the group of islands known collectively as the West Indies, but where exactly?  Here’s Ray Robinson to tell us more.

Ray: Thanks, Jeff.  Most of the islands in the West Indies form an arc running from north to south down the eastern edge of the Caribbean, separating the Caribbean from the Atlantic.  Well, if you go about two-thirds down that arc, and then eastward out into the Atlantic just over 100 miles, there you will find Barbados, all on its own.

It’s a small, roughly triangular-shaped island, just 21 miles long (north to south) and 14 miles wide, with a relatively flat, undulating landscape, though there is one hilly area known as Scotland District in the north central part of the island, with the highest point being Mount Hillaby at 1120 feet.  The island is surrounded by 56 miles of coral reefs just offshore.  Barbados has a tropical monsoon climate, and yet has no rivers or lakes.  All drinking water is collected from underground springs and the aquifer.

Barbados has been an independent country, separate from the United Kingdom and a member of the United Nations, since 1966.  Its capital, Bridgetown, is located in the south west corner of the island, containing about one third of the country’s 280,000 inhabitants.  As such, it is one of the world’s most densely populated islands.  90% of all Barbadians, known locally as Bajans, are of black Afro-Caribbean ancestry, with the remainder being mostly Europeans from the UK, plus a handful of Portuguese, Irish, Germans and Italians.  There are also a few Asians from Hong Kong and India, but they make up less than 1% of the population.  Notably, Bridgetown is home to one of the oldest Jewish synagogues in the Americas, dating from 1654.

English is the only official language of the country, which is used for communications, administration and public services all over the island, although the language of everyday life is the primarily oral Bajan Creole, which lacks a standardized written form.

An undersea telegraph cable first reached Barbados in 1872.  It was in 1912 that an Anglo-French company first announced plans to establish a wireless station on Barbados, but soon afterwards they withdrew their offer.  Then, the following year in 1913, the Marconi company in England announced their plans to establish a wireless station on the island, though likewise, this project was never implemented either.

Consequently, a group of local wireless enthusiasts took the matter in hand and constructed their own wireless station, which was installed at St. Ann’s Fort.  This station was made up of a spark transmitter and a crystal receiver and it adopted the internationally recognized callsign VPO.  It is understood that V was a prefix for Barbados, and PO stood for Post Office as in the system in use in England.  With this primitive equipment, operators were able to communicate in Morse Code with ships up to 100 miles out at sea.

In the early 1920’s, a new wireless station was installed adjacent to the Dover Beach cable station and it was constructed by the American RCA company according to British Post Office specifications.  This new communication station was inaugurated on December 1, 1924, under the same original callsign VPO.

Then in 1943, a complete new radio communication station was constructed at a place called Bearded Hall, in the south-central part of the island.  The electronic equipment for this new station was assembled at the Marconi factory in England and it was originally planned for installation in Singapore, as a replacement for equipment that was lost when a ship was sunk by enemy action in 1940.

However, when Singapore fell to the Japanese in February 1942, that new consignment of equipment was diverted to Barbados instead.  And so the large new station with a transmitter hall and several towers supporting multiple antennas was constructed in 1943 and inaugurated early in 1944, still under the same callsign VPO.

Five years later, in 1949, a new callsign was allocated for this Barbadian station and VPO became ZNX.  Then, at the time of independence in 1966, another callsign was allocated and ZNX became 8PO.

But back in 1934 and 35, absent any local broadcasting service, a Barbadian amateur operator, Thomas A. Archer, VP6YB, began transmitting the results of cricket test matches on 7022 kHz primarily for the benefit not just of local listeners, but listeners in Jamaica, Trinidad and other Caribbean islands as well.

Perhaps in response to that, the first radio program service in Barbados was installed in 1935 as a Rediffusion system, or cable radio as we would call it today.  The first subscriber was connected on April 2, and with no local studio, all programming consisted of relays of shortwave transmissions from the BBC in London and commercially operated stations in the United States and Canada.

Five hours of daily programming was initially available on the cable radio system from the distribution point of Radio Distribution (Barbados) Ltd in Trafalgar Street.

The first location of Redifusion in Bridgetown was Trafalgar Street, 1947

      

A local production studio was installed in 1947, and in 1951 the system was bought by the Rediffusion Service Ltd of London, England.  In the 1950’s and 60’s, it was a common sight to see a Rediffusion speaker box hanging in the corner of the front room of a Barbadian home.

Programming had been expanded to cover 6am – 12 midnight, and as well as many locally-produced shows, they also included popular comedy shows from the BBC such as The Clitheroe Kid, The Goon Show and The Navy Lark, and panel shows like ‘Just a Minute’ and ‘My Word’.

Local Barbadian religious leaders were given their own time slots, and programs like Billy Graham’s ‘Hour of Decision’, Herbert W. Armstrong’s ‘The World Tomorrow’ and the Church of the Nazarene’s ‘Showers of Blessing’ were also carried from the USA.  Interestingly, cable radio in Barbados didn’t come to an end until November 30, 1997, by which time local radio and TV had supplanted the usefulness of this older system.

Medium wave radio broadcasting was introduced into Barbados when the government set up the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC (not to be confused with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).  On December 15, 1963 the CBC launched Radio Barbados, with 10 kW on the split channel 785 kHz.  The station ID during that early era was:  “This is Radio Barbados, the Voice of the Eastern Caribbean, 785 on your radio dial.”  Sometimes though, the channel was announced as 790.  The transmitter and antenna tower were installed together with the Cable & Wireless communication station ZNX at Bearded Hall.  Upon independence in 1966, this station was assigned the Barbadian call 8PX, and around eight years after its inauguration, the frequency was changed from 785 to 900 kHz.

CBC Headquarters

A second medium wave station was launched in Barbados on May 1, 1981 using the slogan ‘The Voice of Barbados’.  This station, also with 10 kW (which was more than enough to cover the small island), took over the previous channel of the government station, 790 kHz, and it was owned and operated by the previously mentioned cable radio system, using pretty much the same schedule and program content.  Today, this station, the Voice of Barbados, is still operating on 92.9 FM and online, and last year, 2025, they were celebrating 90 years since the launch of their Rediffusion service.

But what’s the story about shortwave radio from Barbados?  Well, as I mentioned earlier, shortwave broadcasting began in 1934 when amateur radio operator Thomas Archer carried live descriptions of major sporting events on behalf of the Barbados Radio Association over his station VP6YB.  These occasional and intermittent program broadcasts were last noted in the United States in December 1939.

However, soon afterwards, from 1940 until the end of the war, the shortwave communication station operated by Cable & Wireless, VPO, introduced a daily half-hour news bulletin which was heard at a good level with 5 kW on 3950 kHz.  After the war, this station continued to broadcast occasional special news events to the BBC in London on 11475 kHz.  In addition, occasional commentaries on major sporting events, mainly cricket, tennis and horse racing, were broadcast for reception and relay by radio stations on other islands throughout the Caribbean.

These occasional special events were heard quite widely over VPO and subsequently ZNX until well into the 1960’s, with listings included in the World Radio Handbook for most years from 1952-1965.  In 1962, ZNX was known to be using 5040 and 7547 kHz for these program broadcasts.

Many reception reports were received from listeners in North America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.  Cable & Wireless was noted as a good verifier of transmissions from their station under all three consecutive callsigns; VPO, ZNX & 8PO.  Letters were used to verify programming under the callsign VPO.  Under the subsequent callsign ZNX, QSL cards were initially in the style of duplicated cards; and then in the mid-1960’s, a printed QSL card with a yellow ornamental bar was introduced.

It’s understood that in the 1980’s, several religious organizations approached Cable & Wireless, enquiring about the possibility of using shortwave 8PO as a relay station for their programming.  However, nothing came of those ventures.

These days, of course, most radio broadcasting in Barbados is on FM with about 20 stations, including a BBC World Service relay on 92.1 MHz.  But the good news is, if Barbados is still on your want list, CBC Radio Barbados, 8PX, is still broadcasting with 10 kW on 900 kHz medium wave, in parallel with their main FM station on 94.7 MHz.  So, maybe it’s time to brush the dust off your old medium wave loop antenna and get hunting!  On the same frequency, 900 kHz, there is a 100 kW station in Mexico City and a 50 kW station in Minneapolis, but with a good loop, you might just be able to null those out.

Back to you, Jeff.

(Ray Robinson, Wavescan)

Throwback Thursday - What Happened to Them Afterwards? Swiss Radio at Lenk

 

Swiss Radio, Bern

Welcome to Throwback Thursday. This week's edition originally broadcast on March 4, 2001.   

Switzerland is a delightful tourist country, with high snow-covered mountains, huge valleys with rapid streams flowing through them, and picturesque, clean villages.  This country is a photographer's delight, with beautiful flowers growing profusely, contented cows grazing on deep green pastures, and pretty girls dressed in colorful folk costumes.

Switzerland is noted also for its long-time neutrality during times of nearby warfare, for its humanitarian aid with the International Red Cross, and for its locale as the scene for the League of Nations and the United Nations.  Swiss watches have become famous worldwide, as is also the delightful quality of their folk music.

On the international radio scene, Switzerland is also held in very high regard for the quality and the reliability of their shortwave broadcasts.  Millions of people throughout the world have become familiar with the beautiful music box rendition of their tuning signal.

The story of radio in Switzerland goes back to the early wireless days, and it is linked with the watchmaking industry.  Before the advent of wireless and the telephone, the only way that country clockmakers could get an accurate time was to travel with a clock to the capital city and check it against a reliable public clock.  When the clockmaker returned home, he could share the accurate time setting with other clockmakers in nearby areas.

When spark wireless stations were established in several countries of Europe, it was no longer necessary for the clockmaker to travel in order to obtain accurate time.  He could simply tune in to a wireless station on his wireless receiver.  In the year 1911, Swiss watchmakers began making wireless receivers that could tune in to the time signals from station FL on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The first official radio broadcasting station in Switzerland was inaugurated on August 22, 1922 under the callsign HB2.  This station was located in Lausanne and its programming consisted mainly of weather reports and locally produced Swiss folk music.

On shortwave, the first station was located at Schwarzenburg.  It was constructed in the year 1939, and before it became fully operational, it was mysteriously burned down.  However, it was quickly rebuilt.

The next location in Switzerland for a shortwave transmitter was Beromünster, followed by Sottens, Lenk and Sarnen.  The transmitter base at Lenk was located near the common Swiss borders with France and Italy.

The station at Lenk became operational in 1974, and, at full capacity, it was on the air with two BBC transmitters at 250 kw.  This station was on the air for a period of 24 years, and it was closed in 1998.  Many international radio monitors all around the world have received prized QSL cards from Swiss Radio International verifying their reception of the Lenk radio station. 

At a regional radio meeting last year, I talked again with George Zeller, who is a columnist with the monthly magazine, Monitoring Times.  I asked him what happened to SRI at Lenk.  George, an American, has visited Switzerland on several occasions, checking out his ancestral heritage and also visiting major radio stations.  He stated that the two transmitters at Lenk were installed in an underground bunker.  The antennas are also gone, and the site is once again a cow pasture.

Maybe a visiting photographer will see the restored beauty of this country scene and will take a picture of it in color, little realizing that this was the location of a large and important international shortwave station operated by Swiss Radio International.

(Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan 04 March 2026)  

August programming from FTIOM and Uncle Bill's Melting Pot

 

From the Isle of Music, August 2026

This month, we feature some of the winners of various categories of Cubadisco 2026. Cubadisco is Cuba's most prestigious discographic awards. 

Friday, August 14, 2026, 9670 kHz, 1800 CEST (1600 UTC), repeat on 3955 kHz at 2400 CEST (2200 UTC)

 

Uncle Bill's Melting Pot, August  2026

This month, special guest Ian Brennan, a GRAMMY-winning producer with a massive trove of world music projects will help us present some of his unique work, including the new Oman Bagpipe Singers release and other fascinating recordings from around the world.   

Friday, August 21, 2016: 9670 kHz at 1800 CEST (1600 UTC), repeats on 3955 kHz at 2400 CEST (2200 UTC) 

 

In addition to terrestrial listening, we do accept reception reports using remote sdrs provided both your own physical location and the location of the sdr are included. EQSLs only for either.

William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer 

Solar Eclipse over parts of Western Europe on August 12

 

For additional information and  path maps, consult https://nationaleclipse.com/maps/main/2026-total-solar-eclipse-maps.html

A reminder that there will be a rare Solar Eclipse visible over part of Western Europe, including the UK, tomorrow late afternoon/evening, which could have some interesting effects on propagation on MW/LW and the lower SW bands. 

The total eclipse starts in the Arctic around 1700 UTC, passing through part of Greenland and Iceland, but the main area of totality will be in Spain where it ends just after 1830 UTC over the Balearic Islands.  Map and more details in August Communication - pages 5 and 6 and also in the attached page in case your printed copy has not arrived yet. 

Here in the UK the partial eclipse will peak around 1810 UTC (1910 BST) with between 90 and 95% totality. But DX could be possible in the half hour or so before and after this peak.

Some possible MW stations to try for:

Spain: 540 (Barcelona), 666 (Barcelona), 783 (Barcelona), 873 (Zaragoza & Santiago de la Compostela), 990 (Bilbao), 999 (Madrid), 1026 (Oviedo), 1044 Valladolid), 1081 (La Coruña), 1179 (Valencia), 1287 (Burgos).                    

Portugal (630 Miranda do Douro & 666 Bragança) 

Algeria (LW 252, 531, 576, 891, 981, 1422)                          

Morocco LW 171.

531 kHz could be an interesting channel with initially the Faroes and then Algeria potentially being enhanced. 

Listeners in the south of England could also try for BBC Radio Scotland on 810 kHz

It may help to check the bands the day before (i.e today!) or the day after to enable you to make a comparison during the eclipse. And if you have an SDR, you could to record sections of the band during the eclipse 

I noticed when DXing during previous solar eclipses in 1999 and 2015 (in the far north of Scotland) the effects on propagation were quite short-lived, but those eclipses occurred during the daytime whereas this one is happening towards the onset of sunset when DX signals start to fade in under normal conditions. 

Good luck, and do let us know what you hear!

(Dave Kenny/BDXC) 

Updated Music on Shortwave, Version 4

 

an updated version (version 4) of my "Music Programmes on Shortwave" PDF file for the current A-26 broadcast season is now available to download from the permanent link at https://app.box.com/s/kbdxb4c5lwpju0kpoi27aiwc35br2g2a 

Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/shortwaveprograms 

You will also find here my "at-a-glance" single-page PDF A-26 program grids for the English language programmes on shortwave of CGTN Radio, Voice of Turkiye, and Radio Romania International, along with recently updated grids for BBC World Service and Radio Taiwan International.

I hope that you find these of interest.

As always, I appreciate any updates or corrections.

(BDXC/Alan Roe, Teddington, UK)

Update on Radio Taiwan International French service

 

Classic RTI QSL

Dear listeners,

The French service of Radio Taiwan International is pleased to remind you that, during August 2026, we will be broadcasting live from the Taipei Tamsui transmission centre in northern Taiwan to Europe and North Africa.

To mark the occasion, our French-language program will be broadcast on shortwave every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 30 August. Here are the frequencies and broadcast times:

15145 kHz: from 17:00 to 17:30 (UTC)

11850 kHz: from 17:30 to 18:00 (UTC) 

Due to recurring interference on the 11995 kHz frequency, reported by our listeners during the German service's broadcasts in July, the French service will use the 11850kHz frequency. We would like to thank all listeners who have helped us over the last few days to check the feasibility of using this frequency.

A special QSL card will be sent to you in confirmation of any listening reports you may send us by email to the RTI French Service address:

fren @ rti.org.tw

(WWDXC Top News 1661/10 Aug 2026)

Update on NHK World Radio Japan broadcasts

 JAPAN   

NHK World Radio Japan has reduced their temporary Japanese transmission to the Middle East from August 1; via KDDI, a national telecommunication provider at the Koga-Ibaragi-Yamata Japan site and MBR Nauen, Germany.

The new schedule from August 1 is as follows:

from Yamata JP transmitter site

1700-1900 12060 (regular transmission) 300 kW  305 deg

2200-2350 17800 (regular transmission) 300 kW  305 deg

From Nauen transmitter site

0100-0300  9440 125 kW  117 deg

0300-0400 11960 250 kW  117 deg

0400-0500 13750 250 kW  117 deg

The programs are also available online at

https:\\www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/ja/  (outside Japan only)

(WWDXC Top News 1661/10 Aug 2026)

Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins-August 10, 2026

 Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts

:Issued: 2026 Aug 10 0153 UTC

# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center

# Product description and SWPC web contact www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services

#

#                Weekly Highlights and Forecasts

#

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 03 - 09 August 2026

Solar activity was at very low to low levels throughout the period,

with no R1 (Minor) or greater events observed. Other activity three

CMEs associated with DSFs on 03 Aug, which arrived on 07 Aug, as

well as two CMEs without clear source locations on 04 Aug, which

arrived at Earth on 08 Aug. 

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at

normal to moderate levels throughout the period. 

Geomagnetic field activity reached G1-G2 (Minor-Moderate) storm

levels on 08 Aug following the arrival of CMEs that left the Sun on

04 Aug. Active conditions were observed on 03-04 Aug following the

arrival of a CME that left the Sun on 30 Jul. Quiet and quiet to

unsettled levels prevailed throughout the remainder of the period. 

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 10 August - 05 September 2026

Solar activity is expected to range from very low to low levels

throughout the outlook period. 

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is

expected to reach high levels on 12-16 and 22-23 Aug. Normal to

moderate levels are expected to prevail throughout the remainder of

the period. 

Geomagnetic field activity is likely to reach G1 (Minor) storm

levels on 11 Aug due to the anticipated arrival of a CME that left

the Sun on 08 Aug, and again on 19 Aug due to recurrent CH HSS

influences. Active conditions are likely on 10 and 17-18 Aug, while

quiet and quiet to unsettled conditions are likely to prevail

throughout the remainder of the outlook period. 

Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt

:Issued: 2026 Aug 10 0153 UTC

# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center

# Product description and SWPC web contact  www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services

#

#      27-day Space Weather Outlook Table

#                Issued 2026-08-10

#

#   UTC      Radio Flux   Planetary   Largest

#  Date       10.7 cm      A Index    Kp Index

2026 Aug 10      90          12          4

2026 Aug 11      90          20          5

2026 Aug 12      92          10          3

2026 Aug 13      92           5          2

2026 Aug 14      95           5          2

2026 Aug 15      95           5          2

2026 Aug 16      95           5          2

2026 Aug 17     100          15          4

2026 Aug 18     105          12          4

2026 Aug 19     105          20          5

2026 Aug 20     105           8          3

2026 Aug 21     110           5          2

2026 Aug 22     115           5          2

2026 Aug 23     115           5          2

2026 Aug 24     115           5          2

2026 Aug 25     115           5          2

2026 Aug 26     110           5          2

2026 Aug 27     105           5          2

2026 Aug 28     105           5          2

2026 Aug 29     110           5          2

2026 Aug 30     110           5          2

2026 Aug 31     105           5          2

2026 Sep 01     105           5          2

2026 Sep 02     100           5          2

2026 Sep 03     100           5          2

2026 Sep 04      95           8          3

2026 Sep 05      95           8          3

(NOAA)

U.K. Propagation Update

 

RSGB

RadCom Assistant Editor | August 7, 2026

Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on 6 August 2026.

The Sun was mostly settled last week with very little to report.

The solar flux index declined to 108 by Thursday, 6 August, with most of the sunspot activity being on one half of the solar surface.

Geomagnetic conditions have also been settled with a Kp index mostly below 3 for the past few days.

A coronal mass ejection impacted the Earth and pushed the Kp index to 5.67 on Sunday, 2 August, but conditions recovered within 24 hours.

We’ve even been almost solar flare free with, at the time of writing, only seven minor C-class events over the past three days.

So this all bodes well for HF propagation.

24 and 28MHz are mostly only open to Sporadic-E. Some multi-hop paths are still opening up to the Far East especially, so don’t write off 10m, even if you have to listen to noise for much of the day.

F2-layer propagation still favours North-South paths on the 10m band.

Next week, DX to be worked includes :

• E51KEE from the Cook Islands;

• YS/WE9G in El Salvador;

• UK/SP9DLM from Uzbekistan;

• OX3LX operating from Greenland.

Later in the week look for A50QO in Bhutan; J68TT from St Lucia and OJ0JR and OJ0YL working from Market Reef.

NOAA predicts that next week the Sun will remain pretty calm and be in the 105 to 110 range. The Kp index is forecast to be mostly around 2 to 3 so conditions should remain fair but not disrupted.

And don’t forget the solar eclipse on Wednesday, 12 August. The RSGB has many activities planned, including two HF contests, WSPR activity and medium- and long-wave monitoring.

See the August issue of RadCom for details.

VHF and up propagation: 

Compiled by G3YLA and G4BAO.

The main theme of the weather during the coming week is one of some settled high pressure with tropo options, especially early in the week. This is likely to be interrupted by occasional periods of low pressure with rain for northwestern areas.

The summer weather patterns typically produce a more showery type of rain, even from fronts, giving a reasonable chance of rain scatter. However, activity may be low in the south and east.

Of the two modes mentioned , next week will probably be more biased towards tropo than rain scatter.

The Kp index made a brief excursion to 5 last week but seems a bit quieter now. However, it’s useful to check now and again in case we find some radio aurora.

The meteor scatter options feature strongly this week as the Perseids meteor shower peaks around Wednesday, 12 and Thursday, 13 August. It’s quite interesting to simply leave a receiver on a meteor scatter calling channel to hear the transient signals.

The Sporadic-E season continues and, since meteor debris plays a role in providing the ionisation required, the Perseids week is always worth checking for a surprise opening.

In terms of jet stream weather patterns, the stronger hints come from looking east towards the Baltic. However, other directions are not to be ignored since even quite small features, such as a slow-moving severe thunderstorm, can have an influence.

For EME operators, Moon declination reaches maximum today, 9 August, when Moon window length and Moon elevation will be at their peak.

Path losses are at their lowest at perigee tomorrow, 10 August. 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate until Wednesday, 12 August, when the Sun is close to the Moon in the sky due to the partial eclipse that day.

https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/propagation-news/2026/08/07/propagation-news-9-august-2026/

(Mike Terry, UK?BDXC)

Jen's Special: The Music of Alt-Punk Music Fest on August 9

 

Get ready and tune in to Jen's August 9 program at 1700-2100 UTC+

Jen's Special: The Music of Alt-Punk Music Fest in Blackpool, GB.

http://uk4-vn.mixstream.net:8104/index.html 

For your contact pleasure

Jenur@proton.me

Jen In The Rad

Throwback Thursday - American Navy Station NAA

 

Welcome to Throwback Thursday. This week's edition originally broadcast on February 4, 2001  

The huge wireless station NAA in Arlington, Virginia, was one of the most celebrated wireless stations in the world, according to the American radio magazine Popular Communications back a few years ago.  It was also a very old station; it was established before World War I under the original callsign NAV.

Station NAV-NAA was located at Fort Myers on the edge of Virginia, and the super-tall towers were visible for many years, overshadowing Arlington 

National Cemetery where Presidents William H. Taft and John F. Kennedy lie buried.  Many different postcards from the era before and after World War I picture the huge antenna system at NAA from different angles.

NAA was in use as a massive spark gap transmitter communicating by Morse code with naval vessels at sea, with other American wireless stations at widely separated locations, and with similar stations in Europe.  One of the major stations in Europe that was in frequent communication with NAA was station FL on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. 

It was through the use of radio signals between FL in Paris and NAA near Washington, DC that the exact distance between Europe and the United States was measured with an accuracy of just a few yards.  Station NAA was also famous for the accuracy of its time signals, which were broadcast at hourly intervals, and these time signals were used to establish the exact boundary between two states down under, South Australia and Western Australia.

During the early part of World War II, station NAA was also in voice communication with FL in Paris as one of the earliest regular forms of voice communication by wireless.

One of the massive towers at NAA Arlington stood 600 feet tall, and the two others were 450 feet high.  The transmitter building was located in the middle of the triangle of towers, and several feed lines went up to the antennas suspended between the towers.

During World War II, the usage of station NAA as a naval communication station was phased out and taken over by NSS at Annapolis in Maryland.  The antennas were dismantled, the callsign was taken over by a station in Maine that is used for communication with submarines, and the property is now in use by the Defense Communications Agency.

Thus all that is left of the huge NAA facility is a few postcards that depict the station from various angles.  You can often see some of these cards at postcard exhibits, and you might want to buy one or two as a perpetual reminder of this famous and historic old wireless station.

(Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan 04 Feb 2001) 

NAA photo via Wikipedia

A closer look at Collins Radio

     

Thank you to the staff from Wavescan for this week's feature on Collins Radio Company.

Jeff:  For four decades, Collins Radio Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa set the absolute standard for American communications engineering.  No other manufacturer in the country came close to what Collins built, or how reliably they built it.  One of their communications receivers, the R390-A, was well-known to DXers of a certain age, but the Collins brand disappeared and hasn’t been heard of for decades.  So, what happened?  Here's Ray Robinson in Los Angeles to tell us the story.

Ray:  Thanks, Jeff.  When I first became a shortwave listener around 1970 or so, I avidly devoured information from club magazines and DX shows that then were carried by various international broadcasters.  I was awed by the range of communication receivers some listeners detailed along with their DX catches, which were way beyond my meagre budget at the time.  Two receivers that stand out in my mind from back then were the American-made Collins R-390A, and the British-made Eddystone EC-10, banks of which could be seen in photos of the BBC Monitoring Service at Caversham Park near Reading, England.  (What an amazing job that must have been – they actually paid people to sit at state-of-the-art communications receivers and seek out distant shortwave signals!)  Anyway, my mind got to thinking recently about the R-390A, and why we don’t hear of Collins Radio anymore these days.  So, I did some research, and here’s what I found.

At one time, Collins Radio was regarded as being the best communications equipment company in the world.  The United States Military trusted it for their bombers.  NASA trusted it for the moon.  And for four decades, it earned every bit of that trust.

So, why did it collapse?  It wasn’t because of competition or bad engineering.  It turns out the founder of the company, Arthur A. Collins, ended up destroying the company by being right about the future, but at exactly the wrong time.

In the basement of his family home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 22-year-old Arthur Collins began building radio transmitters by hand in 1931.  He founded the company two years later on First Avenue in Cedar Rapids with a single obsession – to build the most reliable, most precise communications equipment that American engineering could produce, with no shortcuts, no mass-market compromises – just performance, tested to its limits.

In that same year, 1933, Admiral Richard E. Byrd selected Collins Radio to supply communications gear for his second Antarctic Expedition.  The challenge was brutal.  The equipment had to survive sub-zero temperatures on the Ross Ice Shelf, mechanical punishment during transport across Antarctic terrain, and the unpredictable atmospheric interference of the auroral zone at the bottom of the world.

Collins supplied a complete shortwave broadcasting station built around a massive 20-B transmitter.  On February 3, 1934, from a base camp called Little America, the team successfully transmitted the first live voice radio broadcast from Antarctica to the United States.  Battling gale-force winds and temperatures below -20F, Collins Radio equipment kept the signal clear, carrying Byrd’s voice across thousands of miles to New York, from where CBS carried it to a national audience.

The equipment had been built in a Cedar Rapids factory that had existed for less than a year, but word spread fast.  Military and commercial broadcasting contracts followed, and by the start of World War II, Collins was a respected regional manufacturer.  By the end of the war, it was an industrial power house.

The war transformed Collins because of one specific problem it solved:  frequency changing under fire.  Aerial warfare required radio operators aboard bombers to switch communication frequencies rapidly.  In a B-29 

Super Fortress at 25,000 feet over the Pacific with enemy fighters on the wing, the traditional process of manually tuning variable capacitors across multiple amplifier stages took minutes – minutes that crews did not have.  Collins solved this with the ‘Autotune System’.  It was an electro-mechanical assembly of motors, cams, slip clutches and limit switches that physically rotated every tuning element in the transmitter to a preset position with absolute mechanical repeatability.  A radio operator selected one of ten preset channels on the ART-13 airborne transmitter, and the machine retuned itself across its oscillator, multiplier and power amplifier stages in under 25 seconds.  The system even automatically reduced output power by 50% above 25,000 feet to prevent the risk of high-voltage arcing in thin air.

By the end of the war, 90,000 ART-13 units had been manufactured

But with the close of the war, Collins pivoted hard into the commercial and amateur markets.  The equipment they produced in the late 1940’s and 1950’s became known collectively as ‘the black boxes’, named for their stark utilitarian cabinets with black crinkle-finish paint.  They were not glamorous products, but they were precise ones, and precision, as it turned out, was exactly what Cold War intelligence required.

In 1954, Collins introduced the R-390A receiver, designed for military and government intelligence use.  It became one of the finest tube-based radio receivers ever built, even if it was the very definition of a ‘boat anchor’ radio.  The secret was the mechanical filter technology embedded in its intermediate frequency chain.  Instead of relying on electrical components to achieve selectivity, Collins engineers discovered that they could convert radio signals into physical vibrations, pass those vibrations through precision-machined metal discs made from a nickel alloy called Ni-Span-C and convert them back into electrical signals, because mechanical resonance achieves quality factors far higher than electrical circuits.  The result was what engineers called ‘brick wall selectivity’.

With this technology, the R-390A could isolate one shortwave signal from an adjacent jamming transmission with a sharpness that competing designs simply couldn’t match.  That was the kind of capability that made signals intelligence analysts very happy.  As a result, the U.S. Military contracted not just Collins, but also Motorola, Electronic Assistance Corporation, Stewart Warner, and several others, all to build R-390A receivers to Collins exact specifications.  Over 55,000 units were manufactured across a production run that lasted 30 years.

By 1958, Collins was ready to bring the same engineering philosophy to the civilian amateur market.  The result was the S-Line – a series of transmitters and receivers finished in light grey enamel.  And in the fall of 1959, Collins released the KWM-2 transceiver – a single chassis integrating the full capability of the S-Line transmitter and receiver, with a central tuning knob and signal meter.  It weighed just over 18 lbs, and covered from 3.4 to 30 MHz in 14 segments of 200 kHz each.

In the 1960’s, the U.S. Military used these models under very challenging conditions in Vietnam, where the operators reported that they simply ‘worked’.  When NASA was preparing to go to the moon, Collins became an indispensable partner in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.  Every astronaut’s voice from space in those programs passed through Collins equipment.  For the lunar missions specifically, they developed a ‘Unified S-Band System’ - a single unified radio link that could carry voice, television, telemetry, command signals and precision ranging data across 240,000 miles of space on one carrier frequency in the microwave S-band, around 2.2 GHz.  That, along with the ground-based tracking stations they built for the system in California, Spain and Australia, was no doubt the pinnacle of Collins’ achievement.  But unfortunately, it was then in the late 60’s and early 70’s that the company began to fall apart.  In the space of just two years, Collins Radio Company became functionally bankrupt.

The reason was a project called the C-System.  Starting in the mid-1960’s, Arthur Collins had become consumed by a vision for a fully integrated communication, computation and control network, one that would connect distributed computers – much as local area networking and the Internet does today.  He was right about where the world was going, but wrong about when it would get there!  The computer hardware of the 1960’s was too expensive, too physically large, and too slow to make the C-System viable.  But Collins poured thousands of engineering hours and increasingly desperate capital into its development.

At the same time, government contracts that had been plentiful during the Vietnam War and Apollo moonshot programs began to dry up, and competitors were releasing solid state equipment.  Collins couldn’t keep pace.  In the fiscal year ending August 3, 1971, Collins made a net loss of US $46.6 million.  Between 1969 and 1971, Collins had cut 40% of its workforce, but it wasn’t enough.  A few weeks later on September 2, 1971, North American Rockwell bought the company, and Arthur Collins was forced to leave the board.  By November 1973, Collins Radio had been fully absorbed into Rockwell International.

Arthur Collins died in 1987.  Today, more than 60 years after they were built, surviving examples of the R-390A receiver and KWM-2 transceiver still perform to their original specifications and they command serious money on the collector market.  And my budget still doesn’t extend to one, even now!

Back to you, Jeff.