Early Shortwave Memories David Smith

For most parts of the world, shortwave is no longer the medium of choice. There are exceptions, where it has become a medium of last resort. I have been asking people who confess to being SW listeners at early age to share their recollections. David Smith of Okapi Consulting in Johannesburg had this anecdote about listening to Radio Moscow in the 1970's.

Firedrake - the full 60 minute audio mix

From the SatDirectory site:

"A search with our 3 meter dish has found Firedrake! The audio is transmitted on Chinasat 6B within the China National Radio (CNR) satellite feed circuits. Many of the China National Radio feeds are in stereo, however one channel that is solely mono is CNR 8 - The Voice of the Minorities broadcast which features programs in the Kazakh, Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan and Uighur languages. The CNR 8 audio feed to the Chinese transmitter sites can be found on the left audio channel of a feed circuit labelled "Lzh8Rdjy". On the right audio channel of this feed is the audio for the Firedrake transmitters."

LINK to full story.

The 60 min audio 90Mb.

Fretilin's Clandestine Radio Transmitter

"One of the group’s activities was operating a clandestine radio network between East Timor and Darwin. It was the source of broadcast news getting out of East Timor from 1974 to 1976. Members of the radio group were racing along outback tracks, setting up their ex-wartime transmitters and receivers, making contact with East Timor, then hurriedly dismantling their gear, with the police, ASIO, the Army and Telecom officials hot on their tails. It was like a combination of Dad’s Army and the French Resistance being stalked by radio-detection vehicles of the German signals corps."

Read the Quadrant article Crumbs of Compassion
Australian National Maritime Museum has the transmitter in the photo.

Nerdcore Collapsible Fabric Yagi Antenna

"One of my favorite ham radio activities is making contacts on satellites. It's really fun to know that you're controlling something that's receiving and sending communications from space. But communicating with satellites means carrying a big Yagi antenna around. So, I decided to use my fashion sewing skills to make a collapsible fabric Yagi antenna that's much easier to transport."

Diana Eng (Make Blog)