Sunday service

Despite the limitations of my National Panasonic 1822 receiver, whose scope was restricted to receiving broadcasts on shortwave from approximately 5.9 - 18 MHz, I was for a time in the early 90's reasonably content with my admittedly modest listening post. 

The addition of a long wire aerial, using the connector to the rear of the receiver that I had to that point overlooked, certainly brought in stronger signals of conventional and free radio stations alike, but also at a cost of greater noise which at times severely hindering reception. Not being particularly technically minded, a lifelong handicap that I have never quite shaken off, and a lack of sophistication to my listening equipment, naturally minus an Antenna Tuning Unit(ATU), meant that the possibility of greater reception and being able to hear more stations throughout the shortwave spectrum would continue to elude me whilst I stuck with a receiver, it should be remembered, that contained a cassette deck. 

Nevertheless, until I upgraded to a Venturer 2959 multi-band receiver that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Lubyanka building, perseverance was the watchword - to make the most of what I had. 

It was though from joining the British DX Club(BDXC) that gave me a greater knowledge of the stations audible on Sundays, mostly those that broadcast in the mornings with some purposely popping up later in the afternoon as the 48-metre band became less congested. The BDXC Alternative Airwaves page was at the time a goldmine of information which not only confirmed the triumvirate stations I initially heard were by October 1990 regulars on the airwaves, but that they were just a sample of what could be heard occasionally, often, and in some cases without fail each Sunday.

It is easy to scoff in our current day and age at the reliance on printed material such as the BDXC's monthly publication Communication, but at the time, remember, only 30 years ago, this and other similar sources of information were all that were available to radio enthusiasts. Nowadays it would be very easy to complain about consuming media that would be out of date before it had reached its audience, but in the early 1990's we couldn't lament at not having access to what was never at our disposal. The anticipation of receiving Communication in the mail, along with the likes of Pirate Chat and Free-DX, can never be replaced by today's instantaneous rolling news and internet fora.

Although not a station by dint of its location that falls within the remit of this blog, the Netherlands-based Radio Orangutan was one of the first free radio stations I heard from anywhere, with a QSL and letter arriving less than a week after contacting station operator Freddy. I am not particularly 'in to' stations from outside the UK, perhaps because of the very real British trait of expecting everyone to speak English instead of their native tongue, but Orangutan will always in my mind be synonymous with those exciting times of receiving mail from the men behind the microphones. I only recall one station, a Radio Alpha from the Netherlands, who never replied to a letter of mine. I perhaps should have known better than to write to a hitherto unknown station playing continuous music only punctuated by a canned appeal for three International Reply Coupons(IRC's) to accompany reception reports in exchange for a QSL card, although the promise of this new addition to my collection probably being the motivation. Whether a Radio Alpha, or that particular Alpha, re-emerged I couldn't say, but if the rather nondescript broadcast wasn't just a vehicle to harvest what at the time were quite valuable IRC's, 29 years on I continue to live in hope that my QSL is still at the printer's...

I soon became accustomed to a regular diet of UK stations on 48 metres, something that has gradually declined to what today has sadly become, Radio Merlin aside, a rare scenario bordering on the nonexistent. Those who I frequently heard on Sunday mornings would include Britain Radio international, Radio Orion, WNKR(featuring both the inimitable Dave Martin and Andy Walker), the late Norman Nelson's Radio East Coast Commercial, and the Northern Ireland SW Relay Service. Today's Radio Merlin was in the early 90's known as Radio Galaxy but with the same operator, Paul Watt, still very much at the controls on a daily basis. Operators less frequently heard but no less popular for being so included Midlands Music Radio, Radio Confusion(later Subterranean Sounds), Scotland's Weekend Music Radio, and Radio Armadillo, an emerging force of alternative programming which helpfully would often be audible on a Friday afternoon on my return from Sixth Form. 

It should be reiterated that these were by far not the only UK stations audible at the time, but the point of this blog isn't to simply represent an anodyne list of every UK-based station heard(or otherwise) on shortwave in the 1990's. All stations that have come to mind - this blog is predominantly being crafted from my own memories aided by some useful information supplied by Matt Roberts of Radio Mutiny, latterly XTC  - will at some point or other be mentioned, but the object of the exercise is in some part to fill the obvious gap in chronicling the 90's UK shortwave scene that is otherwise conspicuous by its online absence. There is therefore relatively little information on the internet from which to draw knowledge, or inspiration, but I unequivocally apologise if the content of my blog posts does not mirror how others remember the events of the day. There will always be room for subjectivity, but I am happy to correct any inadvertent factual errors precipitated from drawing upon memories that have not seen the light of day for much of the last three decades. 

It is often said that familiarity breeds contempt and whilst this would in the main be an unfounded emotion during my time of listening to shortwave in the 1990's, it was often the stations popular as much for their enigmatic nature, be that from broadcasting on relatively obscure frequencies or a penchant for unexpectedly 'popping up' before inexplicably disappearing just as quickly, as they were for musical output and a charismatic operator. One such station that undoubtedly ticked all the boxes was Station Sierra Sierra - the super station. Run on a shoestring by the likeable Paul Stuart Sierra Sierra's albeit infrequent appearances on 6540 kHz were always especially welcome; only during my very recent musings about the 1990's have I concluded that Paul's short but enjoyable broadcasts were more than likely stymied by personal and local circumstances that theoretically could include when the neighbours were home, or more pertinently - when they were not. Characterized as much by seemingly short, random appearances away from conventional 48 metre band frequencies as by the station's signature tune - Don't Worry by Kim Appleby -  Sierra Sierra certainly lent credence to the assertion that less can be more. Paul Stuart would later in the 90's turn his attention to outside broadcasts in conjunction with Radio Blackbeard's Dave Norris under the Galaxy International banner, something which will no doubt be written about in greater detail at a future date. 

NEXT TIME: UK powerhouse broadcasters on shortwave(not including the World Service!).