It is quite well known in the radio world that the Voice of America was on the air from the radio ship Courier while it was anchored in the harbor at the island of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean. However, it is not quite so well known that VOA was on the air in earlier … Read more
In our previous feature item here in this edition of Wavescan, we made mention of a 40 kW PWI transmitter that was installed in an army camp towards the south of England in the early part of the year 1944. A major purpose for this station was to broadcast fake radio transmissions that would suggest … Read more
In this feature on early ship QSLs, we begin first with some very old color postcards associated with wireless transmissions in the early days. Our three oldest cards in this style all show the same picture, an artistic rendition of a humor scene. Two ships out on the ocean are talking to each other in … Read more
It was back three quarters of a century ago that three luxury passenger liners were built at two different shipyards in Japan. These three ships joined NYK, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Company for passenger service across the Pacific between Asia and the United States. These three ships were all built around the same time, during … Read more
The story of the sailing ship Seth Parker is filled with indecision, controversy, adventure and perhaps even intrigue. In addition, the Seth Parker also provides us with a remarkable glimpse of early radio history during its developing era way back some eighty years ago.There is also an interesting sequel to the story of radio broadcasting … Read more
On two previous occasions, we have presented information about the radio scene on the island of Bermuda, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North America. On this occasion, we continue in our Bermuda series and we tell the story of radio broadcasting from passenger liners that have been associated with Bermuda. It is … Read more
A while back, we presented a story here in Wavescan about the New Zealand passenger vessel, “Awatea”, that made many voyages across the Tasman between Australia and New Zealand. This ship was also on the air at times with radio broadcast programming for which QSL cards were issued and these days these cards are quite … Read more
Our opening feature in this edition of Wavescan was the long and interesting information about radio broadcasting on the islands of Palau. It is worthy of note that preliminary plans for the shortwave station KHBN called for a broadcast facility to be installed in a ship. The original intent was to operate an international radio … Read more
Back in the year 1993, a special publication in the form of a regular radio magazine highlighted in its 74 pages the early radio history in Australia. On page 8 of this magazine, “The Dawn of Australia’s Radio Broadcasting”, the story is told of a small radio transmitter that was installed on two different ships … Read more
Tokyo Bay is a huge and wide bay that is landlocked and protected by several islands, large and small. Surrounding the bay are many well known cities such as Chiba, Kawasaki and Yokohama, and of course, Tokyo itself. Originally, Tokyo was known as Edo, the name of a ruling family in the Middle Ages. The … Read more