Listening to Radio Romania

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Sitting here listening to my old school portable short wave receiver. Switching back and forth between Radio Romania and Radio China.

Radio Romania has a more cultural orientation. They are also very firm in their dislike for all things ISIS and terrorism related. One segment was very enlightening. It emphasized the importance of the Easter Holiday in their society. After suffering for so many years under the Communist dictator Ceausescu, it was nice to hear them celebrate their religious freedom.

Radio China was all production projections and logistics figures. Sounded like a bad parody of a Stalinist Five-Year Plan.

Listened to Radio Havana Cuba for a little while. Very quickly, the propaganda against America forced me to change the dial.

Anyone else have this crazy hobby?

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I have an old military surplus R392, absolutely amazing mechanical tuning system. Radio Havana and Radio Moscow were entertaining in their way back during the cold war. I used to catch some Eastern European stations, Tirana, Budapest, whatnot. I used to like Deutche Welle, BBC, etc. I was always especially interested in propagation phenomena, like I'd get WWVH stronger than WWV, and the weird things people would transmit like numbers, Russian Woodpecker, various digital codes.

I should drag that thing out and see if I can form up the capacitors, replace the dead ones and check the tubes. That radio was magical. I'd sit in the dark by the panel lights, running up and down the frequencies when I was supposed to be going to sleep. You could go from <500kHz to 32MHz, and dial your frequency in on a 5 digit display. It was the size of a laser printer and had its own gravitational field, but I dragged it home from a hamfest for $40 and had years of glorious listening.

 

[PistolBob]

I sent Radio Romania a reception report during the week of Christmas and they sent me a QSL package about two weeks ago. It included a letter from the radio station engineer verifying my report, a couple of wallet calenders, and some picture postcards. Pretty cool. The funny thing was the stamps they used were Romanian stamps and they had masonic symbols on them. Not sure why, but they did.

 

[HoughMade]

...Listened to Radio Havana Cuba for a little while. Very quickly, the propaganda against America forced me to change the dial...

So, they're replaying Obama speeches then?

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

So, they're replaying Obama speeches then?

Sounded like it to me. That is why I quickly changed the station!


Started out listening to a homemade crystal diode radio as a kid. First time I picked up the CBC station out of Thunder Bay Canada, I was hooked. Spent many nights listening to WLW out of Cincinnati, and other late night AM broadcasts back in the 60's.

When I was stationed in Europe in the early 80's, I had a small portable SW receiver that allowed me to hear radio Moscow, BBC and VOA. Before the computer age, it was a challenge to get information out in the field. That little radio and 20 feet of copper antenna wire were cutting edge in it's day.

 

[johntheplinker]

Sounded like it to me. That is why I quickly changed the station!


Started out listening to a homemade crystal diode radio as a kid. First time I picked up the CBC station out of Thunder Bay Canada, I was hooked. Spent many nights listening to WLW out of Cincinnati, and other late night AM broadcasts back in the 60's.

When I was stationed in Europe in the early 80's, I had a small portable SW receiver that allowed me to hear radio Moscow, BBC and VOA. Before the computer age, it was a challenge to get information out in the field. That little radio and 20 feet of copper antenna wire were cutting edge in it's day.

Spent many an evening myself listening to Radio Moscow and various other stations from "the other side" while in Germany. There was one station that had a female announcer with a voice that, well, .

 

[Sylvain]

I listen to the BBC in the car sometimes.

 

[red_zr24x4]

I have an old military surplus R392, absolutely amazing mechanical tuning system. Radio Havana and Radio Moscow were entertaining in their way back during the cold war. I used to catch some Eastern European stations, Tirana, Budapest, whatnot. I used to like Deutche Welle, BBC, etc. I was always especially interested in propagation phenomena, like I'd get WWVH stronger than WWV, and the weird things people would transmit like numbers, Russian Woodpecker, various digital codes.

I should drag that thing out and see if I can form up the capacitors, replace the dead ones and check the tubes. That radio was magical. I'd sit in the dark by the panel lights, running up and down the frequencies when I was supposed to be going to sleep. You could go from <500kHz to 32MHz, and dial your frequency in on a 5 digit display. It was the size of a laser printer and had its own gravitational field, but I dragged it home from a hamfest for $40 and had years of glorious listening.

Not to derail snoops thread but I'd like to hear/see more of this radio. Maybe start a thread with pics

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Not to derail snoops thread but I'd like to hear/see more of this radio. Maybe start a thread with pics

When I read the description, I wanted to see a couple pictures myself. Sounds like a great radio to tinker with. Old "wheeze and crank" analog radios are far more interesting to me than the new digital stuff.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I'm not sure "tinker" is the word I'd put to that I'll see if I can get some pictures, there should be plenty on google.

 

[kalboy]

Realistic DX 390 and DX 440 here as well as a minty Zenith Transoceanic 7000Y. Have had a couple others too mostly Realistics.
I remember very well one night the hour struck and no Kremlin chimes or interval signal on Radio Moscow! Any SW listener knows the Ruskkies are anything if not regular , so I figured something was up. Another hour struck and no news, just this somber music.
Meantime I'm asking wifey in other room if CNN has been saying anything about events in CCCP, and reply is no. Finally an obviously shaken RM announcer makes a brief announcement saying comrade Gorbachev has taken ill.
So then the coup was on! Ah yes SW was a fine hobby for a news/history buff. Who could forget Joe Adamov or the Cuban crew of Yolanda Fisher and Langston Wright?
I managed to pull in the English services of Radio Tirana and Radio Pyongyang back in the day and during the leadup to Gulf War 1 a bit of Radio Bagdad.
Below is a bit of info on the Zenith we have, and some net pics of our radios as well.

RadioIntel.com - Nostalgia Radio - Zenith Transoceanic Royal D7000Y

 

[miguel]

Sitting here listening to my old school portable short wave receiver. Switching back and forth between Radio Romania and Radio China.

Radio Romania has a more cultural orientation. They are also very firm in their dislike for all things ISIS and terrorism related. One segment was very enlightening. It emphasized the importance of the Easter Holiday in their society. After suffering for so many years under the Communist dictator Ceausescu, it was nice to hear them celebrate their religious freedom.

Radio China was all production projections and logistics figures. Sounded like a bad parody of a Stalinist Five-Year Plan.

Listened to Radio Havana Cuba for a little while. Very quickly, the propaganda against America forced me to change the dial.

Anyone else have this crazy hobby?

Heck yes!

I don't do it as much as I used to, but I still have two portable SW radios. Fun stuff.

Used to listen to WWCR and some of their programs back in the 90s that ultimately led me to understand there was something rotten in Denmark, shall we say.

 

[indiucky]

I have a portable Grundig..... I sometimes fool with it...My favorite was listening to the series of numbers over and over again...The channel would move nightly and it would be the same husky woman's voice with a Spanish accent repeating a sequence of numbers over and over again...I found out later that these were messages sent via shortwave to Cuban spies here in the US...This was in the mid 90's....

Here is a link discussing these...


While some dispute this conclusion, there is evidence that most numbers stations may be connected with intelligence and espionage operations. Books such as The Spy Who Got Away by David Wise, Widows by William R. Corson, Susan B. Trento, and Joseph J. Trento, and KGB Today by John Baron, have all detailed espionage operations, both American and Soviet, involving the use of messages sent via radio as number groups. Other spies, like England's Geoffrey Prime, have been arrested with one-time pads and a shortwave radio in their possession. However, not all numbers stations may be connected to espionage. Some transmissions, especially those using a man's voice or sent "live" rather than taped, may be connected to drug smuggling or other illegal activities.




Numbers Stations

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The Collins R-392

From the front:

Lit up, imagine that as the only light in the room, with all the noises and voices. It required an external speaker and a 26VDC supply, but 28V would squeeze a little better performance out of it

With the corresponding transmitter, T195 I think it was.

Where some of the magic happens

The rest of the magic. Those aluminium brackets running up and down would move in and out as you tuned, to tune the amps etc.

A view from the side to show them at their variable positions

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Great pics. That is a real piece of history right there.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Thanks for the pics

 

[yepthatsme]

Is it safe to stand next to that thing? It looks like it would make you glow at night.