Tuesday, November 08, 2016

QOTW117 QSL of the Week: Letter verifying the reception of a silent radio station

ABC Radio Australia
On April 26, 1974, an international radio monitor in Melbourne Victoria tuned his radio receiver to the low band shortwave channel 2500 kHz.  At the time, two transmitters at 500 watts each located at the ABC-Radio Australia shortwave station at Lyndhurst were on the air with experimental transmissions on behalf of the nearby University of Melbourne.  However, there was no programming from these two transmitters, just an open carrier, and the actual usage and purpose for these unusual transmissions was never publicly revealed. 
Radio Australia and the ABC declined to verify these transmissions, and neither did the university.  However, finally a QSL letter was received from the Australian Post Office in Melbourne eight months later, confirming the reception of these two strange transmissions.
(AWR-Wavescan/NWS 402)