POSTBAG

Follow the link below to read the minutes of this meeting. Nominations Committee Meeting, 19 November 2018 (2-page/159KB PDF)

Follow the link below to read the minutes of this meeting. Nominations Committee Meeting, 26 April 2018 (2-page/159KB PDF)

Follow the link below to read the minutes of this meeting. Nominations Committee Meeting, 3 May 2017 (2-page/158KB PDF)

In 1974, I was an exchange student with AFS (then known as the American Field Service) in Swaziland, southern Africa. I had taken a Drake SPR-4 with me for the months I lived in Swaziland, and I used the receiver to hear a range of stations in Africa and Asia. Stations using shortwave that were a challenge for listeners in North America and other locations were heard at local levels and one of those was the RBC, in what was then called Rhodesia. These recordings on one of the RBC shortwave frequencies were made in Mbabane, Swaziland. Elsewhere on the SW Archive, there are other recordings including one of RBC heard in the United States on shortwave. The QSL card shown here was the older style with an image of an impala, a photo of Salisbury (later Harare). On the back, under a white sticker, an even older name of the radio station, The Broadcasting Corporation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, can still be seen.

Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa on February 11th, 1990. At the time, Radio RSA was still broadcasting to the world on shortwave radio, and provided live coverage of the event which was heard by many shortwave listeners. It will be recalled that Radio RSA had one of the most powerful shortwave transmission systems of any country for many years — with its familiar interval signal it was a regular for SWLs.

This recording of Radio RSA was made on a SONY ICF-2010 receiver in Silver Spring, Maryland. The first recording is of the full Radio RSA coverage, and the second is the Mandela speech itself, a portion that begins at about the 1 hour 10 mark. Mandela said: “A democratic and non-racial South Africa is the only way to peace and racial harmony.” Radio RSA was so strong, in fact, that it could be heard on my SONY AM-FM-SW Cassette Deck using only a short piece of wire as an antenna. At end end of the Mandela speech recording, can be heard a VOA newscast from the previous day covering the announcement by then President DeKlerk that Mandela would be released.

We welcome new District Representatives in three regions: In Region 1 Harry Mcdonald, GM1VFR will cover District 12 (Glasgow, Central and Lanarkshire) In Region 3 Iain Nicholson, M0MZR will cover District 32 (Lancashire), Keith Sale, M0JYP will cover District 33 (Greater Manchester) and Les Brown, M0LPB will cover District 34 (Cheshire) In Region 11, Callum […]

The RSGB would like to thank Rob Evered, G2RE and Emily Groves, M7MLE for their volunteering on behalf of the Society. Rob volunteered as the Youth Champion and Emily was Chair of the Legacy Committee. She has stood down due to her greatly increased personal workload associated with her charitable activities.