MF Command transmitters (chapter 1)

[Hue Miller]

At 12:01 AM 9/11/99 -0700, Will White wrote:
> My first thought is that in wartime Civilians especially are apt to
>be tuning around at odd hours looking for everything and anything out of the
>ordinary, trying to gather information about how the war is *really* going. I
>cannot comment on the technical feasibility of transmitting radnsomly on
>channels normally in use by others, but I think people *would* be listening.

--You cannot apply conditions in the USA during WW2 or the Gulf War to WW2 as

lived in Axis countries. Consider:

What time were the supposed propaganda broadcasts done? In the "listening
window" ?

And when is that? After 12 hours of work, and possibly being concerned with
being

ready to head to a bomb shelter on short notice? Would they rather be
listening

to their own stations instead, for air attack warnings?

Did radio have as large a presence in civilian homes as in the USA ? In
western

Europe yes, in East Europe and Japan, very much less. ( the latter discussed

in a book, "Japan's Radio War on Australia". Allied radio broadcasting to
Japan

mostly went unheard. )

And - was it forbidden, under strong penalty, to listen to foreign broadcast?

Actually, you don't have to go this far to argue against the notion of USA

forces using an 800 - 1300 kc/s command transmitter to 'broadcast'; this idea

is just plain silly. This reminds me of 'surplus store historical process':

"Why, that looks like a tank radio!"

Just BTW, apparently the lowest power transmitters used for propaganda
broadcasts

were via 1-kw RCA transmitters via mobile stations in trucks. This was in the

invasion of Europe. I have the unit history, published right after the war,

unfortunately it's not as rich in technical details as you would want.

The lowest power stations used to broadcast to our own side were the 50 watt

portable broadcast stations issued to AFRS stations. ( Armed Forces Radio
Service ).

These were for overseas military camps. There's an ad for the whole station

including turntable etc. in 1 postwar number of Radio News, around 1948. I've

only heard of one of these being exchanged, and that was about 5 years ago.

Hue

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