Civil Air Patrol Net 1 Message: January 24, 2022

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Matt Todd, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: Civil Air Patrol

Date of recording: 1/24/2022

Starting time: 2001

Frequency: 14914 kHz

Receiver location: Hugo, MN

Receiver and antenna: SDRplay RSPdx with wire loop around perimeter of attic

Mode: Single Side Band

Voyager 1 (90 Deg Bank Angle): Dec 20, 1986

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bruce Frederick who shares the following recording and notes:

VOYAGER 1 90 Deg Bank Angle 8.822 MHz 20 Dec 1986 2200 UTC

Recently when cleaning out our attic I came across QSLs that I received from the Voyager crew from their historic1986 circumnavigation of the earth. After continued searching I also came across the cassette recordings I made of some of their communications between Dec 20 - 22, 1986. The first hour provides the most compelling listening, as I started the tape just before Voyage unexpectedly ran into severe weather issues off the coast of Brazil. The small aircraft was tossed to a bank angle of 90 degrees, which theoretically it shouldn't have recovered from, yet Rutan was just barely able to maintain control and keep flying. At the worst possible time, the Vandenburg transmitter went down leaving Rutan and Yeager out of communication with their weather team who they were depending on to give them a safe heading to fly out of the storms. The stress and tension of the situation are very evident in the voices. I have several hours of additional comms, but this excerpt is the most compelling. While preparing this submission, I discovered that Tom Gavaras from MN made a similar contribution on July 28, 2020, covering a period a couple of days after this event. These contributions are complementary and should probably be cross-linked for people interested in hearing different days of the mission. Note that like Tom, I also have the QSLs I received a few months after the mission.

BROADCASTER:

Voyager Mission Control at Vandenburg AFB and Voyage aircraft in-flight near Brazil

DATE OF RECORDING:

12/20/1986

STARTING TIME:

~2200 UTC

FREQUENCY:

8.822 MHz

RX LOCATION:

Boston, MA USA

RECEIVER AND ANTENNA:

Icom 745 with horizontal wire dipole at ~30 ft.

MODE:

Single Side Band

Additional details:

Regarding the QSL card, Bruce notes:

"...I was never a big QSL collector when I was active in the '80s but this was kind of special: QSLs for the Voyager 1 non-stop flight around the world in 1986, signed by Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, and Larry Gaskey (Mission Operations Director). Since this this wasn't a commercial broadcast organization, I didn't think they would have QSL cards (or even know what a QSL request was), so I followed the protocol of the time and prepared my own 8.5" x 11" printout and polite cover letter explaining why I was writing. I was blown away when I received not only detailed info on my home brew form, but a classy postcard signed personally by Rutan and Yeager..."

The Voyage flight plan from this website:

American Forces Antarctic Network (AFAN) McMurdo: circa 1980s

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tony King, who shares the following recording of the American Forces Antarctic Network (AFAN) at McMurdo Station recorded in the 1980s on 6012 kHz SSB in New Zealand:

Voyager Experimental Aircraft Flight Communications with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager in 1986 - First Aircraft to Circle Around World Without Stopping: December 1986

Tom Gavaras’ QSL card reply from the Voyager team.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the following recording, QSL card (above), and notes:

Rutan Model 76 Voyager Experimental Aircraft was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. It was piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base's runway in the Mojave Desert on December 14, 1986, and ended 9 days later on December 23, setting a flight endurance record. This shortwave recording is a sample of some of the communications between Dick Rutan and his ground crew including a debate if Dick should walk out of the aircraft after it lands.

Note: Best estimate for date of recording is December 22, 1986

RX location: Minnetonka, MN

Receiver and antenna: ICOM R71A

Spanish Sahara (Radio Sahara): 1973

On the top-10 list of DX targets in the 1970s was Spanish Sahara, the broadcast service transmitting from Aaiun in what was then Spanish-ruled Sahara in West Africa. Verification cards and letters were sent to lucky listeners around the world who were able to hear the transmissions which were a mixture of local programs and material from the Spanish national radio. Frequencies on shortwave: 7,230 khz listed as 10 KW and 4,626 khz which was a SSB frequency listed a 5 kilowatts, described as a service for Aaiun and Villa Cisneros, now called Dakhla, about 330 miles south along the coast from Aaiun.

My reception of Radio Sahara was on a Hammarlund HQ-180 receiver, which due to its superb filtering and vernier tuning capability I used to hear numerous African stations. According to the QSL letter received from Radio Sahara, and signed by Amparo Martin, their programming was from “0645 to 01 horas” making this one of the few African stations with a very late (or early in the morning) sign on for listeners in the eastern U.S. (the other being Radio Gambia).

In this recording you hear music to about the 1 minute 10 mark, then station identification by a male announcer “Musica para ellos. Radio Sahara de la red de emisoras [network of stations] de Radio Nacional de Espana” and since Spain was still under the rule of dictator Francisco Franco at the time, this was heard after an military march: “Viva Franco, Viva el Sahara, Viva Espana” followed by what I believe was the Spanish national anthem.

Another frequency for Radio Sahara was 11,805 khz. In 1975, the station sent out a more traditional QSL card (see below). The history that followed saw Spain withdrawing troops from the region on January 12, 1976, and ending its presence in the territory February 26, 1976. Morocco immediately claimed sovereignty over the territory and for years a guerilla war dragged on (1975 to 1991) between the Polisario Front and Moroccan forces. This Wikipedia entry explains the complexities of the situation in what is today called a “partially recognized de facto sovereign state.”

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording