Radio Waves International

26 Years of free Radio

1983 – 2009

- 26 short stories in our radio‟s lives

26 more reasons to follow us on the airwaves By Peter HILLS & Philippe “The terrible twins”

From the beginning I always had a fascination for the radio, these strange noises coming out from This wooden box, bip bip, cw, atmospheriques noises and different languages arriving in my ears from somewhere around the world that’s how the story begun. 1. Pirate on USB 2. The telephony mast 3. The Caroline Movement 4. DX in FM 5. First time DJ in ITALY 6. Whole Stole Radio Caroline FM 7. First Day on the air 8. Visits to the lady In Red 9. Allan wants to steal our first short-waves transmitter 10. Free Radio in Moscow 11. The antenna„s damage 12. DX Camps & summer meeting 13. Radio Waves„s relay service 14. The false closing down on Easter Monday 1994 15. Visit to Israel, VOP 16. R.W.I‟s big relays 17. Free Radios In Paris 1981 18. Ham Radio jokes 19. Low power broadcast 20. Radio heard around the world 21. Why Country Music? 22. New transmitter from Holland. 23. RWNews 24. Visiting U.S.A 25. What‟s future for your favourite station? 26. France Radio Club & Offshore Echoes Magazine Thanks to listeners

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1. Pirate on USB In the early 1970‟s before getting my ham radio licence one day I try my transmitter FT250, Setting a 20 meters wire antenna , I decided to make a call in English with an non affected F6 Call sing , with the 50watts USB and a bad TOS a few minutes later came an answer from New York , I only try once but it was so magic and what emotion.

2. The telephony mast When you are a DXer everyone dream to put a high tower mast in the garden, In a few streets from my home the French PTT were putting new telephone lines in operations, On the ground there were some spare wooden mast ,so one night around midnight With a good friend of mine we went to pick up one mast carrying it on our shoulders by foot To my home , on the following days the wooden mast became the support of my antennas.

3. The Caroline Movement In the early 1980‟s I very often went in south east London to join meeting of the Caroline Movement supporting the offshore radio stations , it was for me the occasion to met others listeners & also free radio operators ,one day one of the guys ask me “why don‟t you start A free radio in FRANCE?” I just answer him “Why Not? ,it‟s like this the project of my station started. All the staff started to find the station‟s name and a short waves transmitter.

4. DX in FM Before having my VHF ham radio licence & later on my own station my great pleasure was to make DXing listening to FM band, in the 1970‟s there was no pirate radios on FM, so there was a large place on the bands, so I was easy specially on summer to pick up some stations at a long distance from home, living near PARIS I listen station from all Europe, and Africa too. Some of my favourite programs were the AFN station in Belgium or Germany, RTL direct from Luxembourg with DJ as Wolfman Jack and also on MW the great RTL 208.

5. First time DJ in ITALY In 1979 as it was always forbidden to broadcast on FM I get in contact with a group from Grenoble in south east of France which have setup a FM station in Vimtimille on the French/Italian border which was broadcasting in direction of France to avoid problems with the French authorities. In winter I took two weeks holiday to become during the night a DJ, It was my first experience; I remember that listeners from France were calling us in the studio (They had to do an international call to phone us). I also remember than one day we were inviting in Monaco to have diner at some listener‟s home Page : 2

6. Whole Stole Radio Caroline FM

In 1981 I joint a pirate FM station called RADIO CAROLINE FM which was operating on the west suburb of PARIS .We were in the town of Nanterre closed to Rueil , we had a little room to operate (the owner of the room were politics from the right but Nanterre was a town Closed to the left opposition) , we were not making politics on the radio, it was just for fun , One day some people came in the night in our small studio, they only take of a few valves from our transmitter, without taking others things like records & CDs or mixer board, On the following days we restarted on the air, they only wanted to shut down the station but they miss, we also appear in the local papers on the front page. 7. Allan wants to steal our first short-waves transmitter In 1981 as we would like to setup our station I get in contact with Allan R… asking him to build for us a small short waves transmitter with a small output power about 20 watts , I send Allen the money for that , I was waiting one month for the transmitter , One month later nothing was happening , I ask him some questions he reply “ the TX is on the way”, So I wait, the other problem that the French post office became on strike, so I wait again, Later on I ash Allen if I could have the receipt from the British post office but no answer ,no receipt , I was becoming strange ;I ask a good friend of mind living a few block from Allen „s home to visit him and investigate what‟s happened .Finally no TX were built , he wants to keep the money for himself , so my friend get my money back but I had once again to find someone to build a TX.

8. Visits to the lady In Red

Following the previous story, I find an another guy to build for me the TX and went in UK to Pick it up. So on November 1983 I visited my good friend from London John B… and together went on the Friday afternoon & evening to Ludlow in Shropshire to Dave P… to get the SW transmitter. On the following Saturday John B… was going in visit to the Ross Revenge the new home of Radio Caroline on the high seas (Radio Caroline was bask on the air on July 1983 just a few months ago). On the very early morning we were leaving a small harbour on the river Thames, all lights switch off and in silence, it was a foggy day, it was about mid day when we arrived near the Ross Revenge with its big mast 100 feet going out of the fog, the sea was very calm, just the motor of the small fishing boat we used. We make a tour around the ship, I was very lucky, I was my first visit to an offshore radio ship and we were allowed to come on board, we climb on a ladder to the board; a few DJ‟s welcome us, Tom Anderson, Peter Clark, we stayed about two hours an a half visiting the ship from the studios .the transmitters, the kitchen, the engine room and the living room where Peter Clark gives us kindly a cup of tea, we left to the crew some equipments and fresh food , then it was time to leave the ship and back home with a little visit to the old forts where pirate radio have operate in the past. What a good day.

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09. First Day on the air Just the week after my visit to The Lady In Red, we were on November 13th 1983 It was precisely 9 o‟clock when I switch on our small short waves transmitter The first transmissions only took 3 hours has the power was delivery by a car battery, Later I build myself a power supply to use the mains and get more time on the airwaves, The channel was 6250 kHz (not a really good choice but it was the only crystal I get at this time) , on the following week the first report of reception arrived from Germany , later I move to 7374 kHz from the 48meters band , The radio station‟s story stared like this.

10. Free Radio in Moscow In 1992 I went in south of Moscow to met some free radio operators ,Romantic Space Radio & RWBI Radio Without Border , one day we made a one hour program mixing French , English & Russian languages then this program was broadcast officially via Radio Center On Medium Waves, on a Saturday evening. I was also listening to legal & pirate radios on the FM Band. I stayed in contact with my Russian friends a long time and also relay them here in France. 11. The antenna„s damage Normally I always put down all the antennas on the garden, I week I forget one dipole, When I went back a few days after in the garden I found the dipole antenna cut just in the middle a few centimetres from the middle, the balun as disappear with the 15 meters coaxial Line. We never know who did that.

12. DX Camps & summer meeting At several occasion I went to DX camp in Germany, Belgium & Holland; it was for us the occasion to meet our listeners and have discussions with people about our hobby, there were also some others guys interest in TV or satellite reception, the only problem was sometimes the languages but it was always easy to find someone to help us in the good way. Wuppertal, Merchwieler or the well-known summer meeting on the Dutch-Belgium border. 13. Radio Waves„s relay service

In the early 1984 a German station ask us to use our transmitter for relay their programs and in March 1984 we started this relay which become later the R.W.I‟s relay service , some stations also ask to use our mail box facilities to get their mail , this relay service stay on the air until 1994.The reason was that most of the stations relayed get their own transmitters. It‟s sure it was for us an occasion to help a lot of free radio station from around the world to be heard in Europe , outside Europe programs were coming from U.SA , New Zealand , Australia, Israel, South America .It was for us an interesting experience.

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14. The false closing down on Easter Monday 1994 On this year the conditions of reception were bad and listeners„s reports decreasing, So I took the decision to close down, but why on the Easter Monday morning, The reason is because as Radio Caroline started in Easter 1964 and because Easter is always a weekend of activity on the airwaves and a lot of listeners are there. But as the virus was still in my body , and because I was still receiving CDs to be play on the station ,a few month later I decided to restart the station on October 1994. 15. Visit to Israel, VOP In 1985 I took two weeks holidays in Israel ,as I know that a free radio station was operating on this area I bring with me my portable short-waves receiver , the VOP ship Voice Of Peace was on the air at this time on MW Medium Band & FM stereo from their ship the VOP with the slogan “broadcasting from somewhere on the Mediterranean sea” , I made several hours of recording from my hotel rooms; a few years later I also try to become a DJ and join the crew on board but I retract me to do that. 16. R.W.I‟s big relays R.W.I‟s was relay by a few big stations on short-waves as Radio Milano International, IRRS from Italy and RNI from northern Europe from RIGA, We generally used these relays for special events as Easter, Christmas and the birthday of the station .The best result of a relay with a big power about 100KW at the maximum, in 2005 with seven hours of relay we get more than 150 reports from around the world, we have sent to each listeners a special QSL card, a copy of RWNews our infos-sheet and a CD of country music. It was for us a great moment, it cost us money in relay & postage but it was the occasion to thanks all our listeners. If we can we will do once again an operation like this. 17. Free Radios in Paris before1981 In 1980 I was in contact with some free radios FM in Paris and its suburb, I remember one program I did on “Radio Ici & Maintenant” (here & now) It was an explication & discussion about how propagation was working, I also met free radio listeners in a small pub called “l‟Helium” with Radio Ivre, Also Radio EN… from Cergy-Pontoise which organizes big dance party on Their campus on Saturday nights.

18. Ham Radio jokes I get my ham radio licence in 1974, one day I received on the two meters band a very short signal from a station from Germany with a call sign DL2…. Then I answer to this call.. Hello DL2… here is F 1D…. from Paris calling suddenly the signal became strong , It was a joke from two hams radio which were together on their QRA which have used a dummy load antenna to make believe me that it was a DX , it was just a joke by two guys F1… and F6C…Its these same peoples what learn me all about radio. Page : 5

19. Low power broadcast One Sunday morning I switch on the transmitter but strangely the TOS meter was giving me a very bad TOS about 2.0 and a power around 5 watts only , I didn‟t know where was the trouble so I decided to start broadcasting in these conditions; What was my surprised to get 2 reports from more than 800 kms from here with an S2 SINPO. Sometimes when propagation is good we don‟t need a lot of power to be heard outside its country. 20. Radio heard around the world With our low power own transmitters we get a lot of reception reports from around the world: Europe: France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Guernsey, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia. North America: Canada, USA South America: Ecuador, Brazil Asia: Pakistan Africa: Algeria, Isle Of Reunion, South Africa Others countries have received via our big power relays; Japan, Brazil, Chilli, India,Argentina, China. .etc 21. Why Country Music? When I was operating Radio Caroline FM it was for us impossible to get records from the French labels , the one day I was listening a local FM station called RFM ; one advertising was talking about a double CD of classics of Country music then I bought it. I listen to it and discover this country music and I like it. So I decided to find address of labels in U.S.A & Canada, asking promos, I‟ve send a few hundred of letters on the following year I get sometime lest than a dozen vinyl by year but in 1990 I started to receive more and more CDS, so I started a 30 minutes program every week and later I started a real country music show, 22. New transmitter from Holland. A few years ago I went a weekend in north of the Netherlands to get old short-wave transmitters (it was used in the past by the Germany army, it‟s not a powerful TX, But it can easily change of channel, the old FT243 crystal are now unreachable now days. 23. RWNews Since we started this project of Radio Waves International we always try to keep close our relation between us and our listeners, we have always take in consideration the remarks of our audience to improve our programs, always trying to do it on a professional way even it was but for us a hobby, hobby which take a lot of time but bring you a real satisfaction with fun. We started the first issues of RWNews with infos about the world of radio and later become a country music review about all the CDS we received , it was also the link with the records labels to show them the music we played , we added also play-lists one or twice a month. And in the same time our listeners could discover the great country music and know more about the artists. The number of issues by year can move from 10 to 15 depending of the amount of infos we have to forward and RWNews is also available from our web-site. Page : 6

24. Visiting U.S.A After been in contact with independent artists & labels, one day I heard about a special convention The CRS Country Radio Seminar which take place once a year around February or March in the music city of Nashville In Tennessee, in 2000 I decided to go for the first time in the U.S.A (I‟ve !been one time in 1985 in Canada & Quebec with a crew of Ham radio) I discover the convention was surely too professional for me but a double occasion to learn about this world of Country Music and also met artists, this first year I was surely the only French radio there and free radio, I get lucky to met a member of ECMA European Country Music Association in Spain as Rafel Corbi, he has help me to open some doors and I couldn‟t forget his precious help. Now when I come back in Nashville I already have local contacts With people involved in the music business and independent artists too. I always take a lot of time in pub & bars to listen to good music; one of my favourite places is the Station INN where I can hear very good Bluegrass. I will also like to mention some others friends there; Martha Moore, Gilles Godard, Mark Trail, the Bayou recording studio‟s crew and all the independent artists which have take time to meet me and give interviews. 25. What‟s future for your favourite station? On my side I‟m sure the virus for radio is still active inside me , until we will have a continuous good relation with our listeners , sending us reports & logs via snail mail or email, We will continue to improve our programs on a professional way even if it‟s just a hobby, it‟s for us an honour to respect our listeners, the propagation can also help us to be heard on a comfortable signal all around the world. 26. France Radio Club & Offshore Echoes Magazine A few weeks ago I went to Calais on the north west of France on the Channel border to the annual meeting of the FRC where I found once again people fans of offshore station , meeting Dj‟s which were on board in the 60‟s to the 90‟s , the spirit is still active ; it was an occasion to view very nice videos from the great stories behind the offshore radio scene , it met me feel So nice to see that we don‟t broadcast in a desert but a world on free radio fans still alive. Thanks to listeners I sure never could thanks you enough for your continuous support throw all these years, Without you nothing could be possible; that„s why I always have tried to answer to your letters or emails in the shortest delay because I know that there is some stations don‟t have the respect that listeners are waiting. Hope to read you soon.

Radio Waves International‟s crew Peter HILLS & Philippe “The Terrible twins” Page : 7

Dear

,

We are very glad to confirm your report about our special 26th birthday show. Date :

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November 2009

Time :

xxxx

To :

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UTC

Channel :

xxxxx

Khz

xxxxx

meters band

S INPO

:x x x x x ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Listener‟s informations Location:

xxxxxxxxxx

Country: xxxxxxx

Receiver :

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Antenna : xxxxxx

SK10 about 30 watts

http://www.wri.fr

Many thanks for your support, best 73‟s. “The Terrible Twins” Peter HILLS & Philippe