As a new ham I was most fascinated in the ability to have conversations with hams in the Soviet Union. To me, such an ability represented something impossible for the rest of the population.

My grandparents had an annual telephone conversation with the family back in Denmark or Germany but for an average American citizen to be able to fire up a radio and play chess with a guy in Smolenskaya…it was nothing less than magical, made so not only by distance but by politics as well.

In addition to ham radio, I was also into shortwave listening. The news from various sources, music from other cultures and those haunting tones from Deutsche Welle – they were all part of the magic that is radio.

In the early 1980′s Radio Moscow began a “Russian by Radio” course, complete with textbooks, and I was on it like white on rice. I really wanted to learn Russian. In their offer to send the books they asked that recipients describe the receiving equipment that would be used to listen to the on-the-air portion of the course. Perhaps they wanted to guage the likelihood of consistent reception before committing to the costs of postage.

I received the books – three blue & white paperbacks – and went through the course for several months, following along on the 25 and 31 meter bands. The main thing I learned and still remember to this day is the cyrillic alphabet. I may not know what I’m “reading” but I can pronounce a written word.

That and $4 will buy me a mocha-whatever at Starbucks, right?

Although I no longer have the books, here is the nice letter I received from Mrs. Stepanova. Written personally to me, rather than a mass-produced form letter, on a typewriter. Boy, those were the days.

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6 Responses to “Russian by Radio”

1. thomas says:

   July 30, 2012 at 10:21 pm

   Again–brilliant post. Thanks for sharing that letter. Without fail, when I ask SWLs who their first catch was, they say “Radio Moscow.” I used to love tuning them in.

   So now I want to see a photo of your station from back then! What did your shack look like?

   Cheers & 72
   Thomas
   K4SWL

   Reply
   • John AE5X says:

     July 30, 2012 at 10:31 pm

     Hi Thomas,
     I’ll see if I can dig one up. Radio Moscow was powerful but I think their main attraction for NA listeners was the rivalry between our countries…sort of taboo to listen to the opinions from the other side of the Iron Curtain.

     Reply
2. Bas PE4BAS says:

   July 31, 2012 at 1:47 am

   Hi John, great post. I notice the letter is in perfect english. It brings back memories of my first QSO with Russia back in the eighties. That was on 11m, a very illigal band in Russia as well. Makes it so much more exciting ;-). I still have the QSL somewhere. When my new shack is ready I really have to look for it. 73, Bas

   Reply
   • John AE5X says:

     July 31, 2012 at 6:08 am

     Their spoken English was perfect too, often American English, which amazed me. All the other SW stations sounded like British English in their broadcasts to the US – Radio Moscow’s announcers spoke American English. One name I remember was Vladimir Posner…he lived and transmitted from Moscow but sounded like he grew up in Topeka, Kansas, in the heart of the US!

     Well sonofagun – here he is
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Posner

     In his Western media appearances Pozner was a charismatic and articulate apologist of some of the Soviet Union’s most controversial foreign and domestic policy decisions. A master of tu quoque, he would frequently draw parallels and point out similarities between Soviet and Western policies as well as candidly admit the existence of certain problems in the USSR. However, while stopping short of unequivocal endorsement and support, he nevertheless rationalized, among others, the arrest and exiling of Andrei Sakharov, the invasion of Afghanistan and shooting down of KAL 007. In his 1990 autobiography Parting with Illusions.[9] he wrote that some of the positions he had taken were wrong and immoral. In a 2005 interview with NPR’s On the Media, Posner spoke openly about his role as a Soviet spokesman, stating bluntly, “What I was doing was propaganda.”

     Reply
3. Julian G4ILO says:

   July 31, 2012 at 3:39 am

   As a teenage SWL I used to listen to Radio Moscow (and Radio Kiev, which was a bit lighter in style) quite a bit. The Moscow transmissions were so strong I even heard them coming out of dad’s stereo speakers when the amp was switched off!

   Reply
   • John AE5X says:

     July 31, 2012 at 6:15 am

     They were strong here too, Julian, though not that strong! Band conditions didn’t seem to matter – if you tuned in to Radio Moscow, you were darn sure going to hear them, sunspots or not.

     Reply