Re: [A-DX] Zeitzeichen am 06.12.

["Wolfgang Bueschel" <BueschelW@xxxxxx>]

Zum Vormarsch der Alliierten passt auch der Geheimsender zur Invasion der
Normandie in 1944:

50°13'39.92"N  03°39'47.19"W   - jetzt MW 1053 kHz
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4752510
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4752510.jpg

Diese Aufgabe hat danach der unzerstörte Sender Luxembourg übernommen,
letzterer unter dem Reichsrundfunk auf MW 232 kHz 1193m zugange.
Was bedeutet 1212?
Wurde LUX von den Amis auf 1212 meterband umgestimmt ?
wb



Start Point's Special Role Following D Day.
The D Day memorial sces and celebrations were of particular interest to
me. I live near Slapton Sands, where the Americans did most of their
training for 6 June 1944.

I was, however, a little disappointed that there was no mention of Start
Point Transmitting Station in any of the reports, especially by the BBC.
Start Point played an important role in the Normandy landings and for many
months afterwards.

I joined the BBC Transmitter Department at Start Point in 1943 as a Youth
in Training Transmitters (YT) at the age of 15.

Start Point was designed and built in 1939, before the war, to radiate the
then Western Programme on a freq of 1050 kHz, using a 100 kW Standard
Telephone & Cable (ST&C) type C100. The aerial system was two 450-foot
lattice mast radiators; the Northern mast was the radiator and the
Southern a reflector. This gave good coverage for all the West Country and
the Southern part of England.

When I arrived at Start Point, there were two txs, the Original ST&C
operating on either medium wave or short wave, the other a 50 kW Marconi
type SWB18, on short wave. All sces radiated the European Service on
appropriate aerial systems.

When the second front became imminent in May 1944, the ST&C transmitter
was closed down. We didn't know exactly why, but we could guess that it
was something to do with the forthcoming second front landings. Start
Point Medium Wave Transmitter was chosen because of its locality. The
functions of the mast radiators were to be swapped over, the South mast
was to be used as the radiator and the North a reflector, this was to
transmit across the channel to France.

The tx power was increased from the originally designed 100 to 180 kW.
This was quite an engineering feat. It required the four output stage
water cooled valves (4030C) to be increased to eight by using the spares;
subsequently other spare components were brought into sce to avoid
overheating.

On the completion of setting up the tx, we were told that it was in
readiness for transmitting a forces programme to the second front. It was
on standby for many weeks, closed down until D Day plus 2 when we had one
of those urgent priority messages to transmit this Forces programme.

The Programme was the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme (AEFP). I
remember it being a bright and cheerful opening and directed to all the
armed forces taking part in the landings. There were three main bands, the
British Band of the AEF, the American Band of the AEF (Glen Miller) and
the Canadian Band of the AEF. Dance mx in plenty, light entertainment,
comedy, war reports and nx were the main ingredients.

It was a jolly good mixture of English, American and Canadian programmes.
It transmitted for almost 24 hours a day with maybe a short break at night
for essential maintenance. Occasionally coded information was transmitted
in the way of innocent prose.

As for myself I continued on shift work listening and enjoying this
uplifting cheerful AEF programme for a few months before being sent to
Maidavale and Droitwich on the Technical Assistance A1-B1 courses. On my
return to Start Point, I was put on night shift immediately. All hands
were needed to change freq from 1050 to 583 kHz to increase the ground
wave range to keep up with the allies advancing into France and Germany.

This change in freq had to be done in one night because the troops were
informed that we were changing the freq on the next day and to re-tune to
receive their AEF programme. I do remember that night vividly, more
adjustments to coils and capacitors within the transmitters and ATHs
[Aerial Tuning Huts]. We finished about 6 am just in time for the arranged
start up, indeed we were all very weary, as it was a very hot night.

Start Point was the only tx that transmitted the AEF programme from the
UK. However, much later as the allies advance progressed, relay stations
were used, receiving Start Point and re-transmitting from mobile low power
txs positioned in France and Germany. The sce continued until the
cessation of hostilities in Europe.

(By Stuart Frost. Retired engineer-in-charge, Start Point. This article
appeared in Prospero (newspaper for retired BBC staff) in July 2004; via
ave Porter via Mike Barraclough-UK, WDXC-UK Contact Aug 2004)



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Klaus Spielvogel" Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 11:47 AM
Subject: Re: [A-DX] Zeitzeichen am 06.12.

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: "Paul Gager" >

> Einer von ihnen, der
> US-Propagandasender "1212", ging in den frühen Morgenstunden des 6.12.1944
> von Luxemburg aus mit einem deutschsprachigen Nachrichtenprogramm auf
> Sendung. Chef von "1212" war, wie so oft bei Tarnsendern aus dem Ausland,
> ein Emigrant: der österreichisch-ungarische Schriftsteller Hans Habe.

Hallo,
nachdem die US Armee den Sender Luxemburg unzerstört übernehmen konnte,
wurden zwei verschiedene Rundfunkprogramme gesendet. Sie wurden beide von
einer Armeeinheit produziert, deren Aufgabe man seitdem als psychologische
Kriegsführung bezeichnet. Nachts wurde das Programm Zwölf-Hundert-Zwölf
ausgestrahlt und sollte suggerieren, daß sich zwischen den alliierten
Truppen an der Westgrenze und dem Fluß Rhein deutsche Widerstandsgruppen
befänden, die gegen die eigene Führung agierten. Folgerichtig wurden diese
nächtlichen Sendungen wieder eingestellt, als die Amerikaner bei Remagen den
Rhein überquerten.

Tagsüber wurde der Langwellensender Luxemburg offen von der amerikanischen
Armee genutzt, um auf Deutsch die Wehrmacht als auch die deutsche
Bevölkerung anzusprechen. Beide Programme wurden vom erwähnten Hans Habe
verantwortet, der wie sein Untergebener Stefan Heym amerikanischer Soldat
war. Der Schriftsteller hat die Arbeit des Tagesrundfunkprogramm in seinem
Roman "Der bittere Lorbeer" beschrieben. Manuskripte seiner
Rundfunksendungen hat er in dem Buch "Reden an den Feind" veröffentlicht.

Gruß aus Köln
Klaus Spielvogel

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