URAD 1936 Ak-Bulak, Kazakhstan

Harvard - MIT Solar Eclipse Expedition .. 1936

Sometimes you have to give a second look at old cards to work out what they are about. Have a look at this one. W1FQV, W1XJ, W1XAJ, W1XDI, W1XDJ, Cruft Laboratory, Harvard University, acknowledging a reception report from a listener in England, June 23 1936. But written on the left - "Expedition not yet back from Russia". And, along the bottom of the card - "Glad to confirm reception of URAD" - Ak-Bulak, U.S.S.R. Ak-Bulak is in Kazakhstan. There were three call signs - UAST portable at astronomical camp, URAD on 40M Phone, and U1BWF on 20M CW. This was an American expedition - one part astronomical, and one part radio - to a point on the line of the eclipse. There is a detailed write-up in QST of January 1937. Full co-operation of the Russians, including permission to contact stations outside the U.S.S.R. Quite a trip, taking all equipment with them; by sea to Leningrad (St. Petersburg ), then by train overland. Most of the operations were keeping contact and passing traffic, but as they made contacts in all continents except South America, it wasn't just that. Interestingly, they only made six contacts with the U.S.A. (polar absorption), so had to relay messages through Europe. For political reasons, the calls of their contacts were not published, except for the Swedish relay SM5SX in Stockholm, which, despite the call letters, was, I think, a broadcast station. Tony G4UZN

SM5SX was not a radio station but belonged to the Royal Technical University, Stockholm. Wolf OE1WHC

QSL & Info G4UZN Collection
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