BC-DX 841 04 Jan 2008 Private Verwendung der Meldun

DX News for September had a report from an anonymous reporter, presumably
Jan, that Radio Vltava, believed located in East Germany, was operating on
1430 in Czech with Warsaw Pact propaganda programming, also since
September 11 Radio Moscow's Mayak programming was being relayed on 1250
from a transmitter located near Prague.
It also reported on Radio Station of the Polish People's Army on the
territory of Czechoslovakia, BBC World Radio Club reported this station in
Polish 0600 to 0830 and then in Czech/Slovak to 0900 and again in
Czech/Slovak 1930-2000 on 7280, located in Poland.
Communications World scripts from February 2001 have some listener
memories:
Jim Gordon in Dundee, Scotland tuned in to Radio Prague on 1232 kilohertz
medium wave: Back in 1968, both my radio and tape recorder were in such
poor condition that I have only memories rather than recordings from that
era. I remember that from the mid-1960s, Radio Prague had a lighter, more
personal sound than the external services of the other European Communist
countries. I was not surprised, then, when country began liberalizing its
own Communist system.
On August 20th, 1968, Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia. That
evening, UTC August 21st, at one Universal Time, I tuned to the English
Service of Radio Prague. Instead of that usual "Forward Left" interval
signal, I heard a march tune in the minutes before the broadcast. The
broadcast itself made no mention of the invasion. It must have been
recorded before the invasion began.
The next evening, and for several days afterwards, Radio Prague did not
broadcast, at least not on shortwave frequencies that I was able to hear.
Eventually, the English Service did resume. The announcers thanked
listeners for their messages of concern and support. And they said that
the Warsaw Pact forces were not invited. After a few more days, I heard
new voices on the English Service of Radio Prague. The content returned to
the old, dull, hardline Communist rhetoric.
Klaus Nindel was in the Army of East Germany back in 1968. In the GDR, the
7th armored division, based in Dresden (in which I was a reserve signal
corps officer) and the 11th motorized infantry division, based in Halle,
were ordered to staging areas. The Soviet 20th Guard armored division,
based near Dresden, took a position near the Czechoslovak border.
This movement I will not forget, because the tanks were driven during the
night through Dresden. This Soviet tank division crossed the Czechoslovak
border at August 20th between 22.30 and midnight local time. But,
unexpectedly, thank God, there was no action command for the GDR troops!
We remained in our staging area many weeks after the invasion.
Klaus sent in an audio clip of the special station Radio Moldau, known in
Czech-Slovak as "Vlatava," which transmitted from East Germany to
Czechoslovakia from April 21st, 1968, to February 12th 1969. It broadcast
on 1430 kilohertz, using a 250 kilowatt transmitter that usually operated
on 1043 kilohertz.
Jim Gordon said in that next edition that he enjoyed listening to the
audio clip and remembered listening during that time to Radio Free Prague,
which described itself as "The Legitimate Voice Coming from Occupied
Czechoslovakia." Radio Free Prague said that Radio Vlatava broadcast in
very bad Czech-Slovak, and that nobody listened. Jim's listening to
international radio in 1968 encouraged him to pursue a degree in East
European studies and to study Russian.