Reminiscing the good old days of DXing

Growing up in the Western regional twin city capital of Sekondi-Takoradi now rechristined the 'Oil City' in Ghana was real fun time to reminisce. I developed a keen habit or hobby of DXing. Yes I have been a popular dxer since the early 1990s. Some of my favourite SW1 radio stations included DW (the German national broadcaster), VON (Nigeria), VOA (PBS of USA), BBC (the UK), Voice of the Andes (a Catholic radio in Peru), Radio Nippon (NHK -Japan), Radio Baghdad (Iraqi national broadcaster under late despot Saddam Hussein), External Service of GBC (Ghana), Radio Flemin (Belgium), Radio Netherlands, Radio France international (RFI) among others. I was always the first to give news (of course propaganda as I was vehemently opposed to 'Operation Desert Storm') on the situation in Iraq during the first Gulf War. My opposition had nothing to do with whether the action of Saddam Hussein to invade and annex the small Kingdom Gulf state of Kuwait (queue and wait)was right or wrong but had everything to do my principle that the act of war itself is evil. Further, I also believed and still do anyway that two wrongs could not make a right. Till date my mates from school call me 'Radio Baghdad' because I kept telling them that despite the numerous sorties and bombings by the allied forces, the 'Pillar of Baghdad' (a symbol of the strength of Iraq) was still grounding. In fact I have a verification card from Radio Japan. Those were the days of SW listening when there were no FM radio stations in Ghana (of course with the exception of GBC-FM now Radio Uniiq and Voice of Legon now called Radio Univers). We were also occasionally particularly during the Harmattan season receiving signals from the national TV station in Cote d'Ivoire. I can not forget the sight and sense of the taunting on Ivorian national TV streaming live celebrations after they (the Elephants of Ivory Coast) won the 1992 African Cup of Nations by beating Ghana (the Black Stars) in a marathon penalty shootout in Senegal. A particular song that was repeated over and over was 'Oh when the Saints go marching in' Les Elephants were African champs! But who is a Dxer? 

"DXing" is tuning in distant or hard-to-hear radio

DXing is the hobby of tuning in and identifying distant radio or television signals. DXing is tuning in distant or hard-to-hear radio. Many DXers attempt to receive written verifications of reception (sometimes referred to as "QSLs" or "veries") from the stations heard. The name of the hobby comes from DX, telegraphic shorthand for "distance" or "distant". Like every other early radio listener, we (with my two other brothers) often used home made crystal sets and long wire antennas, all in an attempt to find as many radio stations few and far between. With the broadcast bands uncrowded, signals of the most powerful stations could be heard over hundreds of miles, but weaker signals required more precise tuning or better receiving gear.

Those days, I had to write down the frequencies, time and date of reception for mainly two reasons. SW radio stations change frequencies depending on the time tuned in to it. In fact sometimes they might not be broadcasting on that frequency at all. It is the waves that make it possible to get reception and may not find it again. The other reason being that as an QSL, I needed to quote this information and details for the radio station to confirm. Some of the most important programmes to tune in to were not just the news but music requests. It was so much of a fun to hear your name being mentioned. I was so much overjoyed when I won prizes in current affairs quizzes on RFI and NHK. After collection from the post office, everyone had to see my achievements. Hey man, it was really fun and source of pride. The anxiety of waiting for weeks and months to hear your name and music requested played from a far away place was great. 
I benefitted great deal from this hobby. It led me to work with radio stations for five years beginning with my voluntary work at Radio Univers when I entered the university in the mid 1990s.

The background to developing this habit began during the 'long vacation' as we used to call the the end of the academic year vacation in Ghana then. In those days, attending a vacation classes was a norm rather than the exception. I remember we (at that time, I was living with my late Uncle, Joe de-Graft Oppong Yeboah - RIP)had relocated from New Site in Tokradi to GCB Training School at Nungua in Accra. That was in 1988. I was attending vacation classes at Nungua Secondary School. Due to the military regime's ban on newspaper publication (PNDC led by Jerry John Rawlings was an absolute dictatorial power), there was a proliferation of 'gossip' or human interest stories newspapers like 'The Hustler, Leisure, Confessions, Joy Ride, and Fun Joy among others. Of course the only newspapers that cover political stories were the state-owned ones namely The People's Daily Graphic (now Daily Graphic), The Ghanaian Times, The Mirror and The Spectator. I was developing interest in reading the papers for current affairs because I was a fan of the quiz programme on GBC 2 'What Do You Know?'. Then my uncle gave me a stern warning never to read any of those tabloids again as he felt their contents were socially immoral and did not have proper grasp of English grammar and would not help my learning. The Confessions newspaper (I believe is what has now metamorphosed as 'People and Places' -P&P) was particularly noted for covering 'confessions' of sexual escapades of high standing people in Ghana like priests, step-dads and the rest. Of course they were supposedly confessions hence no corroborations of such incessant reportage. My uncle insisted I read the national dailies alone or nothing.

As a good and experienced parent, he knew the vacuum needed to be filled and thus dumped on me volumes of huge story books. The one I still remember very well because of its impact on my opinion about our history is called 'ROOTS' by Alex Hurley. The main character, Chicken George, a descendant of Gambian slave Kinta Kunta reflects the misdirected energies of the disoriented typical African American. From there I developed the habit of reading African Writers Series and Pacesetters publications. My memory on those readings was a certain impression that there weren't many good writers in Ghana like Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe or South Africa. I also recall concluding then that all these nations had experienced violent conflicts one time or the other. These experiences had served as the foundation for those good authorship. It had influenced their imaginations. Of course I am not hereby advocating war in Ghana in order to develop good writers. With proper planning, we can encourage young people to cultivate the habit of writing imaginative novels. This I hope will come to debunk the notion and assertion of the early Europeans that if you intend to hide anything from the African, put it in a book. One particular story from Nigeria called the 'Undesirable Element' touched my soul. It was about a cursed precious stone that led to the annihilation of a whole generation of a family. The moral lesson then was that greed does not pay. This influenced my attitude to be honest and principled while bidding my time in life. 

This was all before the advent of the proliferation of privately owned FM Radio Stations beginning with Dr. Charles Yves Wereko Brobbey's Radio Eye in May 1994. His struggle and initiative to challenge the status quo at the time earned him the nickname 'Tarzan' from then Information Minister, Mr. Kofi Totobi Quakye. Mr. Quakye compared Dr. Brobbery to the fictional character who was an extreme example of a hero figure largely unalloyed with character flaws or faults. Following the jamming and subsequent seizure of the operating equipment of Radio Eye, the airwaves space and debate opened up. A high court ordered the Ghana Police to release his machines, but till date no one knows what happened to the machines as the court order was never obeyed. However before anybody could say hey jack, a certain Kwasi Twum entered into 'partnership' with GBC to use their frequency in July 1995. A week before this announcement, the National Communication Authority (NCA) then headed by Major (retired) Tandoh had seized this frequency (99.7 FM) from Voice of Legon (VOL). This action forced the militant Students' Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Ghana led by a certain Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and Egbert Faibaile to forcibly begin broadcasting on frequency modulation 105.7 without ever registering it. Is Joy FM still a partner station of GBC or it was a corrupt act perpetuated on Ghanaians? We deserve to know this as well as a seemingly cover up 'partnership' with Metro TV.

The popularity of DXing the medium-wave band and Short-wave news and has diminished as the popular music formats quickly migrated to the clearer, though less propagating, FM radio beginning in the 1990s.With the rise in popularity of streaming audio over the internet, many international broadcasters have cut back on their shortwave broadcasts. National and Missionary Religious broadcasters like GBC 1 & 2 still make extensive use of shortwave radio to reach less developed regions around the world. Now here I am blogging, social networking, emailing and sending text messages. How fast the world has changed in just under a generation. Will such revolution come over again to save the current generation from the current economic crisis? The telephony industry will be another field to reminiscing the good old days of dialtones: "the telephone number you are dialing does not exist, please check the number you're dialing and try again." Hey, how can your own telephone number exist? We have come a long way!!! The famous Ghanaian Sanyo 'Akasanoma' radio set (literally 'the talking bird') now belongs to the museum of Science and technology thanks to science revolution. Akasanoma RIP!!!