[ARC5] German Tank Radios

[Robert Eleazer]

I believe the place y'all are talking about was Vint Hill Farms.  It is about 35 miles SW of Dulles Airport in Virginia, later known as Vint Hill Station.  It was taken over as a listening post in WWII when Rommel's communications were intercepted by a SWL listener there.  Obviously, its proximity to Wash DC worked in its favor also.   It was later developed as a military base, but apparently was closed in 1996.

A friend of mine who was in the USAF in Germany in the 50's told me of sitting under a tree one day with a PRC-10 at hand and receiving transmissions from the Georgia Highway Patrol.

Another friend described how one day he was working with a crew fighting a fire near Sebastian, FL, and put out a call for help on the low band VHF radio because the fire was out of control and threatening a LORAN station.  He got a reply right away from someone that said they could send 16 units.  It was the Chicago Fire Department.

Needless, to say, I never have such luck with DX!

Wayne, WB5WSV