A few years after the end of World War II our family moved from England to South Africa. My father worked as an electrician at one of the gold mines near Johannesburg. It so happened that a co-worker was a radio ham who lived across the street from us. He used a rack-and panel transmitter and a Hallicrafters SX-43 receiver. I used to go and visit him when he was on the air. As a boy of seven, I was hooked, but it would be more than thirty years until I obtained my ham license.

In the early 1950s my parents bought me a Siemens bedside radio, covering MW and SW. We only had three local MW stations and could pick up Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and ZNB Mafeking on SW. I could also tune-in to the BBC, VOA and AFRTS. However I only began serious DXing in 1959. I started collecting QSL cards, later joined a few DX clubs, and became a monitor for Trans World Radio and FEBA Seychelles.

Between 1982 and 1986 I worked at Radio RSA, at that time the External Service of the SABC in Johannesburg. For much of that period I was in charge of their Monitoring Panel, a group of about 500 DXers from many parts of the world, who sent in regular reception reports on our transmissions.

My office was located not at Broadcasting Centre in Auckland Park, but at the SABC’s Receiving Station at Panorama, northwest of Johannesburg in a peaceful country setting away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The site was used by the SABC to monitor news broadcasts from various international stations and feed them by landline to the News Department in Auckland Park. Sadly, now all the short wave receivers and antennas have gone, and the site is used by Sentech, a provider of broadband communications.

I also assisted in the frequency planning of the station. Being a DXer, I then had an intimate knowledge of what was happening on short wave and which stations were on, and when. This knowledge helped in deciding which frequency should be used to a particular target area.

Our department also produced a monitors’ handbook, and a bi-monthly newsletter in English, which was translated into French, Dutch, German, Portuguese and Spanish. This included some current news about the station and its personalities, some aspect of South African culture, birthday greetings, and a contest in which we gave away promotional items to members. In addition, we sent out a supply of reception report forms for Panel members to complete and return to us. Another incentive was to issue a certificate after so many reports had been received by a member.

Radio RSA had a whole series of very colourful QSL cards, which depicted the flora, fauna, and scenic spots of South Africa. They were highly sought by DXers. I was responsible for issuing QSLs to Panel members, as well as cards for the domestic services.

Naturally, I got to meet some of the announcers at Radio RSA whenever I went to Auckland Park. I remember meeting Bernard Lehman, who used to work at the Swiss Shortwave Service, and also Henry Vaughan, who was with LM Radio at one time. Others who come to mind and later joined the television service include Dorianne Berry, first female announcer on SABC TV, and TV newsreaders Shirley Veal, David Hall-Green and Colin Houston.

Although I was not one of the regular announcers, my boss Piet Martins hosted a weekly show, “DX Corner.” I sometimes went with him to Auckland Park to co-host the program. Each year on New Year’s Eve, Radio RSA produced a special international call-in show from midnight to dawn, and I would join some of the announcers and was able to talk to some of our Panel members by phone. I even got to meet some of them when they were visiting South Africa.

I consider my time at Radio RSA to be the best job I ever had, because I was able to combine my hobby with my job, a dream everybody has. I now live in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, but miss all the stations that have now left shortwave.