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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.
Wavescan 297, September 3, 2000
Radio Pakistan, Lahore
It was back in the year 1968, that we as a family were transferred
from Perth in Western Australia to Lahore in Pakistan. Soon
after our arrival at our new location, I received a letter from
an international radio monitor in the United States enquiring
about the small shortwave station operated by Radio Pakistan in
Lahore.
I checked my radio files, and noted that I had received several
QSL cards for different outlets of Radio Pakistan, and that each
card listed a shortwave transmitter in Lahore under the callsign
APL3. The World Radio TV Handbook also listed APL3 in Lahore,
as a 1 kW shortwave unit on the air on 21 different channels,
though most of these were never used.
Now, it so happened, that the transmitter base for Radio Pakistan
Lahore on mediumwave was located on Multan Road, just half a mile
from Adventpura, the estate where we were living. On one
occasion, my Pakistani assistant and I drove down to the station
and we were given a cordial welcome and a friendly guided tour.
I saw the small shortwave transmitter, now off the air.
I was told that there was little need for a low powered shortwave
transmitter in the Lahore area, and that there were no plans to
re-activate it.
Just last year, when I made a nostalgic return visit to Pakistan,
I revisited the transmitter site on Multan Road, only to discover
that the entire station is gone, transferred to another location.
The whole area is now a modern housing estate.
The history of Radio Pakistan Lahore, shortwave APL3, is very
interesting. It would appear that this transmitter was at
first on the air shortwave in Karachi under the callsign APK2.
It was transferred to Lahore around 1950 and it was in service
in Lahore as APL3 until about 1967. Programming was always
on relay from the network of Radio Pakistan, usually from the
local mediumwave station. Very few QSL cards were ever issued
for this small regional shortwave unit.
Thus the historic shortwave transmitter, 1 kW APL3, was long ago
discarded, and the property is now a housing estate.