Summer 1981...age 15....was up late one night putzing around with a Panasonic Platinum Boom Box (remember those?) on the AM band, when around 600 khz, I heard this weird ethnic music and strange announcements where it sound like the DJ was alone in a concrete room surrounded by nothing but a microphone....They identified as RADIO MOSCOW WORLD SERVICE....I was flabbergasted.....Turns out they were relaying on the AM/MW band out of Cuba, which is why the signal was so good....The following night, an old neighbor of ours who walked his dog every night stopped by with his pup...I proceeded to tell him about my experience with the Boom Box, and he told me he had a radio that picks that stuff up all the time from all over the world....We (He, me, my dad, my brother, and the pup) went back to his house, and there was a beautiful 1950s vintage Zenith Transoceanic....we tuned into the BBC, RAI in Rome and Kol Israel that night....and from that point on, the flood gates opened up....the horse was out of the barn, never to return.....and that started it all for me regarding SWL and Ham Radio....Remember it like it was yesterday, and will never forget, either.....
V
K3NRX