The WW2 Radio Shack
as featured in the book
"The Key Messenger"
Ludwig Combrinck
ZS5CN (SKCC 23813)
thekeymessenger@gmail.com
South Africa
Reconstruction of a secret WW2 radio station
Ludwig Combrinck ZS5CN; The WW2 Radio Shack
This reconstruction of a "secret" WW2 radio station is based on the story (fact/fiction) contained in the book "The Key Messenger" which I am currently writing. The story will be divided into two or more parts, and will be published sequentially as a set of books, covering the period 1930 to 1975 and then a bit beyond, up to the early 1990's. That is the current idea anyway. It describes the activities (and excursions) of the operators of a small covert radio station active in Switzerland during and after WW2 as part of the activities of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and other allied agencies. The original radio station was located in the municipality of Luvis (renamed Luven in 1943), in the district of Surselva (canton of Graubünden). The radio station was located in an old Maiensäss hut; there were some spruce trees near the hut and it had a view towards the Alp da Riein.
There is a lead character (South African) who provides most of the narrative. The story starts in the then Union of South Africa (1), then moves to England, France and then to Switzerland. From there onwards the globe becomes the playing field.
The excursions of the small multi-national operator and technical contingent of the radio station took some of them all over Europe where they experienced the full impact of the mayhem, disaster and life threatening situations caused by the Germans and their allies in their effort to conquer Europe. They did however have some success in thwarting the activities of the enemy at various occasions. Curiously enough, they seemed to have met both unreasonable and reasonable people on both sides of the war, clearly illustrating the complexity of human interaction and behaviour during war times, no matter your nationality or loyalties.
After the end of WW2 hostilities the radio station continued operations with support from the Diplomatic Wireless Service (DWS) and other agencies as the Cold War commenced. The story sketches alternative scenarios to many historical events and include historical characters such as Airey Neave and Otto Skorzeny. There are many unknowns and factual gaps in history; these gaps can be filled with various possible scenarios and some of these have been woven into the story line.
The book "The Key Messenger" is not a history book, but it does contain history; please do not use this website or the book as a history reference. The book contains many technical facts and technical descriptions of radio communications equipment used by the radio station operators. These descriptions are not always in the public domain, or even in the archives of governments.
The same radio antennas as originally used will be erected at the site of the reconstructed alpine hut, these were all unobtrusive wire antennas and were basically invisible to the unaided eye from a distance, and certainly invisible from the air or in aerial photographs.
The alpine hut in the photograph is more or less what the radio shack looked like. I have a sketch of the old hut and this sort of matches, at least the mountains are more or less the same.
I will be documenting the reconstruction of the radio shack here as it progresses. The small log cabin (located on a farm close to Underberg, South Africa) will be equipped with WW2 receivers and transmitters, these are all fully functional and are of the type used for radio interception purposes and communication during and after WW2. Included are British R206 (MkI) receivers, American AR88 (RCA) and Hallicrafters SX28 receivers as well as Collins equipment. Transmitters used were manufactured by Standard Electric, RCA and Collins. After the war, the station expanded a bit and included a larger, more powerful transmitter (DWS MK214D) built by the UK's Diplomatic Wireless Service (500 watt CW/ 350 watt AM) and eventually two KW Electronics transmitters (SSB 5 kW). These could be operated at selected power levels by varying the drive and power amplifier screen and anode voltages. Details of these radio transmitters can be found at Radio equipment and Radio details downloads, the reader should browse around a bit using the top and drop-down menus.
The main purposes of this radio station were to relay radio messages during difficult ionospheric propagation conditions, create bogus messages with the intent to confuse and deceive the enemy and to mimic either allied or axis radio operators, with the purpose to thwart radio direction finding attempts and spread disinformation respectively. They also transmitted reports concerning enemy activities and supported the escape of civilians through Switzerland. At times, portable equipment was used in an effort to mislead enemy radio direction finding efforts. These excursions were physically arduous and demanded extreme effort from the operator, both physically and mentally; portable equipment in those days were quite bulky and heavy, and often times supplying power to the radio transmitter/receiver was a major part of the challenge.
During the war, they succeeded to infiltrate the Deutscher Amateur-Sende- und Empfangsdienst (DASD). Operators of the Luven radio station thought that the continuation of German radio amateur activity during the war was highly suspicious. Most other countries involved in the war had closed down all radio amateur transmitting activities. They found that the DASD had a different purpose during WW2 than just allowing hobbyists to continue albeit in a semi-controlled manner.
Towards the end of 1959, the station was also used to conduct scientific research by creating maps of ionospheric propagation; this was done through monitoring remote stations and logging the strength of a single, short pulse, unmodulated carrier wave transmitted from a known position on a specified frequency. The returns sounded similar to a station tuning its transmitter for 3 seconds and then shutting down. A small network of radio amateurs participated in this experiment. The network received instructions in the format of an array of groups of five numerals. It probably could pass as a "numbers station" even though the instructions were not enciphered and with a bit of effort could be read by anyone (and probably were).
This secret radio station is not documented in any official document of either England, the USA or Switzerland. During WW2 Switzerland was neutral, but then neutral has a colour of its own. It was after all, a secret radio station, and this is a story, and due to Switzerland's official neutral status, very few Swiss nationals knew of the station. Switzerland's neutrality has been questioned at many levels, but there is no doubt that the Swiss involved in this station did not support invasion of Switzerland and would fight to the death to prevent the success of any German invasion such as planned in Operation Tannenbaum.
This station stayed behind after WW2, and from that perspective was the only true "stay-behind" radio station, especially if one considers the "Cold War" as just the aftermath of WW2. Other stations followed throughout Europe, Germany, Italy, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Sweden, and so on. This was the only multinational station. The "Staybehind" networks were disbanded in the early 1990's due to political pressure. Well, that is the official version anyway, as if world peace has now been guaranteed by the politicians.
Of course, as is clear (or not so clear) from the title of the book, the key of the messenger is a Morse key used in continuous wave (CW) telegraphy. However, not all radio communication from this station was done by CW. Amplitude modulation (AM) was also used throughout its existence and from the late 1950's single sideband (SSB) was used as well following the installation of two Collins KWS-1 transmitters. These were augmented during the 1960's and early 1970's by Collins S-line equipment and two 5 kW Granger Associates, Model 272-6 SSB transmitters, constructed by KW Electronics of the UK (founded by Major Rowley Shears G8KW and Ken Ellis G5KW). Fact or fiction? The reader will have to decide.
This website will be updated on a regular basis as the project progresses, and I may even add snippets from the book, at least some of the pictures and perhaps some other details. So, make sure you visit the site regularly as it is bound to change. A monthly update is made on the refurbishment page.
The weather forecast for Underberg, South Africa can be seen in the application below. If you want to browse around and see the area from a satellite's viewpoint, use the Google map application. If you are interested in visiting the Underberg and Himeville area, click on the "See 7-Day Forecast" link on the weather display, this will take you to "Weather forecast and hotels"; on this site you can explore and book local accommodation.
Weather forecast for Underberg, South Africa.
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