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CQM, Emissora da Guine in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea - The days when stations in the Portuguese colonies could be heard on shortwave are long gone, but my memories are helped by a recording that I received from Emissora da Guine in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea. I heard the station in 1959 on 7948 kHz and sent them a reel-to-reel tape which they over-recorded and returned to me, as stations often did in those days. It contains some great Portuguese music, with comments and introductions by an announcer at the station. I consider this one my most valued station souvenirs. (I believe "Guinea-Bissau," as it was known after independence in 1974, went of shortwave in the mid-1980s.)

CQM, Emissora da Guine in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, 1959, 7948 kHz. [11:26]

Portuguese Guinea P.S.

Our friend in Portugal, Carlos Goncalves, has translated a handwritten letter dated January 1, 1946, from "Radio Bissau," Portuguese Guinea, which was among the SWBC veries in the Roger Legge collection. As you can see, the letter verifies Roger's reception of their 50 watt signal on a wavelength "of approx. 42 m.," and indicates that they were operating at 2200-2245 GMT. Interestingly, an old NNRC Bulletin dated March 1, 1946 carries Roger's report of this veri, giving the frequency as 7090 kHz. "Radio Bissau, Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, verified in four months by letter in Portuguese. The transmitter is a 50-watt Hallicrafters." NNRC High Frequencies Editor James J. Hart adds: "Rog, I also received a veri from this station. They stated they had received another report from this section of the U.S. It must have been yours. He said he received it December 15, 1945." It is a small world.

Although Roger was an experienced DXer, he was new to reporting to the NNRC SWBC section, and so earlier issues did not contain his report of this log. However, the November 1, 1945 issue carries Jimmy Hart's log: "7095, Radio Bissau, Portuguese Guinea. This is the station that has been mistaken for Radio Funchal in Madeira. It signs on at 5 P.M. [EST] with the Portuguese anthem followed by a short program of news and signs off at 5:30 P.M., again rendering the national anthem." And this log: "Heard in Toledo but with severe QRM and fading. (Charles S. Sutton)

There is no mention of the station in the first (1947) edition of the WRTH, but the second and third editions (1948 and 1948-49) show Radio Bissau operating at that time on 7948 kHz at 2130-2300, 1 kw. Presumably this is the same station heard earlier. Roger Legge's QSL is the only original evidence of the station's early incarnation that I have ever seen. The letter to Roger was accompanied by a folder of views of Portuguese Guinea, a few of which are shown in these scans.