RADIO AMATEURS' CATEGORIES/QUALITY AND SHORTAGES OF RADIO PARTS/GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS/RECORDING MACHINES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500300207-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 21, 2013
• Sequence Number: 207
• Publication Date: December 17, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/03/21 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000500300207-6
E
COUNTRY
U.S. Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
, INFORMATION REPORT
C.,ch.slovakl./HuNAry
SUBJECT Radio Amateurs" Categories/Quality and Shortages of
Radio Parts/Government Regulations/Recording Machines
iii 000$. .0 00. ? ell? ?0111?1010. 0I?t0/100 tot .0?10?4. .....
0/ 1,1 ,I r?.0 014112. ?11000 10, +1Am I o or VI II aft! 101?1 ?
000 7.4. or ?.? 0.2. cwt. ?? 0010000. TA ...... i?61C. O? ???I.
1.01100 01 III 00 ,011.71 10 Om .11600., IV ?? ? 4co ????Oft II
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP . TO
REPORT NO.
Categories of Amateurs
P. "The Czechoslovak Government is sponsoring radio amateurs as a part of pre-militsry
training within the SMARM movement. The Youth League (CSM) has in several towns
special units of radio amateurs. There exist also many private amateurs wbo devotc
all their spare time to building new radio receivers. Building transmitters is
strictly limited to the officially supervised groups.
Quality and Shortages of Parts
rho: main problem for radio amateurs is how and where to find parts and componav_
for sets. Besides wireless receivers the amateurs also build amplifiers and reorct:.,
machines of various types and repair old radio sets for their friends. The main
source for parts and spare parts are stocks of secondhand radio material from Gernutn
and UNRRA origin which are still available in Czechoslovakia. These parts were
unsuitable for the mass production of the nationalized radio industry, Tesla, and
threfore found their way to official radio sho s she Elektra and Maud Pionvr
't miss. Pioneer shops.
4. " 111:11raL ":,hat the .-L:siu diiricuity is Lo procure cuadenacrs. and rc,::.ist
is ,A1' the size and volume to fit the specifications in the bluepristo of variou,t
Seine;. LitsiS one cannot cycz1 sc?t the roluired parts for blueprinLs .7)ffiSiaTLiy
Elelttra. On the other hand, there are many special parts avb.ilable, wriih
.L i.e. be _uhed although they are of very good quality. The latter are main y
Le-ess-button sets with complete coil anci, resistance gadgets,,, including
n- CI1 ot.-i.et condensers . (civkeve soupravy s vystupem, vstupem a vsena
'Pliese parts originate mainly from the UillIRS Jac; UNRRA.27 but
U.S. Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
i 4 W1F [ANMT 1.>c NAVYJT FBI I
'Phi:, report is for the use within the USA of the Intelliaenc components of the Departments or
Afmnei,?r, Inclie,,ted above. It la not to be tranismittoci overseas without the cone the
ur-172:7)1-f
line 00 ti
oith.o through the Assistant Director of the ?thee of Collection and Dissemination, CIA
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of them ar0 brand-new imports Only after they had been
imported was it found tiat they were com)letely unsuitable for Czechoslovak mass
production - and this for a very simple reason: the best sets had up to 24 press 50X1-HUM
buttons which enabled an exact partition of short wavebands, including ultra short
wave. These press-button coils wpre originally intended to be used for an
exquisite set called Ilarmonia, the blueprint of which equalled the best foreign
radios. This special press-button :oii would ensure perfect reception or scores of
foreign stations in all possible Wlurtwave-bands from 5 to 170:metres - and that was r
eonsidered undesirable by the nationalized radio M;tnagement! Therefore the idea vas
abandoned and the coils given to radio iimatcur shops.
".1;nfortunately these valaable parts were purposely mad': unusable,because the shops were
not given any technical data on the emat Ivalun' (hodnota clVky) of the individual
eoils. The complete press-button scit oonsisted or a set of coils plus a correspondinx
6ix' revolving 'cone.:nscr (VzduanY otonfkonOcnItctor, plus in-put aerial set of coils
(vstelinr antennrcfvkovg so-uhrava), awl finally interlinking oiis (mezifrtavenre
ciVky). The shops split, sometimes pur!)ose:V, the whole sets of coils, tens damaging
!he whole rircuit unit. It was up to the radio amateur to find out by elaborate ways
how to use individual parts. os e who owned very sensitive measurement apperatUs
find out the actual technical data of the parts, by measuring and by talculatia;
the winding of the coils (odhad hoanity s tiortenfM znriA). The interlinking .
(m07.J.T.Tekvence, resistance coils wore thun adadted to the required nuMber or kflcjcr.
lieceiveracquipped with these parts are e::trcmcly effi,ient and, in excellent workincHor
sfter Neverol month" aid the sops; rosvive ....rraiponding condensers and Inter-
,Itaking coil.s. These were diecovere on by frequk::.t aed=permanent cui.tonerzat n
shop or by persOns friends of ti:e aealutans.
0. "1:;adio pnrts produced by Czechoslovak n-lienaLised enterprise Team sre of very poor
fwnlity, because the indicated 'vnlien' (hodolt,) are aYmost never comet.. when a
radio amateur is building a set of ::hche new 'ivuls parts, be may have to replace ten
or fifteen resintance coils or conkl.cmserc before he finds the right one.
amateura have had to make, therefore, rrequent changes which are actunay
Imprevementn on the original blucurints of circuit dinner.. Thin indirectly' proves Lite
high ntandard of the preaent amateurs in ,:zechoslovakia. The:mojorM the .00
ameteurs managed to get after -c.r? II remnants of radio sets and radio building
equipment from the Oerrann Army stoms --mainly aircraft enmmunication seta, measUrOMVAt
aonaratue and precision mechanical welt,. :one parts made by the amateurs 00 net On17
equal In precision anti perfection those made by 'reale, but in .any cases are even
superior in quality. Tesla builds radio sets according to blueprints at least ten year...
old. Apart from changes in ccbinets anu soue tuning improvements the DM 7'als1a atits is
completely identical with the old types. 50X1 -HUM
8. "Another difficulty in getting suitable parts is that manly shops
blocks of old sets so that i111lLwu or three parts r
at all.
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"Valves available in shoos are either from the old Tesla stock of the cries twa at,
and 22, EU 21, LF 21, AY. 11, vtd., or new valves made by th-! Hungarian rimaTungaram.
These are mainly midget lamps, basen on :Lilies cormtruction.lmitAheie ant
efficiency are much lower.
although the c.ircuit scheme was mOre or
the szme, the ncriat insut on the latter was much lower and therf.r h -
111pUt c. weaker.
(car
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Czechoslovak amateurs are prepared to pay three or
four times more for Western valves than for those produced by Tesla. A set of five
valves for an ordinary receiver cost in old currency about 2.000 Cr., in new currency
about 500 Cr. 5ollowing reform of 30 May 5.7.
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11. "The biggest difficulty for Czechoslovak radio amateurs is the lack of screws, nut and bolts
made of copper, soldering apparatus and precision tools as well as insulating materials.
12. "Radio amateurs are kept busy repairing private sets for all their friends, because
repairs done at the nationalised chops are much worse in quality. New radio sets built
by amateurs are very popular, because. they not only give better reception but aIaowear
better. All the parts for a five-valve receiver coat about 4,000 cr. in the old
currency (without a case). The radio was then sold for 8,000 to 10,000 Cr. The
recording machines were also sold at about 10,000 crowns. ?
13. "Many radio amateurs are engaged in building recording apparatus which are used by
enthusiasts to record importsmt political speeches, news bulletins, etc. from foreign
broadeaate. Some.of the munid: fans record- Western jazz music. These recording mauhinea
operate on homemade diacs made of X-ray films. These discs- may be used up to 200 times.
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14. "Although it is -strictly prohibited to own a recording machine and the owner risks severe
punishment, there are hundreds throughout Czechoslovakia, mainly in Prague. All the
parts for recording and engraving are made by amateurs themselves, so that they need only
an isrdinary, strong electric gramophone motor with speed regulator. All the transmitting
gears andm7nT e engraving gadgets are homemade. several groups of
enthusiasts record Western jazz music for use at home dancingparties. The only
difficulty to this process is the regular supply of large-size X-ray films. Nurees and
girls employed in hospitals are the main source of supply-.
15. -Government Regulations
"Ultra short wave frequencies must not be used in Czechoslovakia, neither for radio
amateurs' transmitters nor for receivers. Old Germap wirelens nets from aircraft and
teaks were fitted with these ultra shortwave coils, all these sets
have been confiscated during the last few years, and radio amateurs have been warned not
to hide them. The ownership of German or Western portable transmitters-receivers (walkie-
talkie type) is prohibited. The sets have had to be handed over to the police.. These
sets, especially the transmitters, could very easily be converted to very effective trans-
mitters for longer distances. When 'T l919 the sale of these sets was prohibited and
their registration ordered, some. of the proprietors risked keeping them illegally and
used their parts for other purposes.
16. "All radio amateurs who own an international license have to sign a statement declaring
that they will not disclose any state secrets, as understood by the present laws, and that
they will send in regularly exact reports on any conversations with foreign amateurs. The
license is given only to very reliable Party people who must be recommended by their local
police post as well as by their local Party organisation. Several big factories have their
own radio units which operate under the supervision of the factory militia. The Svazarm
radio units attend regularly tests and training transmissions in the open air using weak
short wave transmitters and receivers of army type."
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/03/21 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000500300207-6 guru