[IRCA] QSL cards make the mainstream media

["Robert Foxworth" <rfoxwor1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some of the fallout from "Deep Throat/Mark Felt"
includes an interesting sidebar article that ran in
today's Tampa Tribune, by James Crawley of
the Media General News Service.

Crawley says that Mark Felt was his "Uncle Mark",
the brother of his Aunt Janet.

While the main part of the article is that Crawley
never got his lifetime scoop because Felt would
not admit his undercover role, there is a part of
it that is very relevant to DXers, and which actually
confirms in principle something that many of us
have guessed at for decades.

Best to quote the article from here in:

"Uncle Mark ... did give me hints about the prying
eyes of the FBI.

As a boy, I tinkered with radios, listening to amateur
radio operators and distant shortwave stations
such as the BBC and Voice of America.

The hobby included mailing reports of a broadcast's
time and details to the faraway station. In return,
the station would send a colorful postcard, known
as a QSL card. Listeners collected them like baseball
trading cards.

One of the easiest stations to hear was Radio Havana.
Not only did they send QSL cards, but also regular
issues of Granma, the communist screed full of
Cuban propaganda.

During his next visit, I proudly showed Uncle Mark my
shortwave radio and all my cards from Cuba, the
USSR and China.

"Yes, I know. Your name showed up on some lists, but
I told them you were O.K. So, don't worry", he said.

I was 10.'

--
 James W. Crawley can be reached
at jcrawley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

---------------

- Bob

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