Almost four decades later, he donated the collection to the Internet Archive’s Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications. Today, the entire collection is online. The Chuck Vesei Shortwave Radio Artifacts collection has hundreds of items that he received from shortwave broadcasters from 1984 to 1986.
The collection is a rich snapshot of Cold War-era radio, including broadcast schedules and program guides from Radio Baghdad, Radio Kiev, Radio Japan and many others. There’s a Christmas card from Voice of Free China, a card commemorating Radio Havana’s 25th anniversary in 1986, and wall calendars from Radio Beijing. Chuck also received hundreds of QSL cards — postcards confirming reception of a broadcast, each with unique designs and photos depicting the region and culture — and QSL pennants, collectable flags made of cloth or paper.
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QSL Pennants
“I developed an intense fascination with short wave radio, DXing, asking for QSLs from international broadcasters, and old radios in general,” Chuck said. “I grew up in a bilingual (Hungarian) household which cultivated a deeper interest in the world at large and especially with nations and cultures behind the Iron Curtain. In the mid-80’s the Cold War was in full swing and this type of thing was extremely fascinating to a teenager like me.”
He started with a Uniden CR-2021 portable radio, and over the months acquired a few more radios, including a Hallicrafters S-40 receiver and a Heathkit GC-1A Mohican receiver that his father built in the 1960s. “My father was an engineer who had a lot of expertise with old radios. I was fascinated by how radio signals could travel so far and under different atmospheric conditions.” His father’s engineering background inspired Chuck’s appreciation of radio’s magic: how signals could travel immense distances, influenced by the atmosphere and time of day.