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Yolume XLl THE SHORT WAVE MAGAZINE 359

“THE NEIGHBOURS WOULDN’T LIKE IT!”

MICHAEL OCKENDEN, G3MHF

ANYONE whose planning application for a modest TA-33 has recently been refused may well envy the diplomatic immunity accorded to the aerial systems of foreign embassies located in London’s Belgravia. High above the rooftops, in stark contrast to the decorative baliustrades of the elegant Georgian terraces, can be seen many fine examples of modern antenna technology. The high gain log-periodics and fat cage-dipolcs ensure reliable Communications with foreign capitals and other embassies and missions throughout the world. Similarly equipped British embassies overseas maintain contact with the Diplomatic Wireless Service Radio Station at Hanslope Park in Buckinghamshire.

The allocation of callsigns to embassy radio stations is interesting for sińce an embassy is technically foreign territory, it would seem appropriate for a foreign callsign to be used. However, published lfsts of callsigns allocated to point-to-point stations indicate that in some cases ‘loan’ calls are issued by the host country (KNY25, Roumanian Embassy in Washington), while elsewhere an embassy will use a callsign from its own national allocation (SAM57, Swedish Embassy in Dacca). A third possibility is that a callsign is used which is not at all in accordance with the ITU lists (J5W, French Embassy in Rabat).

The Vienna Convention, signed by Britain in 1961 and ratified in 1964, is the legał basis for the use of diplomatic wireless. But long before this datę, after considerable suspicion in the early days, countries began to turn a blind eye to radio stations inside embassies, coyly maintaining that commercial cable companies were used to transmit diplomatic messages. In 1920, the U.S. Shipping Board asked for permission to operate a receiving station in Britain for the purposes of listening to naval broadcasts from Annapolis and keeping watch on the international distress wavelength of 600

Yugoslav Embassy:

The curious sausage-shaped cage-dipołe over the Yugoslav Embassy in Lexham Gardens, Kensington, is designed to give a wide band wid th. RacaJ, who market something rather similar, quote lOkW Av/PEP as the power rating for their antenna. Since diplomatic immunity also extends to TVi, QRP operation b somewhat unlikeły!

Saudi Arabian Embassy:

Assuming that you were able to obtain planning permission for a log periodk like this one on the roof of the Saudi Arabian Embassy, a listed building in Bełgrave Square, would you get tax relief on a second mortgage to raise the £11,000 or $o for the hardware and erection costs?