While going through an old box in my garage the other day, I came across some unfinished letters from the mid-1970's. These sorts of finds are gold dust to me, especially given the way my memory appears to have developed a very specific hole about this period. One such missive comes from the depths of 1976, the year I did my HSC. It was written to a friend on the South Coast and describes my experiences with short-wave radio.

That year I had bought a Tandy Realistic SW radio (similar to the one below), ostensibly to listen in on broadcasts from far and wide. I had my HSC study to do, old cars to tinker with and yet another year of soccer, but somewhere in this busyness I found the time to tune into foreign broadcasts. I chose the Realistic radio not for its outstanding performance, but because Tandy was cheaper than its competitors.

In any event, the radio proved to be up to the task of taking me nightly to Beijing (Radio Peking), The Voice of America, the BBC and many other channels in languages I did not understand. Radio Peking was the standout, for this was the year both Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong died, followed by the wild events surrounding the succession, such as the arrest of the Gang of Four. The latter were pilloried relentlessly with the most outrageous crimes and misdeeds being levelled at them. They were bad dudes for sure, but they took the rap for many others, including Mao himself.

In amongst all the polemic were long readings of industrial production. How many million pairs of scissors were produced in Factory 4315 in Harbin? I was sure to find out on Radio Peking.

I don't know what happened to that radio. I left it at home when I moved out and I guess it found its way into the garbage one day when it stopped working. Shame.