The QST article Martin referenced was written by Barry Collins, from
Demopolis, Alabama. no relation to the radio maker.

Barry mentioned the RTTY signal as being there during the time
following the Cuban Missile Crises.

I forget exactly when that article appeared, but it was sometime in
the mid 1990s.

 If you find it, read what he had to say about a visit he received one
Sunday afternoon from some of the military's "heavy hitters" as a
result of his activity on 432 MHZ. That was an amazing story in and of
itself, and was actually the focal point of the article.

The author lived in the same county in Alabama as my grandparents, and
I often talked with him on 2 meters when I would be there visiting
relatives.

As for the RTTY signal on WSM, that story was not mentioned in the
book "Air Castle of the South." I was a bit surprised that it wasn't,
since the author did write, although in simple terms, about a lot of
the technical matters surrounding the station.

However, before I ever knew what Ham radio, or RTTY meant, I often
heard that data signal on WSM. Here is how that came about.

There was a station in Cuba that operated on 655 KHZ. Apparently, it
ran a chunk of power specifically in order to give WSM a good dose of
QRM.

In my part of Mississippi at least, the QRM was very successful.
Whenever that Cuban signal was present, there would be a noticeable
heterodyne, or squeal as this then 8 year-old called it, on the WSM
signal.

Of course, when the RTTY data was being transmitted and the Cuban
signal was present, a really weird sounding bunch of tones would also
appear in my yet un-informed ears, thus creating another nuisance. 
Even my dad would wonder what on earth was wrong with the radio

The RTTY tests were apparently conducted with several of the clear
channel stations in the southeast. This, of course, was in the days
when "clear channel" meant exactly that.

I don't recall hearing the RTTY data on any other stations, but I do
remember that WWL would broadcast a half our of news in Spanish every
night "for our friends and neighbors to the south."


Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs