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Photo 14-PWA-4

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This is the Voice of America, Bethany Relay Station.

Very cool to see a picture of it intact as the antenna array is long since gone and much of the original grounds are the Voice of America Metro Park. The building in front is still standing and now houses a broadcast museum.

Voice of America was famous for their shortwave (ham) radio transmissions which reached around the world and were used by the U.S. government to broadcast overseas and behind the iron curtain. Because of the V.O.A. proximity to WPAFB (Wright Patterson Air Force Base) there was an extremely strong group of ham radio operators who held an annual flea market type event every year called "HamFest" which was hugely popular amongst enthusiasts. The military also had for ages at WPAFB an agency called DESC, the Defense Electronics Supply Center. As one would expect they acted as a major procurement agency for all things electronic for the military for decades.

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