Receiver Site - Bad-Oyenhausen 1952-54

Hi All,

Forgive me for not being in comms with everyone but Happy New Year to all etc.
Been trying to find out/rack what brains I have left, if anyone ever served with HQ BAOR SIg Regt and did shift work at the Receiver Site just north of Bad-Oyenhausen.
I was in 1 Medium Wireless Troop from 1952-54 and we used to do shift work at this receiver site. I remember that the sets were RCA AR88 with about 5 bands. My opposite number was based as Fontenblau, just outside Paris and the callsign was FAA2. Other fellows operated to British Troops Trieste and Berlin amongst others. When there was a frequency change, the Sig Cen Sup would phone the Transmitter Site and ask them to change the arial to match the frequency. This would have been due to atmospheric conditions etc. The Radio Mechanics would ring back and confirm the change over.
We used to sometimes when the shift was over and visit the NAAFI in the kurpark
One other piece of useless info, I remember that once I left Bad-Oyenhausen station on the night train to Berlin in 1953 with a TOT Officer. During our stay we collected some frequency xrystals from the Telefunkel factory.

Memories, Memories

Would be interested if anyone served there in those times.

Jimsigs1

Hi Jim,

we do have a few bleeps on the board, I was in Bado at the time, but I was a child.

Hi Jim..How are the old legs these days???

I'm curious. What was the purpose of this place? Was it a listening post such as those run by GCHQ and other unmentionable places?

AR88 receivers used to be much sought after kit by amateur radio enthusiasts.

Take a look here jim

http://baor-locations.co.uk/Badoeynhausen.aspx

That's a good read Gordon.

I know that this could be a long shot but, did any of you Royal Signals guys come across a Major (TOT) Bill Bowser, he died "In harness" at the relatively young age of 48 in 1968 - he was my Father in Law?

Hi Gordon & Teabag,

Sorry for not replying right away to your posts. I'll put myself on a 252. Trying to get to grips with the site format etc.
The old legs are now 76.

The Receiver Site was a comms network for HQ BAOR to stations in Europe such as BTA (British Troops Austria at Klagenfurt), SHAPE HQ at Fontenblau, Paris, BTB (British Troops Berlin, and Troops stationed in Triest etc. All radio links were live and the traffic consisted of messages dealing with Soviet matters. Of course it was always in Alphanumeric cipher groups of five which we didn't understand. We only had to send/receive the stuff.
My radio link was to Fontenblau which was manned by various NATO Signal personnel. The yanks were the worse. They would insist on using their bug keys which sent traffic above 45 WPM. Think the keyboard they used was moved sideways.
About 2 miles away we had a Transmitter site with all the 53 sets etc. Thet were manned by the Radio Mechanics of the day and changed frequency for us on demand.

All of this was carried out by 3 Sqn of HQ BAOR SiG Regt under the command of Major Mansergh. The Sqn contained 1,2,3 & 4 Medium Wireless Troops.

Cheers for now
Jimsigs1

Teabag wrote:

I'm curious. What was the purpose of this place? Was it a listening post such as those run by GCHQ and other unmentionable places?

AR88 receivers used to be much sought after kit by amateur radio enthusiasts.

We used the AR88 at the School in Vimy Barracks in 62 in training but never saw one again. But do agree they were popular with Hams as the Army got rid of them

Hi All,

Further to my request for locating a Signals Receiver Site near Bad Oynehausen way back in January, an old buddy of mine from Harrogate days lives near Bunde and he did a quick recce and has come up with a place called LOHE.Hr reckons its on the Detmolder Strasse/Valdorfer Strasse road out from Bad O, near the E34 Autobahn.
Anyone ever been near this area or heard of a Receiver Site in the Bad O area ?

Anyway, I have dropper a line to the local rag and asked if any old timers might have worked for the Brit Army in the 1950's. Might be some old buzzard who might remember.

Jimsigs1