By John Ekwall

RADIO ST. HELENA DAY - HOW IT ALL STARTED

Back in 1990, I was contacted by the organizers of NorDX. I was asked to help them put Radio St. Helena in the SW- bands within the contest this year. After many telephone- calls and faxes with various authorities, a permit was granted for a one-off-transmission on the assigned frequency of 11,092.5 kHz. The success was enormous, but the world of DX-ers was annoyed that it was only intended for those who participated in the contest.
These months of contact with this remote island created more or less a ''have-to-visit'' St. Helena and the nice people I had spoken to. Well, you don't really travel by yourself so I more or less persuaded my friend Jan Tunér to be my travel-mate. During our preparations before take-off in March 1992, we got the idea to initiate a yearly Radio St. Helena Day (this could be of some comfort for those DX-ers who missed the broadcast in 1990).

After our arrival in Jamestown, we started to anchor our project. We opened some doors within the commmunity, and after a visit to the Governor Alan Hoole and his approval, all was set for the first Radio St. Helena Day the coming October.

As you already know by now, the transmissions during these years have become very popular. A lot of radio-enthusiasts now have a verification card from this island in the South Atlantic Ocean. They also know that the island is a lot more than ''The Jail of Napoleon''.
Another result from our visit, is the wish to promote Radio St. Helena in various ways. We started "South Atlantic Travel & Trade" (SATT) to promote future tourism on the island. As we have good communications compared to St. Helena, we also act as a representative for Radio St. Helena. SATT is a non-profit organization (now deceased).