If you’ve ever spent any time as a shortwave listener (which is how many hams got interested in amateur radio), you’re familiar with the Voice of America. VOA is still on the air, however the shortwave service to America is long gone. It is possible, however to hear broadcasts targeted to other areas of the world.

VoA started on February 1, 1942 with the aim of “correcting” propaganda that was being broadcast by Nazi Germany. Over the years it morphed into telling news to the shortwave listeners of the world from an American perspective and is still a valuable source of information for people worldwide.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of that first broadcast, three special event stations are taking to the air on February 19th & 20th (sorry for the late notice hihi). W3V, W8O and W4A are taking to the air from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. each day on the HF bands. Electronic QSL cards will automatically be provided to anyone whose information is correct in QRZ, and paper QSL cards will be available for the asking after the event.

For additional info, see the Special Event stations info page in the February issue of QST, or the individual station pages on QRZ. Good luck!