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G0FTD > JAMMER 22.03.05 08:43l 60 Lines 2557 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 4E9907G0FTD
Read: DK5RAS GUEST
Subj: The Cold War Jammers Part 4/4
Path: DB0FHN<DB0NOE<DB0GAP<DB0AAB<DB0FSG<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<DB0RES<DK0WUE<I0TVL<
IK1ZNW<GB7CRV<GB7CIP<GB7SXE
Sent: 050321/1659Z @:GB7SXE.#38.GBR.EU #:25601 [Hastings] FBB7.00i $:4E9907G0FT
From: G0FTD@GB7SXE.#38.GBR.EU
To : JAMMER@WW
Personnel
The objekt was under the authority of the Estonian SSR Radio Centre.
They were also in charge of the radio broadcast transmission stations
and the radio central studios. In those days, in 1955, there was no
television yet.
I/ The objekt, or jamming station personnel consisted of the following:-
1) Supervisor - Russian (for some reason always a woman, special higher
education in communications or radio technology, Party member (never a
full engineer).
2) Senior technician - Estonian- graduate of the Tallinn Electromechanical
Technical School - radio technician - not a Party member.
3) Shift personnel - the objekt operated round the clock - each shift
worked for 12 hours straight - there were 2 technicians in each shift
- since there were 4 shifts, then there was a total of 8 technicians.
Of the shift technicians, half were Estonians, half Russians.
The Estonians, both the men and the women, were mostly radio technicians
with a Technical School education. Not one of them was a Party member.
Of the Russians, both the men and the women, no one had a special
technical education. They had come to Estonia, after the War, with the
Soviet army, some of them having been soldiers. Some were Party members,
but not all. None of them could speak Estonian.
The radio bureau - worked round the clock with shifts:-
1) Supervisor - Estonian - man - Technical School educated radio technician
- Party affiliation not known.
2) Shift personnel - 3 operators per shift - since there were 4 shifts,
then there was a total of 12 operators, 1 Estonian man and 11 Russian
women - none of them had a special technical education - none of the
Russians could speak Estonian.
The wages in the transmitter stations and in the Radio Centre generally,
were, at that time, the following. A radio technicians monthly wage was
640 Roubles. We have to keep in mind, that during the Soviet era (and
also now, in independent Estonia) wages are quoted as the total amount
from which taxes have not been subtracted. In other words, we are talking
about gross earnings. 640 Roubles was a bit less than was needed to get
by on for a whole month. Sometimes the money would run out before the
next payday. During the last year of working at the jamming station,
I became a top level technician, with a wage of 860 Roubles a month.
But in comparison: when I went to work at the Tallinn Maritime Fishing
Harbour, things changed noticeably. There I was paid 1540 Roubles,
which was already quite adequate.
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