The AC3PT: A story of the deleted country

BY SHITAL PRADHAN

To the amateur radio stations in the world, he was just “AC3PT”, a name that is today counted as a deleted or dead country in the pages of Ham Radio. A "Ham" is an Amateur who receives and transmits on short waves, a fascinating hobby followed since the late 18^th century. 

An amateur radio enthusiast AC3PT was very well-known among amateur radio communicators across the world. Being on the map of HAM Radio since 1963, AC3PT suddenly came to an abrupt end on April 9, 1975. “…now Indian troops storming my room…” was the last message that radio amateurs across the world last heard of AC3PT. The distressed caller was none other than Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last Chogyal of Sikkim State, sending his last-minute SOS across the world.

When I first read about the AC3PT and the ham radio sometime back in one of the chapters of a much sought-after merger book on Sikkim, “Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim” by Sunanda K Datta-Ray I could hardly imagine what in the world is this ‘ham radio’? 

Very little is known about amateur radio in Sikkim, so when I first surfed around the web pages, the very first person I came across was Ulrich Bihlmayer, a wonderful gentleman in his late sixties from Tuebingen, Germany. I am very pleased to say that it was “ Uli“ (as he wanted me to call him) who made me understand the distinct world of Hams. A known name among Ham radio users, Uli has his call sign DJ9KR.

To the readers in Sikkim, it is of importance that Uli was one of the few fortunate radio amateurs to have exchanged words with the late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal. In his own words, Uli describes- “ He had two radio contacts with AC3PT, in June 1972 and in August 1974, each time on 20 meters SSB. He remembers well that the Chogyal spoke English which was difficult to understand. He had an accent like Chinese people have.” 

Along with him is a QSL card (a confirmation card radio hams use to confirm a two-way radio contact) sent by the Chogyal along with a personal letter attached dealing with the events of India's hold upon his palace, much later after Sikkim State got included into India. I am thankful for Uli, who emailed me a scan of the QSL card and the personal letter sent by the late Chogyal.

In Uli’s words, Amateur Radio is some 100 years old, and the first radio transmitters at that time were working on long waves. They needed very strong transmitters to catch a faraway place. These transmitters were used by the government, the Army/Navy/Air Force, and broadcasters. 

People then (100 years ago) thought that the Short Wave spectrum was worth nothing and not to use; they gave this spectrum to radio amateurs. These amateurs soon found out that on Short Wave, one could span large distances with very low power. So, like this, Amateur Radio on Short Waves was "Invented".

All amateurs must pass the examination to get the license of a radio operator. In India, the Ministry of Communication organizes the examination. Amateur radio stations have a range that depends upon the power radiated, the frequency used, and the modes of operations. 

Every licensed ham receives a call sign which is their personal form of identification on the authorized radio bands of frequencies allotted for amateur operations by International agreement. The call sign normally consists of five letters. For example, AC3PT, i.e. “AC3” stands for Sikkim and “PT” specifies the person; in this case, it was Palden Thondup.

The emails and the voice chat through Skype I exchanged with Uli were more than a wonderful experience. The topic I discussed with Uli is less heard in this part of the region even when it is known that it was through this wonderful wireless instrument the entire world came to know about the political unrest of the Sikkim State then. 

Ever since AC3PT suddenly disappeared, the name of Sikkim, too, went off the records of the Ham Radio. Today, Sikkim is part of the mighty Indian Union, but to the world of Hams, AC3PT is a highly recognized name but a deleted country.

I was introduced to Horst Geerken, a German radio amateur who was one of the few to receive the emergency call of the Chogyal on April 9, 1975, equally with his (deceased) friend Hans Mauder, DL6FF, who was then residing in Jakarta. The distress call of the Chogyal was received in various countries at the same time. Geerken, along with another Swedish ham listener, immediately passed the news to a newspaper agency. 

So, the next day, the "hold up" was in all the newspapers in the world. Certainly, the Indian troops had forgotten that the Chogyal owned amateur radio equipment. Later, the Indian troops confiscated the equipment because the Chogyal did not have an official transmitting license, said Uli, recalling those days.

Horst Geerken YB0AAG / DJ2JB, a German Engineer for Telecommunications for many years, was in Jakarta, Indonesia, and worked as a Director for the German firm "Telefunken" in Jakarta headquarters. For some years, Horst had returned to Germany owning the new call DJ4SM, living in Bonn, in Rhineland, Germany.

Horst calls back the situation in his memory -“I was sitting at my radio station in Jakarta and suddenly heard the distress call of AC3PT. Our QSO with AC3PT took some 8 to 10 minutes and ended abruptly with his shrieky voice, “Now Indian troops storming my room…". Our QSO was heard by two Swedish hams, Thomas Schell, SM6AFH, and Stig Pärsson, SM4JPN. 

They called me on the radio after my radio contact with the Chogyal. We checked the name and address of AC3PT, and Thomas informed a Swedish journalist of the hold-up. Then I had a QSO with OM Horning, who lives near Hannover, northern Germany. He recorded my report on tape and sent it to Norddeutscher Rundfunk (North German Broadcasting) and to different news agencies. So the news about the hold up in Sikkim was spread very quickly over the whole world.”

The introduction of Amateur Radio to the furthest regions of Sikkim towards the early 60s was never easygoing. It was the handy hard work of late Gus Browning, W4BPD, amateur radio maniac. To Gus goes the credit for introducing Sikkim to the world of Amateur Radio. Gus was interested in activating countries that had never been heard of before, in this task he had just arrived from Bhutan when he met the Chogyal in Sikkim, and in no time Gus was able to convince the King of Sikkim State. 

As a result, in September 1963, a call sign with AC3PT was made ‘activate’. Since Sikkim then did not have any license, the Prefix “AC3” that was allocated to the USA was used for Palden Thondup. “The Chogyal was so fascinated by the ham radio that, after Gus had left the kingdom, he ordered a complete Collins-S-Line (Tx 32S-3, Rx 75S-1, LA 30S-1), going on to use the call sign AC3PT.”