Chogyal’s Ham Radio SOS through Gecko

I first heard about Horst Geerken from a gentleman, Ulrich Bihlmayer, from Tuebingen, Germany, when I was researching my first article on HAM radio of Sikkim a couple of years back. I believe the story of Ham Radio is little heard in this part of our land. As far as my information on the Ham Radio users in Sikkim, there were only two foremost users. Before becoming a part of the mighty Indian Union, Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last King of Sikkim, used to have a Ham Radio license under a call sign AC3PT. 

The call sign normally consists of five letters. Here in AC3PT, i.e. “AC3” stands for Sikkim and “PT” specifies the person; in this case, it was Palden Thondup. Chogyal’s Radio equipment was later on held by the Indian Representatives at Sikkim after the 1975 agitation. A few years later, after Sikkim became part of India, Rajesh Verma operated a Ham station from Gangtok under a call sign VU2RVM; interestingly, here, “VUR” denotes India.

During my interactions with Horst Geerken during those days, I was informed about a compilation of a book about his life in Indonesia along with his Ham records. He also mentioned that a few pages in his book should contain his proud and emotional experiences talking with AC3PT, the Chogyal of Sikkim, about the Ham world. A few months back, I received an email from Geerken informing me about the release of his book that had been titled “A Gecko for Luck; 18 years in Indonesia”. I am thankful to Geerken that he did not find it difficult to send me a copy of his book.

To the readers of this article, the distress radio call sent by the Chogyal of Sikkim to Horst Geerken shows a true picture of that scenario where the Chogyal tried his best to gather last-minute help to save his Kingdom. Geerken, in his book, dedicates a few pages of his experience of that historic radio ham chat with the King on that fateful day. The year was 1975, the 9th of April, and it was past 6 in the evening Geerken, a German Engineer for Telecommunications for many years stationed in Jakarta, Indonesia, worked as a Director for the German firm "Telefunken" in Jakarta headquarters while trying to connect to his friend at Lake Constance receives an international distress call. The person opposite on the radio call speaks loud and clear “Mayday! Mayday! Alpha Charlie Three Papa Tango calling Yankee Bravo Zero Alpha Alpha Golf.” – That’s me! - AC3PT from Sikkim!”

For any Radio Ham operator, the first letter AC3 makes a clear identity that the caller was a King of Sikkim. Geerken tries his best to find the genuine caller and asks for his date of birth and the name of the caller to confirm it. 

The caller sends his message "... AC3PT, I am the Chogyal of Sikkim, my name is Palden Thondup Namgyal. Please tell the world that my country is being attacked and taken over by Indian troops. There is fighting in my Palace. Some members of my Palace guard have already been killed. All telephone and communication lines have been cut off by the Indians. I have only got my amateur radio equipment to call attention to this. Indian wishes to keep this annexation secret as long as possible and to invent a cover-up story. Please help me by telling the world”.

Suddenly, there is some noise on the other side of the caller, and the radio call gets silent, writes Geerken, recalling his short talk with the Chogyal of Sikkim at his short wave frequency Radio Ham.

A Swedish journalist friend of Horst Geerken was also hearing the conversation between the Chogyal and Geerken; he immediately checked the scenario of Sikkim through his news agencies and, in a few minutes, confirmed that the emergency call from Sikkim was genuine. Press agencies in Sweden, Indonesia, and Singapore, along with Germany, were informed. Based on the talk of Geerken the annexation of Sikkim found detailed report coverage in the newspapers of Sweden, Germany, Strait Times in Singapore, and the Jakarta Times the next day.

Geerken writes the news of the annexation of Sikkim spread like wildfire. India, after international pressure that had foreign journalists and visitors visiting Sikkim, admitted the news after a few days. Foreign Journalists were later on prohibited from entering Sikkim. It is more of an interesting irony that even to this day, foreign visitors need a special permit to visit Sikkim.

Two years later, Geerken receives a letter from Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, who thanks him for helping him during his distress call. The King was without his kingdom, and he mentioned in his letter that he was under house arrest and supposedly not allowed to write to Geerken about his situation. The radio equipment licensed to the King was also taken away. Lastly, the King invites Geerken to his Palace at Sikkim if an Indian authority at Sikkim provides permission.

Thrice Geerken's permission to enter Sikkim was cancelled without any proper explanation. Finally, after twenty years of the passing of the last Chogyal of Sikkim in 2002, Geerken gets permission to visit Sikkim. He did visit places in and around Gangtok, but it was that roof of Chogyal’s Palace that once had a radio aerial that connected him during his stay in Indonesia, and it was never to be seen again.