There is no doubt in my mind that Amateur Radio was my all-consuming hobby up to the age of about 35. After that it just sort of faded away until now I don't have any interest in it at all. Most of the kit has gone. I have a Japanese communications receiver which sits on the shelf gathering dust, and thats about it. But I did have some fun times, and so this page is a sort of Amateur Radio Nostalgia Page. On the right is the RAE (Radio Amateurs Exam) paper set by City and Guilds Institute which I sat (and passed!) in 1959. Click the images for a larger version. Below that is the membership document from The Radio Society of Great Britain , also from 1959. I fell out with the RSGB long before I quit Amateur Radio - it was all very inward looking. It seemed to me that it existed only for the benefit of the various committee members, and it helped a lot if you lived in London. Click the image for a larger version Click the pictures down the right side of the page to see more stuff.

Here's the last QSL card I used. Plessey used to dish them out for free if you were lucky enough to work for them. I suppose it sort of made up a bit for the crappy salaries they used to pay. I haven't lived at that address for 25 years !

Click the picture for a larger version. This was taken in 1958 by one of my buddies from school, John Kay Johnson, and I'd like thank him for sending me this picture from his archive. It was published in the local paper along with a breathless description of the wonders of radio. We got 10 shillings (50p) between us. And in those far off days I used to be able to write with my left hand ! Old timers will recognise some of this stuff. The big piece of kit on the left is an R208 "Sputnik Special". Government surplus of course. It covered 10 - 60 MHz and was ideal for listening to the Russian "Sputnik" which had been launched the previous year. It was a double conversion superhet and the first local oscillator could wipe out Band 1 TV (45 Mhz) for a radius of about 100 yards if you tuned in to certain frequencies. In the middle is a "Command" receiver which I used for "Top Band", 1.8 to 2.0 Mhz. Again, it was government surplus. They were used in aircraft, stashed away in an equipment rack and remotely operated by the wireless op. The two large boxes on the right are the transmitter. CW (morse) only on 160 metres and 80 metres. On top of the transmitter is a wavemeter - type 19 I think - not sure after all these years !

Shacks

The "shack" is the holy place where Amateur Radio takes place. Some are small and hidden under the stairs, some are outside in a shed and some manage to survive indoors. The one shown here (below) belongs to an old friend of mine, Peter Helm G8AEN. It is an excellent example of a shack. Shacks always have "A place for everything, and nothing in it's place."

This (below) isn't really a shack - it's just a random collection of radio bits and pieces dating from around the time of the second world war, which are on display at Amberley Museum in Sussex. But the unitiated would have difficulty telling them apart, I'd wager. You can see more stuff like this in the photo album on this site.

RAE 1959


RSGB 1959


GB2GM at Poldhu


Radio Museum