|
Before Bob Elms became broadcast officer, I took on the role for a few weeks. No one seemed to want the job, so I said I would take it on, provided someone could lend me a tape recorder to prerecord at least a main story/interview. Graeme Bias (VK6BY) provided the necessary recorder. The first talk was done by VK6MK extolling the virtues of SSB and I regret ever having erased it to reuse the tape. The monstrous transmitter with its array of 813s was housed in a disused outbuilding at my place in Nedlands and end fed a piece of wire strung up to my 18m tower. Input power to the final was a nominal 500W for which we had special permission from the Radio Branch just for the weekly broadcast. I also simultaneously broadcast on 6m FM.  813 Wally Coxon was an AM
advocate and at a WIA meeting
proposed a motion which was passed to the effect that the news
broadcast was to be made on AM. I therefore ceased the 6m FM
transmission and substituted a low power 2m AM as an alternative. I was
particularly interested in seeing if the minute book recorded this, and
when. When VK6BE
offered to take on the job, I accepted immediately even though this
upset some members for some reason still unknown to me. I am
politically naïve. I can still
visualize the weighty transmitter and its mating power supply being
loaded through the side doors of Graeme Sturke’s
Combi van for its struggle to greater heights in Kalamunda. Incidentally, the transmitter was equipped with a carbon microphone which I only used for announcements, the tape recorder doing most of the audio work.
Mac VK6MM |