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Bruce Hunt VK6XV Some memories Times were somewhat different then, but somehow more exciting for someone that was interested in amateur radio. I remember the first time that I came down from Bruce Rock by myself to attend a training school for the bank at which I worked. In those days one did as one was told. Fortunately I had had a hockey injury that prevented me going on the first training school that I was meant to go on and I was rescheduled for a second that meant that I was in Perth for the monthly meeting of THE Wireless Institute. I had no idea where Hooper Street was, so my folks had given
me extra money (junior bank workers earnt very little - $30 a fortnight
in 1970) so that I could get a cab to and from the meeting. I
felt somewhat overwhelmed when I entered the Institute of Engineers
building with all its rows of wooden seats and the hall was full -
probably around 80-100 members there. There was a lecture on
calculating induction and a demonstration of various "tools" that had
been used to make the physical devices. After the meeting we were
served tea and biscuits that was organised by a fellow that was a
listener (cannot remember his name, but he should be remembered by
many).
The SWL "Tea Boy" is WIA LIFE Member L60022 Don Lorimer. (Christine VK6ZLZ) I was a kid and all the other were so elderly to me, but a
fellow by the name of Harry Pride came over and introduced himself and
then introduced me to several other members. I was invited to his
shack in Como (or thereabouts) for the following Saturday. I
think that he had a Yaesu 107 line, but may be wrong. I was
hooked - up until then I had been using a Eddystone receiver, but
actually seeing the other side, the actual transmitter, antenna, the
morse key and the like added the realism to all the photos that I had
from a decade old ARRL handbook that I had been given when I was at
school in Merredin. I went back to Bruce Rock and asked my folks
for a Wireless Institute membership for my upcoming birthday and
started to get the very thin, but always interesting Amateur Radio magazine.
It took me a few years before I got my license (it was hard when
you lived in the bush), but I finally got there and have never looked
back.
The world has changed, but the principles have not.
Many, but not all, amateurs will want to get together for an
eye-ball and to exchange ideas and fellowship. Having been laid
low for health reasons for a decade, it is good to get going again and
see the same spirit that was evident in that hall in Hooper Street (now
the upper part of Murray Street), West Perth alive and evident in clubs
such as HARG and NCARG and the various SIGS, such as WARG and the VHF
Group still attracting those that are enthusiastic about this great
hobby and public service vehicle.
The enthusiasm is still there, it is just in a different
form.
Bruce Hunt VK6XV |