OTVA NEWSLETTER - November 2007. Volume. 9CONTENTS
COMING EVENTS: NSW OTVA Christmas Social. For members and their partners. Friday 23 November 2007 at High Noon! In the Red Room at the Bowlers Club of NSW, 99 York Street, Sydney. Cost for Buffet Lunch is $20 per head. Book by 16 November to Dave Richardson (d_s_richardson@bigpond.com or 9487 1985) or Henry Cranfield (henrycra@aapt.net.au). THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: by Peter Bull [Top]
Since the AGM, your Executive has been busy on several fronts:
Congratulations to Joe Collister and Bernie
White who were awarded Life Membership at the AGM for years of dedicated
service to the OTVA and its membership.
The tour of the Power House Museum held on Friday 28 September was a great success. Many thanks to Henry Cranfield for organising this very interesting social event. There are still about 20 DVDs left over from
the Golden Jubilee Celebration and are available to be purchased
at $10 each including postage and handling.
Together with the members of the OTVA Executive, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Have a safe and happy festive season. warmest regards, Peter Bull "EAMON FITZPATRICK INTERRUPTS THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH" By Johnny Walker [Top] A long long time ago in Madang, Papua New Guinea – (I believe it was during PNG's Independance celebrations) Eamon was temporarily based in Madang with an OTC construction crew installing the International Telephone exchange. The royal yacht, Brittania was based in Madang during the celebrations being held throughout the country. The Duke was to fly out from the UK to join it. By chance Eamon had volunteered the information that he believed he knew an officer on board the Brittania from his UK army days. His name was "Dixie" someone – Lo and behold, Dixie was an actual person and Eamon was able to contact him. Ahem – (I digresss) many fine days and parties were exchanged between the Britannia's crew and OTC personal during that period. Funnily enough they seemed to have quite regular contact with their loved ones at home (no one's far from anyone anymore). Anyhow, the Duke of Edingburgh arrived and he was to make an official speech at the local reserve for all the townsfolk gathering in celebration. Numerous sing sings were held – with a crowd I would suggest to be over 1000 people. The natives loved it. So did we. Up comes the formal ceremony – Official march on to the oval from dignitaries and the officers from the Britannia. Now Dixie was in the march – Eamon spoke to him. Dixie noticed him and invited Eamon into his marching line. Eamon was carrying my oldest son (about 4) on his shoulders at the time. So Eamon and my son joined the march on. No one objected. They were then all assembled into a very small stand which held about 50 people – Eamon sitting up there quite dignified alongside my son. So what happens next – Well, the Duke turned up and in front of the stadium began to make his speech about how lovely Papua New Guinea was etc etc etc. During his speech and from within the crowd where I was, could be heard from the stand a rather loud, well known voice ... "There's your dad, wave to him". Well my son did. The Duke now paused, looked behind him into the crowd of dignitaries in the stand and he spotted Eamon and my son. At this moment I believe all the Brittania's crew cringed underneath their seats for Eamon and my son were sitting in the middle of them. Strange. Never did know really what happened to
Dixie but after the ceremonies we and the Brittania's crew did have
a very nice convivial BBQ etc etc at Ross Craig's place. We also
spent many happy hours on board the Brittania thanks to Eamon Fitzpatrick
and Dixie. Such is life! - Enjoy it and the best of luck
to you Eamon Fitzpatrick. Get well. SICKLIST - DOUG LLOYD 24/10/07 [Top] The Lloyd family have had to move into a nursing home in Scarborough Q'land as Doug has been diagnosed as having "Motor -Neurone" disease and is in a bad way. There is no known cure. “THE BACKGROUND AND EVOLUTION OF
MODERN MARITIME COMMUNICATIONS” (This article, to be presented in two parts, has been held over for some time, and ends with the formation of INMARSAT. Considering the advances of communications in the last 20 years and the needs of some of the new super liners which must demand fairly low latency broadband capacity, there is an interesting sequel to be written. Since this is the November issue and the second part will appear in February/March, you have until about next May 2008 to write it. Who is going to volunteer?? Ed.) Since the beginning, man has had the need to communicate with fellow human beings beyond the range of human voice or sight, to give warnings of danger, to call for help or to summon a meeting. Until quite recently, however, his means of doing so were very limited. Signals could be sent by smoke, beacons, horseman, runner or carrier pigeon. Closer to modern times; flag signalling between ships was introduced at the end of the eighteenth century. However, until the 1830’s the horse remained the basis for rapid communication between points on land. This situation was completely changed by Michael Faraday’s discoveries in the field of electrical science. After him, vast areas were opened for development and in particular for the devising of an electrical signalling system. Many scientists set out to discover such a system. The first to succeed with a simple single wire system was an American, Samuel Morse. He gave his name to the signalling code now in general use. In 1835 he produced the first practical electrical telegraph, whereby signals were transmitted from point to point along a single copper wire. The first public service using this system was opened between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore in 1841 and it was not long before a network of wires linked every important city in the major countries. The coming of the telegraph had an enormous impact on the commercial and social life of the whole civilized world. For the first time it was possible to begin and conclude deals over a long distance in a matter of hours; for the first time too people could summon a distant relative to a sickbed, announce a happy event or even back a favourite horse on a distant racetrack; and all at a cost within the means of most people. The introduction of submarine cables was delayed for a few years pending the development of suitable underwater (gutta-percha) insulation. The first submarine cable was finally laid in 1851 between Dover and Calais, for the first time connecting two places separated by sea. This was followed by the first successful Atlantic cable in 1866, and the cable from England to Australia In 1871. Nations were no longer isolated from each other, and any event taking place within the limits of the international telegraph cable network had immediate repercussions in faraway lands. In the commercial sphere, and particularly in shipping, the impact of this new power of instant communication was revolutionary. Before this time, ships could sail to foreign destinations; but shipowners found it difficult or even impossible to arrange cargo for their return voyages. Inevitably, ship’s captains had to act as agents for the owner and ships were often lying idle for weeks, instead of as is the case today, being sent off as soon as they finished discharging in one port to some other place where cargo awaits. The cable made it possible for the ship-owner to be informed as soon as the ship was sighted, as well as when she arrived in port, and he was then able to send the necessary orders to the captain. The problem remained, however, with the limitation of “when she arrived in port”. Once she had disappeared over the horizon, the owner had no precise knowledge of the ship’s whereabouts, when she would arrive at her destination, or even if she was still afloat? This drawback related to one serious limitation of Morse’s telegraph; it only worked when the transmitting and the receiving instruments were linked by a copper wire, that is, only between-two fixed points. This limitation—how to dispense with the copper wire was widely studied by scientists throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, until in 1842 Samuel Morse himself succeeded for the first time in passing electrical signals between two points without the aid of any metal connection. This became known as the conductive system of wireless telegraphy and numerous eminent scientists experimented with this system until nearly the end of the century. In 1891 Professor E. Towbridge introduced the
inductive method. Sir Oliver Lodge also experimented with this system
and described his results in an article published in 1890. He found
that by introducing condensers into the receiving circuit he could
establish resonance with the transmitting circuit and thus make
selective tuning possible. It was the beginning of circuit tuning
as we know it today and one of the major discoveries leading to
the development of practical wireless telegraphy. Parallel with
these developments, others were taking place which were destined
to be much more fruitful. In 1864 James Clerk Maxwell presented
a paper to the Royal Society, in which he showed that electromagnetic
waves must exist and that they could be propagated through space.
Twenty-three years later, in 1887, Heinrich Adolf Hertz succeeded
in producing these waves, using a transmitter based on the induction
coil, an instrument used in laboratories for producing high voltages. It was not long before the system demonstrated its other value. On 3 March 1899 the SS RP. Matthews ran down the East Goodwin Lightship at the mouth of the Thames. A message was sent and, as a result, lifeboats were sent to the lightship’s assistance. This was the first occasion on which a vessel at sea summoned help by radio. Thus, on the eve of the twentieth century, wireless telegraphy had demonstrated its value in transmitting news instantaneously from an otherwise inaccessible point and for receiving it for local dissemination; it had shown its capability in the accurate transmission of personal messages; and it had shown that it could summon aid to a ship in distress. It is noteworthy that only 18 years after Hertz had succeeded in propagating electromagnetic waves for the first time, wireless telegraphy had grown to such an extent that it made an International convention necessary; the first International Conference on Wireless telegraphy was held in Berlin in 1903 and agreement was reached on regulations enabling the wireless service to be conducted in an orderly manner, by properly qualified staff, and from stations licensed by the governments concerned. One section of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which came into force on 20 June 1914, laid down regulations requiring that various classes of ships, based on the number of persons carried, must be fitted with and maintain a wireless watch for a specified number of hours per day. In July 1916 it became compulsory for all vessels of 3,000 GRT (gross registered tons) or more to be fitted, and following the end of World war 1 this minimum was lowered to 1,600 tons. In those early days, wireless could provide only a few services. The first to be provided was a news service, i.e., the Cunard Daily Bulletin, of which the first issue appeared on board the “Lucania”, was the first ship’s newspaper. It was soon followed by others, and by 1913 there were several. Accurate timekeeping was another service offered by the early wireless. Navigators on board ships fitted with wireless could receive time signals every night from the high-powered military wireless station on the Eiffel Tower or from the German station at Norddeich. After the Titanic disaster, it was obvious that there was also a need for more accurate navigation. The Carpathia found her wreckage 34 miles from the position which she had given in her distress message, which could have been due to errors in timekeeping. The first attempt to make use of wireless for meteorological reports was made by the Weather Bureau of the US Department of Agriculture in 1900. In Great Britain they began in 1904. Regular broadcasts of weather reports and forecasts to shipping did not start before 1912, but by the end of 1913 services were being provided by Great Britain, Australia, Holland, South Africa and the United States. Another valuable contribution to shipping from wireless came with the establishment of the International Ice Patrol. On 3 March 1913 the “Scotia”, fitted with a 1.5kW transmitter, sailed from Dundee to take up her position in the North Atlantic ice area, where she collected information on sightings of ice and broadcast this information for the benefit of seamen. (Look for the next gripping episode in the February issue of Boys Own Annual the OTVA Newsletter.) OFFICIALESE [Top] Bernie White received a letter from his old friend George Madren (ex CRS). Evidently George was a Radio Officer on board one of the many ships torpedoed during 1944. His letter reads: “Please find enclosed Marconi letter. I thought it might be an item for the next newsletter I was torpedoed on the “City of Adelaide” coming to Australia from Karachi, 30 March 1944 – After 6 days in a lifeboat with 2ozs of water, 2 Horlicks tablets, 2 ships biscuits with paste Pemican (twice per day) – no convoys here after seeing an armada in Colombo Harbour – made you mad – 1000 miles to go in a rowing boat – only 1 of 6 lifeboats had an engine – then out of the blue came the SS Carol Lombard (named after Clark Gable’s Wife, Carol who was killed whilst flying around selling war bonds). The ship was on its maiden voyage after being launched by Irene Dunn in Los Angeles – Imagine Yankie ice cream, Turkey etc after what we had been living on. I got a lovely khaki outfit and I had it for years -- a good job but the company took it out of my wages back home. Marconi had to pay Telfords who were the ship’s owner and Telfords then paid the Yanks. I was junior Radio Officer and the other two had been torpedoed 3 times. We lost thousands of crew as the average crew on these ships were 50 men. The letter from the Marconi Company is a bit messy. (I have done the best I could with it but it still is hard to read. Rather than strain your eyes, I have transcribed the text below. Ed.)
We were very pleased, nevertheless, to receive
news of subsequent safe arrival in this country, and we are particularly
gratified to know that you escaped physical injury In conclusion we would express the earnest hope
that in the future you and the ships you sail in will meet with
nothing but good fortune. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? by George Maltby [Top] George Maltby sent me this item about Chris and Julie Vonwiller which has been tucked away for some time. “The friendly voice you hear on the car navigation system, your computer or even your mobile phone isn't some strange disconnected being from inside a computer chip on the other side of the world. Chances are the dulcet tones emanating from the system come from Australia, and one of the many professional staff at Appen. The Sydney-based company, started in 1996 by Julie
Vonwiller and her husband Chris, is one of the largest suppliers
of computer-based speech and language technology products in the
world, today it recruits its specialty staff mainly from the greater
Sydney area. It is a mouthful, but anything to do with computerised linguistics is exactly what this company does best. After starting a small research group into the emerging technology in 1996, Julie Vonwiller recognised the potential of computational linguistics - a marriage of computers and of linguistics - as a niche market not many companies had yet tapped into. And even better, due to our multicultural society, the resources she had in Australia were probably better than anywhere else in the world. "Our business is used in major companies in North America, Europe and Japan," says Vonwiller's husband and the company's general manager, Chris Vonwiller."Our success has been in picking up an emerging field and developing a deep expertise in our niche, which is a blend of computer science and linguistic excellence.” "We recruit the very best people from our universities, and they are really our key resource. We have the ability here in Australia and in Sydney to deal with different cultures and languages." Appen exports 97 per cent of its business and one of its biggest breakthroughs has been in the US, where its sales have increased eightfold. But English is just one of 50 languages that Appen works with and its products are used in countries as different as Pakistan, China, Croatia and India. It has also diversified into working with some of the world's largest technology corporations, such as Microsoft, and undertaken extensive research and development into the highly competitive and emerging text-based technologies. But Chris Vonwiller says none of the company's success could have been achieved without its staff and their commitment to putting out the best product available. "We work in about 50 different languages, and also have specialised regional languages which many other companies do not consider," he says. "We have a core team of about 40 professional staff and we employ up to 50 to 60 native speaker experts. "That means if we are working on Hindi, we-will have a whole Hindi team who are computer literate native speakers that use our software tools to help process data."And Sydney is the best city in the world to be able to do that with the vast array of cultures we have here." Look at their website at www.appen.com.au TALES OF THE WHITE RAJAHS II: Bob Emmanuel bursts into print again about life in a Malaysian telecom.! [Top] Time Telekom had a new IDD switch and satellite
station. The opening was to be attended by the PM. Time Telekom
was a Bumiputera (as opposed to Chinese or Indian) telco - Bumi's
being the native Malays. Each race had their own telco. The Indians,
for example, had Maxis Mobile. Time was owned, indirectly, by the
ruling political party of which the PM was the head, so we were
told he was looking forward to a resounding Bumi (Malay) success
story. This visit was to be the Bumi Showcase - no matsaleh (palefaces)
were to be involved. The Monday of the week of the PM's visit dawned
bright upon us, (the visit was on the Wednesday), but not for the
Ops GM because:- The GM decided, OK we'll use a PowerPoint presentation.
Excellent idea. The station had a large office and meeting room,
so all's well and good. The road will be tarred on Tuesday. On Tuesday, when the GM was visiting the station (some 50 km south of KL), he noticed that no-one would be able to see his PowerPoint presentation because the light was too bright in the meeting room. So brother in law was despatched to purchase some curtains. He returned, that afternoon, with army blankets because that was all he could find! The blankets were put up to shade the room so the PM could see the PowerPoint slides. "It's a developing company in a developing country," said the GM, "and he will appreciate the efforts we make." Dawn of The Great Day broke clear - and that morning the red carpet was laid along the newly tarred roadway. Now, it had been 20 degrees Celsius overnight, and the tar hadn't set. The temperature climbed rapidly into the high 30's. So when you stepped on the red carpet to get from the office to the switch rooms or the satellite terminal, you would sink into the tar..... which began oozing through the carpet where people had walked across it, and, of course, there was a large crowd on hand for this Special Event, so there was plenty of crossing over the carpet. Another roll of red carpet was hastily purchased and laid on the old one just before the PM entered the property. The visit went swimmingly well. The PM appeared pleased, roundly congratulating everybody, smiles all round, press photographs etc. The biggest smiles were on the faces of those matsaleh who were present. Drinks after work that night were a very jolly affair. THE ORIGINS OF 0011 - By Bob Lions [Top] Long ago when the Plessey ATE international telephone exchange was to be replaced by an Ericsson ARM at Paddington, it was also to be the first use of MFC signalling to the OTC exchange from the Telecom national network. The international side of both exchanges was CCITT Number 5 signalling. The calls came into the ATE via 2VF junctions from Dalley Street in Sydney so that the signalling was known to come from an operator (I think the 2VF network was operator only or only operators knew the codes to get to the international exchange) and was going overseas. For the ARM, traffic was to be switched through the new Telecom national trunk network which was to be used by both operators and subscribers and ISD was to be introduced. There was need to have codes in the national network to get calls to Paddington and to know whether they came from operators or subscribers. This was important for charging and routing purposes. However, as was usual in these sorts of deals, Telecom had already decided that the customer would dial 001 to make an ISD call (rather than 00 as recommended by CCITT). The network logic then converted this to MFC Code 15 which was interpreted as "route to the international exchange". There was further information which was automatically generated in the originating exchange, which ultimately indicated whether the caller was a customer or an operator. Also, while the signalling scheme allowed for the number of the calling customer to be received and we made provision to receive it, Telecom would never allow that information to come to us, not even an area code, so we could get some idea of where our customers were grouped! Also, we are talking here of relay technology, so the problem of taking a late arriving signal and altering the information already stored on lots of relays in the registers was just beyond the capabilities of the technology. Hence it was essential that we receive an early indication in the number sequence whether the call was from a customer or operator. Thus the additional digit was added. It was set as "1" for customers and "0" for operators. The short number for customers was important, since most of them, at that time were still using rotary phones (courtesy of our national telecommunications monopoly). By contrast, the operators had pushbutton MFC senders. If a smart customer tried to fool the system by dialling operator codes, the call would be cleared down when the later information "mark" arrived and indicated that the call was not from an operator. This selection was somewhat ironic in that the numbers used in the signalling scheme were "0" as a discriminating digit showing the call was from a customer and "1", "2", "3" etc as a language discriminating digit for the operator. Since our operators were never separated into language groups, this digit was invariably set to "1". The additional digit has been very useful and 0014 was used very early on to encourage people calling PNG (They dialled 0014 234567 rather than 0011675 234567). 0015 came into use for providing better quality circuits for fax traffic (which I think was an OTC initiative!) and 0018 is currently being used for a Telstra promotional deal for overseas calling. 0014 is now used for an alternative international carrier. That is why Australia with “0011” has one of the longest ISD access codes in the world. EDITOR’S INDULGENCE: by Bob Lions [Top] After putting the last issue of the Newsletter to bed your editor went on a visit to the other side of the world. Being a closet linie which I discovered at about the age of six when I was entranced by jointers joining paper/lead cables in a pit near my local school, I always have an eye for installations in other places. Whilst you are prepared to tolerate me as Editor I will have these little indulgences and put in shots of items which I find and photograph on my travels. I photograph both phone and electrical distribution,
generally with the elctrical more scary since it can do a lot more
damage. I include a few samples and have two examples from Ayvalik
in Turkey, one phone and one electrical. Local phone drops. Wonder about their ADSL performance?
TRAVEL TIPS - Bob Lions [Top] My first journey for OTC was made accompanying Dave Abercrombie (Aber) on a visit to AT&T in New York to buy the TASI B system (but that is another story!) It was the valuable lessons learned which have stood me in good stead since. Aber liked his beer, but like most of us objected to the outrageous prices that hotels charge for supplying liquor any way and particularly if it was via room service. (They didn’t have mini-bars than but they are just as outrageous!). Thus I learned that in America you went to the nearby grocery store and bought a couple of six packs. These were returned to your room and placed in the bathroom basin. One then took the ice bucket and found the ice machine, returning to your room with the requisite number of buckets of ice to submerge the bottles. Soon one had a nice cool beer and could also depend on a continuing supply of cool bottles. (I subsequently found that the really intrepid traveller also packed a universal sink plug so that if the hotel did not supply one or it had gone missing, no time was wasted in getting your beer cool!) VALE HARRY STONE (Alias "Baldy") - Further thoughts from Gordon Cupit [Top] Baldy was more than a workmate. He was a good friend, and our relationship lasted until his recent death. When I was first a messenger in the Beam, Harry
had risen to a Circulation Clerk. In this role, he was in charge
of the messengers during the all night shift. This was my first
contact with him. He was quite a character, always ready for a bit
of fun, and a born practical joker. He was a keen fisherman and
many a time we rode our bikes to Lilli Pilli for this sport. He
was a natural leader and always set the pace for the trip. He was
also an iron man, able to do without sleep for long periods. One
time, a group of us camped at Lilli Pilli. Harry was there all day,
went back to work for the all night shift, back to the camp in the
morning and back to work on the second night. Another time he worked
all night, took a group of us to Bathurst for the races, and back
to work for another night shift. For the last few years he had travelled
to Port Macquarie from Adelaide, non stop, to visit his brother.
Not bad for a bloke in his late 80's! Being a regular visitor to
Port Macquarie, we met there on many occasions. In his younger years, Harry was not very interested in, and was shy with the opposite sex. When we went out with partners, he always had his mate’s sister Kath on the pillion. This would be hard for some of you, who knew him in later years. He finally married Kath and they had a son and daughter. In retirement he and Kath moved to the wine growing district near Adelaide, to be near their daughter living on Kangaroo Island. He did frequent trips to the Island which was a fishing paradise. His son was a Jumbo pilot with Cathay Pacific Airways, and Harry spent many a time as a cockpit passenger, visiting Japan, HongKong and India. He was a very generous character, who always helped the needy. The Commission sent him on an install job in Tonga, where he had a affair with one of Islands beauties, resulting in a son. When the install job was finished, he applied for his rec leave credits, followed by any long service leave, then asked for leave without pay. Chief Admin Officer, Gordon Wallish granted a short term of leave without pay, but would not agree to a further period and ordered him home. Harry always financially helped the mother to bring up and educate the boy. Whilst stationed at Madang, he became interested in the local orphans, and purchased a house for them to live in. Always a practical joker he delighted in making paper mache faeces from brown paper forms used for gluing down undulator tape. These looked like the real thing and on one occasion he left one on the toilet seat. One of the Senior Tels told the Supervisor that some dirty B had shat on the seat. The Super sent the Cleaner to clean if off, and reported that there was nothing there. Harry had removed it in the interim. On another occasion during the night, he placed one on the seat of the bus waiting shed in York Street opposite the office. The staff were amused at how many folk came to sit down and walked away. A sailor sat down and noticed it and put it in his pocket. During the war years, women were used to replace Tels, who had enlisted and to help in the extra trafflic load to the troops. There was a special rate for this kind of traffic. The system was that there were a number of phrases which were numbered. Senders were allowed four numbers and which were sent at a very cheap rate. When received at the other end, a telegraphist transcribed the numbers back into the phrases for delivery. One night, Harry crawled under the long operating table and ran his leg up one of the Tels leg. The Tel,who was sitting next to one of the lady ops, looked around and then ran his hand up the lady’s leg. She was one of the Sunday School types and caused a fuss. In the ensuing rumpus Harry had to tell all that he was the culprit. Another night shift, Harry gave the staff a demonstration of the fact that methane gas was produced by the stomach. When a match was lit, there was a massive flame, followed by a bang. Baldy had for many years been a Ham radio expert, and built his own and many other sets. He became friendly with the Chief Engineer, Bill Jenvey, also a Ham addict, who considered him wasted in the Operating Room and arranged for his transfer to La Perouse as a Technician. Harry held a Certificate for a Marine Radio Officer. When Bringelly was opened, the tech staff at Laper moved to the new station. His career from then never looked back and he was finally promoted to Station Manager, serving at Madang and Bringelly. Everywhere he served he was extremely popular and efficient. He was an expert in getting around the Staff Rules, to get the best for his staff. Not appreciated by the Manager Industrial, who religiously stuck by the book. Vale Baldy, I shall miss you. VALE: ANGUS HOLLAND (Husband of Judy Holland, Scotty Hamilton’s daughter.) [Top] Angus Holland slipped quietly away on 7 July 2007. Rev. Prof. John Angus Beveridge Holland MB, BS, BA, BD, Ph. D. was born 81 years ago in Sydney where he grew up, going to Mosman Public School and thence to North Sydney Boys High before going on to Sydney Grammar for the final three years of high school. After graduating in medicine and doing some clinical work, he decided that his true calling was to the church and he joined the Presbyterian Church ministry. He studied for a PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He soon realised that his life was in teaching rather than at the pastoral level and ultimately took up a Theological Chair at Grahamstown University in South Africa. He had a remarkable memory for figures and data with a particular passion for railway timetables and cricket statistics. He loved cricket so much that he joined the Sydney Cricket Ground at the age of 11 and was only prevented by his final illness from attending a ceremony in Sydney to mark his 70 years of membership. He was also able to be given a date and to respond immediately, indicating on which day of the week it fell. Often he would also need to ask whether the date was on the Julian or Gregorian calendar. When he retired he returned to Australia and went to live in Brisbane. He is survived by his wife of thirty two years, Judy (nee Hamilton) who brought him to a number of Vets functions when they were in Sydney. Judy is one of our valued contributors and we offer her our sincere condolences. VALE : JACK HANCOCK - by Kim Hopkins [Top] Jack died 16 October 2007. I worked with Jack Hancock in Network Arrangements for a period probably in the early eighties on the 23rd floor of the MLC tower – that was when he sat at the window seat desk beside Brian Calder. Margaret Angelinetta and Mark Baston sat at the desk in front of him. We all worked in Ross Craig's team at the time, RAF Taylor was also part of that team. Brian and Jack sat side by side looking after private leases and telex. Peter Schmelitschek and I wrestled with Telephone Circuit Orders & Satellite Transition Plans. Len Ashlin sat behind us and made sure we didn't take it all to seriously. Jack always seemed a gent to me and handled the pressures and vagaries of the job with skill, finesse and sense of humour. I remember how well he handled the transition from paper based records to the computer based INIS system at the time. Always ready to tell me where I had stuffed up, but patient enough to assist in sorting it out and willing to learn from a young upstart like myself at the time. At the funeral his son Peter remembered his father’s dedication to both lifesaving and his career in OTC. So much so’ that partying till 3 am at the club would not prevent him for fronting up for work at OTC the next day. The single most significant story recounted from his days with OTC in Papua New Guinea were of his attempt to impress the locals that his virility was of exception quality, claiming to have fathered 20 children back in Australia. This myth was shattered when his family arrived in PNG and disembarking from the plane, consisted only of his wife and his young son Peter. The locals shook their heads waved their hands at him and exclaimed "You no good Mr Jack" as they walked off expressing their disillusionment. Jack was remembered for his larrikin nature, his
love of life saving, his work with cancer charities and his ability
to recite the Man from Snowy River, word perfect. THE LAST WORD: by your Editor [Top] Seasons greetings to all! |
Fellow
Members of the OTVA, I thank all of the members of the OTVA Executive
for their hard work and dedication over the past 12 months and wish
them and their families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.
Letter
to George Madren
In just 10 years Appen has become the global leader in the quality
and quantity of phonetic lexicons, speech databases and text, speech
and handwriting processing products and services.
This
is the power distribution. There was a bird nesting there at one
time.
The
next one is from Japan. Sort of scary when you consider that HV
(probably 3 phase 11kV) runs along the top of the poles, then the
LV (which is about 100V so that generally in urban areas there is
at least one transformer per pole). This pole has two transformers
so it is probably subject to fairly high loads. The thing on the
bracket between the transformers is probably a dropout fuse assembly
which would release a shower of hot sparks if a fuse ever blew.
The cables on the left of the picture are comms cable and from the
taps it would appear that at least two are for cable TV. Considering
the electrical safety rules in Australia and how paranoid ACMA (the
successor to AUSTEL) is about communications cables, one could imagine
the sort of heart attack they would have here. As for OHS they would
be devastated!!| FEEDBACK | LINKS | BLOG |