OTVA NEWSLETTER - ISSN 1322-1906 April 2010. Volume 11 Page 19
CONTENTS
President’s Message 20 COMING EVENTS2010 NSW Annual General MeetingThis will be held at the York 2 Room, on Level 2 of the Bowlers’ Club, 99 York Street, Sydney from 11.30am on Friday June 18, 2010. RSVP to president@otva.com or by phone to David Richardson on 02 9980 8353. Interstate Vets are more than welcome. Bankstown Museum VisitOn Wednesday April 21 at 10am. 12 Kitchener Parade. Lunch at the Bankstown RSL will follow. Contact Bernie White on 02 9708 4666
WWW.EXOTC.COMHave you visited this web site set up by Robert Brand? It has a great selection of stories and photos and is well worth a visit. Website SurveyThe OTVA Website Survey has been completed and you can read the results and responses on page 21. FROM OUR PRESIDENT [Top]Fellow Members of the OTVA,
Your committee is working to prepare for a very busy 2010 starting with a visit to the Telstra Museum at Bankstown the details for which are on the front of this newsletter. I extend a big ‘Thank You’ to Henry Cranfield, Bernie White and Allan Hennessy for their efforts in organising this visit.
Your Newsletter Editor, Bob Emanuel, is working very hard to publish in the newsletter stories that are topical and of interest to you. He has been touring around with his voice recorder and camera interviewing people as well as analysing and collating the stories that people have shared with him. The OTVA Committee is busy organising the AGM for June at the Bowler’s Club in York Street Sydney with a slightly different format to that of previous years. More details in the next Newsletter. Once again I wish to congratulate Robert Brand (ex Broadway and Paddington ITMC’s) for his efforts in raising the profile of communications in Australia especially in relation to satellite communications. Robert has embarked upon a quest to save satellite infrastructure that has reached its use-by-date in relation to business that currently own and operate it in Australia. His vision is to restore it to its former glory through the assistance of volunteers who share the passion for satellite comms and make it available to educational institutions in Australia via web-interface technology. This not for profit organisation may even attract some business opportunities that would help to fund the projects being undertaken. I wish Robert the best of luck in his endeavours and may be offering you, the members of the OTVA, an opportunity to get involved in the near future. The introduction of the downloadable version of the OTVA Newsletter will continue in earnest in 2010 as a means of reducing costs and improving the use of technology to communicate cost effectively with our members. Your committee is also seeking feedback from you, the members, on how we can add more value to your lives through greater access to people and stories that relate to the many years that you enjoyed working for and with the family known as OTC. To that end Colin Kelly recently conducted an online survey the results of which are proving to be interesting reading.
Warmest regards, OTVA Website Survey [Top]The results are in for the survey conducted by Col Kelly and responses from the OTVA Committee. 53 memebers responded to our request for the survey. Do you have a Login and password? YES 27 50%, NO 26 50% Do you know how to request a Login and password? YES 34 65%, NO 19 35% How do you connect to the Internet? Dial-up 1 2%, ADSL 23 43%, Cable 26 49%, Wireless 3 6% How often do you look at the OTVA Website? Daily 0 0%, Weekly 6 11%, Monthly 19 36%, Quarterly 16 30%, Yearly 7 13%, Never 5 10% Do you find it interesting or useful? YES 47 96%, NO 2 4%, No Answer 4 Which sections of the website do you access? Blog 8 17%, Newsletters 38 81%, Archives 28 60%, Member Info 36 77%, Links 9 20%, No Answer 6 Comments were left by many respondents and we will try to answer as many as possible. The site address is www.otva.com and to get a log-in to the site please email our President, Peter Bull, at president@otva.com or call him on the mobile number on the front page if you do not have email access. The archiving of members’ email addresses was a common request. This merited much discussion by the committee, and until we can ensure that the addresses can be quarantined and not obtained by spammers, we won’t be putting them up on the site. We are still looking. Some asked for addresses for members – please contact Allan Hennessy on allan_hennessy@optusnet.com.au who can put you into contact. One respondent would like more information on ex-OTC staff and wants to make contact with the WA Branch – we will get Derek's email details and publish. One respondent made a comment that brought back memories of the Bulldust Castle attitude by many outstation staff:- “Narrow HO & ops out station focus ignores many. More to OTC than Morse & Apollo.” Your editor endeavours to publish as many stories as possible – if you have outstation stories then, as he requested in the last Newsletter, he’s more than happy to take the bones of a story that YOU submit and turn it into a good read for the membership – and that includes stories of life on the outstations. You can also check the archives on the website for many, many tales of life on the various outstations and islands. And for those who want to pay their annual subs, now due, via direct bank transfer, please contact Bernie White on 02 9708 466. Doonside Recollections by Neil Yakalis [Top]Dear Editor, I recently made up a 100 question memory survey of our old station Doonside. This has been flying around by email amongst our ex staff & we now have email blog sessions since it has prompted lots of memories. You can have a copy but it will mean little to anyone who did not work there. This is an idea for other stations to follow & believe me it is certainly worthwhile as it generates lots of discussion. It was often said that any Tom, Dick or Harry could work at Doonside. Well this was true. We had a Tom Heatley, Dick Zurinski & Harry Clay. Also attached is a photo of a reported UFO "sighting" over Doonside in 1976. Certainly "No One’s Far From Anyone Anymore" but after seeing this picture it seems we were about to be invaded by aliens. It was taken by Roman Targonski (who was later PTO at the Paddo & Telstra Training School) who worked at Doonside at that time.
Regards, Neil Yakalis. Fun and Games at Doonside Transmitting Station 1. Which manager strung up a push bike on the rear block & tackle? 2. Which manager threatened to close the canteen when he got a wooden Mars bar? 3. Who bought a can of coke & complained it was filled with water (& saccharine)? 4. Who complained about the coffee & was set up to drink ground Masonite? 5. Who picked up a bottle of bad milk & had the bottom fall out of it? 6. A pair of overalls was stuffed with rags & hung from the ceiling. When George came in he looked up & said “Is that -----?” 7. Owners of toolboxes left out & unlocked suffered what type of punishment? 9. Who turned up for nightshift to be “shot” in a hoax shooting? 10. Who had his floor polisher mains switch taped up for auto take off? 11. Who stole staff food from the fridge & was set up to eat dog food? Annoying Inbound IDD Calls [Top]By John McDermott Around 1988, OTC received a letter from Telecom Australia saying that one of its customers was receiving annoying international calls. The calls were originating from Sweden where the customer's daughter stayed as an exchange student for around 12 months.
OTC used its international Telephone Call Data Processing (TCDP) reports to verify the origin of the calls and their frequency. While most of the calls arrived at OTC on its direct circuits with Sweden, some calls came via other routes when the direct circuits were busy. OTC contacted Sweden who investigated but found that while they were annoying calls, they were not life threatening and they were unwilling to pursue the matter. The Australian customer was getting desperate. When the Swedish caller finally hung up, a TCDP call record would be produced both in Australia and Sweden, which would then initiate billing from the Swedish number and revenue for OTC. In this way, OTC's daily reporting system was used to monitor how often these calls were received. Despite the annoyance to the Sweden caller, calls continued to be made. This special routing was only implemented for IDD calls as the Australian customer never received other international calls. Calls originated by overseas operators were switched normally so that if any family member did travel overseas and wanted to call home, they could do so using the standard international operator. Calls to other numbers in Australia were not affected by this screening device, The Australian subscriber was very happy with the solution that was provided. This arrangement worked well while there was only one Australian international carrier, and it may not have been viable when multicarrier operation occurred, as other carriers may not have had such facilities to screen out specific numbers. Shots In The Dark [Top]A memoir from Arthur Major For night watch duties, we were issued with Lee Enfield 303s and 20 rounds each. Most nights we didn't fire a single shot, but we were able to hear distant gunfire and see warning flares set off by the odd tripwire. There were, however, a few occasions when we were directly involved in skirmishes where, apart from our own arms, Bren and Sten guns were used in these confrontations. Lying between a couple of sand dunes, rifle cocked, staring in the direction where a hostile approach was most likely to come from, could be quite eerie. The crazy part was that the invaders seemed to be intent on stealing just about anything they could lay their hands on. Items of clothing, boots, tin plates, cutlery, or whatever wasn't screwed down, but at times even this precaution didn't work. The 'klefty wallahs' would steal what they could by day during any lapses in our vigilance; their armed compatriots would take over for the night shift. The night invaders were at risk of being cut to pieces by concentrated Bren-gun fire, and sometimes were. This was particularly gruesome for the newbies. Not at all what we expected when we joined the 'Brylcreem Brigade.' I suppose I can say, after all this time, that on one particularly scary occasion, disaster was averted by a split second. On one semi-moonlit night I observed a figure approaching. The man was armed and wearing what appeared to be a gallabiyeh. ‘This was it’ I thought. I aimed my rifle directly at the approaching figure who was no more than 30 yards away. In that instant I was tackled by the corporal in charge of our section. "You **** ****, that's the orderly officer coming towards us." It was indeed. The ‘gallabiyeh’ turned out to be his greatcoat. It may well have kept him warm but it almost cost him his life.
Arthur Major in the Brylcreem Brigade These were hectic times. Sadly, we lost a few of our people. One name that sticks in my mind is Meares, or possibly Mears. He was, I believe, killed instantly by a shot from the other side. It has always struck me as odd that there seems to be a blanket of silence over that entire period. We were on active service; we were told so in no uncertain terms by our OIC. This advice was offered on the basis: "Since you are on active service, be aware that discipline will be harsher than when you are outside a combat zone." It is only fair to mention the contribution made by a regiment of Basuto’s stationed on the eastern side of the road linking Deversoir with Ismailia. They were a fearsome crowd. Was it the Duke of Wellington who, when referring to his troops, remarked: "I'm not sure what effect these men have on the enemy, but they frighten me to death." Or words to that effect. To this day I can recall the intimidating chanting that wafted over from their camp, a sort of two-line lilting refrain, terminated by a terrifying and resounding "Whoomp!" These guys were certainly the most trigger-happy that I ever encountered. There were, so we heard, various 'accidents.' Nevertheless, it has to be said that their presence added to our feeling of security. Oddly enough, the most frightening experience occurred during a stroll with a friend in Ismailia. A group of Arab boys decided to accompany us on our walk. Eventually one piped up. "Inta maskeen, hinna, ershein sagh." Meaning: 'You are poor, here are a few coins.' Placing his hand near my trouser pocket, he motioned as if to place something in it. Some moments later he decided that he wanted 'his money' back. We ignored him and continued walking. This was the catalyst for a scream of abuse and in no time we were surrounded by an angry mob. The situation looked grim. At that time British personnel were frequently found hacked to death in the Canal area. Maybe it was our turn. Miraculously, a Military Police jeep appeared and one M.P. fired his revolver into the air. "Hey you two, get in," he shouted. We could have kissed the pair of them, they saved us from what could have been a very nasty incident. Summing up, the Canal Zone was a miserable place. I remember the sunshine and the smells and the ships sailing through the desert; but I also remember the real dangers we encountered, even when walking through the streets of Ismailia. A good place to be out of. Another Cheeky CQ [Top]Ted Bastow, too, calls CQ on a boring shift. Brian Woods' tale of The Strongest Ever VK Heard in England puts me in mind of the first transmission I ever made on the Amateur Radio (Ham) Bands. I got such a shock that I never tried it again until I took out my Ham license in 1963, subsequently operating from many exotic locations when in the employ of OTC(A). I lay doggo for quite a long time after that warning! Ted is now a licenced Ham, VK2WL. NSW Christmas Reunion 2009 [Top]65 NSW Vets attended the 2009 Christmas Reunion and Lunch. Following a short talk by Dean Veverka, Operations Director of Southern Cross Cables, Vets tucked into a hearty Chinese meal with accompanying refreshments. VALE [Top]RAF Taylor - 13 March 2010
Chemotherapy proved ineffective for him. Bob told Dave that about 2 weeks ago the doctors were in no doubt his cancer was smoking related & almost certainly linked to his taking up heavy smoking again when he was in Vietnam on the SAG-1A job, 20 years ago now. Dave visited RAF in hospital several days ago & they spent several hours relating some very funny memories of the jobs big & small he & I worked on in the ARM, AKE, AXB, radio & satellite days. While RAF had lost a lot of weight he was still mobile, not outwardly incapacitated. The decline has been very rapid. His funeral was on Friday Mach 19th, 2010. It was well attended by the Vets. (A full obituary will be provided in the next Newsletter - Ed). Gordon Turner - 23 December 2009David Richardson advises that Gordon, formerly of Accounts, Engineering and Operations passed away on December 20th and was laid to rest on December 30th. David remembers him as an obliging and helpful person. Henry Cranfield found him a very easy fellow to get on with and always obliging and helpful. When you are 3000 miles from the sacred temple with its 'marbled halls’ it gets very lonely and not everyone appreciates your problems – but Gordon did and always did his best to help. Lorna Wileman - 29 November 2009Robert Hall advises that it is with much regret to inform you the passing of Lorna Wileman aged 85 on the 29 November 2009 due to emphysema. Lorna passed away peacefully. While many of you may have not known Lorna, she was the afternoon cleaning lady for many years. Lorna’s funeral service was held at Ashton Manor on Friday December 4th. Raymond Isle (Ray) Birch - 25.10.1923 – 10.1.2009A tribute from Robert Hall, Don Hancock with assistance from Marcel Van Dijk and Keith Henderson. Ray Birch, a member of the Victorian Branch, died in Melbourne, from cancer after an operation and further treatment which were unsuccessful. Born and raised on a dairy farm in Werribee, Vic, Ray went to secondary schooling at the prestigious University High School, which had a Wireless Club, which he joined Ray joined AWA after graduating from UHS at age 17 and worked in the Melbourne Beam Service from about 1940 until 1943 when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force. With his knowledge of wireless and his ability, like most farm boys, to shoot well, Ray was a natural for training as a bomber wireless operator/air gunner and trained for this at Ballarat and Point Cook. He received his “wing” and then went to the UK for operational training. By this time the science and technology of bombing had advanced considerably. It was no longer possible for one man to operate all the electronic equipment as well as the guns so Ray became a wireless operator on Lancaster bombers. His capabilities were such that he was attached to 9 Squadron, one of the special squadrons formed with the same objectives as 617 Squadron, better known as The Dambusters, to attack those targets of high value to Germany and which had so far defied conventional attack. Ray flew on over thirty such missions, the most famous of these over the German battleship ‘Tirpitz’ berthed in a Norwegian fjord and a constant threat to the Russian bound convoys. With 617 Squadron, which ultimately sunk the Tirpitz, Ray’s squadron bombed the Tirpitz on shuttle flights between Scotland and Russia. He attained the commission rank of Flying Officer when radio operators were usually non-commissioned officers. On return to Australia he went to the University of Melbourne and obtained a science degree with physics major. During his course he worked as a vacation student at the Meteorology Bureau which he joined, after graduation, as a meteorologist in training. On completion of his training he found himself at Essendon Meteorology Office then an independent forecasting office, where Weather Officers with, year 11 secondary education and six months of met training produced forecasts which were often little more than summaries of the latest reports on the air routes and of the weather encountered by pilots who were de-briefed on arrival. There was no chance there for Ray to use any of his scientific skills and when a call came from the Government for young physicists and engineers to go to the UK to participate in the establishment of a joint UK – Australia missile testing scheme, Ray applied and was selected. Ray spent three years in the UK, mainly at the government aerospace centre at Farnborough but also with an electronic systems manufacturer whose equipment he brought back to the Long Range Weapons Research Establishment at Salisbury S.A. From then until 1967 he worked at Salisbury and Woomera as a missile telemetry expert. In 1963 the USA launched the Tiros VIII Meteorological satellite, the first with automatic picture transmitting capability. They advised the Bureau that they would turn it on over Australia if we had suitable receiving equipment. Australia did not, but someone suggested asking the Research Establishment at Salisbury for assistance. In due course Ray Birch turned up with a receiver, recorder and antenna. He had designed it and had supervised its construction. The successful capture of images gained the Bureau intensive publicity in the media, in which Ray’s part was somehow overlooked. In 1967 Ray rejoined the Bureau as a physicist and continued to innovate and solve a variety of problems assisted in the development of the Bureau’s radar observation systems and providing the first radar image loop that we are now so familiar with. For satellite photos, the curvature of the Earth distorted the images significantly at the edges. To offset this to some extent, Ray designed and built a curved mirror that rectified the images allowing more of the images to be used by forecasters. The “Birch Box” as it was called was later overtaken by purely electronic techniques. Throughout his time with the Bureau, Ray was held in high regard, appreciated and recognised as an innovator. He retired in 1982. Ray married in 1952 and had four children with his first wife from whom he separated in 1975. He married Dorothy in 1982. One of his sons predeceased him but he had eight grandchildren and one great grandchild. OTVA SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW DUE. [Top]You can pay by direct bank transfer. Contact Bernie White for our account details. Bernie’s contact details are:- 02 9708 4666 E-mail Address: treasurer@otva.com LAST WORD [Top]WIN WIN WINWin a $50 gift voucher for having your story published in the OTVA Newsletter. We need your stories for publication in the Newsletter. You don’t have to be a Nobel Laureate for Literature to tell your tale. If you send me the details of what you’d like to write I can edit the story for you, send back and get you to OK for publication. You might just be happy to let me edit and publish. Send to editor@otva.com The Management Committee will vote as to whether a published story is the winner each quarter. The winner of this month’s gift voucher is Arthur Major.
OTVA has had a query from Lynne Ross, daughter of a former Manager at Port Moresby and Cape Schanck. ”My father, Jeffrey Buckland, was Manager of the OTC station in Port Moresby, PNG in the 1960s and then Manager of Cape Schanck, Vic. till his death in 1972. I was wondering if you might have any information or old photos of him.” If you can help would you please respond to Lynne at lynner@tpg.com.au ********** John Phillips needs some advice on establishing a small CB network on Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI). His daughter, Jen, is opening up CKI for kite surfing tourism ( check out her website at http://www.zephyrkitetours.com for some great pictures) and needs to set up her own mobile communications network as the existing mobile facilities are full ( and expensive). She operates out of a small structure at Kite Beach 4km south of the Settlement on West Island and that is where her main base station will be. Power is 24v solar. Another fixed station will be at her staff house in the Settlement (mains power), with two more stations on her two Toyota Troopies which she uses for guest transport. She already has two cheap hand held mobiles which she bought off eBay a couple of years ago. These were for communication with her rescue boat (still required!) His daughter is operating her business on the smell of an oily rag and needs to know what to buy to create the most inexpensive network that will meet her needs. That includes looking on eBay and for second hand equipment - but maybe new stuff is best? She therefore needs to know details like what size of antennas needed for each transmitter; what power for each unit etc. If anyone can give John and Jen some advice, they would be very grateful. John can be contacted on mobile 0419830851 or olivewood@optusnet.com.au ********** John Hodgson has a delightful book for sale, “Roll up for a Laugh”. It is 215 pages of silly stories, jokes and cartoons all about lawn bowls. It was edited by Neville O’Dell in Perth. John became involved by offering him material from the Gymea Bowling Club Newsletter which John had been editing at that time since the late nineteen hundreds. All profits from sales of the book go to Alzheimer’s Research. John has copies for sale to bowlers at $15 per copy. So far he has sold books amounting to about $1,000 and still has a few left so if anyone would like a copy please John at john_hodgson@internode.on.net or, alternatively, book shops now have them in stock at $20 each. Buying one of these books is one way of giving $15 to charity and receiving a book of the same value at the same time. It makes an excellent present and even non-bowlers will find it good reading. |
Well Christmas has come and gone with a rush and we are almost at Easter. Is it me or is time passing us by much faster than we would like?
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Dave Wicks advises that Bob passed away early Saturday morning, March 13th at St George Private Hospital. He’d been battling a number of cancers for a while & finally lost the battle against what started as lung cancer & has spread from there. | FEEDBACK | LINKS | BLOG |