President’s Message 14
The Kiribati Connection 15
The Broadway Sailing Club 17
Two stories from John Hodson 18 Dodgy Telco Practices 19
Vale. Arthur Green 20
Do They Have a Sea Earth ? 22

COMING EVENTS

OTVA 2010 NSW Christmas Reunion - Friday 12 November 2010. Venue: The York Room, NSW Bowlers Club. A Chinese Banquet has been arranged. Cost to members $35. Doors open at 11am the banquet commencing at 12 noon. RSVP to president@otva.com or call or SMS Peter Bull on 0411 260 542. Interstate Vets are more than welcome.

Events currently planned for 2011 :

Friday 25 March 2011 - 12 noon Autumn reunion in the 'elevated area' at The NSW Bowlers Club.

Friday 17 June 2011 - 11am AGM on level 2 of The NSW Bowlers Club followed by a meal in the downstairs area.
Mark These in your diary now!

THE OTVA NEWSLETTER REWARDS PROGRAM

Have you got something to tell us about yourself or events in your life or the life of others? OTVA will pay a reward of $50 to members whose contribution to the Newsletter is judged by the Committee to be the best contribution. Last Newsletter's winner was Trevor Thatcher. Congratulations Trevor!

FROM OUR PRESIDENT [Top]

Fellow Members of the OTVA,

I look forward to our Christmas Reunion to be held at the Bowlers Club in November 2010. The OTVA Committee has booked the Macquarie Room on Level 2 which is the same venue as was used last year. This will enable us to communicate more openly, widely and easily as we regale our fellow OTVA members with our exploits of our years in OTC as well as any accomplishments that we have managed in our “life after OTC”.

Our September Social held in the upstairs area of the Bistro on Level 1 at the Bowlers Club was a great success. Those who attended enjoyed the relative quiet of the area well separated from other patrons. As usual the Bistro-food was good value for money and although the beer prices were a bit on the high side many of us were still there telling a few tall stories at 3pm.

I once again seek your support by way of writing down your memories of life in OTC and sending a copy to your Newsletter Editor, Bob Emanuel, for potential inclusion in one of our future Newsletters. There is an untapped wealth of information held in the minds and hearts of our members and we want to share that information and memories with a wider audience.

I thank your web manager, Chris Bull, and the members of the OTVA Committee for their support and dedication throughout 2010 and look forward to working with them again in 2011 to provide the services that you require and have learned to expect from the OTVA.

The volume of memorabilia stored at the Telstra Museum at Bankstown continues to present challenges to the OTVA working group comprising Allan Hennessy, Bernie White, Ray Hookway and others. The working group will continue the mammoth task of assessing the value of those artefacts stored therein and cataloguing those items that are successfully chosen to be retained as part of the Telstra display.

I extend my sincere condolences to the many friends and family of those of our fraternity who have passed away over the past 3 months since I last communicated to you through the OTVA Newsletter. We are all saddened by their passing but are gladdened by the fullness of their rich and long lives. May They Rest In Peace.

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

OTC International in the Central Pacific - the Kiribati Connection.

By Graham Huddy.

Telecommunications in the latter part of the 20th century was an exciting and turbulent industry. In 1988 OTC Ltd of Australia required an overseas contract to induce the government to amend its charter to enable operations outside Australia. Kiribati was the enabler.

I arrived on the island of Tarawa on 1 April 1988. My brief was to introduce modern management practices into Telecom Kiribati over a two-year period. If the project was successful, I was to negotiate a joint venture with the Kiribati Government to start in year three.

The Republic of Kiribati consists of 33 coral atolls that straddle the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean. Tarawa, the capital, is almost equidistant from Australia and Hawaii and has a population of 26,000. The island is typically 100 metres wide and 2 metres above the sea. How could these sandy islands with their tall coconut palms support any successful business?

A critical first decision was to select a restructure direction; whether to enhance the exist6ing business or to totally restructure it. What did the government want? The response 'I should do what I thought best' was not very enlightening. After further consultation with stakeholders, I decided to follow the restructure path despite its political dangers and its reliance on strong staff support.

My initial thoughts were that staff numbers could be reduced by 30 per cent. Company salaries were exceedingly low and known criminals on staff should be dismissed without delay. Staff training in new skills such as cleaning, market, accounting and management would be crucial for the future.

A new set of service conditions was essential to enable the restructuring of the company within the two-year time frame. This document was written and finally approved by the board in August 1988.
Over the next 12 months staff numbers were reduced from 142 to 90 with generous redundancy payments. Holiday and sick leave was reduced from six weeks to three weeks and an annual airfare entitlement was abolished. These measures allowed staff salaries by the increased by an average 50 per cent, were cost neutral to the company and were popular with staff.

A facsimile leasing service was introduced in 1989 and became extremely popular. All machines were installed with direct dial enabled, circumventing then government policy of only operator-connected calls. Within 12 months facsimile traffic increased to such an extent that international telephone circuits were increased from 4 to 18.

Despite Finance Ministry opposition, depreciation on Telecom's aid funded assets was introduced into company accounts. This enabled the company to retain over $A900,000 of its revenues in its initial unprofitable years.

Towards the end of year two negotiations were finalised to establish a joint venture company with the Kiribati Government and OTC International Ltd as shareholders. The government's equity was financed from the depreciation fund. Telecom Services Kiribati Ltd commenced operations in June 1990.

OTC International Ltd and its successor Telstra Corporation remained a shareholder and manager of Telecom Services Kiribati Ltd until ownership reverted to the Kiribati Government on 31 May 2001. During that time after- tax dividends per year exceeded OTCI's initial investment. TSKL remains Kiribati's largest and most dynamic business enterprise.

The Silent Member

(Your editor fondly remembers both John Dodson and Andre Strazdins - Straz - fondly. I was at Straz and Tina's wedding and we were great friends while we all worked for OTC. We still keep some occasional contact. This was collected & contributed by David "Davo" Neyle, but we don't know WHO the poet was - do you?).

He lived in Broadway School and Johnno Dodson was his name,
But folks that knew him well had little knowledge of that same;
For he some 'ow lost his surname, and he had so much to say - he was called "The Silent Member" in a mild, sarcastic way.

He could talk on any subject - from the weather and the crops,
To astronomy and Euclid, and he never minded stops;
And the lack of a companion didn't lay him on the shelf,
For he'd stand before a looking-glass and argue with himself.

He would talk-for hours on Lit'rature, on micros, art, or heat;
There was not a bally subject you could say had got him beat;
And when strangers brought up topics that they reckoned he would baulk,
He'd remark, "I never heard of that." But all the same - he'd talk.

He'd talk at meetings by the yard; and socials by the mile;
And he used to pride himself upon his choice of words and style.
At a send-off at the pub his remarks would never end
On the qualities and virtues of the dear departing friend.

We got quite used to hearing him, and no one seemed to care -
In fact, no happ'ning seemed complete unless his voice was there.

For close on thirty year he talked, and none could talk him down,
Until one day A. Strazdins from Head Office struck the town.

Well, we knew The Silent Member, and we knew what he could do,
And it wasn't very long before we knew A. Strazdins too.

As a crack long-distance talker that was pretty hard to catch;
So we called a hasty meeting and decided on a match.

Of course, we didn't tell them we were putting up the game;
But we fixed it up between us, and made bets upon the same.

We named a time-keep and a referee to see it through;
Then strolled around, just casual, and introduced the two.

Strazdins got first off the mark, while Johnno stood and grinned;
He talked for just one solid hour, then stopped to get his wind.
"Yes; but -" sez John; that's all he said; he couldn't say no more;
Strazdins got right in again, and fairly held the floor.

On videos, and copying, and pirating, and all that,
He talked and talked until we thought he had our man out flat.

"I think -" John got in edgeways, but that there field training chap
Just filled himself with atmosphere, and took the second lap.
I saw our man was getting dazed, and sort of hypnotized,
And they oughter pulled A. Strazdins up right there, as I advised.

"See here -" John started, husky; but A. Strazdins came again,
And talked right on for four hours good - from six o'clock to ten.
Then John began to crumple up, and weaken at the knees,
When all at once he ups and shouts; "Here, give a bloke a breeze!
Just take a pull for half a tick and let me have the floor,
And I'll take out a rental plan."

A. Strazdins said no more.

The Silent Member swallowed hard, then coughed and cleared his throat,
But not a single word would come - no, not a blessed note.

His face looked something dreadful – such a look of pained dismay;
Then he gave us one pathetic glance, and turned, and walked away.

He's hardly spoken since that day - not more then "Yes" or "No".
We miss his voice a good bit, too; the school seems rather slow.

He was called "The Silent Member" just sarcastic, I'll allow;
But since that Strazdins handled him it sort o' fits him now.

(The Strine spelling's not great, but the satire is spot on - for both blokes! Do you have anything to contribute along this line? Do you know who wrote this? - Ed).

The Broadway Sailing Club

By Will Whyte

From the late 70s a sailing club was formed from Broadway ITMC & ISMC staff. The boat of choice was a five-oh-five, (5.05 metre,) dinghy. As pooled funds grew, a second 505 was purchased. Strict command was imposed by Commodore Gary Beaton and many a young navvy learnt to tie a bowline, go about and run around the foredeck launching spinnakers under his command.

Custom designed tee shirts were screen printed and worn proudly. Members included Garry Beaton, John Kitchener, Bill Newman, Norm Knowles, Ray Pow, Terry Nipperess, Jim Condon and many others less actively involved.

Year round sailing usually took place on Botany Bay before the 3-11 shift. As long as someone could tow the boats home to be rinsed off and packed away afterwards, the rest could dash into Broadway, a bit salty and sunburned but satisfied after a hard mornings sailing.

Saturday afternoons saw many of those not on shift racing with the Middle Harbour Skiff Club. We blamed our boats for their extra weight, older technology and not enough go fast goodies as the main reason for our poor placing but the truth was forgotten over a few beers back on shore. Even a misadventure with a Manly Ferry one afternoon did not dampen our enthusiasm.

The camaraderie built through the sailing and maintenance days typifies that which was build up right across OTC through work and play resulting in a marvellous service to our customers and company and giving lasting memories to us all.

Terry Nipperess and John Kitchener sorting the rigging on a maintenance day.

Norm Knowles, Garry Beaton and Bill Newman on something a bit bigger in 1979. Not shown is Jim Congdon, far right.

STORIES FROM BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL

Two stories from John Hodgson

During the early years of the Second World War I was seventeen years of age and living in Goulburn. I was employed by a motor repair shop which also ran the town’s buses and several taxis. I wanted to be licensed to drive both buses and taxis, so I fronted up at the Council Chambers and told the clerk behind the desk what I wanted. On request I produced my driver’s license which satisfied him of my qualifications, so he gave me a bus and taxi drivers licence on the spot.

It was a bit difficult driving the taxi at night because the town (city) was on blackout conditions. One night I picked up a woman passenger who hopped into the front seat beside me and immediately started on suggestive moves. (She was probably hoping for a free trip). However, during the trip a light fell on my face and she exclaimed, “Why, you’re only a baby.” So that was the end of her manoeuvres. She was about thirty years of age and I believe she was one of the town’s prostitutes. Instead of being on the receiving end she had to pay up.

I will also mention that in Goulburn during those years it was very easy to get a driver’s licence. On turning seventeen I drove my Father’s car without a licensed driver beside me to the Police Station where I stated my request for licence. The policeman said “Ok let’s go for run.” I drove off and at the next turn he said “Turn left”. The same applied at the next three corners which took us back to the front of the police station. Test over and licence issued.

FUN WHILE GUNNERY TRAINING

The following is a story about my Second World War gunnery training which would finally qualify me as a Wireless Air Gunner.

The training was carried out in Fairy Battle aircraft at Port Pirie in South Australia. It was the last training flight before qualifying. There were two other trainees in the aircraft and we each had two 100 round circular magazines for firing from Vickers Gas Operated machine guns. The target was a drogue towed by another aircraft. Including the pilot, we were all about 18 or 19 years of age.

As it was our last training flight we asked the pilot if he would put on a turn of aerobatics when we finished our firing exercise. The pilot gave his agreement and so, with the drogue about 100 feet away, I started firing with one long burst which got rid of the first magazine. (I was first on the gun). Another long burst got rid of the second magazine.

The second gunner then started to do likewise, but the poor old machine gun decided to give up the ghost. We then gave the pilot the thumbs up and he immediately went into aerobatics. We three trainees stood in the open rear end of the long cockpit while the pilot put the plane into various aerobatics.

Our parachutes were left lying on the floor and the safety cord which we were supposed to attach around our waists was also left on the floor. However, this was great fun but it almost came to a conclusion for the three of us when the pilot put the aircraft into a partial reverse loop. This caused us to suddenly become weightless and in unison we all started to leave the aircraft with the prospect of a long three or four thousand feet fall into Spencer Gulf. However, our weight was suddenly restored and we all flopped back into the open rear cockpit.

Aerobatics continued and soon we reduced altitude to be flying with just a few feet between the aircraft and water of Spencer Gulf. The Gulf was calm with only small waves, which was fortunate because the pilot started to play silly goats by dipping each wing in turn until the wingtips caused disturbances in the water. As I said, we were all about nineteen years of age and at that age, like the young car hoons of today, we thought ourselves indestructible and in this case, luckily, we were not destructed.

A Wireless Air Gunner, just like our very own JNBH, in a Fairy Battle, 1940.

(I know many of you have stories of WW2 and other more recent wars - would you share them with us please?).

Dodgy Telco Practices - The Business Cases

Collated by Bob Emanuel.

(This is a collection of stories from more than a dozen telco personnel based in every region of the world over the past 20 years. These stories will fall into 3 groups - Telco Fraud, Dodgy Practices and Downright Deception. This edition it is time to look at some of the Dodgy Practices within some Telcos around the world.

I would love to hear more from Vets who can shed some light on Dodgy Telco Practices. Your editor welcomes your contributions on these topics).

Telcos can indulge in a variety of Dodgy Practices, as any business can. You may have seen in the media of late that the Clem7 Tunnel in Brisbane, and the Cross City and Lane Cove tunnels in Sydney were all built on a business case based on traffic forecasts, not unlike the Telco industry's reliance on traffic and data capacity forecasts for its business cases.

In the case of the various tunnels, the forecasts were tailored to achieve the desired business case outcomes so that the tunnel was built. The forecasting companies pocketed their nice fat fees and the businesses failed because the forecasts were many times greater than the reality. This has been referred to by some cynical souls as the Business Case Porkie Pie. It's not illegal, it's not even regarded as immoral, it is just a way some - maybe many - do business.

Had they had some experienced telco folks who had worked overseas look over these traffic tunnel business cases, they would have been derided and shown up for what they were worth - very, very little.

One consultant in a Third World start-up happened across the Network Planning Group's traffic forecasts. This start-up competing telco, in a country with an economy a fraction the size of the Australian economy, was according to this forecast going to generate more outbound IDD traffic than Australia was to generate that year, according to Telegeography magazine, long regarded as the IDD Bible.

Hmm, she mused, that cannot be right, but she was refused access to the business case despite her senior position in the company. She went to the CEO, who cast the scales from her eyes and told her how the company worked.

To generate the investment required to build the company, she was told, the financial figures had to look good. To look good they needed lots of traffic. So they started at the end of business case with the financial figures that would look good and determined the amount of traffic that would generate the revenues to make the business case look good. Flabbergasted, she saw out her two year contract and did not go for a renewal, despite an offer to renew. The company got its required investment and was in bankruptcy 4 years later. Two years worth of telephone traffic had been nowhere near the forecasts.

Almost all of the folks contributing to this series had similar experiences and some cited incidents they saw in the past five years and not always in a Third World telco.

Several of the contributors stated that they had seen this same practice as recently as two years ago in various Telcos. One contributor tells of an interconnect with a competing telco in their marketplace, where the monthly revenue gained is 10% of the cost of maintaining that interconnect - but, he was told "It's a strategic investment."

Another contributor tells of a major national network expansion, with forecasts of millions of minutes from regional towns throughout that country. Given that capital city traffic volume realities were less than these regional forecasts, he cast a rather jaundiced eye over the business case and said that there was no way this would work and no way the company could support the requested capacities. After much to-ing and fro-ing and heated debate, the consultant surprisingly won out and small capacities were introduced to see if the traffic ramped up. Three years later the original one and two E1 capacities to those regional centres were still underutilised.

Another Porkie Pie incident occurred when a North American telco engineer was asked to produce a graph showing the effect of the doubling of internet traffic each month in the late 1990s. His company took that graph and told the world that this doubling of traffic each month is what was really happening to the Internet, so come invest with us! Their shares reached almost USD100.

The result, however, was the Dot-Com boom and bust (yes, there were other contributing factors, but most as a result of this very same company's Dodgy Practices). Many telcos and vendors were pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, several did go bankrupt and tens of thousands of people were put out of work throughout the world.

(Next edition - how vendors indulge in very, very Dodgy Practices. Tales from personal experience by the OTC folks concerned).

VALE

ARTHUR GREEN 1917-2010

By his son, Rob

Arthur William Green was born in Armadale, Victoria, on 25 August 1917. In family circles he was invariably known as ‘Bill’, and his army mates always called him ‘Tex’ – an abbreviation of a Texan cowboy and a jocular reference to his bandy legs. His father was a telephone technician with the Postmaster General’s Department and Arthur followed him into the telecommunications industry. In their Glen Iris backyard his father erected a huge radio mast, and the house was always a busy place with relatives and friends calling in to hear the pioneering wireless broadcasts of the 1920s and 1930s.

Arthur attended the Gardiner State School and Melbourne High School. Keen to start work quickly, in August 1932, just a few weeks before his 15th birthday, he became an overseas telegram delivery boy with the Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Company (AWA). AWA provided Australia’s radio telecommunications or ‘Beam Wireless’ contact with the rest of the world. After pedalling many miles along the city streets, which he got to know intimately, he later became a clerk in the Beam Wireless office.

Just before his 23rd birthday in August 1940 Arthur voluntarily enlisted for the Citizens Military Force. In January 1941 he joined the army’s Third Division Signal Unit at Camp Site 17, Seymour, where he became a wireless operator. By the end of the year Arthur was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the unit’s D, or ‘Don’ Section. He very much enjoyed the camaraderie of service life.

Before its transfer to New Guinea the unit established and maintained a rapidly growing intercommunications system in the Seymour area. Arthur drove a large three-ton truck fitted out as a mobile signal office. During this time he met Norma Burns, who he married in December 1942.

In the middle of 1941 the unit moved to Brisbane, then Maryborough, Landsborough and Mapleton. While in Queensland Arthur taught Morse code. Three days before Christmas 1942 Arthur, as part of the advance party of the 3rd Division Signals Unit, sailed from Brisbane to Port Moresby aboard the Duntroon. From Port Moresby the unit proceeded to Wau and then Bulolo where a new signals office was set up.

After only eleven weeks in New Guinea Arthur was ordered to return to Melbourne to teach Morse code and high speed wireless technology to the Australian Women’s Army Service and other army personnel. He often recounted the hair-raising flight back to Australia as a sole passenger sitting on a wooden box in the empty body of an American cargo plane flown in the manner of a fighter aircraft.

Back in Melbourne Arthur was stationed at barracks in Albert Park and at the old mansion Grosvenor, in Queens Road, South Melbourne. After discharge from the army in 1946 he returned to work as a radio telegraphist with AWA at its Queen Street headquarters. Within a few months the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) was formed to take over the Beam Wireless and Coastal Radio functions operated by AWA, so Arthur was transferred to the new commission.

His shift working colleagues were his primary friends and a small group of them, known as the ‘Sunday Nighters’, met monthly at each other’s homes for decades. The original group comprised Arthur Green, Les Brown, Doug Crabtree, Norm Stubbs, Bill Curran, George Gordon, Jack Cornish and their wives. During and soon after the Second World War, Arthur and Norma dealt in residential property and they built a house at Ashburton. In addition to his regular OTC job during the 1950s and 1960s Arthur was a dairy farmer at Epping and Whittlesea, and in the 1970s he became deeply involved in the share market and the Western Australian nickel boom.

Arthur retired as a Shift Controller in the Melbourne Operating Room on 30 August 1978, after 46 years of shiftwork in telecommunications. In retirement Arthur was never idle. He renovated houses, made furniture, took up landscape and still life painting and in later years participated in the community life of the Oak Grange Retirement Village, East Brighton. In addition Arthur and Norma enjoyed the various activities of the Parkdale Probus Club, his army unit’s 3/66 Club, and the OTVA (Victoria). He was President of the latter in 1986 and at the time of his death was the sole surviving foundation member. After a long illness Arthur died on 27 May 2010 at the age of 92. He is survived by his only child, Robert, his wife Norma, having predeceased him.

Bruce Boler "Retires"

From Robert Brand

Bruce has gone into semi-retirement renting camping trailers. Big discount to ex-OTC staff. His farewell from Huawei was well attended where he retired as Off-shore Program Manager.

""The entire staff put on Walrus moustaches.
We just took on Dan Testa to replace Bruce so the group has a strong ex-OTC contingent.""

But, Do They Have A Sea Earth?"

Another Wee Bit of International Telecommunications History collected by Bob Emanuel

Many of us have stories of the merger bewteen Telecom Australia and OTC to become Telstra. In my case it was a suit from Melbourne telling me, as Offshore Switching Operations Manager, that what used to take me three days to accomplish would now take me 6 months to accomplish as I had to follow "their national process." (More of that anon).

But what many of you don't know is how John Vossen saved Paddington and Oxford Falls.

Phil Green was called to a meeting where it would be decided that PAD and OXF would be closed down and their functions taken to Telstra's national facilities at their Kent Street and Chatswood facilities respectively.

Greeny sent Vosso along to the meeting instead. Inspired decision by Greeny or not - Vosso tends to think not, he has told me. I think it was.

OTC - Telstra International - had already been obliged to provide their IDD databases to the national carrier as precursor to the trunk switches also operating as IDD gateways, because, according to the national folks, IDD was the same as STD!!

This meeting was to be the final nail in the coffin of OTC, much to the national side's amusement. There are well documented cases where the PMG/Telecom/Telstra national side tried to take over OTC going back to OTC's inception in 1948.

Vosso and the national folk worked their way through a checklist of all that Telecom Australia/Telstra had reckoned was meant to make them an International Carrier.

A triumphant Telstra national executive said, that well then, we no longer need Paddington or Oxford Falls!

Vosso paused, and said, "Yes, but do they have a sea earth?"

Telstra national executive, somewhat incredulously asked - "what's a sea earth?"

Vosso then explained how international submarine cables worked. They needed large kilovolt power supplies and dedicated very efficient earthing systems to work.

Chatswood and Kent St could not provide a decent sea earth!

It was a very deflated (and I suspect, angry) Telstra national executive that left that meeting.
John got back from that meeting with a very large smile on his face, looking very contented.
Paddington and Oxford Falls remain international telecommunications terminals to this day.
How do I know this - I was working for Vosso at the time and he told me the whole story when he came back from that meeting. We have discussed it since.

I also have to say that I regard Vosso as the very best manager I ever had in my time at OTC, in a period when I had such luminaries as Vince Donoghue, Ron Carey, Bill Newman, Bob Fisher, John Bothwell, Keith McCredden, Mick Quinlan, Brian Curran, Bobby Collins and Roman Targonski.

You can Pay Your Membership by Bank Transfer!

Bank: Bankstown City Credit Union
BSB: 802-155
Account name: Overseas Telecommunications Veterans Association
Account number: 2081816

Last Word

That last story was only published after a lot of discussion - do you have any more true stories of that time - please let me know.

OTVA NEWSLETTER - ISSN 1322-1906 November 2010. Volume 12 Page 13

THE OVERHEADS

CONTENTS