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Denis Pickwell wrote:

I was just going through some of last years Blogs and came across a short video (May 2015) entitled Memories – the OTC Story 1946-92. This is a complete misnomer as it obviously only covers a few years back from 1992. All the shots have computers in them! During my 10+ years with OTC (1950-1961) I never handled a computer as they didn’t exist. There is a story to be told about the early days of beam wireless and cable. I don’t know much about the history of AWA in the early years but I’m sure others do. I was stationed at Fiskville Beam Wireless Station for 7 years before transferring to Spring St. H.O. Doonside and Bringelly were new stations still “settling in”. I can recall Pennant Hills transmitters and the cable station at Southport and being amazed at what they did with an extremely weak, single channel signal. Compare that with the latest cable and associated systems!

In those days we were at the cutting edge of communications technology but in retrospect we were pioneers working with primitive equipment. I remember the visit of the Queen to Melbourne in 1956. At Fiskville we built a complete new high powered transmitter and installed about 3 others to cater for the expected traffic. I could ramble on, but I am sure there are those that remember what really happened in the early days from, say, 1946.

Regards,
Denis