Andy – MM0FMF & Jack – GM4COX Awarded The Jock Kyle Award For 2019

Copied from a Post off the GM13 Site.

It was surprise for both of us to receive a letter from the Board of the RSGB to the effect that we were to be awarded the trophy at the April GMDX CONVENTION for our work in promoting the use of 13cms in Scotland.

It is a great honour (and humbling) to be nominated by your peers for such a prestigious award. Thanks everybody.

And we are both looking forward to even more activity on 13 (and up) this year. (If the old bones can stand it – in my case (;>)

Andy & Jack(:>J

Andy – MM0FMF, Robert – GM3YTS (Chair GMDX) & Jack – GM4COX

RSGB Citation – Jock Kyle Memorial Trophy

Prompted by a talk about the 13cm band at the GM Microwave Round Table in November 2016, Andy Sinclair MM0FMF and Jack Hood GM4COX have been working successfully together to promote 13cm activity throughout Scotland.  They started by organising a discount order for ready-built transverters for members of the Lothians Radio Society and beyond, and then encouraged and supported the buyers to get on the air.  They have shared their enthusiasm for 13cm by giving their own  talks at the GM Microwave Round Tables in 2017 and 2018, and to other radio clubs in Scotland, and have stimulated others to become active both from home and out portable.

In January 2017 Andy and Jack set up the Scottish Amateur Radio 13cms Microwave Group at gm13@groups.io, which has now grown to 54 members.  Although initially intended to publicise and coordinate their SOTA expeditions, the group now helps to drive 13cm activity more generally in Scotland and neighbouring areas, and is open to all radio amateurs wherever they are.

For demonstrating how two people taking the initiative can make a real change, Andy Sinclair MM0FMF and Jack Hood GM4COX are deserving recipients of the Jock Kyle Trophy for 2019.

Proposers Rob Ferguson GM3YTS, Gavin Taylor GM0GAV, Mike Eccles GM3PPE, Ian White GM3SEK, Martin Hall GM8IEM, Geoff Crowley MM5AHO and Malcolm Hamilton GM3TAL

GB2RS(Snip) – 28th April

The first May Bank Holiday weekend sees the annual three day RSGB ARDF Championships taking place in the Thames Valley. The areas chosen are Christmas Common near Wendover, Whiteleaf near Princes Risborough and Hodgmoor Woods near Amersham.

SOS Radio Week will take place between 0000UTC on the 1st May and 2359UTC on the 31st of May

From the 4th to the 31st of May, GB9SOS will be operating as part of SOS Radio Week. The station will be operating on as many different HF and VHF bands as possible during the 28 days the station will be active .

Es signals from Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Spain, and the French beacon F5ZEH beacon on 28.231MHz, were heard on Thursday the 25th at 1300UTC. Don’t forget that Sporadic-E can affect all the bands from 20m to 10m. The best guide may be the 10m beacons across Europe, which can act as good propagation indicators.

On Thursday Wigtownshire Amateur Radio Club has short talks by Peter Salmon, GM7NFF, Wul Murdoch, 2M0WUL and Ian Macdonald, GM8AVM. Contact Bob Bower, GM4DLG, via email to info@gm4riv.com.

For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .

GB2RS(Snip) – 21st April

Former US astronaut and long-duration spaceflight pioneer Owen Garriott, W5LFL, who operated the world’s first amateur radio station from space, died at the age of 88 on the 15th of April 2019.

The May RadCom includes a report that an authentic World War 2 Spy Set was recently donated to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park

The Syllabus 2019 edition of the Foundation Licence Manual is now available from the RSGB in both in hard copy and Kindle version.

Special callsigns 4Z64EURO, 4X64S, 4X64O, 4X64N and 4X64G will be active from the 18th of April to the 18th of May for the 64th Eurovision Song Contest.

EI0MAR will be part of International Marconi Day on the 27th of April, operating from the Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth.


For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .

GB2RS(Snip) – 14th April

The National Museum of Computing located at Bletchley Park will be holding its first-ever ElectroJumble on Sunday the 21st of April.

GB2DAY is on the air for its final day today, the 14th of April, to promote the opening of the Teleprinter Building at Bletchley Park, which houses a fantastic D-DAY exhibition entitled Interception / Intelligence / Invasion.

A special event station to commemorate the Battle of Culloden will be on the air on the 16th and 17th of April

As mentioned in the main news, on Tuesday Inverness & District Amateur Radio Society will be running a special event station to commemorate the Battle of Culloden. Contact John, GM0OTI, via email to InvernessRadioSociety@gmail.com for further details.

For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .

GB2RS(Snip) – 7th April

Two new videos are now available on the RSGB YouTube channel. They are Improving your Morse Code Skills by Ray Burlingame-Goff, G4FON and FT8 performance secrets by Neil Smith, G4DBN.

Also on the 14th, the Hack Green Bunker Rally will be held at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, French Lane, Hack Green, near Nantwich, Baddington, Cheshire CW5 8AL.

The Windmill Amateur Radio DX Group will put GB1RY on the air today, the 7th of April. Operating from RAF Ramsbury near Marlborough in Wiltshire, they are taking part in Airfields on the Air over the weekend.

2019 will see the 50th anniversary of landing men on the Moon. One of the places that the astronauts trained was the mile-wide Meteor Crater in Arizona. During 2019, Northern Arizona DX Association will set up and operate K7M until the 13th of April from the Meteor Crater National Natural Landmark.

On Wednesday the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Thursday the 50MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1900UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and four character locator.

The April 2019 Edinburgh Repeater Keepers Consultation. They are keen to hear from users and potential users of the Edinburgh repeaters on topics including the current service and what features could be added to encourage more repeater use. This part of the consultation is concentrating on GB3ED. Please help inform the development of the analogue UHF repeater that covers the Edinburgh and Lothians area by completing the survey at www.dmrscotland.co.uk/survey.

On Wednesday Lothians Radio Society is having a surplus equipment sale. Contact Mike Burgess, MM0MLB, via email to secretary@lothiansradiosociety.com.

For more news visit GB2RS – HERE .

R. V. Jones ‘ Most Secret War’ – Saturday 16th March (Museum of Communications) – Copied From Our Programme Site.

Hi all,

Well Sam – GM4BGS & myself braved a very wintery day to head through to Burntisland. And it was well worth it. The ‘Prof’ provided the audience with an interesting insight as to how Reginald had helped with pre-war & war scientific investigations which in turn evolved into effective wartime ‘counter-measures’.

Here is Sam’s take on the Professor’s presentation. (thanks Sam)

And checking through the latest MOC Presentations this one – ‘From Sputnik to Cubesat – Outer Space’  HERE , I think is most relevant to ourselves. However all current MOC Talks are on our CALENDAR.

Enjoy

(;>J

(Pictures Professor Tom Stevenson – emailed to GM4COX – a big thanks!)

Museum of Communications 16th March 2019

Goudie Lecture 2019.

Introduced by Professor Tom Stevenson

Why Churchill Wages R. V. Jones’ Most Secret War

Prof. Joe McGeough

The Museum of Communication was very pleased to welcome back Prof. Joe McGeough, who was a friend and colleague of our benefactor, the late Dr George Goudie to deliver the talk on R. V. Jones’ Most Secret War.

RV Jones had a distinguished career in scientific intelligence during WW2. He used his knowledge of physics to monitor the technical developments of the enemy and he sometimes used his great experience as a practical joker to devise countermeasures! He analysed the use of radio beams by German bombers for navigation at night and devised a simple but very effective method of confusing enemy RADAR. 
                       

PROFESSOR REGINALD VICTOR JONES

Reginald Victor Jones was born on 29 September 1911 at Dulwich, London. As a child, he learnt Scottish songs from his mother, and through his father, respect for military traditions. Living close to the Oval, he was a staunch supporter of Surrey Cricket team; his hero was Jack Hobbs. At the age of eight, he contracted diphtheria, which left him permanently deaf in one ear.

His Headmaster, R B Henderson, at Alleyn’s School, Dulwich, exhorted service to school, community and country; Reginald Jones was a proud member of the Officers’ Training Corps, and as a hobby enjoyed making radio-receiving sets. Good teaching brought an Open Exhibition to Wadham College, Oxford in 1929. Jones gained a First Class Honours in Natural Science- Physics (1932) and the same year, he was runner-up in pistol-shooting at Bisley.

Under Oxford’s Professor of Experimental Philosophy, F A Lindemann, he began research on infrared detectors, being awarded his doctorate at the age of 23. During a subsequent post at Balliol College, Jones was commissioned to develop an infrared detector for installation in night-fighters for detection of bombers. In 1936 he was appointed a Scientific Officer in the Air Ministry. His duties included trials on the first air-borne television equipment for the RAF, and study of Air Intelligence reports. On his transfer to the Admiralty Research Laboratory, Teddington, he was to meet in 1938 Vera Cain when she chased away a squad of physicists who were trying to dig shelter trenches on her women’s hockey pitch. They married in 1940.

After the invasion of Poland he became attached to the Air Intelligence branch of MI6, studying files on potential German weapons and ways of ‘breaking’ the German Enigma encoding machine. He unravelled the contents of the Oslo Report on German dive-bombers, remote-controlled rocket-driven gliders, radar detection of enemy aircraft positions and radio monitoring of range of bombers.

On 11 June 1940, Jones read a decoded Enigma message which convinced him that the Germans had an intersecting radio beam system for bombing England. A special meeting at 10 Downing Street was called for 21 June, to which Dr Jones unexpectedly found that he had been invited. The Prime Minister let the 28-year old explain the beam threat, right from the start. Equipment was urgently developed, the effect of which was to steer German aircraft off the proper beam path, depriving pilots of their inherent accuracy, (although both enemy and home forces believed that the beams had really been bent).

A few nights before 7 September, when the nightly bombing of London began, Jones was alerted, through Enigma, to a new kind of beam, ‘X-Gerät’, fitted to an aircraft of KGr100, that dropped flares over its targets and which had already been used to attack Birmingham. He was able to identify the location of KGr100 attacks, yet night fighters repeatedly failed to find the enemy aircraft.

Subsequent examination of captured X-Gerät apparatus revealed equipment changes enabling German pilots to distinguish between the true beam and defence jamming. On 10 November 1940 he received a decoded Enigma signal on operations to be carried out on Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry. An Enigma message of 11 November described an operation on areas that were not disclosed. Churchill thought that it was to be London. Instead, Coventry was heavily bombed, with the loss of 554 lives. Jones had been able to predict the correct radio frequencies. When he predicted Wolverhampton as the next target and had the anti-aircraft batteries moved, no attack occurred. However, two prisoners revealed that German reconnaissance had noted the installation of the antiaircraft guns, whereupon the Wolverhampton raid had been abandoned.

Dr Jones’ work was recognised by the Secretary of State, Archibald Sinclair, who in 1941 recommended senior promotion. Instead, he was upgraded to Principal Scientific Officer, with the title Assistant Director of Intelligence (Science), which post he held for the rest of the war.

Churchill’s plans for a sustained air bombardment of Germany now saw Jones concentrating on understanding its ‘Würzburg’ system of night defence. His close relationship with airmen taking aerial photographs was a key to the success of British scientific intelligence. Photography of a Würzburg paraboloid in the Berlin Tiergarten and other sites uncovered an elaborate German night interception system. Jones showed the photographs to Lindemann, and on 10 June 1942, many paraboloids were destroyed by Bomber Command. After examination of reconnaissance photographs with his colleagues, Charles Frank pointed out to Jones that the isolated Würzburg at Bruneval, south of Dieppe, could be captured. Jones promptly set the wheels in motion, and in a daring Combined Services raid, the main parts of the Würzburg and its frightened operator were seized. With Churchill’s concurrence, Jones was recommended for a CB. However, this honour was considered by others to be beyond that appropriate to the Scientific Officer grade, and in 1942, the ‘compromise’ of a CBE was announced.

In 1942, he had advocated the use of spoof echoes from aluminium strips, subsequently code-named ‘Window’. Released from a leading aircraft, these would produce the radar equivalent of a smoke screen through which succeeding aeroplanes could fly. Window is reported to have saved 70 to 80 aircraft in the devastating attack on Hamburg in July 1943.

Dr Jones was present at a meeting on 31 August 1943, called by Churchill, to review an intelligence report on bombs guided from aircraft. The information had come mainly from a 23 year-old member of the French Resistance, known as Amniarix, now Vicomtesse de Clarens. Jones was to comment that her “reports stand brilliantly in the history of intelligence”. Two weeks later, he reported a warning from Amniarix of attack by rocket-driven pilotless aircraft, on which Churchill acted. On 21 December 1943, 1300 American aircraft dropped 1700 tons of bombs on German rocket sites. About this time, R V Jones first became involved with USA military intelligence, whose scientific advisor, H P Robertson, visited him and reported back that the British work was entirely reliable and they should give as much aid as possible. In the meantime, Window was still having its effect: Goering observed, “in radar, they must have the World’s greatest genius”.

On the eve of the Normandy landings (June 1944) air attacks, following advice from Jones’ group, eliminated most German radar sites in Northwest France. Only about six out of 47 stations were still able to transmit on D-Day, just enough to provide the Germans with information on the approach of a large sea-force, which in fact was a hoax decoy, produced by several aircraft scattering clouds of Window to simulate a fleet of destroyers. The German mobile defences were thereby drawn away from the main invasion landing sites. The official Despatch concluded: “These attacks saved the lives of countless soldiers, sailors and airmen on D-Day”.

Fears that the Germans were working towards an atomic bomb brought Jones into contact with Niels Bohr who had come to England in 1943. Bohr became his firm friend, and was a great favourite of the Jones’ children (as was another Nobel Prize winner, Edward Appleton). With nuclear intelligence now shared between the Allies, the Americans found Jones a determined fighter as they all strove for access to German documentation. Nonetheless, they recognised his integrity and formed a cordial life-long regard for him. He earned the Prime Minister’s further respect when he had to deliver to him the unwelcome evidence of V1 and V2 rockets about to be launched on London. Jones’ value to Scientific Intelligence was so great that if he had participated as he had planned in the August 1942 raid on Dieppe, in which the Canadians suffered heavy casualties, secret orders had been issued for him to be shot if he were about to fall into German hands.

In the 1946 New Year’s Honours Lists, Jones found his name amongst the CBs. Churchill and Lord Cherwell (Lindemann) were now out of office and there had been no customary intimation from the new Prime Minister’s office. He could only surmise that he had been treated as a Serving Officer who would be expected to accept an honour without discretion – he was delighted to do so. As his contributions were hidden in official secrecy, feelings arose that both decorations had been conferred on him as Lindemann’s blue-eyed boy, although the truth was far different.

The plans for post-war Scientific Intelligence left Jones uncertain of his future. His wartime colleague, Professor Edward Wright, who had returned to Aberdeen University, suggested that he should apply for its Chair of Natural Philosophy. Despite strong competition he was duly offered the post. On 30 September 1946, he resigned from the Civil Service. Within three days Professor Jones was preparing for a new term at Aberdeen University, having to cater for 300-400 undergraduates, with nine staff including himself, three of whom were new graduates aged 21. There were no textbooks, so he used to write out full notes of his lectures for distribution to students. When the typing load on his sixteen-year-old secretary became too heavy, a girl student volunteered her services.

A tremendous spirit prevailed in his classes. He enjoyed the warmest of relationships with his students many of whom were ex-servicemen. They regularly met him in the Students’ Union near Marischal College, where he was usually invited to play pipe tunes on his mouth organ. The porter, an enthusiastic piper, would correct Jones’ music, forgetting to close the bar at 10pm. A legend arose that he knew every one of his several hundred students. They in turn believed that they knew him, and could approach him at any time. Those ten years from 1946 were the happiest of his tenure of the Chair of Natural Philosophy.

He concentrated almost entirely on his teaching and research. His aim was to make physics lectures as interesting as possible with lively demonstrations. The highlight became his final lecture of the session. More than 300 students from all over the University would pour into a 138-seat lecture theatre to hear him. No attention was paid to time, and the party would go on for more than two hours; the conservation of momentum was demonstrated with a pistol and bullets, and dead pigeons dropped from the ceiling as part of an illustration of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. The din created by the students could be heard throughout Marischal College.

He introduced feared Honours written and practical examinations, all tests of ability to think about basic principles, for analysis of problems. Through the Natural Philosophy course he was determined to raise Aberdeen students to high standards that made them readily employable anywhere. With colleagues, W J Bates, D A Jones, C W McCombie and J C S Richards, supported by highly skilled technicians duly led by H Barber, he undertook wide-ranging researches: of  instrument design, optical levers, capacitance micrometers, measurement of small displacements, crystal growth and the radiation pressure of light in dense media. These studies led to a series of papers in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1949.

Soon there were extra-mural calls for him to join and chair innumerable government and scientific committees. Over 1952-53, at the request of Churchill, he was granted leave from the University to return to the Ministry of Defence where the organisation of post-war Intelligence was giving concern to the Prime Minister. It proved a thankless task, with long absences from his wife and young family in Aberdeen, little reimbursement beyond his University salary and resentment encountered as he tried to change the arrangements for Intelligence. A senior official explained to Mrs Jones that whilst her husband had a first-class mind, a less brilliant man would have better suited the Ministry. 
  

About 1955, Professor Jones was nominated by Lord Cherwell, with support from Sir Edward Appleton and Sir Francis Simon, for Fellowship of the Royal Society of London. A member of its Selection Committee encouraged him to concentrate on his research, to clinch his early election. With typical candour, he decided that the research effort needed would detract from his teaching, and that his students had priority over his own advancement. He had to wait until 1965  for election as FRS.

In 1956, R V Jones became Dean of the Faculty of Science at Aberdeen and joined the University Court. There were, however, adversaries, two of whom, concerned about the vacant Principalship in 1962, lobbied The Scottish Secretary of State against him (although Jones had not even considered the possibility).

When the Robbins report advocated doubling the University population in just over three years, Professor Jones warned that such rapid expansion could only lead to a fall in standards of student entry and in the quality of staff recruited to teach them. Aberdeen found that its traditional North of Scotland student catchment was being plundered, as other Universities shored up their numbers. Jones maintained that Aberdeen could counteract the drain only through departments with outstanding reputations that were attractive to both good students and staff. His arguments caused furore. His children, Susan and Robert, as students had to endure academics’ criticisms of their father, ‘the most unpopular man in the University’.

Despite many offers of Vice-Chancellorships and Headships of research establishments, he decided to remain in Aberdeen. He meticulously planned the new Natural Philosophy building, which he and Mrs Jones toured weekly during its construction. Locally, he took a great interest in secondary education; when Engineering Science was introduced, he met the heads of technical departments from Aberdeen schools to emphasise the significance of their subject. In 1967,  Professor Jones chaired the organising committee for the British Association Technology Fair in Aberdeen, involving local schools and major companies. The meeting was a great success, especially when traces were displayed in the Natural Philosophy Department of the explosion of the first Chinese nuclear device. He strongly supported the study of Engineering in Universities, and especially at Aberdeen. His MSc course in ‘Principles of Instrument Design’ produced post-graduates who found ready employment in major industry throughout the world. A plaque in R V Jones’ honour is displayed at the Philips Company, Eindhoven.

He continued to promote the public understanding of science. His writings reflected concern that scientific and technological advances should benefit the nation. For 20 years he edited the Notes and Records of the Royal Society, and served as a Vice-President from 1971-72.

In 1977 he was offered a Knighthood in the Jubilee Honours List. He felt that tenure of Knight Bachelor was only minimally above that of his Companionship of the Bath; it represented least recognition for more than thirty years of public service as a member or chairman of many committees or councils, and the separation from his family for 18 months in 1952/53 in the Ministry of Defence. Vera Jones, to whom it would have meant most, agreed the offer appeared to be “too little, too late”. In declining, he asked the Prime Minister’s office to convey his thanks to those who had proposed him.

His decision had unfortunate repercussions. Knowledge of his contributions grew, especially after publication of his bestselling Most Secret War (1978) and other Intelligence stories. Many asked him about a Knighthood.  Others submitted his name to the Prime Minister’s office. Since, in accordance with protocol, he could not reveal to them that he had been offered a Knighthood, he could only be privately sad at the prospective failure of their generous efforts. Speculation arose that he had upset too many in authority, or had committed some undisclosed heinous offence that had disqualified him. Mrs Jones found this back-biting especially hard to bear, without being able to break a silence that would have set the record straight.

These vindictive whispers might have been silenced in 1980, when a group of peers moved to recommend him for a seat  in the House of Lords. The start of their action coincided with adverse publicity concerning his tenancy of 8 Queen’s Terrace, Aberdeen which he and his family had occupied since 1947. On approaching retiral, he offered to vacate this University house, only to be assured by senior staff that he could remain. Management and attitudes changed. Although a legal action brought against him was decided in his favour, the case left its unfavourable shadow. His supporters for a Peerage did not proceed with their nomination. However the many letters to Downing Street must have had some effect.

On 3 May 1994, the Prime Minister recommended Professor Jones as a Companion of Honour, which ranks immediately below the Grand Crosses of the usual orders of Knighthood, and above the Knight Commanders of these orders. In accepting the Honour, his main regret was that his wife and his mother had not lived to see it (although the latter had been aware of the Knighthood declined 17 years before).

Vera Jones died in 1992. The disquiet over the house and her husband’s removal from the office allocated to him as Emeritus Professor, caused them both sleepless nights, and marked the beginning of a deterioration in her health. A month after Vera’s death Reginald Jones was to find his daughter Susan, a diabetic, in a coma and dying. Throughout his retiral, R V Jones continued to lecture and to write. In 1981, he presented the Royal Institution Christmas lectures. The highly regarded books Instruments and Experiences (1988) and Reflections on Intelligence (1989) were published. In 1993, he became the first recipient of a new medal ‘The R V Jones Intelligence Award’ created by the CIA. The Americans always respected his achievements. He was awarded the American Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm (1946) and the US Medal for Merit (1947); he received honorary membership of the US Air Force and numerous other accolades. They sought his advice following the mysterious TWA plane crash in 1996. Many other foreign and British medals were presented to him in recognition of his contributions.

In the UK, seven universities conferred honorary degrees on him including a DSc from Aberdeen in 1995.  He loved Aberdeenshire and its people. They made him Bailie of Benachie and regularly welcomed him to his home, ‘The White House’ at Corgarff, where he, Vera, and their three children, Robert, Susan and Rosemary spent many happy holidays. With his friends he fished and shot. When he died on 17 December 1997, it was fitting that he should be buried at the local Strathdon Cemetery. His University paid its tribute with a memorial service at King’s College in April 1998. His friend from the Resistance, Vicomtesse de Clarens came to “thank you, dear unique Reg”. His colleague Professor Michael Player asked that Professor R V Jones should be remembered as an “extraordinary and inspirational Natural Philosopher”. The Hon James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA, gave an American’s recognition of this prophet in another land: R V Jones was steadfastly honest, courageous with integrity and truthfulness, with a real interest in others – those whose lives he saved, who never knew him, and those who were privileged just to meet and know him.

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things aboveEntire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.

Ken Horne – GM3YBQ Presenting Joe With A ‘Wee’ Thankyou!

Sir Alan Cook, Professor W E J Farvis, Mr R Jones, Dr I Olson, Professor M A Player are thanked for their help and advice.JOSEPH McGEOUGH

Joe GM3HOM A SK (:>(

The 26th of January 2019 saw the sad passing of Joseph (Joe) Reilly, GM3HOM.

He was a continuous member of the Radio Society of Great Britain from November 1948 until his death. His 70th anniversary of Membership was marked in the November 2018 edition of RadCom.

Following his service in the RAF, Joe was hired by Decca. Working within their Navigation section, he was involved in the UK’s Blue Streak ballistic missile project in testing ranges in remote parts of Australia. Closer to home, and still with Decca, found him working in the Middle East and, latterly, remote parts of Scandinavia. Following his world sojourns, Joe was employed locally by Strathclyde Police, finishing his working career within their Radio Workshops.

Joe was an active member of local amateur radio clubs. He was associated with the RSGB (Glasgow) Club in the 1950s, the Radio Club of Scotland (RCS) in the 60s and, from 1970 up until his passing, the West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society (WoSARS).

Primarily an HF CW operator, Joe was also to be found on 2 metre FM chatting to fellow members of WoSARS and the local Glasgow amateur fraternity. And whenever he was home, he would give a club talk about some exotic location where he had been ‘posted’, or a piece of ‘kit’ that he had built or was building. Joe always finished his projects specifically in Hammerite Blue, because he reckoned it made the electrons within flow better. He also took the opportunity to take part in CW NFD with other club members on every occasion that it was possible.

Joe is sadly missed by his family and friends around the world, whether they be radio amateurs or not.

Tribute by Jack Hood, GM4COX
Secretary, WoSARS

RSGB Notification – HERE .

Alasdair Mackintosh Fraser – GM3AXX – Obituary

 Alasdair was born in Darlington, England, in 1923 but it wasn’t long before the one who in years to come would wear a tartan tie at every opportunity and be a strong supporter of the SNP, moved north to his beloved Scotland. In fact, it was just 4 months, a move to Inverness with his family. They moved to Glasgow before Alasdair started primary school. Alasdair was the eldest in a family of four with Gillian, Helen and Farquhar born between 1925 and 1929. In the West End of Glasgow Alasdair attended Willowbank Primary and then Woodside Secondary. It was at Woodside where Alasdair’s love of radio started. His report card in fourth year spoke of his “considerable enthusiasm” for the topic and his “dexterity” in the construction of radio apparatus.

This love and these skills continued in jobs in a radio shop and then with Clydesdale Electrical, the radio and TV engineers, in 1941-43. Alasdair joined the navy in 1943 as a radio repair technician. He advanced to Petty Officer and radio mechanic in his three years’ service. His spell of duty took him to Gibraltar, Malta, Ceylon, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. He visited Hiroshima only a couple of months after the bomb dropped there and took pictures to show the devastation that he saw. Alasdair applied his great intelligence in various ways in the navy including knowing the quickest way to the side of the boat. I’ll let you decide whether that was for safety or just in case of sea-sickness. After the war Alasdair worked for Philips as a radio and TV engineer. It was during this time that he met Margaret. In 1949 she was in a pram shop and he came in to the shop to do what Alasdair loved doing: to fix something. Instead he fixed his eyes (sorry!) on Margaret! They were married on 2nd February 1951 and stayed with Margaret’s Mum in Lambhill. Kim was born in 1955 and then Kennedy and Lindsay. They moved to Rigghead in Stewarton in 1968. Family holidays were often spent at a cottage in Glen Urquhart where time was always given over to catching up with friends and family, and to fixing things, of course, such as the 200 yard pipe he’d set up to bring water from a well to the cottage.

Alasdair loved exercise. He was a participator, not a spectator, fanatical about fitness: running, cycling, ice-skating, swimming, table tennis and more. He encouraged the family to join in, especially cycling and swimming whether the water was warm or cold! He won trophies at Stewarton table tennis club. Come the Spring, Alasdair would have the purple meths out to put on his feet to harden them up for hill walking so he could enjoy the outdoors to the full. This love extended to canoeing too. The first canoe he bought but the second he made at Stewarton night school. It still survives today – a credit to his workmanship! He even ran a 10k in his late 60s! Alasdair loved to be outside and active. Some families hand down jewellery as family heir looms, for the Frasers it was camping primus stoves.

From 1964 Alasdair’s work concentrated on scientific instruments when he started work with Pye Unicam, still part of Phillips. His job was to service and install analytical x-ray machines for research in university geology department and in large manufacturing plants, such as Ravenscraig, Blue Circle cement in Dunbar and Dounreay. As you can imagine, this job involved a lot of travel. Alasdair took his hobbies with him. Packed away in his guitar case, along with his guitar, were his swimming trunks, his ice-skates and his table tennis bat! Always prepared for exercise was Alasdair! These were precious items to him and he put a yellow radioactive sticker on his guitar case to ward off potential thieves. This proved very successful the time his car was stolen. When the police found the car and saw the sticker they put a cordon round the car. The guitar case and its precious content remained intact!

Another of Alasdair’s hobbies was motorbikes. He bought his first in 1952. In fact, he could drive a motorbike before he could drive a car. This was not for the sake of a solitary life. He had a side car and often took passengers pillion. He must’ve been a good driver as his grand-daughter, Helen, fell asleep riding pillion and his niece, Margaret, spoke of trips on the bike as “really cool”.

Alasdair’s favourite hobby was radio. The family showed me a framed certificate of his Honorary Life Membership of the Mid Lanark Amateur Radio Society, awarded to him for his “outstanding contribution to and furtherance of amateur radio”. He introduced 100s, if not 1000s, to this hobby. He taught at night school to help people pass their radio amateur exams and became well-known in radio amateur circles in Scotland. He was one of the earliest radio amateurs and indeed invented a particular aerial which is named after his call-sign GM3 AXX. Often at night Alasdair would be up trying to communicate internationally by radio. He would help Scouts and Guides with their communications badge work and at one point successfully contacted the space shuttle. It was a very sociable hobby too: the Friday social night at the radio club was incredibly important to him.

Alasdair was always a willing volunteer at John Knox church. He used his musical talents to help with the concert party, entertainment for old folks’ homes. He also read the Bible in church services but Alasdair preferred a behind the scenes role. Rather than be an office bearer in the church this humble man would be up a ladder fixing something! He set up and maintained the first sound system in John Knox, the first outside lights and the PA system in the hall at Christmas in case the high attendance meant people had to overflow into the hall. Even if the hall was not used I imagine Alasdair didn’t need much excuse to set it up.

Alasdair was a people person. He was always the first to put the kettle on when people visited. He loved a good story and was a great teller of jokes. He loved TV comedies: “Last of the Summer Wine” being his favourite. At his annual x-ray to check his health because of his frequent use of radio, he hid a tinfoil heart under his shirt to cheer up the technicians, such was his sense of fun.

Alasdair was an enabler, making things happen for other people. He received a certificate of appreciation for his work in delivering audio-books for the RNIB (Royal National Institute for Blind People). It is fitting of the man that he wanted Glasgow University Department of Anatomy to use his body for medical research, to help other people. Alasdair always wanted to fix things. Indeed, he never threw anything out if Araldite would fix it. Even as his mind failed and he was in the care home at Hallhouse he wanted to help. He was devoted to Margaret, especially in her ill health, never losing the desire to be doing things for her. This extended to the family. He asked Kim how he could help her when her husband Alasdair was in Africa on a recent charity bike trip.

Let me read some words his son, Kennedy, wrote in preparation for today: “We gather today to say farewell, to say goodbye to Alasdair, but in reality we have been saying goodbye to him for several years.  His dementia and mobility problems had gradually taken him from us bit by bit.  Occasionally there would be flashes of his old humour and charm but the clever, funny, active, resourceful man that he was, had been slipping into the shadows for some time and now that process is complete.  The tragedy of dementia is that it steals a person away in small steps and we are left holding on to our memories.  We are told that there will be no tears in heaven – they will all be wiped away.  Well, perhaps some tears will need to be wiped away – but they will be tears of laughter as Alasdair tells his latest joke or story.”

When I asked the family to sum Alasdair up, they said he was a people person, who lived life to the full, a loyal, devoted man who thought the world of his family, a wonderful Grandpa who will be sadly missed.

Written by Rev Gavin Niven

John Knox Church, Stewarton

June 2011

Checkout Alasdair’s WoSARS GALLERY Pictures – HERE .

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