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Watson's Radio Club
1956 - GM3BCD Radio Room
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These are the earliest photographs that have surfaced so far of the Radio Room under the stage. In addition to Tom Simpson GM3BCD and John Hughes GM3LCP, we can identify John Kelly (later GM3POK / KG6XF) and Bill Young. (Anyone else?) Although the callsign GM3BCD had been issued to Tom personally, he registered its prime location as George Watson's College and did all his HF transmitting from there, but did operate 2m and 70cm with beautifully-built equipment from home.
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The first receiver was an American ex-government BC-342 and the transmitter was homebrew crystal-controlled AM on 15m and 20m with an 813 PA valve. Those were the days before Health and Safety who might have disapproved of the exposed anode top cap carrying many hundred volts of High Tension! Later, a Geloso VFO replaced the crystal-controlled exciter, and a Marconi CR-100 receiver replaced the BC-342. The aerials at that time were a V-beam pointing west to 'Stateside' and an east-west dipole beaming north-south for UK and European contacts.
Your scribe remembers Tom using the phonetics 'Belgium, Canada, Denmark' and 'Baker, Charlie, Dog' before the standardised 'Bravo, Charlie, Delta' were introduced internationally.
See copy below of the Watsonian article by club secretary Robert D Pringle about the start of the Radio Club station.
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