Norman F. Joly

“ Who was this unknown pioneer? Some people reckon that it was this astonishing visionary who invented wireless, remote control, robotics and a form of X-ray photography using high frequency radio waves. A patent which he took out in the U.S.A. in 1890 ultimately led to the design of the humble ignition coil which energises billions and billions of spark plugs in all the motor cars of the world. His American patents fill a book two inches thick. His name was Nicola Tesla (1856-1943) . ”

“ It is a matter of common knowledge that a large part of the important inventions in connection with wireless telegraphy have been the work of amateurs and private research and not the outcome of official brains or the handiwork of military or naval organisations. In fact we may say that wireless telegraphy itself in its inception was an amateur product. Numerous important inventions such as the crystal detector, the oscillating valve, the triode valve—have been due to private or amateur work. ”

“ In a subsequent letter to the Editor Marconi wrote:
"In my opinion it would be a mistaken policy to introduce legislation to prevent amateurs experimenting with wireless telegraphy (which the authorities were contemplating) . Had it not been for amateurs, wireless telegraphy as a great world-fact might not have existed at all. A great deal of the development and progress of wireless telegraphy is due to the efforts of amateurs." ”

“ Thales, who was born in 640 B.C., was a man of exceptional wisdom and one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece. He was the father of Greek, and consequently of European philosophy and science. His speculations embraced a wide range of subjects relating to political as well as to celestial matters. One must remember that even up to the 18th century there was no clear distinction between philosophy and science, both being products of the human mind in its attempts to explain reality. ”

“ None of us had official licences because the Greek State did not recognise the existence of amateur radio, and in fact Athens did not even have a broadcasting station until 1938, although a station had been operating since 1928 in Salonica (Thessaloniki) the second largest city of Greece. But the Head of the W/T section at the Ministry of Posts & Telegraphs (Greek initials T.T.T) Mr Stefanos Eleftheriou knew all about us and gave us his unofficial blessing.
My first transmitter was just an electron coupled oscillator using a type 59 output pentode from a radio. ”

“ Many centuries had to elapse before this soul was identified as static electricity and magnetism and harnessed for the generation of mains electricity which dramatically altered the pattern of life on our planet—and also led to the creation of our hobby of Amateur Radio.
About 400 years ago an English scientist called William Gilbert (1544-1603) , who had read about the unexplained observation of Thales, also became interested in the intangible property and decided to call it electricity, from the classical Greek word for amber, which is electron. ”

“ Work outside the studio is often the most difficult that the broadcast engineer can be asked to undertake; not so much from a technical as from a practical point of view. Very often he has to take his apparatus to some place he has never seen before, set up his amplifiers in most awkward positions, test his lines to the studio, decide on his microphone placings and run out the wiring in the space of an hour or so, with little previous experience to guide him. ”

“ We all know how model cars and aircraft are controlled by radio today, but when Tesla did it a century ago the motor car had not been invented, and the only method by which man could cover long distances was on horseback! ”

“ All pervasive, it penetrates beyond national frontiers, spans the walls of censorship that bar the way to the written word, and seeps through the fine net of the Gestapo. It reaches the illiterate and the informed, the young and the old, the civilian and the soldier in the front line, the policy makers and the inarticulate masses. ”

“ William Preece of the Post Office detached one of his assistants, George S. Kemp, to help Marconi. Kemp was destined to become his right-hand man and served Marconi faithfully throughout his life. By today's standards, Marconi can be said to have been a highly successful entrepreneur. He had the great knack of selecting the right man for the job, and inspired deep loyalty in his staff. He regarded himself as an 'amateur' and often paid tribute to the work of radio experimenters. ”

“ Years later when I returned to Athens, many of my friends told me they had heard the first broadcast of the thrilling bulletin and they could still remember the excitement in my voice.
"The Greek section was the first to inaugurate the transmission of personal messages. Many people were escaping from occupied Greece in sailing boats across to the shores of Asia Minor, ending up in the Middle East, mostly in Cairo. They had no means of advising their relatives and friends in Greece that they had survived the perilous journey. ”

“ There was a transmitter which operated on 600 metres and a larger one on long waves above 2,000 metres which used the callsign SXA.
Stefanos told me how he was summoned by the Director of the Naval Station Admiral Mezeviris who asked him "Tell me, young man, what do you know about wireless?"
"Well sir," replied Eleftheriou, "I studied Electrical Engineering in Switzerland—I really don't anything about wireless."
"Neither do I," replied the Admiral candidly. "Nor do most of my officers. We must set up a school to train technicians and wireless operators. ”

“ Electromechanical protection circuits ensure that a transmitter can only be connected to an antenna that is tuned to the same frequency. The change of antennas and transmitting frequencies is made during the ten-minute interval between programmes, which always begin on the hour, preceded by the now familiar signature tune of a shepherd playing his flute with the tinkling of sheep-bells in the background, recorded in 1936, followed by the Greek National Anthem. ”

“ If full opportunities for such non-official research work are not restored, the progress of the art of radio telegraphy and radio telephony will be greatly hindered."
Professor W.H. Eccles wrote:
"Improvements and invention must be stimulated to the utmost. It is not impossible to devise laws to impose restrictions upon the emission of wireless waves as will preclude interference with the public radio service of the future (R.F.I. & T.V.I.?!!) and yet allow liberal opportunities for the experimental study of wireless telegraphy." ”

“ Looking ahead still further and assuming that the wireless will supplement the wire line link, there is no reason why a simultaneous broadcast of something of fundamental importance to the whole civilised world should not take place some time in the future. ”

“ CHAPTER THREE THE RADIO AMATEUR MOVEMENT From the turn of the century enthusiastic young men who built their own items of electrical and wireless apparatus were known as "Wireless Experimenters". Many of them were later granted licences for the use of "Wireless Telegraphy for experimental purposes" (in the United Kingdom) by the Postmaster General under the terms of the 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act. ”