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及16准

the dawn of amateur radio in the u[1].k.(辺咄字鴨侘議貴伏)-及16准


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Tavaniotis   himself   would   be   there   to   answer   their   questions�察  �and   thus 

managed   to   get   rid   of   them。   When   Bill   returned   I   told   him   about   the 

incident   and   he   left   straight   away   and   went   to   the   Ministry   of   Posts   & 

Telegraphs   to   see   Mr。   Stefanos   Eleftheriou。   And   so   it   came   about   that 

Eleftheriou who knew all about our activity in the amateur bands issued 

the    first  three   licences    to  SV1KE�察     �SV1CA   and        SV1NK       'to  carry   out 

experimental   transmissions   relating   to   the   study   of   propagation   on   the 

short waves'。 He knew that he had every right to do this as Greece was a 

signatory to the international telecommunication treaties。 

        I would like to record at this point that Aghis Cazazis SV1CA now a 

silent key�察�has left his own 'monument' in Athens。 After the end of World 

War     II�察 �in   his  capacity     as  Head     of   Lighting     Development        with    the 

Electricity     authority�察   �he   designed     the   magnificent      floodlighting      of  the 

Acropolis which is admired by tourists to the present day。 

       To    return   to  1937�此   �Mr    Eleftheriou     entrusted    us   with    the  task   of 

preparing draft legislation for legalising amateur radio activity。 We wrote 

to the U。S。A。�察�to England�察�France and Germany and obtained copies of the 

laws governing the issue of licences in all these countries�察�and we began 

the long task of drafting a text which would be appropriate to the political 

situation   then   prevailing   in   our   country   ��military   dictatorship��。   Norman 

Joly�察  �then   SV1RX�察  �had   written   a   text   in   English�察  �but   before   we   could 

translate it into Greek or do anything about it�察�all our hopes were dashed to 

the ground by the outbreak of war in September 1939。 

        In 1944 while serving as a reserve officer in the Greek army�察�I was 



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               The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece �此�a personal view 



seconded to the British Military Mission to Greece ��B。M。M。�� because of 

my     knowledge      of  English     and   French。    There    I  met   several    amateurs 

serving with the British forces�察�and one of them gave me a small military 

transmitter�察�so I was able to come on the air again with my old callsign of 

SV1AZ。 

     3。 Constantine 'Bill' Tavaniotis ��formerly SV1KE��。 

       There   is   no   doubt   that   the   most   active   and   best   known   amateur   in 

Greece before World War II was 'Bill' SV1KE。 He was active on 20 and 10 

metres   on AM  phone   and   CW�察  �using   his   famous   McElroy  'bug'   to   good 

advantage。 ��No electronic keyers and no 15 metre band in those years��。 

       Tavaniotis was   born   in   Rostov�察 �USSR�察�of   Greek   parents。  His   father 

was   a   well´known   doctor。   Like   many   other   Greek   families   Bill   and   his 

parents left Russia in the early years of the Communist regime and moved 

to   Istanbul�察  �Turkey�察  �where   he   began   his   studies   at   the   famous   Robert 

College。 Later he went to London where he first came into contact with 

radio amateurs�察�while studying Electrical Engineering。 After that he went 

to Belgium。 

       Bill   had   a   knack   of   picking   up   languages   and   when   I   met   him   in 

Athens   in   the   early   thirties   he   spoke   at   least   seven   to   my   knowledge�此�

Russian�察     �Greek�察   �English�察    �French�察   �Italian�察  �Turkish     and    German。     His 

pronunciation in all them was excellent。 On one occasion at a party in the 

Athens suburb of Palaio Psyhico one of the guests was an amateur from 

Italy   who   spoke   no   English�察  �so   Bill   interpreted   from   that   language   into 

Italian   for   his   benefit。   He   then   translated   what   the   Italian   had   said   into 

English      for  the   others。   But    suddenly     their   faces   went    blank。    Quite 

unconsciously Bill had translated the Italian's remarks into Turkish� �Many 

years   later   Bill   was   employed   at   the   United   Nations   in   New   York   as   a 

simultaneous translator。 In October 1946 Bill and his wife Artemis visited 

Charles Mellen W1FH in Boston for an 'eyeball' after more than ten years 

of QSOs over the air�察�with the exception of the war years of course。 Chas 

photographed Bill outside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 

Bill photographed Mary ��Chas' xyl���察�Chas and Artemis standing in front of 

the W1FH tower。 

       The first transmitter he built can be seen in the photo taken from the 



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               The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece �此�a personal view 



book GREEK BROADCASTING published by Radio Karayianni in 1952。 

His   shack   was     in   the   basement   workshop   at   17a�察    �Bucharest   Street    in 

Athens�察  �an   address   which   became   known   world´wide   as   the   first   QSL 

bureau for Greece。 

       The gang of enthusiasts who met at Bill's included Nasos Coucoulis 

SV1SM�察�Aghis   Cazazis   SV1CA�察  �Nick   Katselis   SV1NK�察  �Mikes   Paidousi 

SV1MP�察  �Pol   Psomiadis   SV1AZ   ��now   N2DOE��   and   the   writer   of   these 

memoirs�察�SV1RX。 Of course all visiting amateurs made a beeline for the 

shack in the basement。 As most of our contacts were with the U。S。A。 we 

were usually up most of the night because of the 7´hour difference with 

Eastern   Standard   Time。   None   of   us   had   motor´cars   and   public   transport 

was not available during the night hours so we all got plenty of exercise 

walking back to our respective houses。 

       Bill was closely in touch with two men who played a very important 

role   in   the   development   of   amateur   radio   in   Greece。   I   am   referring   to 

Stefanos Eleftheriou who was Section Head for Telecommunications at the 

Ministry   ��Greek   initials   T。T。T。��。�察  �and   to    Captain   Kyriakos   Pezopoulos�察�

Director     of   D。R。Y。N。     ��Greek     initials  for  Directorate     of   the  Wireless 

Service   of   the   Navy��。   The   long   wave   spark   transmitter   at   Votanikos�察  �a 

suburb of Athens�察。�callsign SXA�� had been built by the Marconi company 

before World 

       ��Bill Tavaniotis died of cancer in 1948。�� 

     4。 Harry Barnett G2AIQ ��formerly SV1WE��。 

       In July 1946�察�Harry Barnett�察�a Royal Air Force officer attached to the 

Press     Department       of   the   British    Embassy      in   Athens     obtained     an 

experimental transmitting licence from the W/T section of the Ministry of 

Posts & Telegraphs�察�with the callsign SV1WE。 At that time he was living 

in a flat in Athens and could not put up an antenna�察�so it was not until June 

1947 that he became active。 

       The terms of his licence were in themselves rather strange�察�one might 

even     say    quite    'experimental'�察    �the    final   paragraph      reading�此    �This 

experimental research must be carried out as follows�此� 

       1。   With   a   maximum   power   of   50   watts。   2。   In   the   frequency   bands 

��harmonics�� 130�察�260�察�520 Mc/s。 3。 In the frequency bands 28 Mc/s and 56 



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               The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece �此�a personal view 



Mc/s。 4。 With the call sign SV1WE。; 

       From June 1947 until April 1948 Harry worked 61 countries�察�mostly 

on phone in the 10 & 20 metre bands�察�at a time when there were not many 

stations on the air ´ a minute fraction of the millions now active。 

       He used a National HRO receiver he had got off a scrap heap which 

he modified to take the efficient EF50 valves in the R。F。 stages and EF39s 

in the I。F。 

       The   transmitter   was   completely   'home   brew'�察  �consisting   of   a   metal 

6L6 Franklin oscillator on 3。5 MHz followed by two more 6L6s doubling 

to 14 MHz。 In the final amplifier stage Harry used a Telefunken pentode�察�

the   famous   and   very   efficient   RL12P35   which   was   used   in   the   German 

tank      transmitters       in    all    stages�察    �oscillator�察    �P。A。     and     audio 

amplifier/suppressor        grid   modulator。     He   adopted     the  same    method     of 

modulation       using    a   record    player    amplifier    and    an   Astatic    crystal 

microphone。 

       W。A。C。 was achieved by February 1948 with about 50 watts of R。F。 

into   a   simple   dipole   antenna。   During   the   ten   months   that   SV1WE   was 

active 750 QSL cards were sent out。 Of the 61 countries worked only 49 

were confirmed。 

       Today   ��1989��   Harry   is   still   regularly   on   the   air   under   his   original 

callsign G2AIQ which was first issued to him on the 1st of January 1938�察�

卦指朕村 貧匯匈 和匯匈 指欺競何 壘��0�� 家��0��

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