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As with Freemasonry, so amateur radio is ‘universal’
and Lodge treasurer Roger Brown (g3lqp), Senior Fellow
of the Polytechnic University of Tirana in Albania, was
part of a group of rsgb members to teach the amateur radio
examination syllabus to Albanian students.
Called ‘Project Goodwill’ 40 amateurs from 10 countries
went to Albania – once the rarest amateur radio country of
all – to put the subject on the university’s syllabus.
During the Second World War, radio amateurs had
to hand in their transmitters – as had also been the case
in World War One. But because of their expertise, some
‘hams’ found themselves recruited into a top secret
organisation, the Radio Security Service (rss), largely
because of their expertise in Morse code.
The role of the rss, which came under the Secret
Intelligence Service, was to track down illicit wireless
operations being operated by the Germans inside the UK,
and amateurs (including women) were taken on as “VIs” –
Voluntary Interceptors. After the war, the rss became the
Diplomatic Wireless Service.
Although Morse is no longer compulsory in rsgb
examinations, many amateurs still use it. Christopher Jones
(g3rcu), Radio Fraternity Lodge secretary, for example,
is a member of a unique group of radio amateurs, the First
Class cw [Morse] Operators’ Club (foc). They have a
worldwide membership which is restricted to 500 members.
It was during the war that John Clarricoats was on special
duties connected with training raf personnel in radio
communications. As his obituary, published in the RSGB
Bulletin in June 1964, explained:
‘Many a serving member [of the rsgb], during the war, found
himself suddenly pulled out of his unit, transferred to other duties
without even knowing how it was done. The secret lay in the vast
knowledge of almost every individual member and his potentialities
contained in that phenomenal memory…’
Top:
The Lodge badge was described by one
of the Founders, John Savage, as: ‘This
drawing is simply the motif for the centre
of the crest and is ideal in its simplicity
and Masonic nature in that the antenna
can be likened to an acacia bush, the
capacitor represents a coffin, the earth
symbol is self-explanatory and the two
pillars represent a porchway or entrance.’
Middle:
World at their Fingertips – the history of
the Radio Society of Great Britain, written
by John Clarricoats
Below:
John Clarricoats, secretary of the Radio
Society of Great Britain for 32 years and
first Master, and subsequently secretary,
of Radio Fraternity Lodge No. 8040
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Copyright 2002-2007
MQ Magazine
Web site created by Mark Griffin
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