The Second Fifty Years        of  Amateur Radio

 
 

The war against Hitlers Germany ended, officially at one minute past midnight on Tuesday, May 8, 1945, but the struggle  against Japan  continued until August 14, 1945.  During  the weeks that  followed, conditions  near  to chaos existed on the amateur  bands,  mainly because  certain  allied  military commanders  in   widely different parts of  the  world  had given  permission for pre-war licence holders to operate service transmitting equipment. This was a direct contravention to the law, but was done to boost morale.

In June 1946,  the Post Office invited holders of  pre-war  transmitting licences by the  Postmaster General  to apply for  a  Post-war  licence. Three  months later  a similar invitation  was  directed  to those who  had  held  pre-war "Artificial Aerial" licences.   The  new  licence  was  a  marked  improvement  in  respect  of  terms, conditions and limitations over  the pre-war  licence. For example, the  new licence authorized  the  establishment  of  an  amateur,  as  distinct  from  an experimental station;  it authorized the use of "CQ" in  place of "Test" as  the general call; and it removed restrictions on  the length and  height of aerials.  It did  make it obligatory however, for the licensee to  possess  frequency  measuring  equipment.   Pre-war limitations on sending  periods (four hours each day) had disappeared, and anyone could use the station provided it was done under supervision of the licensee.

In  order  to  satisfy  the  Post  Office  that an  applicant  had  sufficient  technical knowledge  to  be granted  a  licence,  he/she had now  to obtain  a "pass" in  both the  new Radio Amateurs' Examination and the Morse Test.

Exemptions  from  the  Morse  Test  and  / or  the Radio Amateurs'  Examination were available to those who had served in certain signals "trades" during the war.

 

OS4GG  -  Special prefix QSL card to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of  Belgium by Allied Forces.

In  March 1946, questions were  asked  in Parliament as  to  the  sale of  Government surplus radio equipment to amateurs. Already much use of  the surplus apparatus  had been  purchased  in  large  quantities  at  ridiculously  low  prices by  dealers who  had offered it for sale to show  high profits. Three months  later, the Admiralty announced that "electronic scrap"  would become available to  radio amateurs from Naval depots at  a price of  fifty shillings a  hundredweight. (£2.50)  How  many complete receivers, transmitters  and  items  of  expensive  measuring  equipment was  sold  in  brand new condition  as  "electronic scrap",  no  one  can  even  hazard  a guess, but  fair minded amateurs regretted that due to abuse, this scheme was abandoned within six months.

©Photo taken and processed by G3NGD.  19 set owned by G3NGD in 1958 converted to Top Band 1.8 - 2.0 MHz

 

Many radio operators from the war became interested in amateur radio and applied for licences. People tuning the short-waves on domestic receivers discovered the world of amateur radio and became fascinated.  By  1947,  more  than five and a half thousand transmitting licences were in force compared with three thousand eight hundred a year earlier; and so the number grew.

 

Licence figures

The  UK  licence figures  for  1954 - 1978 showed an increase each year, and were as listed below.

 

1954 -   7708		1963 - 12049		1971 - 20489
1955 -   7702		1964 - 13067		1972 - 22076
1956 -   7925		1965 - 13987		1973 - 23756
1957 -   8234		1966 - 14934		1974 - 25499
1958 -   9116		1967 - 15933		1975 - 27750
1959 -   9539		1968 - 17338		1976 - 29052
1960 - 10006		1969 - 18281		1977 - 23237
1961 - 10504		1970 - 19351		1978 - 24711
1962 - 11289

As an update, I give the more current U.K. Licence figures to show how numbers are falling.

1992 - 61684

1998 - 60420

1999 - 59755

After  the war,  the  "Trans-Atlantic tests"  and   the "National  Field  Day" events  were revived, and are still held annually to this day.  These events are organized by the Radio Society of Great Britain (formerly the London Wireless Club).

 

©Photo taken and processed by G3NGD. G3HRV  'Alf '  located in Walkden Manchester.

In 1951, the RSGB offered to establish a communications  network  to  meet  any national disaster on land, at sea, or in the air, but the Post Office declined the offer.

During the last few hours of January 1953, a flood disaster of immense magnitude struck the  East Coast of  England;  Post Office telephones,  Government wireless stations  and utility services were out of  action  for days. Radio Amateurs in these stricken areas, ignoring the terms of  their  licence  placed  their experience  at  the disposal of the authorities.

After  long  talks  with  the  Post  Office,  the  RSGB  set  up  the Radio Amateurs Emergency Network  (RAYNET) ,  which  today  works  in collaboration with the British Red Cross Society, the St. Johns Ambulance Brigade and the Police.

 

©Photo taken and processed by G3NGD. G3NGD/M  Home constructed Mobile equipment in Ford Van (1965) - Top Band Top left. Ex -Tank Transceiver Model B44 modified for 70 MHz with Transistorized Power Supply Inverter (Home designed and constructed by G3NGD) - Bottom left.

Early in 1954, the Post Office introduced a new Amateur Mobile and Television licence. The mobile age had arrived; amateurs started to build mobile equipment and demonstrate it at mobile rallies. The first mobile rally was held at Binsey near Oxford, on October 9th, 1955,  and was attended by over seventy-five radio amateurs and friends.

 

A modern Mobile Amateur Radio Station                    ZB2YL/M in Gibraltar

For  several  hours,   mobile  operators  demonstrated  their  equipment  and discussed the fine points of this absorbing new development in amateur radio. Many amateurs have become interested in space techniques, and this has led to the creation of the amateur satellite service in 1971. The OSCAR (orbiting satellite carrying amateur radio)  satellites are  now an  accepted  and exciting part of the amateur scene.

 

The 'seventies

Radical changes occurred  during  the 'seventies.  The  shelves of "electronic scrap" at   the  local  amateur  radio emporium  were  replaced  by expensive Japanese radio equipment. The new generation of radio amateur has become a  "black  box  operator"  (not interested  in how  it works).  The Post Office introduced a VHF (Very high frequency) only licence, which an applicant can obtain without passing a Morse test. This licence restricts the holder to  VHF and  UHF working only, and deprives him/her of the thrill and excitement in communicating  with  people all  over  the world using the short-wave bands. It is not until he/she has become proficient in the Morse code that he/she will be granted a FULL  LICENCE.

On 14th September 1972, the first UK repeater was activated with the callsign GB3PI  and  was  located  in Cambridge at  the  Pye Telecom site. Soon after, other repeaters were set up and they operated on 2m and 70cm bands.

In 1977, the separate  mobile and  amateur television licences were abolished, and these modes of operation were included in the main licence (One Fee). See callsign reference - G6ADF/T - in call-sign listing below.

At the World Administrative Radio Conference in 1979, three new bands were gained: 10·100 - 10·150MHz,   18·068 - 18·168MHz,   and  24·890 - 24·990MHz.

 

Contact between G3NGD (England) and VK3NOO (Australia) 1977

 

United Kingdom    Amateur Callsigns

 

PREFIXES:

1st Character:    Full licence - G or M;  Novice licence - 2

2nd Character:    1st Character   Full      Club(Full)   Novice

 

England	G/M/2	None		X		E
Isle of Man	G/M/2	D		T		D
Northern Ireland	G/M/2	I		N		I
Jersey	G/M/2	J		H		J
Scotland	G/M/2	M		S		M
Guernsey	G/M/2	U		P		U
Wales	G/M/2	W		C		W

 

GB3 + 2 Letters:   Repeaters GB3 + 3 Letters:   Beacons GB  :   Special Event stations. GB7 + 2 Letters:  Data Repeaters GB7 + 3 Letters:  Data Maiboxes

SUFFIXES:            /M            mobile including pedestrian & inland waterways            /P              temporary location, portable or temporary address            /MM        maritime mobile

APPROXIMATE DATES OF CALLSIGN ISSUE   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

 

Class A licence		Two letters:
G2AA		1920 - 39
G3AA		1937 - 38
G4AA		1938 - 39
G5AA		1921 - 39
G6AA		1921 - 39
G8AA		1936 - 37

 

Class A licence		Three letters:
G2AAA		pre-war
G3AAA		1946
G3CAA		1947
G3EAA		1948
G3GAA		1949 - 50
G3HAA		1950 - 51
G3IAA		1951 - 52
G3JAA		1952 - 54
G3KAA		1954 - 56
G3LAA		1956 - 57
G3MAA		1957 - 58
G3NAA		1958 - 60
G3NGD		Dec 1958
G3OAA		1960 - 61
G3PAA		1961 - 62
G3QAA		not issued
G3RAA		1962 - 63
G3SAA		1963 - 64
G3TAA		1964 - 65
G3UAA		1965 - 66
G3VAA		1966 - 67
G3WAA		1967
G3XAA		1967 - 68
G3YAA		1968 - 69
G3ZAA		1969 - 71
G4AAA		1971 - 72
G4BAA		1972 - 73
G4DAA		1974 - 75
G4EAA		1975 - 76
G4GAA		1977
G4IAA		1979
G4MAA		1981
G4QAA		not issued
G4RAA		1982
G4SAA		1983
G4WAA		1984
G0AAA		1985
G0EAA		1986
G0HAA		1987
G0JAA		1988
G0LAA		1989
G0MAA		1990
G0NAA		1991
G0SAA		1992
G0TAA		1993
G0VAA		1994
G0WAA		1995
M0AAA		1996
M0BAA		1997 - 98
M0CAA		1998 - 99
M0DAA		2000

 

Class A/B licence		Three letters:
M5AAA		1999
M5BAA		2000
Class B licence		Three letters:
G6CAA		1981
G6QAA		not issued
G6RAA		1982

 

Note: G6 callsigns were originally Amateur Television Callsigns.            They were allocated before the B licence was authorized.          G6ADF/T was used by G3NGD when using Amateur Television.

 

Class B licence		Three letters:
G8AAA		1964 - 67
G8BAA		1967 - 68
G8CAA		1968 - 69
G8DAA		1969 - 70
G8EAA		1970 - 71
G8FAA		1971 - 72
G8HAA		1973
G8IAA		1973 - 74
G8JAA		1974 - 75
G8KAA		1975
G8MAA		1976 - 77
G8NAA		1977
G8OAA		1977 - 78
G8PAA		1978
G8QAA		not issued
G8TAA		1979
G8ZAA		1981
G1AAA		1983
G1DAA		1984
G1LAA		1985
G1QAA		not issued
G1SAA		1986
G1XAA		1987
G7AAA		1988
G7EAA		1989
G7FAA		1990
G7HAA		1991
G7MAA		1992
G7OAA		1993
G7SAA		1994
G7TAA		1995
G7WAA		1996
M1AAA		1996
M1CAA		1997
M1DAA		1998 - 99
M1EAA		1999
M1FAA		2000

 

Novice Licence Class A:

2E0AAA

-

1991 onwards

 

Novice Licence Class B:

 

2E1AAA		1991
2E1BAA		1992
2E1CAA		1993
2E1DAA		1994
2E1EAA		1992
2E1GAA		1997 - 98
2E1HAA		1999
2E1IAA		2000

 

©Photo taken and processed by G3NGD. Station of  G3FGI at Manchester in 1960

The photograph shows, the Marconi CR100 Receiver -  bottom left and the  HRO Communications  Receiver on  the  table. This receiver used plug-in  coils which  are stacked  on  top of  the receiver on the left of a BC221 Frequency Meter. The Transmitters were 'home constructed'.

 

©Photo taken and processed by G3NGD. The G3NGD Mobile Transmitter 1.8 - 2.0 MHz  Home designed 1965

 
 

©Photo taken and processed by G3NGD. The G3NGD Mobile Transmitter 1.8 - 2.0 MHz  underneath chassis view

Many "old timers" like myself try to hold onto the past. This has been shown by the many people still building Amplitude Modulated  (AM) Transmitters and  Receivers, and participating in contacts on a regular basis on Top Band (1963KHz).  Listen every Sunday morning at 1100Hrs - there is  a  lot of activity in the Greater Manchester Area.  -  G3NGD operates using his HOME BREW Chatterbox Transmitter & Receiver.

 

The 'eighties

 

In the early 'eighties, the  old 405-line vhf  television  services finished broadcasting in  the uk. This used  to  be an Amateur Radio band until the BBC acquired it for television after the second world war. Radio Amateurs requested the band  be returned, and this was granted in 1983 (The band is 50 - 52MHz.).

 

In the 1980's, Information Technology and the Computer age arrived. Radio Amateur enthusiasts like myself started to purchase or build the Sinclair ZX81 micro-computer. This escalated to the introduction of the INTERNET. Unfortunately, the Internet has led to a reduction in recruitment of Radio Amateurs - it  is so easy to contact people world-wide  using the 'Internet'. This is all well and good but one doesn't get the thrill of that exotic contact especially when using home constructed equipment. (Prior to the year 2006, the licence fee was only £15 per year -  now it is FREE of charge!). On the positive side however,      Radio Amateurs put the Computer to excellent use in:                           Slow Scan Television                                         RTTY                                  Packet Radio                       Using the PC for Logging                                      Mail Box                                      Database                             Satellite Tracking      Sending CW for Moon bounce and Meteor Scattering.                       Chordial Hop Predictions                Distance & Bearing for Beam Settings                             Design Calculations                       Echolink Communications           and many other applications

 

Space Operation: With  the  advent of  the American  Space  Shuttle, space  flight  became  a comparatively normal event and Amateur Radio was  allowed on  a number  of  missions. The first amateur operation from  space was  W0ORE using a Motorola hand-held. Further missions took radio amateurs into space, and in 1985 an all-German crew operated with the callsign DP0SL. For Britain there has been operation from space, when the first British cosmonaut, Helen Sharman, went up with a Russian MIR space mission in May 1991 using the callsign GB1MIR.

 

 

The 'nineties

The number of people entering Amateur Radio began to fall, and so in 1991, a  new Licence - 'The Novice Licence'  was introduced. This  was  really a  way of encouraging young  people to participate in the hobby without having to take a  full examination. To qualify for the  licence, applicants needed only to take part in a course organized by the Radio Society of Great Britain and sit a simple examination.

Although many people took up the hobby via this route, the number of Licensees continued to fall,  and so in  1999, the A/B Licence was introduced. For  this licence, in addition to a  pass being required in the RAE, one has only to take a Morse test at five wpm.

(Note: pressure was placed on the authorities to abolish the Morse code examination after the year 2000. This has now taken place and has made it very easy to obtain a licence). Many people today are in for the easy option. They want qualifications to be given away with very little effort being made by the individual. There were many Radio Amateurs that opposed this move, as Morse Code has many advantages: using Morse with 'Q' codes  for example,  provides an "International language" Morse Code gets through the interference Morse Transmitters are simple for the novice to build (no modulator to build) Morse Code Transmitters have a  narrow bandwidth, occupy less radio spectrum and  unlikely to cause EMC problems. In the 'old days', Radio Amateurs were very proud to be associated with the hobby, but today, the general public think that Amateur Radio is like C.B. radio. This is far from true, and should remain that way. This has been shown in the year 2006, when a move to de-regulate Amateur Radio was defeated. Radio Amateurs still have to take an examination to obtain a licence. However, if the Radio Amateur has an e-mail address, the licence is issued 'free of charge' for life. Unfortunately, people who don't have computer access have to pay a  charge of £20.00 to Ofcom. (There are no age concessions). Radio Amateurs will  have to confirm their details every five years by e-mail. No doubt, Radio Amateurs will have to download the latest edition of the Licence Conditions from the Ofcom website, on an annual basis.

Throughout  the world  at  the  present  time (Year 2000)  there  are just short of three million radio amateurs with their own radio stations communicating regularly with other enthusiasts in their own country and more distant countries.  Japan  heads  the list with 1296000  licences,  followed  by  the USA  with  679864. The  United  Kingdom  has  57124 not including club stations. To these figures, however, one  must  add the teens of thousands of amateurs who merely "listen" to amateur radio broadcasts.

 

If  amateur radio  is  to  survive,  we need  to encourage  more  people,  particularly youngsters  into  the hobby. With this in mind,  there is a 'proposed future structure'  of Amateur Radio Licensing currently in discussion, as follows: Full Class A, Full Class A/B and Full Class B becoming  a new class 'ADVANCED' The Novice Class A becoming an 'Intermediate' and  the Novice Class B  becoming  an  'Intermediate  - Foundation'  Licence.

 

As the future unfolds, communications equipment will become more sophisticated; already with  the  advent of the "silicon chip", the  conventional amateur radio station is becoming obsolete. Much use has already been made of computers as detailed above. Amateur Radio  has already been used to make contact with astronauts in space. The future years will  unequivocally  show  a  considerable growth  in the  use of amateur artificial satellites for long distance VHF communication. Using the latest techniques   and   improvements   in   amateur   radio  equipment  and   satellites themselves,  that  which  is  now a very specialized field will become a major amateur activity. Trans-Atlantic contacts  will become as simple as talking on  the telephone  to  a  friend across town.

 
 

QSL from The Seychelles (Indian ocean)	QSL from American Samoa

 

The  Government's  attitude  to   the  'radio amateur'  has  certainly changed  since those early days when fighting with officialdom seemed to be the order of  the day. Marconi said:   "that had it not been for amateurs, wireless telegraphy                           as a great world-fact might not have existed at all". There  is no doubt, that the latest developments in  radio  communication as we  know it  today, would not have been possible without the hard work and determination given by the radio amateurs of yesteryear. One of  the  important  features of  radio work,  whether on  an  amateur  or professional  basis, is  the  great opportunities  it  provides for  international associations. The ability to make friends in other countries and to co-operate with them in  the pursuit of  a common  hobby, goes a long way to obtaining an understanding  of  the problems of other nations: such understanding is a great factor in continuing and extending the peace of the world.

 

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Updated: June 2006