7SF

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I met Syd Medford, VK7SF, at Burnie in September 1995.

	My father worked in telephone company in UK.
	He fell off pole - semi invalid.   Built crystal sets
	Built own condensers and 100 foot mast
	
	Syd used galena in crystal sets on NW coast never worked well
	No close stations   Built 1 valve set while at school
	That worked alright.   We came here in January 1928 so must
	have built it about 1930
	
	Relative bought TRF in UK

	Lon Jensen (7LJ) was the science master when I went to high school.
	He brought box of radio junk to school
	When I left school I built a dual wave set, three Philips valves
	415 detector, 409 audio and B406 output   Gave full speaker strength
	American amateurs
	Tuning condenser was in two sections paralleled for broadcast band
	On shortwave just used part of the gang   Used aerial trimmer
	Scrounged old batteries from behind post office for power supply
	Only a few houses in Cooee and no mains power for quite a long while
	
	Went into amplifiers then - PP 2A3s etc

	First transmitter was Command set

	Joined WIA in 1950 and got licence in 51,52
	Ian Pearson 7KB and Doug Fisher 7AB instrumental in getting radio
	club going here.   Put an ad in the paper and we met at a shop
	in Burnie.   Murray Richardson was our instructor, he got his
	licence through instructing us.   Ken Hancock 7KH
	We sometimes met in the shop in front of my garage
	
	Devonport radio club before the war was pretty active

	Then met at Ulverstone - Terry Tong 7TT organised it.   Now meet
	at Penguin High School

	Lonah repeater was up there.   Now off air because of fuss
	about hydro power.
	
	Andrew Perkins 7ZAP now KAP put crystal in rig very cluey boy

	Repeater on Table Cape for 70 cm

	The command transmitter (40M) came from England for 10/-
	and had no coils in it as they were not allowed to sell
	them in England in a going condition   I had to rewind coils
	and replace all the balls which had fallen out of the condenser.
	I had a Command modulator and used them when I got on air
	I only had to switch on and say VK7SF testing and there
	would be a dozen Yanks back straight away

	Later I built a home brew rig with a pair of 807s with modulator.
        The receiver, again from England was an aircraft receiver
	with 2 or 3 bands and worked into a converter and IF strip
	Built by STC?

	Disposals a lot cheaper in England and the suppliers were very good
	Henson? in Liverpool   Ellis and I both got a lot of stuff from
	England.   Postage was very good - you'd get quite a big parcel
	for 2/6.  Customs didn't worry us in those days, but then
	suddenly they began to charge a lot - a valve that you'd
	paid 2/- for in England	they'd ask 3 or 4 shillings duty
	25% sales tax on Command receivers
	Barry Mason was extra good, but this bloke from Hobart came and
	threw the book at us
	Then stuff had to go to Hobart for assessment

	Built transmitter with broad band couplers so didn't have to
	tune each stage

	Then I bought a Collins ART13 transmitter with automatic tuning
	(for $20) they had an 813 and a pair of 811s as a modulator
	and an 1155 receiver which I fed into a Q5er

	Ian Pearson had an Eddystone

	When sideband came I got an FTDX400 with separate VFO

	Bruce Craw 7BC
	
	You'd like a cuppa wouldn't you.