Amateur Radio as I saw it
By Alan Gilchrist ZL4PZ

Coming of Age

Doing my morse test again for my Grade I licence was a breeze.    This was on the 5th December 1979. My weekly morse skeds had proved their worth.    I was now ready to be let loose on the world on ALL amateur bands.    It was also at this time I 'shouted' myself a new HF transceiver, a YAESU FT-101ZD which was the updated version of the FT-101E I had been using till then.    This model had a digital tuning display where the previous one was analog, in other words it required you to read the frequency off a revolving dial.    I thought that this new rig would be great for RTTY, I would be able to tune in 'spot on' the frequency for some of the 'Sel-Cal' stations.    These are stations who have a system like a bulletin board which you call can up and leave messages even if the operator was not in attendance at the time.    It was to be a bit disappointing as this rig drifted in frequency as bad as the previous one even after putting in a couple of crystal channels for RTTY on 80 and 40 metres.   
However, I did have many RTTY contacts with a variety of countries and eagerly awaited QSL cards to arrive via the bureau as a result of those contacts.    Of course you did have the hard copy of the two-way contact but this was not as good as a card.

My first overseas RTTY contact was with VK3BGM in Australia followed by DJ1IJ (Germany), WB8ICL (Yellow Springs, Ohio), then one of the most frequent contacts I made overseas on RTTY was with Jean F8XT, the first of which was on 18th February 1980, followed by one on 14th March 1980. The F8XT QSL card is shown at left and below is Jean seated in his shack.    I could name many more of them but suffice to say that there were many enjoyable contacts made.    This mode of operation is not as popular now having been overtaken by better methods of sending written text over the radio.    Packet, Amtor, and Pactor, are a few of them.    The advantages of these modes is that they produce either 100% copy or none at all.    As stated in the previous chapter, RTTY has no error checking ability and it was common practice to send your callsign, name and signal report at least three times especially on overseas contacts.    Typically you would send F8XT F8XT F8XT DE ZL4PZ ZL4PZ ZL4PZ, NAME IS ALAN ALAN ALAN, QTH IS DUNEDIN DUNEDIN DUNEDIN.    Using this idea it was thought that if you got two out of three representations of your callsign the same then those MUST be the correct version, the third one MUST be wrong - not always so, but mostly.

The morse contacts also continued once on a Grade I licence as I was keen to contact other countries in that mode too.    Many QSL cards were received from overseas stations due to New Zealand being only a small country as far as amateur radio is concerned and contacts are sought after especially ZL4 stations.    The number of amateurs in the ZL4 region is a small portion of the approximately 6500 amateurs in the country.

As mentioned somewhere in the previous chapter I ended up being elected to committee of the Otago Branch NZART at the 1979 AGM in December.    It was at this time that committee decided to do something constructive about acquiring our own specialised communications vehicle for use in emergencies.    Various options were investigated and eventually the Dunedin City Council and Civil Defence came up with a secondhand truck chassis and cab which ended up as our ECU (Emergency Communications Unit).    This of course did not happen till after Jeanne and I had moved away to Hastings in 1980.    However, the vehicle was duly fitted out with suitable cupboard, and operating desks together with many options for aerials mounted outside.    It was complete with some kitchen facilities and was self sufficient in most ways.    In the event of an emergency the vehicle could be driven to some nearby site and through the radio operators the various emergency services could be coordinated.    Radio links from the truck could be established back to the city from even remote areas which sometimes precluded the normal Police and emergency services from using their own communications network.    This vehicle is manned by amateur radio personnel from the A.R.E.C. section of our Branch of the amateur radio Association (NZART).    A.R.E.C. stands for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications.    It used to be called R.E.C. (Radio Emergency Corps) when first formed in 1931 after the Napier Earthquake, was later changed to Amateur Radio Emergency Corps then amended to 'Communications' in 1997.

It was in Hastings where I discovered that there were other countries to be heard on 80 metres!    Hastings was wonderful, especially where we opted to live, at Flaxmere.    This new suburb had all electrical services underground and what a difference this made to reception, amazingly quiet by comparison with my Dunedin experiences.    I had moved to Hastings ahead of Jeanne as she drew the short straw and tended to the packing and house moving from Dunedin.    During the first week or so I would contact most nights with Frank Nilson ZL4QG and I see from my log book that I first contacted him from there on 6th August 1980 on 3569kHz (3.569 MHz).    I would keep him informed of what was going on and he would keep Jeanne informed.    Vern ZL4JN would also pop up occasionally as he had upgraded to his full call by then.

Needless to say, after we had been in Hastings a short time we joined their radio club and became involved with their activities.

The move to Hastings had interrupted the study that Jeanne was doing and not to be outdone she continued her study at the Hawkes Bay Community College in Taradale, Napier.    Needless to say, she duly sat her exam and passed without trouble and initially started off with her Limited (Grade III) licence callsign of ZL2UEI.    She was tutored in morse by myself, getting a helping of it at breakfast, dinner and teatime and any other time we found a spare moment.    She gained her Grade II licence soon afterwards and changed callsign to ZL2BOD (Big Old Dragon) oops, that's supposed to be Bunches Of Daffodils!

Jeanne ended up as newsletter editor and then at the 1981 AGM (October 28th) I was elected Branch President.    The following year I was transferred to New Plymouth shortly after having completed a year as President in Hastings.    This was a trend which had started in Dunedin, I transferred to Hastings after having been elected to committee.    [I later transferred out of New Plymouth after having only served a few months as Branch President and I seem to recall my successor did the same.    It appeared to be a trend, become President then move on!]    I guess they stuck me in as President in Hastings because I seemed keen and Jeanne was looking like becoming an amateur too.    I must admit that a few of the older members seemed to drop off to sleep at the first few meetings we attended before this.    However, Jeanne and myself and another newcomer to Hastings, Martin ZL3FA, apparently started to get things stirred along a bit.    New blood and all that!    We had a lot of good times and a lot of good friends were made.

Jeanne had passed her exams and become ZL2UEI on 23rd October 1981 after having had morse practice for breakfast, lunch and tea courtesy of myself.

One of the first things I decided to do on being elected President was to get people together with their families for a picnic.    In theory the weather should be good for a picnic on 29th November and plans were put in place for this to happen.    Down by the Tukaekuri river would be a good idea!    So, it was duly advertised in the newsletter as a Mystery Picnic, venue to be advised on the local repeater at 11.00am on that day.    It was fine that morning and everything started off well.    Plenty of people turned up - we'd advertised 3 legged race, spud & spoon races, scavenger hunt and lollie scramble for the kids and gumboot throwing contest, transformer tossing, raffles and races for the adults.    However, the weather decided to take a turn for the worse later in the day and it proved fortunate that we had taken a reasonable sized tent with us.    The kids ended up having lollie scrambles in the tent with some activities still going on outside.    One of hams who turned up was Dan ZL2BLH from Opapa.    Dan was a bachelor and a bit of a loner.    He had a farm at Opapa near the NZBC radio broadcasting transmitter but kept pretty much to himself.    I did get to visit him once.    There were several cars in varying states of road readiness around his property including, if I recall correctly, a Jaguar with grass growing through the wheels.    However I digress.    Dan produced a 1/2 gallon of whisky to shout for those so inclined using the water run-off from the tent roof to dilute according to taste.    It was a memorable picnic for various reasons, not the least of which was that Jocelyn ZL2BAO ended up with pneumonia as a result of the outing and associated activities!

It was probably here that I really got involved with the NZART National Field Day Contest.    For the uninitiated I will explain what this is all about.    The national body has over 80 Branches around the country and once a year they all compete in a contest where the aim is to get the highest score.    Firstly, the participants must go out somewhere away from their normal location and operate as a field station.    In other words, they must set up a radio station using battery power (and/or a petrol generator) away from any 230V mains supply.    They must then contact as many other amateur stations as they can in the following way.    The contest runs from 3.00pm on a Saturday till midnight, restarting at 6.00am on the Sunday and going till 3.00pm that afternoon.    The more contacts you can have each hour the better you score.    You can only contact the same station once each hour on voice and once on CW (morse) with the morse contacts being worth extra points.    You need only obtain the other stations callsign, a signal report, a contact number and determine what Branch they are of the Association.    This is done on both voice and morse.    For a contact with Otago Branch for instance they might give you Readability 5, Strength 9, Contact number 047, Branch 30 where in morse this would be sent as simply RST 599047/30.    (RST stands for Readability Strength Tone).    Fast and furious was the game for those who were keen.
   Photo of Field Day Feb 1982 - with Baldwyn ZL2BKN, Lee ZL2AL, Pete ZL2AS, Kerryn Burling, Jeanne ZL2UEI (later ZL2BOD).

Some Branches went out with a will to win while others were happy just to participate.    In the end the scores were determined by adding up all the contacts, then multiplying them by the number of different Branches you managed to make contact with.    It paid to make sure you contacted all the Branches you heard operating.    To complicate matters you were allowed to use both 80 and 40 metre bands.    This meant that you really needed a few amateurs on hand to take turns as well as the fun of getting the aerials up and the gear all running 100%.    Headphones were a help where you had only one tent and all operators were crammed in together.    The other thing was making sure you woke up in the morning in time for the 6.00am start.

One of the amateurs I contacted in those first 12 months was George ZL2LT who was a quadriplegic residing at Pukeora Home for the Disabled at Waipukurau.    George was a hard case, always around on 80 metres in the evenings, and as I found out later, on all the North Island repeaters he could access during the day.    George was one of those people whose whole life revolved around his radio.    He was strapped into his wheelchair and 'sped' along the corridors of Pukeora Home much to the consternation of anyone who was foolish enough to get in his way.    You had to almost run to keep up with him.    I paid frequent visits to see him when we lived in Hastings as my job took me to 'Wai-puk' three days a week to service television sets.    He called himself ZL2 'London Tokyo', ZL2 'Lovely Tomatoes' (he used to grow a tomato plant each year in a pot in his shack) or being one to talk to any ladies who ventured on air, he would be ZL2 'Lady Tamer'.    George operated all his equipment and his chair by way of a 'wand' strapped to his head.    He would press this against the controller for his wheel chair, manipulate his radio tuning and transmit button or use his electronic typewriter to keep his station log of contacts.    He used duplicate pre-carboned paper in his typewriter and the top copy would be sent to his Mum, Vi, in Newlands, Wellington.    She in turn would send out his QSL cards where he had indicated this was to be done.    Vi was also a licensed amateur with the callsign ZL2BGK.    Sadly George passed away on 2nd January 1985. His funeral was held in Wellington and Jeanne and myself attended.    We were somewhat surprised that the person officiating gave little or no reference to George's only enjoyment in life, amateur radio and the friends he made through his hobby.    George's dad had passed away only a couple of days before him.

This reminds me of the many hours I used to spend operating 10 metres mobile while on my way to Waipukurau, filling in time while there, or more likely on my way home after completing my service calls.    With a bracket fitted to the rear bumper it was easy to mount vertical antennas and the most frequently used was the 10 metre one.    I kept a separate log book for mobile operation, leaving it the vehicle generally.    Contacts included Australia, USA, Canada, many Japanese stations, Vanuatu, and Tonga.    10 metres is a band where propagation fluctuates widely and if you spend too long 'waffling' to the other station you can find that the band has 'died' while you were talking and the other station is lost.    However, there were times when longer conversations were had.    The 5th August 1982 shows that I conversed with AX3VRC in Melbourne for the duration of my trip from just South of Hastings to Waipukurau 2318 - 2347hrs.    The HF bands were fun especially when you put out a general call "CQ DX" and eagerly awaited a reply, wondering what country you would make contact with.

Another mobile activity while in Hastings was in conjunction with the evening 'Awards Net' on 3.678 MHz.    I mentioned this Net on page 6 of the previous chapter.    There are a number of awards where contacts are required with amateurs in certain locations or counties.    This is impossible in certain cases, due to the fact that there are no amateurs living there.    To fill the criteria it is acceptable for someone to drive to that area and make contact from their vehicle with the other amateurs.    Jeanne and I used to do this periodically and while doing so became well known to most of those 'working' the Awards Net.    This had the advantage of meeting these 'hams' in person if you happened to be in their area any time while travelling up or down the country on holiday.    "Come in for a cuppa" was a frequent invitation if they heard you on their local VHF repeater.    You did not even have to hear the callsign of a person to know who they were, you'd heard them often enough on the Net.    As mentioned previously, amateur radio is great for making friendships, no just locally or even throughout New Zealand but overseas also.    Accommodation while travelling overseas is often freely offered in advance where it is known that you will be visiting their area.



Queens Birthday weekend 1982 was the NZART Conference in Napier.    There had always been a bit of rivalry between Napier & Hastings Branches including some ill feeling I believe from an incident in years gone by, probably the origins of which have long since been forgotten. Photo: ZL4PZ proposing the toast to A.R.E.C. at Napier Conference.    However, for this event Hastings Branch offered to share the load of holding conference that year.    It is held at a different centre each year.    Jeanne and I were down as being responsible for the running of the 'mobile rally & transmitter hunt' and I ended up proposing the toast to A.R.E.C. at the evening formalities.    The evening entertainment on the Sunday night was excellent with a group performing a wide variety of musical items miming to Boney M, doing the Can-can and much more all in excellent costumes.    Fortunately I managed to get most of the proceedings on a video camera 'borrowed' from my work.    Conference was a special affair that year as it was the 50th Anniversary of the founding of A.R.E.C. in 1932, following the Napier Earthquake in 1931.    The weather wasn't the kindest but the hospitality was great and everyone had a memorable time.

Jeanne gained her Grade II licence and ZL2BOD callsign on 23rd July 1982.    I now had to share the HF rig. She had to obtain permission from the Hastings City Council to use their emblem on her QSL card, pictured here.    By this time I had 'worked' a good deal of overseas stations and some of the novelty had worn off so sharing the equipment was not too much of a problem.

It was on the 15th November 1982 that we moved to New Plymouth after I had been requested to take up the position of Branch Service Manager for my employers.    I don't recall too much about my activities there as I guess Jeanne was more active in the 'shack' in those days.    What I do recall is the hospitality offered by some of the locals when we arrived.    We had actually arrived before our belongings and would have ended up sleeping on the floor if it wasn't for Wayne ZL2VN and Carol ZL2VQ who had been listening to Anne ZL2BOV talking us in on the local 2 metre repeater.    Wayne and Carol (2 Very Noisy and 2 Very Quiet) noted the address where we were headed and arrived with stretchers and bedding among other things.    Anne ZL2BOV lived at Urenui a little north of New Plymouth and over the years in Taranaki we visited each other many times.    We would frequently be told we HAD to stay for a roast meal after spending the afternoon with Anne and her husband Ces who in fact was not a ham at that time but became ZL2VCG about 1992.

Among the notables in Taranaki is 'The Mayor of Inglewood' Peter Cramer ZL2AIS.    Anyone who has travelled through Taranaki as an amateur with 2 metres on board could hardly get through the area without being called up by Peter.    In fact his name is NOT Peter and he is NOT the Mayor either!    He is Francis Herbert Cramer.    He suffered from rheumatic fever in 1935 and was later diagnosed as having 'Still's disease' becoming bedridden for around 3 1/2 years but later able to get around on crutches.    Peter got his amateur licence in December 1949 and suffice to say it has been his life ever since as is the case with many other disabled persons who are introduced to our hobby.    Peter is a real hard case.    He somehow got into the situation where people deliberately called him up for "permission to pass through the principality of Inglewood".    He reckoned he had a toll gate at the main road but you didn't have to pay the toll on wet days, or on fine days, or on days when it snowed, or on holidays, or on weekdays.    This "permission to pass through" lasted for many years and Peter was renowned for being the 'keeper of the toll gate' at Inglewood.    We had to play him at his own game!    This eventuated when Jeanne and I were visiting Vicki ZL1OC and Collin ZL1CS in Whakatane.    Collin Shaw was patron of NZ WARO and was always printing up something for WARO on his home printing press.    [NZ WARO - New Zealand Women Amateur Radio Operators formed in 1962]    Talk eventually got around to Peter ZL2AIS and toll gates.    Collin and I went down to his basement and designed some special passes "Entitling the bearer to Free Passage through the Principality of Inglewood".    The resulting pass is pictured.    Naturally, on the way home we popped one into Peter's mailbox and awaited a response.    Nothing! Next time past we did the same. Even gave a few others cards to 'drop off' when passing.    Eventually Peter could contain himself no longer.    He reckoned "those Gilchrists have got something to do with this!"    I'd have to side track him!    I prepared a few typewritten letters, supplied them and a few cards to some of the other Group Rentals Service Centres around New Zealand with instructions to post them locally in the envelopes supplied.    Poor Peter, he got letters from all over apologising for not putting the cards in the toll booth on the way through.    He even got a few from overseas when local hams had gone on holiday, even one from Singapore.    We had called his bluff!    Those were fun days.    Like I said, many friendships were made via our hobby.    Peter was awarded the QSM for his services to the community and amateur radio by Prime Minister Sir Keith Holyoake.    He was made an Honorary Life Member of New Plymouth Branch NZART in recent years and was declared "Amateur of the Year" at the NZART Conference in 1996.    [I did an hour long taped interview with Peter in 1996 - see later section on NZART History involvement]

Once in New Plymouth Jeanne and I both got involved again in the National Field Day contest and other Branch activities.    1983 Field Day activities were held just north of New Plymouth at Brixton on the property of Bert Jupp ZL2MU.    Among those participating was Frank Hunt ZL2BR who was a 'gun' contester and a CW buff.    Such a person is always desirable for field day contests to maximise the CW contacts.    Frank is a radio inspector by occupation and it is a fact that a great proportion of those in that occupation are hams.    A reasonable turn out by Branch members that year and as usual we enjoyed ourselves. The local newspapers carried reports and these were added to our radio scrapbook together with the photographs taken at most of these events when we remembered to take the camera.    At the Winter Show over 6 -14th May 1983 we put on a display of amateur radio with a working station. Various members took turns at manning the station and created quite an interest for those attending.    The sound of morse code is good for attracting people to things like that.

ZL4PZ operating at the 1983 New Plymouth Winter Show

1983 was World Communications Year and the New Zealand amateurs were given the option of using the prefix ZM in their callsigns in place of the normal ZL.    This was an exciting year for amateurs, especially those involved with collecting 'prefixes' for one reason or another.    It was not just New Zealand that used a special prefix, most other countries appeared to do so too. There was a flurry of activity during those 12 months.    Jeanne and I both had special QSL cards printed and these displayed the official World Communications Year symbol.    It is only on a very rare occasion that the ZM prefix is allowed to be used by amateurs.    The other occasion I can recall was for the IARU Region III conference in Auckland in Oct - Dec 1985.

June 1983 was NZART Conference in Dunedin so we HAD to go as it was an excuse to catch up with family and grandchildren.    At this stage Jeanne had been involved with WARO since 1981 and was voted in as Vice President at the Dunedin WARO AGM.    This was the year of WAROs 21st anniversary.    A special visitor for their AGM was Myrtle Earland ZL4GR who in 1930 was the first woman amateur to be licensed in New Zealand.    She received a certificate from WARO in 1980 to celebrate her 50 years on air. 'Myrt' passed away on 31st January 1986.    [Jeanne was later asked to contribute a biography of 'Myrt' for " "Southern People" which was published in 1998 to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Otago and Southland]

It was on 16th July in New Plymouth that Jeanne 'snuck' down to the local Radio Inspector's office one day without my knowing and re-sat her morse for the upgrade to Grade I status.    Well done, she wasn't to be out done and she did join 'em.    This now meant that she would be wanting to work all the available overseas station!

On the move AGAIN to HAWERA!!!!    Once again a special radio room was set up, this time in what was an old coal shed.    A wooden floor was put in, it was duly lined, wired for power and aerials and set up quite snugly.

---------Subsequent events are still to edit---------


Twelve months after returning to Dunedin (actually 1991), Jeanne was able to 'pick up' the callsign of ZL4JG (her initials).    This call was previously allocated to "Mac" McDonald who sadly became a silent key during the previous year.    [An amateur who has passed away is a 'silent key'].

[January 2003] A major factor in the non-continuance of the subsequent events in the ZL4PZ saga has been the creation on a written history of the Otago Branch NZART Inc. over about 12 years. The web page for Otago Branch NZART is at www.qsl.net/zl4aa, and "A History of the Otago Branch NZART Inc." including many items of general amateur radio interest is detailed at this site under "History CD". Copies of the "History CD" are available by contacting Alan Gilchrist ZL4PZ at [email protected].

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