Amateur Radio history story from the BBC

Very interesting. Thanks for posting Neil.

 

thankyou for

thank you taking the time to link this peice, iv done a bit of research on this subject, there are quite a few peices out there, iv only really understood how important thier roll was in ww2 recently, and it wasnt untill my father passed away that i discovered he was a VI (volunteer interceptor) at the start of the war and was taken under the wing of the Y services and MI6 shortly after. its great to see theres still an interest in the massive efforts put in by civilians to help the war effort. thanks again.

 

Glad that you are all enjoying this. I found this bit of video from an archive years ago and posted it to my YouTube channel (not monetized of course due to the content belonging to the BBC) to where the link is sent in this post.

I thought it was important to preserve this content and share it with other amateurs that would appreciate it. The men that served their nation were all heroes and it is interesting to hear from them. Many are now gone. This video helps preserve their legacies and was especially well done by the BBC.

73! de Nick K9XN

 

I really enjoyed this film. So much was accomplished by these hams. Bert W4YWW.

 

Awesome Nick, it would be tremendous to be able to locate the episodes of Rene Cutforth hosting "The forties revisited" I have searched and searched but I have been unable to locate same. W4NRM

 

Thank you MI6XGZ! My grandfather was in Patton's 3rd Army and was into 11 meters during the radio craze of the 70's and 80's and was able to speak with a family from Belgium during Sunspot cycle 21 from 1976 to 1986. The family from Belgium flew all the way here to North Carolina and spent two weeks with him in appreciation. I do know you are proud and should be of your father as I am my grandfather. They are the Greatest Generation.
W4NRM

 

very interesting facts, some of which were unknown to me. well presented.
Art G3XNE - K3XNE

 

There is a great book that follows this story called " Radio Wars" by David Abrutat.

 

Thanks for sharing this very interesting documentary. Another example of the selfless service that amateurs around the world have provided.

 

Had heard the whispers from my father, but now had them confirmed. It's about time the "radio amateurs" (oh how I loathe that title) had the very important work they did for our country, acknowledged. Most of the 'professional' radio operators and technicians of the era, were, in fact, radio hams who were co-opted into the various branches of the armed, and civilian, forces. It's always been a 'bone of contention', for me, that they didn't get rid of the "amateur" part of the nomenclature, because they became the very "professionals" of the BBC, and the armed services. Without these "amateurs", we wouldn't have radar, sonar, recording devices, television, microwave ovens etc., etc., etc..

73 de Howard GM7ESM

 

I don't hear video?

 

Woops. found it!!!!

 

In the 1970s I used to go the Bletchley Park on training courses. Even then nobody knew much about what happened there. A fascinating film.

 

Thanks for posting. Those who found it interesting might enjoy reading "Colossus: Bletchley Park's Greatest Secret" by Paul Gannon. Despite the title, the first third of the book deals mostly with aspects of the radio interception of Saegefisch network. The Germans were using directional antennas to try minimizing off-beam intercepts of the encrypted Baudot stream and the English were building huge rhombic antennas on various RF-quiet hilltops to try capturing the signals, then sent for statistical analysis and breaking.