Silent Key VK4CCC

It is with sadness VK7, North West Tasmania Amateur Radio club advise of the passing of their member Graham Anderson VK4CCC.

Graham was born on the 26 December 1941 and passed the 9th September 2023. Aged 81 years old.

He grew up in Toowoomba and was a fitter and turner by trade and later moved to Brisbane in 1978 owning a convenience store for 2 years.

He then worked for Telstra for many years as a line technician and in customer service before retiring. He also had a passion for aircraft, having flown a light Cessna aircraft in his younger years.

He more recently moved to Tasmania last year and was very happy to be welcomed into the local NW radio club in June 2022 and made many new friends. He was also an active participant in the local Stowport Hall coffee mornings every week.

His funeral service will be held at Parkside Funeral Home on East Cam Road in Burnie, on Wednesday the 4th of October at 11am.

Vale Graham VK4CCC

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.

During the week I was reminded of how far we have progressed in the technology that makes amateur radio what it is. Posted on a social media site was a black and white photo of a home built receiver. Here were through hole components and the project was using the then novel solid state components and all mounted on a piece of perf-board. At the time this photo was taken, much construction of amateur gear was still based on valve technology and transistors were strange and expensive. Today we are using integrated circuits which contain hundreds of them and computing counts them in the millions.

I then thought about the activities that people undertook in their social lives in these years. Things like tennis courts, cricket pitches and golf courses were classed as community assets and people could be seen utilising them weekdays and week ends. Fishing was also a sport or relaxation which captured the minds of the young through to the older generations. A black billy can hung over a camp fire was the sign of good times for many people.

It was a post from our News Editor that caused this reverie but in the view of Mr. Baker it was the pall of smoke filtering through the country air near his home and not recollections of more pleasant times of many years ago. I saw that around that area the authorities had issued warnings to people to use their bush fire plans and be in a watch and go status.

In this long weekend, the weather has been forecast to be pleasantly warm for most of the State and farmers are already dealing with what is being called drought like conditions, according to news reports. The Weather Bureau has finally declared an el Nino and the prognosis as we lead up to Christmas is for warmer and drier weather.

In a few weeks the official reading of straws in the wind will come out as the assessment of conditions for the cyclone season.

There are contests and club events on many people’s calendars and no longer is it acceptable to cook the sausages on just an open fire. Back in those balmy days, when you could smell the electronics in a person’s radio shack, outdoor cooking in the town was likely to be on a specially constructed barbeque and fuelled by wood. These days it is safer to use park bbq plates using electricity or at least your own with suitable store bought fuel.

At this time of year, if the Spring clean hasn’t happened, now is the time to play catch up and make your living area and radio shack as effective and safe as possible. It seems that it is not just the space weather and solar storms that we have to look to but also the more earthly weather which will keep us on our toes.

The good news is that VK4BB was spared more drama and still gets to ride his lawn mower over green grass.

I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think....how about you?