WW2 Amateur activity
 

I have just picked up a copy of “Wireless Transmission “ by F.J.Camm in a charity shop. Nothing rare or remarkable except when I look at the published versions and find that the book was re-printed 7 times between 1938 and 1943.

The editors preface does mention that interest in transmitters continues despite the wartime ban but I still find it intriguing that a book on making transmitters and applying for transmitting licences would get republished 7 times during a period when a complete ban was in force. Were people even allowed to make and own working transmitters during this time or was it just a paper exercise?
Pete

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

Perhaps it was used to train people involved in the war? A lot of people had to be trained very quickly. Or people were dreaming about the rig they were going to build when peace came?

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

I dont think owning the paperwork was illegal! And as Dave says, selling dreams is always a good seller! Mind you, WHO was buying? Clearly many people were. I imagine if you really expected the Germans to be there any day now, you'd grasp at many a dream of the peace to come...especially schoolboys who were presumably the main buyers??

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

The RSGB printed 181,500 copies of the 2nd edition of the "The Amateur Radio Handbook" between July 1940 and February 1946.

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

Such large numbers suggest some use in training.

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Those were the days!! RSGB and PW used for military training! Mind you, when one brother was editor of PW and the other designed the Hurricane, hardly surprising. How the mighty hobby has fallen.

D

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Every time I hear about this sort of stuff I wish I was older now as I'd have got to experience the "golden age" of amateur radio.

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

Ha, how true. But it is true in so many fields. I doubt it felt like a 'Golden Age' at the time...it probably felt more like 'I hope Mr Hitler doesn't come TODAY'

I fly for a living and we often discuss the golden age of civil and military aviation, but the truth is my chances of going home after work are HUGELY better than my colleagues in even 1960! It sounds glam but my kids prefer it this way.
D

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

It hasn't fallen; merely changed. Commercial exploitation notwithstanding. :)

No doubt 'things would have continued as normal' in the WWII amateur world, ostensibly so, anyway, as to have done otherwise would have revealed the things that radio amateurs got up to, like being in the RSS or the Auxiliary Units, etc...

I think the 'British way' was never to hide anything, lest it stood out, but to dress it up, smooth it over or camouflage it so everything would seem as normal and so not attract attention.

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That is ironically perhaps what I have to do with my antenna at the moment which is chucked up into the trees bordering my property discretely. Joy to green 16/0.2. My fine neighbours made some serious objections to erecting a 40m dipole end to end because it would lower the tone of the neighbourhood. Unless I hang washing on it of course

When you put it that way, it's hard to disagree with.

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I note that Amazon have these books for sale dated 1938 at £2.48 plus postage.

I'm tempted to get one just out of curiosity but having given 100 plus books away at my recent garage giveaway do I want to start building up my library again.

It would be interesting G4 Pete to see a pic of a typical circuit from the book if you have a moment with your camera.

Jim

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

Thats a good point actually, though I have absolutely no supporting evidence either way. Good point though. Worth pondering. Mind you, how could things have continued normally if owning radio transmitters was illegal? Who would amateurs, as enforced SWLs, listen to ? Were other world wide hams still transmitting - the US for example?

David

Re: WW2 Amateur activity
 

I remember reading somewhere that UK Radio Amateurs continued to have contacts with German stations after war was declared, as it was a while before they were told to close down.

I believe transmitters were confiscated and moved into warehouses. Some did not survive the war and their owners were offered surplus military equipment to replace them.

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I believe amateur radio in the U.S. was suspended during hostilities.

Remember that back then, few people asked awkward questions, authority was respected, and people were more deferential: there was a more defined class hierarchy than exists now and if authority told you not to do it, you wouldn't. There was a war to be won, the public were galvanised, and careless talk cost lives.

Just because you couldn't get oranges and bananas didn't mean you couldn't read about them. ;)

Of course, the technology described in the books would be restricted to what was already in the public domain, and you can't simply un-invent something.

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You'd've also got to experience the golden age of Polio; primitive dental treatment; higher infant mortality; medieval attitudes towards left-handers in schools; no cash available when the banks shut...

But back then, no-one knew any better!

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I think I've mentioned this before, but if not...

I have the 1945 ARRL (American Radio Relay League, think of it as the US version of the RSGB) handbook somewhere. I suspect it was written, if not published, while the war was still taking place. And yet it contains a description of the cavity magnetron. I am surprised that was not still classified at that point (maybe both sides did know about it, but...)

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I think the Americans are, and were far more liberal with what goes in the public domain. It's certainly like that nowadays with submarines (ever read 'Big Red'?). Their threshhold of secrecy is much different to ours.

But that's a 'British' thing, and always has been.

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A bit like us working Iraqis, Afghans and Syrians I guess. It's a funny world.

I used to work for the late great Ray Withers, G4KZH and he always claimed that he loved amateur radio because it got people talking to each other, and people who talk to each other didnt usually end up fighting. Top bloke Ray, I still miss him.

D

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Books from the likes of F J Camm were probably bought more by service personnel undergoing training. Possibly because they were written more in laymans terms rather than a classroom approach. Indeed (as previously stated by John) the RSGB handbook back then had a lot of reprints to satisfy military students demand. Lately I have been reading a bound volume of The Bulletin (rsgb journal) covering Summer 1939 to 1940. Fascinating stuff. Lots about amateurs "somewhere in the North" etc. Not specific due to censorship. Alas, a lot of gear "seized" by the licensing authority, GPO could not be returned after the war because the owner was deceased.
Also, to own components such as valves that could be a pa in a tx for example needed a permit.
There were a lot of get-togethers back then and the "bull" (Bulletin) as it was known became the medium for passing messages. Also a feature called "The month off the air" was introduced. "Bombed out" later became another section. Adverts from leading manufacturers such as Osram valves, AVO, Bulgin etc. indicating shortages often had the picture of an RAF pilot and a message starting such as " in these times". Stating the priority given to the Services.
Amateurs often offered hospitality giving their address and phone number as a contact for anyone stuck miles from home. I also have the Camm book post refers to and also another one, more about wireless in general. "Beginners start here" if I remember correctly.
Fascinating times for us to read about in hindsight, but terrible in actual reality.
Rob

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The late-1930s RSGB "Amateur Radio Handbook" and its WWII-supplement were certainly used by the Forces as training-material: I have my late Father's "supplement" here - he was in the REME and has written his name and service-number on the inside flyleaf.

A lot of pre-WWII hams were allowed to keep their receivers but recruited into things like the "Y" listening-service where they took down endless 5-digit groups of seemingly-random CW that was generated by the likes of "Enigma" and its numerous derivatives. Plenty of others saw service in specialist technical groups such as those who detected and went on to jam the "Knickebein" navigation-beams. Pat Hawker G3VA [who for a long time wrote the RadCom "Technical Topics" column] was involved in work on UHF radio links for special-forces [the Joan-Eleanor 'S-Phones']