My first radio qualification, 60 years ago today!

[Sparks]

Sixty years ago today, I gained my first qualification in radio at the age of 12!      A "Wirelessman's" badge, Boy Scouts, 60th Preston, Kestrel patrol.     The examiner was supposed to call at our house in the early evening with the scoutmaster.    They didn't turn up, and off I went to bed very disappointed.    About 2100, I was awakened and brought downstairs - they had finally arrived after some delay.     I remember some of the questions and answers I gave:
What does a condenser do? -  "It takes the crackles and noises out!"
What does a variable condenser do? - "It tunes the wireless in to the station you want!"
What does a coil do? - "It works with the variable condenser to tune the wireless in!"
What does a resistor do? - "It cuts down the electricity!"
What is inside a valve? - "A plate, grid and filament!"
How does the valve work? - "When the filament is lit, the electricity flows from the filament, and through the grid to the plate, but not the other way round.    "If you put small signals in the grid, it is amplified when it comes out of the plate!"
What does an inter-valve transformer do? -  "It connects one valve to another, the electricity jumps across from the primary winding to the secondary!"
What does a reaction circuit do? -  "Bits of the signal get fed back to the grid and amplified a second time!"
What does a differential condenser do? - "It make the reaction much smoother than a normal condenser!"
What is the Low Tension battery for? - "It lights up the valve filament!"
What is the High Tension battery for? - "It makes current flow through the valve!"
He then looked at some small one and two-valve radio  that I had built using bits from old sets.    He seemed quite surprised that I was able to do this.     He said I had passed and gave me the certificate.
I was over the moon!
The examiner worked for Siemen's Brothers.      A few days later, a parcel arrived for me from the examiner.   It contained a brand new 120 Volt HT battery with a 9 Volt tapped grid bias down the side and tappings at 48, 72,  108 and 120 Volts if I remember correctly.    He said that he felt I was being held back by only having a 22.5 Volt hearing aid battery for my HT supply.     With my new big battery, I soon progressed to 3 and 4 valve receivers, all built with almost zero knowledge, and bits of old radios that the owner of a local radio repair shop gave to me.    They were old part-exchange sets.       Three years later, I left school at the age of 15, and went to a merchant navy maritime radio college, where I qualified just before my 17th birthday, but I never forgot the elation of getting my "Wirelessman's" badge!      I worked for the marine radio company Siemen's Brothers, for the first four years of my sea career, and only left because they were taken over by Marconi!     Allan was my 2nd name that was used by my parents and when I was at school, but I didn't think it sounded nautical enough, so I started using my first name, Robert (Bob) when I went to sea.     Having failed my 11+ and then the entrance exam to the technical college, I was feeling a bit of a failure at the time, and this certificate gave me a real boost!    Here is the certificate, 60-years-old today!
Bob

[Crackle]

Thats a nice little story, did you change your name to Bob?

Mike

[Sparks]

No, as I said in the last bit, my name is Robert Allan Wilson, and Allan was used by my parents and schoolfriends, but I began using Robert (Bob) when I went to sea, as I decided that my schooldays were over (thank goodness) and I wanted to begin afresh.     Here I am as radio officer, on my 4th ship, the collier Wandsworth,  humping 2,000 tons of coal a time from the northeast coaling ports to the Thames gassworks of Greenwich, Rotherhithe and Wandsworth in the severe winter of 1962.    I still looked very young, and at that time, the sea life was not exactly to my liking (apart from the radio side).     Never being much of a scholar, I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I persisted, and dragged myself from colliers, iron ore carriers and general cargo ships to some of the finest passenger liners in the world, where life at last became a pleasure, with bits of adventure thrown in.
Bob

[ppppenguin]

A fine example of ambition and making the most of your talents.

[Sparks]

Thanks,
Checking the aerials in 1962 aboard the collier Frederick T Everard.     This picture was "posed," I wouldn't normally be messing about with aerials in uniform, in fact none of us wore uniforms at all in this ship.     This was one of my first forays "aloft" and the chief mate took the photo.
Bob

[Kalee20]

A fine example of ambition and making the most of your talents.

Absolutely! An ounce of drive is worth a pound of 'O' level certificates!

Surprised that the word 'plate' was used by the examiner.

Also, well done to the Scouts, not an organisation I'm a fan of, but this was really good that they offered this opportunity!

[Raditechman]

That was a nice read, and good you still have the certificate after all those years.
I am surprised that you were asleep at 9pm!
Must have been pretty grim working on a collier ship in that winter of 1962/3. Any ice on the Thames!?
Did your ship go to Wandsworth, I would have thought low bridges after Tower Bridge would prevent it. Maybe you meant Woolwich. Although the ship is named "Wandsworth" so maybe it did go there.

John

[Sparks]

It was me that used the term "plate" when he asked what was inside a valve.    He just went along with it, no doubt being well-aware that it was called a plate in the early days.     At that time, my scant knowledge had come from an old Scott-Taggart book.      Also, in the early days, the base-board-mounting valveholders were labelled P, G, F and F, whilst intervalve transformers were labelled  HT, P, G and GB, whilst some were labelled IP, OP, IS and OS!      Anyway, the block battery really set me on my feet, and it lasted until I went to radio college three years later.     I then had to refer to the plate as the anode!
I didn't last long in the scouts, and 60th Preston disbanded many years ago, but I did learn morse, and got my radio badge!
Bob

[Murphyv310]

Brilliant story Bob.
I really enjoy this kind article and how so many of us myself included that did well without great marks at school.
I was never a brainbox at school, more hands on. It was later on I realised my mistake and did some serious studying.
Your picture of yourself at the radios remind me of myself when younger, very alike indeed.
Thank you Bob for this and good on you for making a success out of what was a hobby.

[Mike Watterson]

Thanks for the bit of personal history.