An Amateur Radio club existed in South Shields well before the second world war, unfortunately although I spoke to a couple of those members back in the sixties they became SK long ago.
I joined the club in 1964, there were about 5 others who became members with me at the same time. The club thrived throughout the sixties but sadly tailed off in the seventies.
Below is the copy of a car sticker from the sixties advertising the annual mobile rally which was a very successful affair and was held entirely "under canvas" a "proper" mobile rally!
I was in charge of the "stick draw" which was a sort of lucky dip jam jar full of old lolly sticks with a number on them, the number corresponded to a numbered radio component on the table in front of me. The cost was sixpence a go, two and a half pence in todays money and everyone was a winner taking away a valve, resistors, capacitors, switches or whatever. I was in the Hi Fi business at the time and during the rally I conducted a taped music demonstration which allowed many people to hear "stereo" for the first time.
I joined the club in 1964, there were about 5 others who became members with me at the same time. The club thrived throughout the sixties but sadly tailed off in the seventies.
Below is the copy of a car sticker from the sixties advertising the annual mobile rally which was a very successful affair and was held entirely "under canvas" a "proper" mobile rally!
I was in charge of the "stick draw" which was a sort of lucky dip jam jar full of old lolly sticks with a number on them, the number corresponded to a numbered radio component on the table in front of me. The cost was sixpence a go, two and a half pence in todays money and everyone was a winner taking away a valve, resistors, capacitors, switches or whatever. I was in the Hi Fi business at the time and during the rally I conducted a taped music demonstration which allowed many people to hear "stereo" for the first time.
Below is my membership card from the mid sixties and below that a ticket for the clubs annual dinner from the same period, note the cost, sixteen shillings and "dress important"
The three pictures below were taken by the late Ken Sketheway at the 1959 national field day contest.
This snap was taken outside the clubs HQ in February 1966, thats me in the middle sitting down with the crystal microphone and cans around my neck. Standing on the left is Brian Teasdale and next to him Neil Gosling, none of us were licensed at this time. Everyone wore shirt and tie in those days................
Next door to the radio clubs shack was the studio (pic below) of the South Shields Hospital Broadcasting Group which I was also a member of. We broadcast music and request programmes with live football match comentaries on saturday afternoons using our own commentators from Newcastle, Sunderland and South shields. I had a 30 minute music programme before the saturday afternoon match after which I had to man the controls in the studio keeping an eye on levels and do the continuity, I never did like football!
We broadcast to a number of local hospitals via a complicated arrangement of post office lines ending up at the headset located next to the patients bed.
The radio club also had an annual presence at the local flower show which was a very big event in the local calendar. Below is the station we set up in a large marquee in the summer of 1966. I am shown holding a popular crystal microphone of the time called a BM3, the gear in the photo is an AR88 receiver, G2DAF and KW Vanguard transmitters and an oscilloscope.
The radio club produced a monthly newsletter from 1957 until the early seventies and I have every copy so I have selected a number of these and they are shown below for historic interest....
You will probably need to "zoom" in order to read the content.
The following newsletters from 1963/4 have been posted at the request of ex club members Ron, G3SEN and Roger, G3SNT............