Our home had one of the first Radio's in Trinity, a PILOT Super Wasp , Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) receiver. My father was a radio tinkerer, having lived in the US for several years in the late 1920's and there were a number of old radio's and parts around our home to experiment with as I grew up during the depression and war years. My two uncles were railroad telegraphers and there was always a "key and sounder" practice set available so I developed an early interest in radio and the morse code.
My cousin had been a Wireless Operator in the RAF during WW2, and went to work at the Signals Section at Gander Airport after the war. Radio Operating seemed to be a promising career, and in the summer of 1947. at age 16 , I left Trinity and went to Gander in the hope of getting the training necessary to qualify for a Commercial Radio License.
I found work as a Steward and Meal Checker in the Hotel where the Signals Staff lived but the gentleman who had been conducting classes left a few months after I arrived and although there were individuals who helped with morse code practice etc it was not enough to meet the Government standard.
The RCAF started to recruit again in 1948 and some of my "mentors", most of whom had received their training in the military during the war, suggested I go to Canada , join the RCAF and get professional training. Nfld was still not a province of Canada and it took some time in corresponding with the recruiting unit in Halifax to arrange a date and time for testing and an interview.
During the fall I saved enough money for the trip, and in Jan 1949, left Gander by TCA and flew to Sydney NS and went through Canadian Immigration. Then on to Halifax by train and after passing all the apptitude tests and medical I was accepted into the RCAF for training as a Communications Operator.
After 12 weeks of Basic training at Trenton, Ont, it was off to RCAF Stn Clinton for trades training. Clinton, as the home of 1 Radar and Communications School was a bustling place.Three and four courses each of Radar Tech Air and Ground; Comm Tech Air and Ground; Teletype Tech, Radar Op and Comm Op were running at the same time. I can't remember who all of our Comm Op instructors were, but do remember Flt Sgt's Paul Perault, Morley MacKenzie and "Boots" Mitchell. Then there were the Sgts, Gregorchuck, Fletcher, Galagher, Dawson King and a few others. Finally in the 5, 8, 12, 15 and 18 word per minute morse rooms were the Cpls, Warren Fox, Al Pannel, Des Gurnett and a few others. There they sat pounding out morse code on hand keys all day long . Must have been a pretty booring existance.
There was a morse test each friday. Five minutes each of cypher, figures and plain language. When you could copy each of the tests with less than five errors you moved to the next highest speed. Once you passed the 18 wpm tests you were excused daily morse practice. But- you had to take the Friday test and if you happened to get more than the five errors it was back for another week of morse.
Anyone who went through Clinton must remember the parades and the Silo on the parade square. The one thing I most remember is the little 4 year old, red haired daughter of Wing Commander Hull riding her tricycle on the parade square during the parades. I dont think she even looked at us as she notchantly cycled around. In December 1949, our course which had started with 16, graduated eight of us as Group 1 Communications Operators. (Morse Code @ 18wpm and Teletype @30wpm) and I was posted to Air Transport Command at Rockcliffe, Ont.
By now Teletype had almost completely replaced Morse Code for the majority of Administrative Message traffic but back-up morse circuits still existed. A large numbers of radio oprators were required to man the stations of the Radio network stretching from the Yukon to Newfoundland which supported aircraft operations. More operator were required in the Yukon, NWT, and Arctic during the summers for operational and administrative traffic for the RCAF's aerial photo operations, and finally a Communications Research Station at Whitehorse employed almost a hundred and fifty operators.. Lancasters Patrol Aircraft of Maritime Command and Photo Command and Search and Rescue, plus Dakotas, Cansos and later Flying Boxcars of Transport Command filled the skies and the air was alive with Morse Code.
As my morse and teletype speeds increased to advancement to Group 3 level.( morse at 25 wpm and teletype at 45 wpm) followed and over the next twelve years I worked on radio circuits in the Yukon, the NWT, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. I had always been interested in the technical side of radio and had qualified for my Amateur Experimental Licence (VE3BER) in 1949 while training at Clinton. Finally in 1961 I wrote the examinations and was remustered to a Communications Technican (Ground) and worked in that field for a number of l years until I was commissioned as a Technical Telecommunications Officer and worked in that capacity until retirement in 1983,.after almost 35 years service.
By this time, anticipated advances in technology had made Radio Operating a dead end trade and training had stopped in all but two of the civilian Techical Schools in Canada. But, developments in the new systems did not come as quickly as expected, and an increased demand, brought about by east coast and arctic oil exploration in the early 1980's resulted in a shortage of Marine Radio Officers.
It was relatively easy, and required little technical expertiese, to obtain certification as a Restricted radio operator in the land or air environments, but the marine environment was a different matter. Not only was profeciency in morse code necessary, but a high level of technical competence was also a requirement..
Radio operators on offshore oil drilling platforms, and drill ships required Radio Officer certification and the shortage became particularly accute in eastern Canada where extensive drilling was being done on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and the Fisheries College in St John's was asked by the Oil Companies to consider restarting a Radio Operator program which it had dropped twenty years earlier.
Doug Squires, the Head of the electrical Department decided the demand was sufficient and decided to include a Radio Operator option in the second year of its Marine Electronics program. Individuals entering the program would have already had one year of electronics training and would concentrate on Morse Code, Typing, Radio Procedures, Equipment Operation, Digital Techniques, Fault Finding and Communications Skills in the second year. . A state of the art "Sailor" marine radio station was installed for instructional purposes and familiarization and would prepare graduates to write the Government Examinations for the RGMC, the equivelant of the older 1st Class Radio Telegraphers certificate.
It was realized the demand would only continue for about five years but the College reasoned its graduates would have sufficient experience and grounding in technology to continue employment in other areas of the Electronics environment as High Frequency radio communications was phased out and replaced by Satelite Communications, and this has proved to be the case...
I was hired to develop and instruct in the program and started at the end of January 1983, immediately after retiring from the Canadian Forces. Course loading was 15 students and there were a few drop-outs and failures but and over the next four years more than 50 our students graduated and qualificied for the RGMC certificate.
The program was discontinued at the end of the 1987 academic year, but I remained at the College in other areas of electronic and radio telepone training until retired in 1989. . One of the first things I had done after being hired at the college was to write the government examinations and receive the RGMC qualification . Over the period I was at the College and for several years thereafter, I spent almost a year at sea, in various short periods as a Marine Radio Officer . The shortest was about a week, and the longest four months and included a voyage to the High Arctic, several crossings of the North Atlantic, a Carribean cruise and the the highlight of my career. Two voyages from Tasmania to the Antarctic continent, plus MacQuarie and Heard Islands, followed by a six week voyage from Tasmania, across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal and up the east coast to Montreal.
It is sixteen years since I met the first of my sixty students, and in some respects I was as unprepared as they were for what lay ahead. I have kept in contact with, (some by Amateur Radio and/or the internet) and followed the careers of many,, and was pleased to learn , that most found and have continued employment in the communications or electronic fields.
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Radio.htm