I discovered this document while clearing out the house of a deceased radio amateur.
It presents an account of how one enthusiast started into the magic art of WIRELESS.
For the provenance of this document, read the opening paragraph and the tail credits.
PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING Pre WW2 -
What a Lark!
by P. (Ben) Bennett ZS1AAQ/G3HEH
Introduction:
The Author recounts his early interest in pre WW2 wireless and his adventures into
'Pirate
Radio Broadcasting’.
This story was transmitted in installments using CW to George Holtum GW4SLZ to type out and edit for submission to the publishers of Radio
Bygones.
My earliest introduction to wireless.
The story I am about to tell is a product of the time
during which it took place: it was a
time when the magic of wireless captured the imagination of many a schoolboy, and I was one of them in
the late 1920s. My Father bought me a
second-hand crystal set complete with headphones from a stall in the Bromley, Kent market for the princely
sum of three shillings and sixpence!
It was in a flat polished wooden box and labelled Gecophone BBC, the headphones also had a BBC label. I can still remember
the thrill when my Father connected it to his
large outside aerial, it was really quite a loud signal,
possibly because we were less than ten miles from the transmitter. It was this simple experience that was the spark
that determined the course of my life.
It was after this that I made an electrical buzzer,
wound the coil on one of those old
fashioned cotton reels, the core was an iron bolt, and with a couple of razor blades bolted together and a few pieces of Meccano which were all fixed to a piece of wood, it worked
very well from a 2 volt accumulator. My cousin, who was two years older, and lived next
door, also made a
buzzer and we ran twin flex between his
bedroom and mine. Using two homemade
Morse keys we used to send make believe messages to each other, neither of us knew the Morse Code, but I think that
it impressed visiting aunts and uncles.
Carbon microphones.
Through my cousin I learnt of a boy who had just made a microphone during
his training to be a telephone
technician, which he had brought home to show his parents. I managed to persuade the boy to bring the
microphone to my home for me to see, and to demonstrate how it worked. He ran a
long twin flex down the garden to which he
connected his microphone, and a pair of headphones to the other end of the flex inside the house. We could
hear the birds twittering and all
the other everyday noises including a train passing by about four hundred yards away across the field. My immediate
thoughts were that I must find out
how to make one of these microphones. After the demonstration he took the microphone to pieces and explained how it
worked. He said that the quality of the carbon granules
was extremely important. He removed the diaphragm in order that I could see them they looked like polished black sugar. I
inquired if he could obtain some
granules for me. A few days later I had some in my possession, a small box of carbon granules, to
me, this was a box of polished black
magic.
Change of QTH
Before I had time to make my microphone, my Father
announced that we were to move to Herne
Bay and live by the sea. He was going to be a garage proprietor. My brother and I were to be weekly boarders
at a school five miles from Herne Bay. At first this restricted my
wireless activities some what. I fixed up
another aerial for my crystal set, and was surprised that the signals were still quite strong. Next
door to the garage was a sweet shop where the owner lived with his wife and
their son who worked in London as an engineer for Standard Telephones and
Cables. He had a workshop in a shed in the garden where he made wireless sets
for friends. This was extremely fortunate as far as I was concerned. At the
weekend I was introduced to their son, Len, who gave me enough parts to construct
another crystal set, which did not take me long. "It was Just as good as my
Gecophone. I learned the art of soldering in Len’s workshop, and he also got
me started on electrical fundamentals, understanding circuit diagrams. It was
1933 and I was twelve years old, an ideal age to start.
Another move.
In less than a year my Father decided to sell the garage and to become a landlord of a country pub halfway between Canterbury and Herne Bay. There were three other houses in the vicinity of the pub, but no children. Because of this isolation I decided to concentrate on my wireless and made my microphone. I still had enough carbon granules to make another which I did and fixed up a telephone to the house at the end of the garden. The old chap who lived in this house used to talk to me whenever he was at home.
At this time commercially manufactured sets were replacing the homemade ones. Living in the pub, I soon realised that some of the customers might have a homemade set that they no longer needed, and soon my bedroom looked like a second hand wireless shop! Most of the homemade sets were very badly constructed. I rewired some of them, and actually sold a few to friends. One day in the tuck shop at school, I asked the master about an old wireless set that had stood there ever since I became a pupil. Without hesitation he gave it to me and told me that one of the Brothers had made it about ten years previously and had returned to France shortly after he had made it. This set was another milestone in my wireless career: it was wired with square tinned copper wire; it had one valve and a basket coil. I always remember the slogan on this coil, it said, "What are the wild waves saying?" I took the set home with me and found that it worked very well.
By now I had made a one valve amplifier and I had positioned one of my microphones in the bar in order that I could hear what was going on there. One night after all the customers had gone, I was listening to my Mother and Father talking. The wireless was still switched on in the bar, and as I tuned in the one valve set from school I heard a loud heterodyne, and the BBC disappeared completely. The other wireless set could not do this. The following day after the morning session, my parents were sleeping. I switched on the one valve set and went into the bar, and was able to tune in a very strong carrier from my school set. When I ran my finger over the serrated aerial terminal I noticed that a ‘Zip’ type of noise could be heard. I reasoned that if I connected my microphone in series with the aerial that my voice would be audible on the wireless down in the bar. Now I had to enlist the help of my brother, who confirmed that my voice could be heard. I had reinvented the wheel! I got him to talk but it was not very loud. Then I connected the microphone to the one valve amplifier in series with the aerial, but alas no carrier!. Now I wanted to broadcast, but how to do it?. I had a large red book it was by Terman, Radio Engineering. It contained circuit diagrams of high power broadcast transmitters. I picked a 1Kw audio circuit, which at the beginning looked similar to my one valve amplifier, but with a few more stages. Then I saw that the output of this audio amplifier, which was called a modulator was connected to the output of the RF input stage via a transformer described a modulation transformer, but not connected in series with the aerial, but in series with the HT supply to the RF amplifier. Now I knew where I had gone wrong!
Yet Another move!
Disaster struck again! My Father decided that he had
enough of being a publican, and advised us all that we
were returning to Herne Bay once again. I
had to pack up all my wireless equipment. It was another six months before I could resume experiments as where we were
living was rented accommodation. Eventually we moved into a very nice
house less than 400 yards from the Police
Station. I unpacked everything again, and put up another aerial. The wireless that was in the Bar was now
in the sitting room. The secondary of
the output transformer on my now two valve amplifier was connected in series with the HT supply of the one
valve set from school. I set the dial of the sitting room set on a clear
frequency; I spoke into the microphone and
it was unbelievable, success at last! Now I wondered how far it would transmit. About half a mile up the road
there lived a girl and her mother
and I decided to go and ask them if I could listen to their wireless. I had fixed the microphone on the sideboard of our
house knowing that my parents would be home soon as the pubs closed at 2
pm. Before proceeding any further, I should
mention that both my parents were town characters, and my Mother was invariably very abrasive towards my Father
especially after a few drinks. At 2.15 I switched on everything and
dashed up the road to the girl's house. Her Mother
opened the door and said that I could listen to the wireless. I tuned in a strong signal , and was surprised to hear
the sitting room clock ticking; mother and daughter were having a discussion
about a dress they were making. I heard
my parents arrive home, but they did not speak while preparing lunch. I could hear the sound of knives and forks on the
plates, but not any speech. After
about ten minutes my Mother got up from the table and said to my Father, "Ken, come and help me with the b............ washing up!" My Father
replied that he was too tired,
and was going to have a rest. My Mother shouted in colloquial English to the effect that he was a very ‘Indolent
fellow’! My Father said, "Kit,
don’t shout everybody will hear you!" My friend's mother came over to the wireless to listen and said, "Ben,
that’s your parents on the wireless, what’s
going on?" She laughed so much to hear a broadcast of my parents that she
nearly fell off the arm of the chair she was sitting on. I dashed home on my bike as fast as I could go. The news soon got
around that I could broadcast from my home that I became quite a celebrity
among my friends.
New Transmitter
At a distance of 3 miles the signals were not very
good. The aerial to the one valve set was connected to
the grid circuit of the valve; signals were
much improved when I transferred the aerial to the valve's anode. One day a chap who had left school and was
studying electrical engineering in London
said that he would like to talk to his girl friend who lived at the other end of the town. He mentioned that he had
heard me talking on the wireless but
it was very weak. He inquired what was necessary to make it more powerful. I
explained about using battery valves etc., and said that I needed five
or six hundred volts, and some big gun valves. Well, after a few days he visited the house and said that his father had
given him ten pounds to spend. He
drove me around the area visiting all the wireless shops, even as far as Chatham. We purchased a PX4 and a couple of PX25
second-hand, some 4 mfd capacitors,
and a large Varley High Tension transformer - 500 volts 120 m/amps. Decided to make a completely new transmitter,
and with the aid of another friend, we had it ready for testing in about
three weeks. Using the same
circuit as the one valve set but with the PX4 as the oscillator; fed from a 250 volt separate supply,
this drove a single PX25 with 600 volts on the anode. By this time I had left
school and was working in the local wireless shop from where I had managed to
scrounge a few old parts including a milliammeter - 250 m/a in a brass case. The
modulator was a single PX25 driven by an MH4. The modulation transformer was two
loudspeaker transformers connected
back to back, which worked very well.. Without the big red book, "Radio
Engineering" by F. E. Terman none of this would have been possible. My friend’s ten pounds was
going to enable me to put into practice what I had been reading about in this
book for two years. Neutralising the PX25 worried me as I had never made such
an adjustment before; but it did not prove a problem and the PX25 stage was
quite stable and tuned up very well. I paid a lot of attention to shielding, and all the old aluminium panels I had
came in very useful. At this stage I was
wondering what to say to the fellow, who funded the project, should it
not work! My doubts vanished when a large car headlamp
bulb, which had a coil of about five turns of wire soldered to it, lit up brightly when coupled to the centre of the
tank coil. The PX4 provided the necessary M.O's drive, and the PX25 P. A. valve
drew 120 m/amps; the plate voltage was
500 therefore the input was 60 watts, and if the efficiency was at least 60 percent, then the output would have been
close to 40 watts. Compared with the original transmitter with two H.T.
batteries in series with an output of
perhaps two to three watts this was a big improvement! Now I was sure that I would soon be on the air. From 1938, when this new
transmitter was put into service,
until the outbreak of war, I was never apprehended despite the fact that the police station was only 400yards up the
road. A better aerial was erected; it
was 40 feet high and 120 feet long - there were two wires spaced 4 feet apart
with a single lead in. A five turn
swinging link on the P.A. tank coil fed via a piece of twisted lighting
flex (no coax in those days) for a
link coil on a parallel tuned circuit. The aerial was tapped onto this coil at the position that maximum brilliance to a small
car bulb in series with the aerial lead in. I can still remember that it
would have been advantageous to have been
blessed with three hands to adjust this lot! The single PX25 modulator did not produce enough power to fully
modulate the carrier, it only had
about 6 watts output and we needed at least 30 watts or more. I also made a small audio mixer which drove the modulator, it
had a grams input and a microphone
input so that I could feed from one to the other. The reproduction from a good mains wireless set was at
least equal to the BBC as far as one could tell by listening to a
record, but my carbon microphone left much
to be desired.
"Big Broadcast of 1938"
A slight diversion for another
story which leads up to the formation of a broadcast team.
One night I was in the ice cream
parlour with the friend who was helping me make the new transmitter. Also there was a
pretty girl who I had admired since I was twelve years old when she brought into the garage a two volt
accumulator for charging, she lived in the
next road. She was with a fellow who I did not know. After a while he came over and asked if I was
Ben, who did the broadcasting. I
confirmed that I was, and he said that his girlfriend could not find us on her wireless set. So I offered to
show her where to find us when we
left the ice cream parlour. Arriving at her house, I was introduced to her parents, and went into the sitting room
and I switched on their wireless set. I tuned across the Medium Wave band and suddenly there was
a big carrier, and my Father started talking, he was obviously in a mellow
mood. The girls started laughing! I made my
excuses and rode off at full speed on my bike once again. I had no idea that my Father even knew how to switch it
all on. Several days later he
informed me that he had been heard very well by all his friends. It was now 1938, and I had just
turned 17 years. It was at this time
that Hollywood produced a film entitled, "The Big Broadcast of 1938".
It was about small broadcasting stations in America. We all went to see it, and
afterwards in the ice cream parlour we decided that we would organise our own "Big Broadcast of 1938"! Various members
of the group were appointed to different jobs. For instance, one chap
had a very good voice, therefore he was to be
the station announcer. We even had a Walter Winchell type who prepared his spot very well with local news about
our colleagues. One girl was a singer with a sixteen piece dance band
run by the son of the local police inspector. The son's name was Basil and he
assured me that it would be OK. He went on
to say that he and other members of his band used to play in clubs where there was after hours drinking, and added
that his father never knew! On the appointed Saturday he came with a
bass player, a drummer and he played the piano,
also the accordion. I can't remember every performance, but it all took place in our large sitting room - a studio
complete with "on air" lights and everything else! My parents thought this was great fun. One act I
well remember was a simulated fighter
aircraft dog fight with the participants making the appropriate noises
with their mouths; a morse key operated near the microphone produced Lewis machine gun sounds - shades of scenes in the
film, "Hells Angels"! Who
would have thought two of the actors in this mock battle were to lose their lives doing just that a couple
of years later. We were on the air
for two hours and it all went well. We had reports from a friend by telephone
to say that good signals were
received in Loughton, Essex with only an aerial round a picture rail = a distance of 53 miles, our best Dx
report! In the ice cream parlour the
next day we all got the wind up and the station was dismantled and various parts of the equipment were distributed 'in friends' houses.
WW2 and enlistment with RAF
Six weeks passed and nothing
happened therefore we reinstalled the station, but now decided we were only going
to play records. Various members
of our group would prepare a record programme and present it. One day I had to do a public address job for the shop
where I worked. It was a garden fete, and of
course I was requested to do all the announcements. Half way through the proceedings, a pretty girl came up to
me and said, "I recognise your voice from the wireless, are you anybody
famous?" After that I tried disguising my voice somewhat for all
further announcements! The last broadcast took
place 2 days after war was declared, just played records of Carrol Gibbons for an hour. The next day the station was
dismantled and placed into big cardboard boxes, never to be used again.
Shortly after that I joined the Royal Air
Force and went into Radar at Bawsey Manor in Suffolk. After two months there I was posted overseas to the Middle
East. When I returned 4 years later, I
found that my parents had given all my wireless equipment away. My Father said, "Surely, You didn't want us to
keep all that old junk!" I was really
upset.
"What a lark!"
One might think that was
the end of the story, but not quite. After the war I went into sound recording in
London, and then overseas to join a new Television station in Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe). In 1966 I was appointed Chief Engineer and was sent on a trip to England
also to the USA for general simulation visiting the BBC /ATV and RCA. When in
England I paid a short visit
to my home town, Herne Bay. I was standing outside the Queens Hotel where my parents frequented
for their favourite tipple, and I was thinking about times past there, when suddenly I heard a commanding voice behind
me say, “Hello young Bennett, how are you
these days?" It was the Chief Inspector of Police, now retired. We shook hands, and he said, I always remember
you with your Sunday morning
broadcasts", he paused, then said, "What a lark!”
Credits:
First published in Radio Bygones No 46 pages 27 to 30
Addendum: May 2020
I received a comment from a close friend of Ben, Eddie, Eddie writes about the time he received a letter addressed to ZR1AAQ thinking it was wrongly addressed to ZR1 instead of ZS1 Eddie took it to Ben, it was in fact for Eddie, who had passed his radio exam and been issued with the callsign ZR1AAQ this was a restricted licence, similar to the licences that were issued in the U.K allowing operation in a restricted form only on certain frequencies, later Eddie passed the Morse test and was issued with the full licence of ZS1ADM.
Today Eddie holds Ben's original U.K callsign of G3HEH A nice tribute to a worthy radio amateur friend.
To celebrate what would have been Ben's centenary
Eddie has put together a shory video with pictures of Ben's family, business associates and other career history you can watch it here:-
Or paste this into your browser address line
