GB100BBC [013]

Celebrating 100 years of British Broadcasting...

England to California to Texas and back to the UK took a toll on my body clock. In fact I feel I’m still adjusting almost a week later. I also got back into the shack a little later than expected and had to play catch up with a bunch of things. Especially my allocation for the commemorative callsign GB100BBC.

Being a member of G8BBC I was able to put my name down for a week of operating with GB100BBC. My first experience of using a special event callsign.

For me having worked with and for the BBC, documenting stories and training journalists I have met some amazing individuals doing their best to help people understand the world around them. I’ve also been on the receiving end of their services (not just TV and Radio) when I suddenly had to homeschool my kids. An easy job with all the resources the BBC made available. So you might say I have a soft spot for the corporation.

And then there is the incredible history of the BBC.

• November 1922 - 2LO launched

• December 1922 - John Reith appointed

• September 1923 - Radio Times first edition

• February 1924 - the Pips first heard

• January 1927 - British Broadcasting Corporation established

• November 1929 - John Logie Baird tests television

• May 1932 - Broadcasting House opens 

• December 1932 - King George V addresses the Empire

• 1934 - The 'Type A' Microphone

• November 1936 - The BBC Television Service opens

• May 1937 - The BBC’s first television outside broadcast

• January 1938 - First foreign language broadcast - Arabic

• January 1942 - Desert Island Discs 

• October 1946 - Woman's Hour

• October 1946 - For the Children

• January 1948 - News comes to the Television Service

• London 1948 - The first televised Olympic Games

• July 1949 - A first for the weather

• May 1950 - The Archers

• October 1950 - Democracy on TV

• 1952 - VERA - The British video recorder that never was

• June 1953 - The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

• April 1958 - The Radiophonic Workshop is established

• October 1958 - Blue Peter starts its 50 year run

• June 1960 - Television Centre opens

• November 1963 - First episode of Doctor Who

• January 1967 - The Forsyte Saga 

• June 1967 - Our World

• July 1967 - BBC TWO - the first full colour TV service in Europe

• September 1967 - Radio 1 goes live

• January 1970 - The Open University goes on air

• April 1972 - The first children's TV news bulletin

• April 1974 - The Family - the first 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary

• September 1974 - CEEFAX – a step toward the digital world

• January 1979 - Life On Earth – the nation is hooked

• July 1981 - The Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer

• January 1982 - The BBC Microcomputer is launched

• January 1983 - Breakfast Time – the UK's first breakfast TV service

• February 1985 - EastEnders - the BBC's most watched programme

• July 1985 - Live Aid - a new global campaign phenomenon

• September 1995 - DAB gets the green light

• November 1997 - The BBC News 24 Channel

• December 1997 - bbc.co.uk is launched

• September 1998 - The first BBC digital TV channel

• May 2004 - Come Dancing returns as 'Strictly'

• July 2007 - BBC iPlayer – see what you want when you want

• September 2007 - BBC Pacific Quay opens

• March 2008 - BBC Arabic and BBC Persian Television – a new way forward

• November 2008 - Red Button - extends television viewing

• September 2010 - Super Hi-Vision (SHV) trialled

• July 2011 - 3D tennis - Wimbledon sees another 'first'

• August 2012 - London 2012 - The Digital Olympics

• October 2012 - Audio enters another dimension

• December 2012 - Connected Red Button

I have no idea what the end of this list might look like in the coming years. All I know is that I’m honoured to have been able to represent the BBC internationally over the airwaves this past week. I’ve done my best with the few hours I was able to snatch here and there. There have been quick contacts and short exchanges as well as fascinating rag chews with radio operators around the world.

Although I have been calling CQ I have mostly enjoyed replying to others calling CQ and popping up randomly in conversations. This has meant I’ve built my list steadily and avoided any unmanageable pileups.

All of the people I have contacted have been courteous. …Well there was this one group who unbeknown to me had been disagreeing with something the BBC had put out and there I was, popping up at the end of a long rant, totally oblivious to what had been said.

“Are you spying on us?” One guy said before filling me in on his thoughts.

“Sorry” I replied, “I’ve just turned on. Everyone is more than welcome to their opinion. Even if it’s wrong.”

I think he could tell I was smiling as he laughed and asked me if he could get me in the log. So over all it has been a wonderful experience.

I made my contacts in phone mode (FM & SSB) and digital (FT8 & DSTAR). The first person I worked was Gordon M7TOG on 4M.

After him I worked other stations in England, Northern Ireland, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, USA, Italy, Spain, Finland, Skye, Poland, Wales, Romania, Oman, Greece, India, Serbia, Canada, Brazil, Sardinia and Luxembourg.

All contacts were across 70cm, 2m, 4m, 10m, 15m, 17m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 80m, 160m.

My last day was sadly cut short as I have to head east. That said, conditions these last two days have been a bit weird.

Outside of repeater work and the above shack antics I took my Icom IC705 round a friend’s house last night. Their garden is overlooked by a big house and massive trees, but with the help of my Sotabeams linked dipole I was able to show him activity across the bands.

Nice to sit out round a fire at night with the radio. Hopefully there will be more of that in the coming months.

In other news… I don’t think I have mentioned David G7DIU before. He is one of the reasons I went for my amateur radio licence. I really liked how he shepherded the net. Always interested and diplomatic. He guided conversations I wanted to be a part of.

Sadly he was taken ill last year and had to go into hospital. Thankfully although suffering a neurological disease he is able to key up a handheld and while now being looked after back home is able to get on the radio.

Hearing David pop up on the morning net yesterday is a highlight of the year for me.

Welcome back David. Even though I have only known you a few years I have to say welcome back old friend. It’s so good to hear your voice.

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Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.

I’ll be heading east soon and will take my radios with me. Just in case.

If there is anyone you think might like a weekly dose of radio stuff in an email, please let them know about this. Feel free to link this in FaceBook or forums etc. The more the merrier and all that.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

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