the dawn of amateur radio in the u[1].k.(收音机雏形的诞生)-第20节
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British Embassy。 I think the choice of title was a rather unfortunate
mistake。 The English words ‘information' and ‘intelligence' have only one
equivalent word in Greek pliroforiesq。 And most Greeks hold peculiar
views about the C。I。A。 and the British Intelligence Service。 So here I was
strutting about in the uniform of a war correspondent bearing the flashes
‘I。S。'； the butt of many a joke from my friends who accused me of being a
master spy。 My boss； Colonel Johnson； who had been the British Council
representative in Greece prior to the outbreak of war in 1939； came to my
office one morning and told me that he had heard a rumour that King
George of the Hellenes； who was then in London； was going to broadcast
in the Greek service of the B。B。C。 I replied I had heard nothing； but would
try and find out if the rumour was true。 As he left my office I glanced at
my watch； it was 11 o'clock in the morning； 9 o'clock in London。 I
telephoned the General Manager of Cable & Wireless； Mr Briggs； who
was a personal friend。 I told him I wanted to make use of his facilities to
ask an urgent question of the B。B。C。 in London。 He replied； 〃Tell
McTaggert〃 （the engineer in charge of the Central Telegraph Office） 〃that
I said he should help you in any way possible。〃
〃Mac〃； I said over the telephone； 〃would you get one of your
operators to ring the B。B。C。 in Bush House （from where the World Service
originates） and ask them if they have any plans for a broadcast by King
George of the Hellenes。〃 I immediately tuned one of my receivers to the
frequency of the London telegraph link； which was carrying high speed
morse traffic。 In a short while the tape was stopped and an operator； using
a hand key； asked my question slowly in plain language； and then the tape
was put on again。 I waited anxiously for about five minutes。 Again the
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tape was stopped； a single letter ‘R' （for received） was sent by hand； and
traffic returned to normal。 My telephone rang； it was McTaggert。 〃Nothing
doing； old boy。 The B。B。C。 have no plans for such a broadcast。〃 I thanked
him and looked at my watch。 It was 11。25； just 25 minutes had elapsed。 I
called my boss and told him the answer to his question。 〃How do you
know？〃； he asked。 〃I asked the B。B。C。； sir。〃 〃You what？〃； he shouted at me。
〃Don't you know there's a war on？ I'm coming to see you。〃 He stormed
into my office and demanded an explanation； so I told him what I had
done。 〃Good God； what is this going to cost us？〃。 〃Nothing at all； sir。
There is no provision for anything like that in the operating procedure〃。
〃Then I must write a letter to Cable & Wireless to thank them。〃 I thought
to myself； why don't you write a letter to Norman and thank him for
having friends in the right places。 But I kept my mouth shut。
My equipment and my staff of 20 men and 5 girls were housed on the
6th floor of the Metohikon Tamion building。 When ELAS marched on
Athens； there was constant firing； shelling and bombing throughout the 24
hours of the day and night for three or four weeks。 The bombing was by
light aircraft of the R。A。F。 on the ELAS positions in the suburbs and
Beaufighter aircraft straffing them with 20 mm cannon。 Then ELAS set up
a 75 mm gun in the northern suburb of Aharnon； and started hitting us
back。 When we had received several hits on and around our H。Q。 building；
I was ordered to move down to the second floor； to safer accommodation。
I extended some of my antenna down…leads； and resumed normal service。
One of our assignments was to transcribe； every day； what was said in the
Greek transmissions of nineteen different countries about the situation in
Greece； and to produce a daily summary in English； for the benefit of the
Press Department。
In the summer of 1945 we began having interference on GIN； a
station of the British Post Office which operated around 10MHz；
transmitting a REUTER news service for Europe on the German
Hellschreiber （Hell printer） system。 This was a sort of very course TV
picture of 49 dots； seven by seven。 The letter 'I' for instance came out as
seven dots vertically； and the letter 'T' just had another six dots across the
top。 The letters were very crude but readable； provided there was no
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interference； or crashes of static。 The interference； which made our tape
quite unreadable； used to start around 3 in the afternoon and fade slowly
away about three hours later； when the tape became readable again。 I
decided I would try and identify the source。 All I had in the way of
recorders were office…type Dictaphones using wax cylinders。 I removed
the three weights from the speed governor； and the cylinder spun round
like mad。 I managed to record for about three minutes and when I played
the recording on another machine at normal speed the cylinder yielded up
its secret … it was high speed morse traffic in 5…figure cypher。 I typed it all
out and noticed that some of the paragraphs began with the letter ‘B'。 I
subsequently found out it was a characteristic of stations carrying Royal
Air Force traffic。 I sent my text to London； and three weeks later the
interference stopped。 It was more than a month later that I was told what
had happened。 The transmitter causing the problem was located in Kandy；
Ceylon。 It operated with a rhombic antenna beamed to R。A。F。 Calcutta。 Its
frequency was only 500 Hz away from GIN。 The department which had
allocated the frequency never imagined that it could possibly cause
interference in Europe to the REUTER news service。 But sunspot cycle 20；
which was a good one； had decided otherwise。
In 1947 I was transferred to the British Police Mission to Greece；
which was headed by Sir Charles Wickham。 My principal duty was to
interpret for Sir Charles； and for his second in command Colonel Prosser。
My friend Mr Eleftheriou at the Ministry issued me with a special licence
and I came on the air again using my pre…war callsign SV1RX。 When the
Police Mission closed down in 1948 I came to England and got the
callsign G3FNJ which I have now held for over 41 years。
8。 Wartime Broadcasts from Cairo。
Elias Eliascos； a former teacher of English at Athens College （a joint
U。S。/Greek institution） described to me how he came to be a news…reader
at Radio Cairo in 1941 together with his brother Patroclos。
〃When Hitler declared war on Greece and after the collapse of the
front in northern Greece and in Albania； my brother Patroclos and I were
summoned to the British Embassy in Athens and told that owing to our
close ties with the British Council （of Cultural Relations）； it would not be
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prudent for us to remain in Athens or even Greece after the German army
had occupied the capital。 We were told that we would be helped to leave
Greece together with the British Embassy staff； the staff of the British
Council and all the British nationals in Greece。
〃The British Consul…General provided us with the necessary
documents for my brother and me to board the last evacuation vessel
sailing from the port of Piraeus。 It was the s/s 'Corinthia' which left
Piraeus on the 18th of April 1941。 It happened to be Good Friday
according to the Greek…Orthodox calendar。 About five days later Hitler's
army marched into Athens。
〃The ship was packed and the British Embassy staff carried most of
the Embassy files with them。 One of the passengers was David Balfour
who was the vicar of the little chapel attached t
