This talk describes the experiences of a young ship's Radio Operator in the Merchant Navy in 1941. He describes the life of merchant seamen in wartime under enemy fire.

Mr. Brown qualified for Radio Operator Second Class from the Canadian Electronics Institute in Toronto in March 1941 and served in the Merchant Navy from March to October of 1941 during which he was twice torpedoed. He was then recruited by the Department of Transport as a radio operator to monitor German military radio signals, and in 1943, to work at a DOT intermediate airfield in the Yukon. (He spoke to the Friends in January 2008 about "Radio Waves Across the North (Circa World War II)", describing his experiences at this airfield.) He continued to work as a radio operator until 1953, when he qualified as a technician, worked from then until 1966 as a technician and then worked in technician training from 1966 until his retirement in 1976, all with DOT.

All Friends of CRC, their spouses and friends and employees at the Shirley Bay site, including DRDC, CSA and military personnel, are cordially invited. As usual, Friends will be meeting beforehand for lunch in the CRC Cafeteria.

* "Sparks": a slang term for a ship's radio operator, originating when radio transmitters used spark gaps to generate radio signals.

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P.O. Box 11490 Station H C.P. 11490, succursale H

Ottawa, Ontario K2H 8S2 Ottawa, Ontario K2H 8S2

613-990-6673 613-990-6673

Website: friendsofcrc.ca

E-mail: crcfriends@igs.net

Membership: Don Ross donross@magma.ca

Badges: Andre Kennedy aek@mondenet.com

FRIENDS OF CRC NEWSLETTER April 14, 2008

Future Events:

Thursday, April 17, 2008. Annual Spring Noon Luncheon at the Britannia Yacht Club. Please refer to the details which were sent out April 7, 2008.

Thursday, April 24, 2008. "The Annual General Meeting", followed by Mr Ernie Brown who is returning to speak to us on "The Battle of the Atlantic" which he personally experienced while serving in the merchant marine during which time he was twice torpedoed. Friends will recall that Ernie spoke to us earlier in the year on the topic entitled "Radio Waves Across The North". This talk is very timely as it immediately precedes Battle of Atlantic Sunday.

Mid Summer Outing: We are looking for suggestions from the membership so if you have any ideas please let us know.

Some Friends of CRC may be interested in the following IET and IEEE joint meeting.

"Radio Astronomy in Canada: 60 years of monitoring at 10.7 cm, the little index that could"

Ken Tapping, Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory National Research Council, Penticton, British Columbia

Thursday 1st May 2008, 8 - 9:30pm
RA Centre, 2451 Riverside Drive - Courtside A Room, East Block
Optional pub supper, 6:30 pm Fieldhouse Restaurant - just along the hall - 2 course specials $12
Reservations for meeting and supper appreciated but not absolutely necessary David Boteler - boteler -at - iee.org
The story of how measurements with WWII radar parts became an international solar index used in everything from satellite drag models, radio propagation predictions, weather radar calibrations, space weather forecasting and climate change studies.

E-mails Received:

From: Andy Tenne-Sens

Date: March 28, 2008

I’m greatly in favour of having the Friends network announce any and all upcoming retirements ASAP. These should be sent out as soon as the information is received, rather than suffering delay of having them put into the regular newsletter.

Andy

Deaths:

Lorraine Croskery [see attachment for photo]

CROSKERY, Lorraine Jane (nee Saila) Peacefully, surrounded by her family, Friday, March 21, 2008, in hospital. Predeceased by her beloved husband William Fletcher Croskery. Devoted mother of Evan (Christine) and Michael (Tally). Dear grandmother to Benjamin, Harrison, Caitlin and Saila. Sister of Joan Bulger (the late Tom) and Ron Saila (Lynne). She will be sadly missed by her family and friends. The family wishes to thank the Royal Ottawa Place for their compassionate care. Friends may pay respects at the Kelly Funeral Home, 580 Eagleson Road, Kanata, Thursday after 10 a.m. Funeral Service to follow in the Chapel at 11 a.m. Interment Lowry Cemetery, Marathon, Ontario in the Spring. In memoriam donations to the Canadian Liver Foundation appreciated.

Canada's Space Pioneering Efforts

Quite apart from the designation last June of the Alouette program as of National Historic Significance (which has not as yet been formally publicized), the resounding success of the program has again been recognised in the form of a prestigious award to Colin Franklin who, all space pioneers will recall, was responsible for pushing through the groundbreaking design and test philosophy adopted for Alouette despite some strongly held views to the contrary. The award is to be presented at the IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering to be held in Niagara Falls, ON, on May 4 to 7, 2008. The Conference program announcement includes the following:

"Colin Franklin, a Member of IEEE residing in the Ottawa Section, is retired from a long and distinguished career in Canada's space program. He is being awarded the A.G.L. McNaughton Gold Medal (IEEE Canada's highest award) for his contributions as a pioneer of the Canadian space program and a semiconductor circuit innovator."

Colin has been invited to speak at a lunchtime event at the conference on May 6. His speech is to be entitled "The Alouette Satellite Programme, An International Milestone in Canadian Science and Engineering".

It is very nice to know for all those involved in the program that Canada's effort has not been forgotten amongst all the press last year surrounding the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik.

Again, Congratulation, Colin.

Editor’s Note:

The newsletter (printed copy) last month had an error which may have confused some readers. At the end of the section about Colin Franklin, Eldon Warren’s name appeared as if he was the author. "Eldon Warren" was a heading for the next paragraph and should have been on the next page or at least spaced to avoid the error. Sorry for the confusion.

Until next time,

Jim Sawtell

iq4u@storm.ca

613-836-5795