Amateur Radio - callsign VK2UA

Webmaster for Waverley Amateur Radio Society

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Collecting & Restoring Historical Radios - Webmaster HRSA

Small Multimeter c1920

This meter was made by the General Electric Co USA in about 1920. It is 6" x 4" x 3" in size and has 6 ranges measuring up to 30 amps and 150 volts. It was originally owned by the signalling department of the NSW Railways and is still in working order. Note that this picture was made by directly scanning the meter itself.

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British R1155 Aircraft Radio

My first serious radio, bought when I was still at school, was a war surplus R1155. These communications receivers were used in most of the Lancaster and other British bombers that raided Germany during WWII. I gave away this first one 30 years ago but have recently acquired an R1155A model as well as an R1155E, both of which are unusually in original and working order. I have set up a web site showing a lot more information on this set and its companion transmitter, the T1154. See R1155/T1154 web site for more details.

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Australian STC Model 74

This 7 valve domestic console radio was built about 1933. It is a quality set in fine near original condition with the only replacement parts being the 3 electrolytics, the mains and dial cords. It is an excellent performer, but only covers the AM band.

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Barkers Model 88

The Barkers 88 is a top of the range UK pre-war domestic receiver, with the quality of a console built into a table cabinet. Barkers was a general store so it was a house brand and they did not actually build it. My grandfather bought one of these when new and I inherited it when he died 20 years later. The 88 refers to its 8 valves (including magic eye), its 8 watts output (2 x 6F6 in push-pull) and its 8 gns cost. The set is a fairly conventional 3 band (Long, Meduim & Short waves) superhet. I have a copy of the servicing instructions published in 1945.

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WWII Wehrmacht Miniature Valves

My collection of valves, mainly to serve as spares for servicing old radios also includes some interesting sidelines. Amongst these are a range of German military WWII valves from 100w transmitting valves down to miniature receiving types.These are quite different in design to allied patterns, with holders that cover the entire unit. Screw in knobs are used to insert and withdraw them. The illustrations show a variety of miniature and small transmitting types with the odd holder and some with screwed in knobs. Patterns pre-fixed R or S are Wehrmacht types and those with L are Luftwaffe.

Antique Collecting

Some items of interest include

19thC Marine Paintings - F. Garling

Here is a small watercolour sketch (22 x 26 cm) by Frederick Garling, of the migrant ship "Lizzie Webber" off Gabo Island and a part of a larger painting of the "Orwell" entering Sydney Heads, both done around 1855.It is interesting to compare the "Lizzie Webber" with another larger (24 x 35 cm) picture of the same ship, also in rough weather, in the National Library of Australia. Garling was a well known Australian artist who painted accurate pictures of many ships that visited Sydney in this period. A rather unusual sketch for Garling is his "Sole Survivor of the Dunbar", the ship that was wrecked at the harbour entrance in 1858. It is sketched in sepia on pale green paper.

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English Regency Breakfast Table

An rare expanding breakfast table made c1800 and signed by Butler of 13 Catherine Street, London on a brass plate set into the top of the pedestal. The table has the usual tilt top but also has two leaves that can be inserted, one of which is a modern reproduction.

Seen here with part of a set of 10 late 18th century country Hepplewhite mahogany chairs which I inherited from my grandmother in the 1950s. I don't know how long she had owned them.

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Late Victorian pedestal desk

What appears to be a common late Victorian mahogany desk has a number of interesting features. Technically it is a dressing table as its top surface is plain mahogany, now with a sheet of glass for protection, rather than having a leather insert. Unlike most similar pieces, where the back consists of painted or unfinished timber, this desk has a fully polished back so that it can used in the centre of a room as well as against a wall. Indeed this is how I remember it being used by my grandmother in a living room in the 1940s. I date it at around 1895, the year of her marriage.

It is very well made and of high quality and, unusually, in a single piece. It has solid divisions between the drawers and is fitted with hidden castors under each pedestal. It is in original condition and is fitted with a lock to each drawer, with the centre drawer different to the others.

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Australian Colonial Cedar Serving Table

An Australian cedar serving table with two drawers by Joseph Sly of Sydney. Australian furniture is collected more on account of its rarity than its design or workmanship. Articles tended to be rather plain in comparison with British or European work of the same period and much was made in cedar, a common timber which was soft and easy to work, and readily available in large sizes during the 19th century.

This piece belonged to my in-laws and it wasn't until dealing with their estate 20 years ago that I noticed the J.SLY impressed mark on the top of the front of one of the drawers. Its style would put its date of manufacture as around 1845.

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Box Sextant

A box sextant by Troughton & Simms in a leather case. The item is only 4" in diameter and made from nickel-silver with a silver scale and unlike full size instruments, this one has no telescope, though the usual sun glasses are present. These sextants were generally used in ship's boats.

This one has an interesting inscription showing it was presented on 30th January 1851 to JWM Burnett RN, of the troopship HMS Resistance, by Captain Broughton and Officers of the Royal Artillery. There is no indication as to whether a special service was rendered or whether it was a routine end of voyage gift.

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Snuff Boxes

The one on the left is an Old Sheffield Plate snuff box with a scene embossed on the lid made around 1760. Snuff boxes were some of the first articles made by this process.

The other is a brass box with a combination lock, made about 1800, probably in Prescot, Lancashire which was well known as a source of these boxes.

Travelling

The two photos on the right were taken during an inland waterways cruise in Russia between St Petersburg & Moscow in 2002. The first shows the 15th century wooden churches on Kizhy Island which is largely a rural open air museum with many other early wooden buildings, some of which were moved from elsewhere. The second shows a scene inside the Moscow Kremlin. The Russian term kremlin describes a fortified citadel containing the major government, religious and military buildings of a city.

The last photo shows the southern approach to Saba Island when enjoying a 2 week yachting cruise in the Caribbean in 2003. Yachts can only visit this small Dutch island in fine weather which we were lucky to find. Despite being Dutch, English is the generally used language.

On our return to Australia we visited the UAE and Singapore in the middle of the Gulf War and SARS scares with no noticeable effect. My nephew who was actively involved in the war as an RAF pilot was staying at a place we visited but we didn't know until afterwards.

Pictures of these and later trips can be seen in my picture gallery.

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The Sea and Sailing

I enjoy boating and owned and lived aboard my own 40ft yacht, "Inanda", for some years during the mid 1960s. Click for an architects drawing of her. Winters were spent on rivers and canals including the Severn, the Thames and the Regents Canal. I regularly took her cruising to France, the Channel Islands and the Low Countries from the UK. She is illustrated in the tiny harbour of Sark in the Channel islands.

These days I enjoy sailing on other people's yachts both in Australia and overseas! This includes regular racing on Sydney Harbour and a recent cruise in the Caribbean.
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Music

Cooking

On the other hand I make home brewed beer. This stems from finding Australian commercial beer generally rather sweet for my taste and perhaps from being descended from a brewing family, Truman, Hanbury & Buxton in England.

Genealogy

On my mother's side, the Lyons, are a very old Scottish family who can trace their ancestry back over 1000 years. There is a distant relationship to the current British royal family. Their motto is "IN TE DOMINE SPERAVI", which translates as "In god I put my trust".

I have traced many relatives and ancestors which has resulted in a database of well over 1000 people!

Marine Model making

That shown at the left is a cross-section about 6" wide of the "Essex", a US 32 gun frigate built in 1799 at Salem and after almost worldwide service was ultimately captured by the British. It is constructed from timber much like the original and all the interior details are present. Although not visible in the picture, the model includes the mainmast and rigging.

The model on the right is rather unusual being that of a British armed naval pinnace dating to about 1800. Again the wooden model is constructed exactly as the prototype and all the boat's fittings and accessories are part of the model. The model is 1/16th scale and 24" long.

The final picture shown is a Deans Marine radio-controlled working model of the WWII modified Black Swan sloop HMS "Amethyst" and is about 36" long. This ship which is similar to HMS "Flamingo" in which I served for a year.

She became famous through her involvement in the Yangtze incident in 1949. She escaped downriver from Nanking to Shanghai being fired at by communist Chinese shore batteries during which the ship suffered considerable damage and loss of life.

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Pets

Steam Railways

I have always had an interest in steam trains and from time to time enjoy joining one of the NSW Rail Transport Museum's trips. Pictured on the right is the famous No 4472 "Flying Scotsman" at Sydney's Central Station on a visit to Australia in 1988.

On the left is a picture I took recently on the miniature Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway in the UK. The RH&DR was built in the late 1920s, is usually thought of as just a tourist attraction, however it runs throughout the year providing an essential service to the local population. The locomotive shown is No 8 "Hurricane", built in 1927 by Davey, Paxman.

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Page maintained by Simon Buxton. Created: 19/11/97 Updated: 28/9/2009