Bill had a knack of picking up languages and when I met him in Athens in the early thirties he spoke at least seven to my knowledge: Russian, Greek, English, French, Italian, Turkish and German.His pronunciation in all them was excellent.On one occasion at a party in the Athens suburb of Palaio Psyhico one of the guests was an amateur from Italy who spoke no English, so Bill interpreted from that language into Italian for his benefit.He then translated what the Italian had said into English for the others.But suddenly their faces went blank.Quite unconsciously Bill had translated the Italian's remarks into Turkish! Many years later Bill was employed at the United Nations in New York as a simultaneous translator.In October 1946 Bill and his wife Artemis visited Charles Mellen W1FH in Boston for an 'eyeball' after more than ten years of QSOs over the air, with the exception of the war years of course.Chas photographed Bill outside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bill photographed Mary (Chas' xyl), Chas and Artemis standing in front of the W1FH tower.
The first transmitter he built can be seen in the photo taken from thebook GREEK BROADCASTING published by Radio Karayianni in 1952.His shack was in the basement workshop at 17a, Bucharest Street in Athens, an address which became known world-wide as the first QSL bureau for Greece.
The gang of enthusiasts who met at Bill's included Nasos Coucoulis SV1SM, Aghis Cazazis SV1CA, Nick Katselis SV1NK, Mikes Paidousi SV1MP, Pol Psomiadis SV1AZ (now N2DOE) and the writer of these memoirs, SV1RX.Of course all visiting amateurs made a beeline for the shack in the basement.As most of our contacts were with the U.S.A.we were usually up most of the night because of the 7-hour difference with Eastern Standard Time.None of us had motor-cars and public transport was not available during the night hours so we all got plenty of exercise walking back to our respective houses.
Bill was closely in touch with two men who played a very important role in the development of amateur radio in Greece.I am referring to Stefanos Eleftheriou who was Section Head for Telecommunications at the Ministry (Greek initials T.T.T.)., and to Captain Kyriakos Pezopoulos, Director of D.R.Y.N.(Greek initials for Directorate of the Wireless Service of the Navy).The long wave spark transmitter at Votanikos, a suburb of Athens, (callsign SXA) had been built by the Marconi company before World(Bill Tavaniotis died of cancer in 1948.)4.Harry Barnett G2AIQ (formerly SV1WE).
In July 1946, Harry Barnett, a Royal Air Force officer attached to the Press Department of the British Embassy in Athens obtained an experimental transmitting licence from the W/T section of the Ministry of Posts & Telegraphs, with the callsign SV1WE.At that time he was living in a flat in Athens and could not put up an antenna, so it was not until June 1947 that he became active.
The terms of his licence were in themselves rather strange, one might even say quite 'experimental', the final paragraph reading: "This experimental research must be carried out as follows:-1.With a maximum power of 50 watts.2.In the frequency bands (harmonics) 130, 260, 520 Mc/s.3.In the frequency bands 28 Mc/s and 56Mc/s.4.With the call sign SV1WE."
From June 1947 until April 1948 Harry worked 61 countries, mostly on phone in the 10 & 20 metre bands, at a time when there were not many stations on the air - a minute fraction of the millions now active.
He used a National HRO receiver he had got off a scrap heap which he modified to take the efficient EF50 valves in the R.F.stages and EF39s in the I.F.
The transmitter was completely 'home brew', consisting of a metal 6L6 Franklin oscillator on 3.5 MHz followed by two more 6L6s doubling to 14 MHz.In the final amplifier stage Harry used a Telefunken pentode, the famous and very efficient RL12P35 which was used in the German tank transmitters in all stages, oscillator, P.A.and audio amplifier/suppressor grid modulator.He adopted the same method of modulation using a record player amplifier and an Astatic crystal microphone.
W.A.C.was achieved by February 1948 with about 50 watts of R.F.into a simple dipole antenna.During the ten months that SV1WE was active 750 QSL cards were sent out.Of the 61 countries worked only 49 were confirmed.
Today (1989) Harry is still regularly on the air under his original callsign G2AIQ which was first issued to him on the 1st of January 1938, 51 years ago.
5.George Yiapapas (formerly SV1GY).
George Yiapapas is a Greek amateur who was very active for over 25 years yet nobody seems to have heard of him.In 1935 George and his father Costas built a one-valve transmitter using a type 59 pentode with suppressor grid modulation, and succeeded in contacting most of the world with this QRP rig.The electron coupled oscillator could not have put more than 4 or 5 watts into the antenna.
After the war George went to Jordan in 1956 to work for Cable & Wireless the English company which operated the old Eastern Telegraph cable network.He used the callsign JY1GY for about a year and was then transferred to Tripoli in the Kingdom of Lybia, during the reign of King Idris, where he obtained an official licence with the call 5A3TA.
In 1960 he was again transferred, this time to Kuwait, where he operated the equipment of Mohamet Behbehani 9K2AM for over six years.George now has a small shop in Piraeus, the port of Athens and is no longer active on the amateur bands.
6.Stefanos Eleftheriou (1895-1979).
Stefanos Eleftheriou, Head of the Telecommmunications section of the Ministry of Posts & Telegraphs (Greek initials T.T.T.) played a vital role in the early development of amateur radio in Greece.
