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and hid the pouch ‘safely' underneath it。 We hurried out of the house … and
never went back。
We and many other families spent one night on the merchant vessel
where there was no sleeping accommodation。 Next morning we were
transferred to a large hospital ship called MAINE。 All day we watched
small groups of the Turkish and Greek armies skirmishing on the sea…front
and in the evening many fires broke out in the town。 In the middle of the
night while we were sleeping the hospital ship sailed away to an unknown
destination。 After two or three days we arrived in Malta； where most of us
stayed for the next four years。
It was in Malta that my interest in wireless telegraphy was first
aroused。 We were housed in some military ‘married quarters'。 Close by
there was a wireless station which produced bright greenish…blue sparks
and crackling noises。 Its antennas were supported on three very tall
wooden masts painted bright yellow。 I soon discovered that it was GYZ
belonging to the Admiralty。 Malta was then （1922） a very big base of the
British Navy； in the good old days when England had an Empire。
I bought a kit of parts and assembled a small receiver and being so
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The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece ： a personal view
close to the powerful spark transmitter that was all I ever heard。
In 1926 when I left school my family moved to Greece and my
brother who was 7 years older than me； opened up a shipping office on the
island of Mitylene； in the Aegean sea。 My father and grandfather had been
in this business in Turkey。
It was in Mitylene in 1927 that I constructed my first short wave
receiver。 It had 3 valves with 4 volt filaments； heated by an accumulator
（storage battery）。 H。T of 130 volts was obtained from a bank of small
accumulators in series。 As I had not learned how to make a charger I had
to carry these two units to a local garage regularly for re…charging。
Apart from commercial telegraph stations there was little else to hear。
I had still not heard about ‘amateur' radio。 The B。B。C。 was carrying out
test transmissions from Chelmsford for what became the Empire Service
（now the World Service） using the callsign G5SW。 There was also G6RX
which stood for Rugby Experimental； operated by the British Post Office。
They were experimenting with ship…to…shore telephony； and after setting
up a circuit the operator used to say 〃over to condition A〃 （and sometimes
B） which was very frustrating for me because the voices then became
scrambled and quite unintelligible。 When I first began transmitting six
years later； having ‘discovered' the amateurs； I chose the callsign RX as I
had been a listener so long； and also remembering the excitement of
listening to G6RX。
In 1930 I moved to Athens and became a salesman for RCA radios。 It
was there that I met Bill Tavaniotis； SV1KE； and his mechanic Pol
SV1AZ （now N2DOE）。 None of us had official licences because the
Greek State did not recognise the existence of amateur radio； and in fact
Athens did not even have a broadcasting station until 1938； although a
station had been operating since 1928 in Salonica （Thessaloniki） the
second largest city of Greece。 But the Head of the W/T section at the
Ministry of Posts & Telegraphs （Greek initials T。T。T） Mr Stefanos
Eleftheriou knew all about us and gave us his unofficial blessing。
My first transmitter was just an electron coupled oscillator using a
type 59 output pentode from a radio。 With an input of around 5 watts I was
able to achieve W。A。C。 on 14 MHz in 25 minutes one very exciting
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The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece ： a personal view
afternoon。 There were very few stations around and single frequency
working had not been heard of yet。 It was the middle of the sunspot cycle
（which I knew nothing of） and propagation must have been exceptionally
good。
Another thing we had never heard of in those innocent days was
SWR。 I had a Hot Wire ammeter and always tuned for maximum
deflection； completely oblivious of the fact that a large proportion of the
indicated value was ‘reflected power'。 I moved to ‘high power' when I
added a 210 P。A。 to my rig。
Obviously the prefix SV was quite a rare one and SV stations were
much sought after； particularly the handful who used CW。 But as I
described in a short article in the October 1948 issue of the SHORT
WAVE MAGAZINE published in London； it was not all fun being a rare
DX station。 A photo copy appears below：
To return to pre…World War II operating： Most operators used crystal
oscillators in order to have a clean ‘9x' note。 It was quite normal procedure
to call CQ on one's crystal frequency； say 14；076 KHz and then go over
and start combing the band from 14；000 for replies。 At that time 20 metres
covered 14；000 to 14；400 KHz。； and the 15 metre band had not been
allocated to the amateur service。
In September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland and all of us hastily and
voluntarily dismantled our transmitters and scattered the components； as
there was nobody to order us to close down。
In the latter part of April 1941 the German army marched into the
northern suburbs of Athens at 11 o'clock in the morning。 At 3 o'clock in
the afternoon of the same day； a strong unit of the Gestapo arrived in the
southern suburb of Kallithea and surrounded the block in which my house
was situated and broke into it； looking for me and my transmitter。 Of
course I had dismantled everything 19 months previously and even taken
down the antenna。 So after this long period of QRT how did they know
where to find me？ Well； FOUR YEARS EARLIER I had won the first
prize for Greece in the D。A。S。D。 DX Contest for 1937 and the German
society had sent me a nice certificate。 You can draw your own conclusions。
I heard later （because I had left a few days earlier for Egypt with the staff
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The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece ： a personal view
of the British Embassy） that the Gestapo had visited all the active
amateurs and had managed to arrest only one of them； Nasos Coucoulis
SV1SM （later SV1AC） and put him in a concentration camp in Italy for
nearly a year。
I would like to sketch briefly the turbulent events of the following
three years with some extracts from my diaries。
One year earlier； in 1940； following the invasion of Greece by the
Italian army operating from Albania； the broadcasting authority in Athens
（ETHNIKON IDRIMA RADIOFONIAS） began a news service in English
which was beamed to England and the U。S。A。 on the short waves。 In my
capacity as a member of the Press Department staff of the British Embassy
I took part in the first programme； and in fact read the first news bulletin；
wh