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Chopperp Guru  Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1106 |
I had great dreams of joining the ABC around 1970. Did very well in the WA, PMG (now Telstra) aptitude test which got me an ABC interview but got a DCM instead of a job.  Not long afterwards DCA, (Dept Civil Aviation, now airservices) was advertising a second intake for the year for more T.I.T's (Techs in Training) of their own. Applied & got the trainee-ship. So I got a DCA instead of an ABC.  Most of the stuff DCA had back then was old to begin with but I do remember being shown a HDD with ginormous platters which been destroyed by a faulty head. I also remember an instructor paying ~$500.00 for a HP-35 calculator. ChopperP |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
I did the same aptitude test and scored a trainee tech position at the ABC in 1975. Spent my first year at the PMG technician training school with all the other ABC trainees. Passed the senior techs exam which then made me a Technical Officer. Ended up as Supervisor of the TV installation section AVB2 Melbourne, during the whole changeover from the original valve based Marconi black and white TV to colour TV with those new fangled transistor semi-whatsit things. Those were very satisfying years. During that time got my ham license (VK3ALY) and did a couple of years as Radio Supervisor at Macquarie Island and Davis Antarctic bases. All jolly good fun. Some other alternative career paths for trainee technicians at the time, were with the Met Bureau, or joining either the navy or air force. Have never regretted my choice. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1106 |
DCA had their own training school/system & also trained OTC guys. Changed to a Radio Trainee in '71. Met up with WA, ABC trainees at Tech. One of them decided to kill himself in a car accident. Mad bastard. Always speeding. His father blamed WA roads. I did 4 years up in the NW at a DECCA station with the Dept Transport as it became. Back to Perth for a while looking after A/G HF transmitters & some time in our instrument section & the tech at Jandakot Airport. Left for a good while, moved over east & eventually got a job at the Army Base at Oakey in QLD with airservices. There about 15 years, then working from home for about 4 years doing quite a bit of travelling, then forced redundancy a couple of years ago. Never game enough to to the Cold stuff, but some of my work mates did. A Brendan Chappell did a stint at M island in the late 70's. Moving over east was a big enough step. We still had NDB's built back in the '50's still going up until a few years ago ChopperP |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
One thing about a career in electronics, it opens up a very wide field of very diverse types of jobs. Never boring, because you can just slide right into doing something totally different very easily. Brendan was at Macquarie much later than me, I was there in 1972. From 1973 and onwards, everyone at Macquarie received an Antarctic medallion. Here is a list of all expeditioners up to and including 1972, we all received our medallions retrospectively, and here is the list: http://www.anareclub.org/web/medallion/1997medallionfulllist.php Cheers, Tony. |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1106 |
Sometimes it can get boring. Glad I left Oakey. Also to much BS coming in. Great bunch of people braving the cold. Andrew Denton did a great Doco many years ago before he moved to Ch7. ChopperP |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
Quite a few people tell me the military is fine... for a while. But it eventually starts to wear a bit thin over time. I never did military, although for a time I did some high power laser electronics design work for the Defense Department. The spooks became a real damned nuisance and it gets really hard to take after a while, although several former spooks have remained really good friends to this day. Secret work as a civilian contractor can be even worse than being in the military, and many give it up after a fairly short time. Back in the 70's there would have been about ninety expeditioners spread across the four Aussie Antarctic bases, and many more than that down there these days. Over the last seventy or so years, there must have been several thousand Aussies that have enjoyed that particular adventure. Many keep going back, I did it twice and I was easily able to pay cash for a house on my second return. It was possible to do that in those days, not so today. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1106 |
We were contractors as well. Still had to get high level security clearance though. Didn't get into the "Secret Squirrel" stuff although there was some there & stuff coming in with the new attack helicopters. Interesting how some security protocols change. They ran a high security LAN line into the Control Tower complex in 2" steel pipe, nice & solid into a secure cabinet. Later on, they extended it to the SATCO's office. New wiring run in clear plastic tubing. They figured, if someone tapped the line, at least they could see where the unauthorised connection was. The big thing with the cold trips south early on was the money involved. No way would I have survived the sea trip down there even if other tests were OK. ChopperP |
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| Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
The sea voyage is a real bastard, if like me you suffer from sea sickness. The Ice strengthened ships roll terribly because the hull curves in just below the water line so it cannot be so easily crushed if ever trapped in the ice. With heaps of deck cargo the thing is just about ready to fall over even in calm water. And they never sail straight to the destination. Every year they go a different and much longer route and do science in a different part of the ocean, such as depth recording, ocean temperatures, water samples and other bullsh*t. Nothing worse than being in a very small stuffy cabin with three other guys, and someone throws up, and then the smell hits you... All part of the fun. Cheers, Tony. |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1106 |
I admire your courage !!! Yes, my wife still thinks it's funny many years ago on a trip from Cairns to Green Island when I fed the fish for most of the way over. Our following Island visit was on a Twin Otter. Bit better & slightly quicker My worst bout of sea sickness was in the late 70's when working at the DECCA station near Roebourne. (DECCA was a hyperbolic navigational system for shipping. Had one master TX with 2 or 3 slave transmitters operating between about 30 - 70 kHz. Ships would have a DECCA receiver with dials which would translate to points on a DECCA map. Accuracy was about 20m during the day but about 500m from late afternoon until dawn while Sky waves were active. Similar to the OMEGA system for Subs. Both systems made redundant with the advent of mainline GPS) A local Pilot vessel with a DECCA receiver, was periodically used to check the position of the buoys marking the shipping channel into the port of Dampier. They used to take several of us out with them to see how it was done, then do a bit of fishing afterwards. I was OK for a while but then it hit me.. sick as a dog. Safe to say I didn't do any fishing & I think the trip was cut short a bit due to my complaining. And yes that smell in the bowels of the boat where there was minimum movement including fresh air. My wife reckoned I did look quite green when I came back. We did do a boat cruise on Lake Argyle near Kunanurra a few years ago. Did that OK. I stay off of most amusement rides etc. Saves heaps of money. Just remembered going on "The Rotor" at Luna Park in Melbourne many many years ago. Big spin drier where they drop the floor out from underneath you & you stay stuck to the sides. Wife enjoyed it. I didn't. She went back for more adventures if I remember correctly while I stayed put. "What else was I going to do with you", she said just now. But we digress from the topic.... maybe need to make a MM Seasickness detector or something similar . ChopperP |
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