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Probus trip to the Radio Museum at Kurrajong
On a lovely May autumn day Saratoga District Probus Club and friends visited the Radio Museum at Kurrajong. We were greeted by Pat and Ian, and after a sumptuous morning tea (with Kerri's fab. cakes) we were escorted into the "Shack" which was full of radio receivers of every age and description! including crystal sets
After being able to listen to various programmes of yesteryear through individual headphones, we were invited to take a seat and listen to a fascinating talk by Ian on the history of Australian radio. Transmission was first invented by Marconi in 1896 and he was granted his first patent in 1901. Other companies were soon in competition with him, mainly Telefunken, this caused a lot of confusion because each company refused to accept the other's calls. These first calls were made by ships at sea in morse code, i.e. the Titanic's distress call in 1912. Morse was followed in 1914 by voice transmissions. Each broadcasting station had its own alphabetical call sign.
We were invited to try our hands on the various historic pieces of equipment - the morse tappers, a teleprinter, and generally take in the enormous world of radio. After a very filling lunch at the Richmond Club, we travelled home through the beautiful scenery enlivened by the excitement of the lucky door prizes (a bottle of bubbly) and bars of chocolate! One of the passengers said afterwards that she was not keen to see the Radio Museum at first, but was so interested in the talk by Ian that she was glad she came.
Pauline