Lieutenant Roy Dawson, later GM3GBX
Many thanks to Nick Dawson for providing this story about his father Roy Dawson, GM3GBX who was a member of the LRS probably in the 1950s. The following piece is taken from a newspaper article describing his amateur radio activities while serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in the British Army of the Rhine in Germany after WWII. After demobilization he came to Edinburgh and worked at Ferrianti on Navigation Systems.
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RUTHERGLEN B.A.O.R. OFFICER ON AIR TO HOME
(By a Military Observer)
A Rutherglen officer in Rhine Army holds regular “on the air” conversations with a radio friend in Wishaw, near Glasgow. He is Lieutenant Roy Dawson, stationed at Delmenhorst, Germany, with the famous “Cherry-pickers” – the 11th Hussars. His home is at 30 Broomieknowe Road, Rutherglen. A former student of Glasgow Royal Technical College, he now operates the Hussars’ amateur broadcasting station during his spare time. During the day he commands the Light Aid Detachment which repairs the Hussars’ vehicles. He is a member of the Royal Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
“I was introduced to my Glasgow friend when we started broadcasting to each other” Lieutenant Dawson told a Military Observer. “But last time I was on leave we arranged a meeting and we are now firm friends.”
The home partner in this radio link is Mr Jack Wilson, who, besides running a radio shop, operates station GM3JW. He is but one of the many other friends contacted by Lieutenant Dawson, who is in touch with stations all over the world. When on short leave in Denmark he stayed with a radio acquaintance, and he holds regular chats with American amateurs in the nearby American enclave of Bremen.
“I built our transmitter while stationed in Hamburg last winter,” went on Lieutenant Dawson. “The chassis is British but most of the components are German. When I am demobilised in November, I am handing the station over to our signals sergeant. He will carry on a broadcasting club which I have formed in the unit.
Lieutenant Dawson proudly showed me a collection of dozens of station acknowledgements of conversations held. There was scarcely a civilised country not represented in the pile. Glancing through them I noticed that Alaska, Trinidad and nearly all the South American republics were included.
When demobilised Lieutenant Dawson plans to resume his studies at the Royal Technical College and intends to carry on his spare time radio work.
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