In this section are listed the Silent Key (Obituary) notices for members and former members of the Lothians Radio Society and other local Radio Amateurs.

 

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Andre Saunders GM3VLB   (SK) – a short story about amateur radio and a king.

by Colin Murray GM4EAU

This is a short story from the 1970s with a hint of romance, involving a Middle East King and a Scottish radio amateur who had, to quote his own words, “a slightly cheeky” idea to surprise his new wife Anne with a special honeymoon visit.

Andre was an active member of the Lothians Radio Society and details of his interests and exploits are here: http://www.lothiansradiosociety.com/lrs-news/885-23-may-2019-andre-saunders-gm3vlb-silent-key

Andre worked overseas as a school teacher with the callsign 5Z4KL operating in Nairobi Kenya from 1970 for about a decade. During this period he was very active on HF bands within the African region and achieved a number of African records. This story starts with his return to Kelso in the UK in 1978. Prior to Nairobi he worked in Geneva.

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John Lloyd MacDonald GM4XZN, of Currie, Midlothian became a silent key on 23rd April 2019 at the age of 87. 

After a career as a GPO field engineer, he had been a member of the LRS and Lothians Raynet.

 

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Glenroy (Glen) Campbell GM3HNE died on 27th March 2019 aged 87 in a care home in West Lothian where he had lived for several years. Photo above and QSL card courtesy of his family. Other photos by Alan GM3PSP.

Born in November 1931 and originally licensed as G3HNE in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1951 Glen joined the RAF in the 1950s as an electrical engineer with outside interests in radio and television. He moved to Paisley in 1953 becoming GM3HNE and attended the Glasgow University Radio Club and later the West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society. After moving to Edinburgh in the 1970s he lived in Corstorphine and later at Roseburn and joined the Lothians Radio Society.

He was a keen contestant in LRS 160m Direction Finding Competitions in their early years, but his other radio activities are not known at this time, apart from attending LRS Junk Sales (now "Surplus Equipment Sales").

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John Royston Buchanan, ex-GM8BYF, a former member of the LRS in the 1960s-70s, died suddenly at home on 18th July 2018. 

Ken Dons GM0AXY / formerly LA6EF writes: John and I worked alongside one another at Ferranti, Crewe Toll back in 1965 to the 1970's. He was "my" techie who did all the wiring and layouts etc of prototypes of designs of the early CAD equipment; digitizers and plotting equipment … those were the pioneering days of computer graphics, hi!

We never spoke on the air; not as radio amateurs at any rate; we did "speak" using some mobile Cambridge radios, transmitting text and some rudimentary graphics; it was eventually installed with the Metropolitan Police as one of their earliest mobile data systems! " 

 

  1. 23 Apr 2018 - Silent Key - Frank Benson GM8EKF
  2. 7 Apr 2018 - Silent Key - John Tuke GM3BST
  3. 13 Mar 2018 - Silent Key - David Anderson GM4JJJ / GM8HEY
  4. 7 Dec 2017 - Silent Kay - Ian Sturrock GM4DEK