It may not come as a surprise to you that the immediate need was filled by Amateur Radio Operators.

These were men who had enjoyed radio as a hobby and in most cases were self trained
to a high degree of competency. Thus the backbone of the Army,
Navy and Air Force communications systems was obtained.

These "amateur" operators devoted themselves to the tasks in hand
and many stories can be told of their exploits.

You may be interested to hear about
"Winnie The War Winner" a triumph in improvisation.

This was a radio transmitter/receiver built from used parts gathered together
by signals members of "Sparrowforce", a group of Australian troops
trapped in Portuguese Timor by the Japanese advance in the Pacific.

This makeshift radio, built on part of a kerosene tin and put together under great difficulties,
eventually allowed the operators to make contact with Darwin,
following which a successful rescue attempt was made.

The equipment can now be seen in the War Memorial, Canberra.

Another case concerns one of the "coastwatchers", the Late Peter Monfries of Adelaide,
who after the Japanese came down through New Guinea fled into the jungle from Port Moresby
and operated a radio, spying on Japanese troop and shipping movements,
sending the information back to the Australian mainland.

Following the war Peter continued his amateur radio operations under the callsign of VK5RB,
learned to speak Japanese and became a great friend of many
Japanese amateur operators. He visited many of them in Japan.

Peter was decorated for his efforts.

During the more recent "Gulf War" Amateur Radio operators were instrumental in conveying
intelligence from Kuwait to the UN controlled forces by means of Amateur Packet radio.

This was a clandestine operation about which not too much has been told.

However, the case can be clearly made for the value of having a ready trained group
of skilled personnel available to the nation in times of difficulty.

This is surely , at least in part, one of the reasons why
most countries of the world permit Amateur radio operation.

Why else would there be something in excess of 300 radio prefixes
for various countries of the world exclusively set apart by the
International Telecommunications Union in Geneva for Amateur Radio use?

WIA WA - AR Guide - Amateur Radio & Strategic Issues
With thanks to the original writer

Page 3 index - Page 8 - Page 9 - Page 10

The WIA exists for all Radio Amateurs, Does it speak for you.
Amateurs Unite and Conquer, United we stand, Divided we fall.

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