Harry was born at an early age in a house in ... East Perth, right opposite the Perth GasWorks (and his Friends) (?) tell him he has been gassing ever since. He also talks a lot.

He was born with approximately 10 percent vision which makes him an ideal footie fan, but for the fact he hates the game ever since he walked into a flying football ... after school one day.

In due course, ... Harry left school and was enrolled in the Great Depression.

There he remained until they started a War in 1939 and after offering to serve King and Country as a Morse instructor and having failed the eyesight test by saluting the door and trying to open a Sergeant Major, he found a place in what is sometimes referred to as the - Commercial Broadcasting Industry.

During his 15 years in Geralds Town, he rose from announcer to Manager, met several girls and married one of them, ... wrote millions of words of radio ads and continuities, ... played thousands of 78 records, and broke his fair share of same, hired some people, fired one or two, ...

In 1955 he heard from another VK6 that a commercial station was to be opened in Albany, Harry made the foolish mistake of leaving one poorly - paid job for another ditto.   Years rolled by (and by the way did he tell you he took out his Ham Ticket in 1937 ?).   He left radio for selling radios, records and hi-fi gear, which was ten years of Hell.

Harry Atkinson, ...  Built first crystal set about 1927.   Like many others during the depression years, could not afford the listeners licence fee of 30/-(?) so soldered 7-22 enamelled wire to galvanised iron roof and used the same aerial to tune in 6WF on 1250 metres (240 khz). A pipe stuck in the ground for earth. ...

Went to live in Queens Park about 1929-30 and began reading English wireless books in parents news agency.   Popular Wireless Magazine, Modern wireless and Wireless Constructor.   Got the bug to build a valve set.  Saved up (I think about 35 shillings for a dull emitter, (I used to wonder what a bright one would look like ?  Think I bought four or five 4.5v. cycle lamp batteries for the HIGH (?) Tension ? Later got BOLD and introduced some REACTION, which was the polite G-land word for what the yanks called FEEDBACK.

Years rolled by  ... I really got SERIOUS about radio. I bought the timber for an A frame mast .... bought my First Multimeter (from the bird for wireless of course) .... Lasted for years but went where ? I Dunno ...

Began reading the 1931 Admiralty Wireless Handbook and the A.R.R.L. H-book and buying roneo’d old exam papers from the Radio Inspectors Office ... thus armed, and a financial member of the Vic Park Radio Club set to studying  for the ham ticket.    Sat three times for the exam and failed twice. Told parents that if the brown envelope (third time) did not contain GOOD news, I WAS GIVING UP RADIO FOR GOOD... Unfortunately for the rest of the ham fraternity, third time lucky (for me)

1937. First transmitter a Phillips 4-volt heater-cathode triode valve with a small power supply delivering about 200 volts. Spent a fortune (to me) ...  In the 1930's only a few brave (and clued-up) souls were building and using a VFO on air.   
Most of us had to wait till the end of the 39 to 45 war to get our hands on disposals equipment amongst which we could find VFO Controlled rigs which could be adapted for amateur use, and which were stable enough to avoid confrontation with the Wireless Branch ...

Prior to the shut down in 1939 6WZ had built elementary two and three valve receivers and two stage low power H.F. transmitters, ... All of which could be considered QRP by today's standards. Components such as we can buy today over the counter used to look at us from the ad. pages in QST's we scrounged, but were unheard of in the radio shops.  If you could not make a Broadcast Receiver valves and parts work on ham bands  - tough, ... we learnt to adapt, we discovered at first hand there was inductance and capacity inside those glass bulbs, and that put a limit on the power one could use.

Because of sight deficiency I was rejected by the services so I spent the war years in Commercial Broadcasting (not as a technician) at 6GE Geraldton and 6KG Kalgoorlie.

With the end of the war and our gear being returned to us, I learnt another hard fact of life in A.R. Country towns with D.C. Mains were bad news. Geraldton had a three wire 440 - 220 volt system with the centre wire  NEUTRAL  at earth potential.
Half the houses in the street had the active dc wire negative with respect to earth.
And the other half had the active positive against earth.    This did not matter much with lamps and fans ... electric jugs, toasters and irons, but it sure caused a lot of woe with AC - DC  radios. ...

... Eventually he got A.C. by manufacturing it with an abomination of a thing called an inverter.    220 volts in, ha, ha, ha 155 volts at god knows at what hertz out.  ... Eventually my part of the town went to 220 - 440  A.C. Heaven ?

Leaving Geraldton in 1955 to manage a brand new B.C. station at Albany, amateur activities were shelved for about 20 years. And I came back in 1975 with ssb gear and a whole new world

73 to all Harry VK6WZ

Born Perth but spent approx. 40 years living and working in radio in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Albany and Katanning, before retiring to Perth 1986.

For family and financial reasons quit amateur radio 1958-78 but have held call sign VK6WZ for 53-plus years and Institute membership for over thirty years.

Active as RSGB and "Amateur Radio" VK6 correspondent in pre-war years ... 
and post war as Morse volunteer VK6WIA, Albany correspondent for VK6WIA News during Douglas's term, later taking over from VK6ZMG as broadcast officer in 1986.   Life member Southern Electronics Group, Albany.

With my broad experience in amateur and commercial radio in both city and country, and work as a print and electronic media journalist, I feel I can serve all WA Division members and exercise a balanced attitude to all amateur radio modes.

If I have any bias at all it is towards the views and needs of country amateurs --