He talks to the world from Prehbleton home

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32803, 31 December 1971, Page 10

He talks to the world from Prehbleton home

(By

MARY BARKER)

On a quiet stretch of Trents Road, about a mile from the junction with Springs Road, Prehbleton, there stands behind a modern brick home, a local landmark: the 80ft tower of one of the best known radio hams in the country.

Mr W. (Bill) Baird, and his wife Edith, have shared their lives in what is to them an all-consuming but tremendously rewarding hobby —ham radio; it has in fact become a way of life for the Bairds. At one time the radio, with all its knobs, dials, and wires lived with them, in the dining-room right behind the table and according to Mrs Baird, Bill couldn’t even get through his breakfast without “calling” or receiving between mouthfuls.

Now Mr Baird, who is retired (“if you could call it that”) has built his own complex and highly efficient station behind the house. He is often there until the late hours of the night and early morning: “It all depends on who—and what part of the globe—l’m working.”

Bill Baird’s equipment, is powerful enough for him to reach any spot on the globe. Only the People’s Republic of China has failed to evoke a response: he can reach them but they don’t answer; private ham radio being strictly prohibited in that country’.

An average day Bill Baird built up his equipment over the years. He started in 1928 when he gained his operator’s certificate, and was given his code and “call,” 0.Z.48.G. and the certificate told him he was to be D.N.22. The D.N. stands for Dunedin and the 22 means that in the area covered, all of Otago and Southland, there were, at that time only 21 hams ahead of him. After the resumption of ham radio, forbidden during the war years. Bill receied his present call, ZL.3LE. ,Z.L. for New Zealand and the 3 for Canterbury).

He showed me a page of his log book to illustrate an average day’s work. On the previous day (November 23) he had called the Cook Islands, California, Hawaii, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom, Canada, Argentina, and the United Kingdom again (Reading). All these people had become friends. He pointed out another list. “These I work every day.” They were friends in Santa Barbara, Florida, Nashville (Tennessee), Rhode Island. North Carolina, Boston and British Honduras. He is often in touch with South America and Germany. He has friends all over the world. Mr and Mrs Baird last year had a most successful overseas trip. They w r ent to meet some of the very many long-standing radio friends in the United States and were given “the time of their lives.”

Antarctic link On one occasion Mr Baird and his receiver and transmitter were the only link between the 750 men at McMurdo Station in the Antarctic, and the outside world. A total radio blackout, lasting 124 hours, blanked out all communication between the Antarctic and the outside world. Rear Admiral D. M. Tyree, then commander of the United States Navy Antarctic Support Force, was down there with a party of distinguised guests, including Dr M. M. Bums of Lincoln College. McMurdo Staton was unable to contact either the base at Harewood, Christchurch, or Washington. Although this black-out arose from natural causes, later established by the scientists both at McMurdo Station and Scott Base, the 750 men in the Antarctic, cut off from the outside world, later confessed to a terrible anxiety as to the cause of the black-out. Their suspicion, that like the characters in Neville Shute’s “On the Beach,” they might find themselves the survivors of a nuclear holocaust —was revealed in their urgent inquiries about homes and families, once the radio link was restored.

A long night At that time Bill Baird had a particular friend in the United States support force, a Commander Thurman, and a fellow ham, who called regularly about 10.30 pm. to use Bill’s radio to call up home — Washington D.C. This friend, and all American personnel in Christchurch, were deeply concerned at not being able to reach the men on the ice. The Americans were then using Globemasters which did not carry sufficient fuel to make the return trip: without a weather forecast from McMurdo Station the Globemksters couldn’t leave Christchurch. The United States icebreaker Glacier at Pago Pago, Eastern Samoa, could not pick up anything but then made it her business to keep the channels clear. It was Bill Baird ZL.3LE who picked up the first faint signals of KC4USV, the operator at McMurdo Station.

The first thing Bill asked for was the 1800 hour weather report. This came through faintly but clear

enough for Bill to get it down in writing, and hand it to Commander Thurman who had just arrived from Harewood. Commander Thurman took over the operation of 3LE to receive instructions from the Admiral at McMurdo Station. This gave the Christchurch command the flying and landing possibilities at the other end; actually the weather at McMurdo had been brilliant and clear for days. Bill spent most of that night at his set, going back and forth to the phone to relay the messages to Harewood. Sufficient information was passed on in this fashion for the United States Air Force to get two Globemasters into the air at 6 a.m. the next day and headed for McMurdo Station and the stranded Admiral and his party.

During the day the band became stronger and Bill was able to hand over to the officials at Harewood the vital communications link, held for one long night by ZL3.LE. Pinned on the wall of his radio shack is a letter of thanks, signed by RearAdmiral J. R. Reedy (Admiral Tyree’s successor). The letter is dated March, 1963.

The Bairds may be leaving Trents Road before long—they want a place with a view of the sea—and the 80ft mast will come down. With them will go Mrs Baird’s collection cf hundreds of stamps and photographs from all over the world.

The mast was bought by Mr Baird about seven years ago. It was one of two at Harewood—on the spot where the car park is now. Mr Baird put in his tender and got one of them for £26. The mast—free-standing with not a guy wire in sight—is embedded in nine cubic yards of concrete. It has withstood the high winds to which this part of the plains is subjected.

Mr Baird was for 22 years agricultural engineering instructor at Lincoln College. His wife worked for most of the same period with D.S.I.R. Lincoln.