WORLD WAR II AND AFTER IN GREECE
Socrates Coutroubis SV1AE described to me how his interest in radio was aroused in 1935 when he was 13 years old.His father had decided to buy a domestic radio receiver.
"Of course in 1935 Athens had no broadcasting service", Socrates said, "so the receiver had to be able to tune in to the short wave broadcasting bands.As we already had a Westinghouse refrigerator my father decided we should try one of their receivers.When I say 'try' I must explain that it was the usual thing to ask a number of agents to submit their latest models for comparison at one's home.I remember that together with the Westinghouse, we had an Atwater Kent, Philco, RCA, Stromberg- Carlson and several sets of European manufacture such as Philips, Blaupunkt, Saba etc.We finally settled for the German Saba because it was the prettiest and blended better with our living room furniture!
"There were very few stations to be found on the short waves.But I remember the Dutch station PCJ run by the Philips company in Eindhoven.The announcer was Edward Startz who spoke perfect English and about a dozen other languages."This is the Happy Station, broadcasting from the Netherlands" he would say cheerfully.
"A couple of years after we had bought the radio we were returning from an open air movie round about midnight when I noticed a book on sale at a road-side kiosk.It was entitled THE RADIO AMATEUR'S HANDBOOK published by the A.R.R.L.I had no idea what the initials stood for.The price was astronomical for my pocket but after a little coercion I got my father to buy it for me.When I began to read it I discovered the existence of radio amateurs.It was the 1939 edition and I found a circuit for a receiver which looked simple enough for me to try.It was described as a regenerative detector and audio amplifier.
"At that time the best place to buy components in Athens was at a store called Radio Karayianni, but three others shops also stocked valves (tubes) and components.One was the Electron run by George Spanos, who was the agent for the Dutch Philips company.Then there was a shopin a basement next door, Konstav Electric, owned by 'Bill' Tavaniotis SV1KE.A wide range of components were also stocked by the Raytheon agent, Nick Katselis SV1NK.
"I obtained some plug-in forms and wound the coils carefully according to the instructions but unfortunately the receiver didn't work very well, if at all.When I asked a few friends they suggested I should shorten the very long wires I had used between the components, and sure enough I had the greatest thrill of my life when for the first time I heard Rome on short waves on my very own home-made receiver.Outstanding stations in the broadcast band in those days were Trieste in northern Italy, Katowice in Poland, Breslau in Germany and Toulouse in south-west France.
"Although I had read about the activities of radio amateurs in the Handbook I had not yet heard any of the half dozen or so stations that were already operating on CW and AM telephony in the Athens area.
"My father used to buy the periodical LONDON CALLING which contained the overseas programmes of the B.B.C.as well as the programmes of the principal European broadcasting stations.This publication also carried advertisements and it was there that I first saw an illustration of the Hammarlund Super Pro and realised that there were receivers specially designed for the reception of short waves.
"But during the German/Italian occupation of Greece between 1941 and 1944 my little home-made receiver played a vital role in enabling us to listen (secretly) to the B.B.C.broadcasts because the authorities had sealed all radios to the broadcast (medium wave) band and to the frequency of Radio Athens.Most people devised ingenuous methods of listening to stations other than Athens.
"After the end of the war a friend of mine who returned to Athens from Cairo brought me the 1945 edition of the A.R.R.L.Handbook, which is still on the shelf as you can see."Socrates explained that in 1945 there was complete political upheaval in Greece, owing to the events that had taken place during the foreign occupation, so the General Election of that year was carried out under the supervision of foreign observers from the U.S.A., the United Kingdom &France.The Russians did not send a mission.
"Owing to my knowledge of English I was employed by the American mission to act as interpreter.One day when I was off duty I was taken by a friend to a signals unit where there were many pieces of equipment which had been 'liberated', and I was able to buy a BC 342 receiver.Later when Harry Barnett SV1WE who was in the Press Department of the British Embassy returned to England I bought his Hallicrafter SX28.
"It was at Harry's house in Kolonaki that I had my first taste of amateur radio in action.He had a National HRO for reception and he had constructed a 50-watt transmitter using surplus components which were in plentiful supply at that time.
"Another friend of mine, Jim Liverios, was employed at the Civil Aviation transmitter site on a hill south of Nea Smyrni.The American Mission had set up their short wave transmitters on the same site and later Interpol installed their own equipment as well.Liverios was always on night shift because he attended the University during the day.I still don't know how he ever managed to get any sleep.When things were quiet he would 'borrow' a 5 Kw transmitter and tune it in the 20 metre band.Using a callsign of his own choice (probably a different one every night) he would have contacts with the whole world.On his invitation I went there at midnight one night and stayed until the morning.I remember we had QSOs with Cuba, Chile, New Zealand and Australia."THE AFFAIR OF THE PIRAEUS POLICE.
In 1947, there was a war in northern Greece which some people called a civil war and others a war against the guerrillas, depending on whose side they were on.Suddenly one morning all the Athens newspapers came out with some amazing headlines:
