Another station with which we had frequent contacts on 20 metres was W2IXY owned by Dorothy Hall.One night Dorothy gave us a big surprise.In the course of a QSO she told us to listen carefully.Suddenly the three or four of us in SV1KE's shack heard our voices coming back from New York.Dorothy had recorded our previous transmission on a disc.A few days later we turned the tables on her.We had hastily put together some recording equipment and played back her transmission.Dorothy said that was the first time she had heard her voice coming from 5,000 miles away.I must explain that at that time (about 1933) home recording was a novelty even in the U.S.A.Recording on vinyl tape was invented by Telefunken towards the end of the war in 1945.Today even little children play with cassette recorders, and the latest revolutionary home recording system invented by Japan DAT (Digital Audio Tape) provides high fidelity studio quality with no background noise; really a 'super' version of the mini cassette recorder.
In Athens we continued to operate even through the Dictatorship of General Metaxas which began with a coup in August 1936, but not without some problems.The main target of the infamous Maniadakis, Minister of the Interior under Metaxas, were of course the Communists, but the handful of radio amateurs also came under suspicion of being subversive elements.Things got worse, in fact, when the newspaper ESTIA owned by K.Kyrou, published an article blaming 'amateurs' for being responsible for interference to short wave reception.I must explain that the writer was referring to the dozens of pirate low power broadcasting stations operating in the medium wave (broadcast) band.
Regretably, I have to place on record that owing to the late development of broadcasting and official recognition of amateur radio in Greece, the word 'amateur' in the minds of the general public embraces CBers, pirates of all kinds operating on medium waves and recently in the FM band, and genuine licensed amateurs as well.So, as I was working in the basement workshop at SV1KE's one afternoon, three of Maniadakis' plain-clothes men turned up and said they had come to seize 'the broadcasting equipment'.Fortunately Bill was not in the shop when they came.I asked them if they had a search warrant and they said no.I replied that I was only an employee and could they call back a little later when Mr Tavaniotis himself would be there to answer their questions, and thus managed to get rid of them.When Bill returned I told him about the incident and he left straight away and went to the Ministry of Posts & Telegraphs to see Mr.Stefanos Eleftheriou.And so it came about that Eleftheriou who knew all about our activity in the amateur bands issued the first three licences to SV1KE, SV1CA and SV1NK 'to carry out experimental transmissions relating to the study of propagation on the short waves'.He knew that he had every right to do this as Greece was a signatory to the international telecommunication treaties.
I would like to record at this point that Aghis Cazazis SV1CA now a silent key, has left his own 'monument' in Athens.After the end of World War II, in his capacity as Head of Lighting Development with the Electricity authority, he designed the magnificent floodlighting of the Acropolis which is admired by tourists to the present day.
To return to 1937: Mr Eleftheriou entrusted us with the task of preparing draft legislation for legalising amateur radio activity.We wrote to the U.S.A., to England, France and Germany and obtained copies of the laws governing the issue of licences in all these countries, and we began the long task of drafting a text which would be appropriate to the political situation then prevailing in our country (military dictatorship).Norman Joly, then SV1RX, had written a text in English, but before we could translate it into Greek or do anything about it, all our hopes were dashed to the ground by the outbreak of war in September 1939.
In 1944 while serving as a reserve officer in the Greek army, I wasseconded to the British Military Mission to Greece (B.M.M.) because of my knowledge of English and French.There I met several amateurs serving with the British forces, and one of them gave me a small military transmitter, so I was able to come on the air again with my old callsign of SV1AZ.
3.Constantine 'Bill' Tavaniotis (formerly SV1KE).
There is no doubt that the most active and best known amateur in Greece before World War II was 'Bill' SV1KE.He was active on 20 and 10 metres on AM phone and CW, using his famous McElroy 'bug' to good advantage.(No electronic keyers and no 15 metre band in those years).
Tavaniotis was born in Rostov, USSR, of Greek parents.His father was a well-known doctor.Like many other Greek families Bill and his parents left Russia in the early years of the Communist regime and moved to Istanbul, Turkey, where he began his studies at the famous Robert College.Later he went to London where he first came into contact with radio amateurs, while studying Electrical Engineering.After that he went to Belgium.
