May 2019 – 5th Wed – A QSL card to remember

(from information supplied by Robert VK2DH)

On the fifth Wednesday of the month (for those months that have that many) the Society runs a themed “Show and Tell” night, with a prize given for the best exhibit and the best story.

The theme for the May 2019 Show and Tell was “Interesting QSL Cards”. With a number of hardened contesters, DXers, and DXpeditioners in the club, we expected all manner of exotic and colourful QSL cards, but the winner might seem at first glance to be a little, well, ordinary. So what makes the card below so special? Therein lies a story…

The story begins with a CW (Morse) contact between Gerald DK8RG and Robert VK2NNX (now VK2DH) in Elanora, on the north side of Sydney in New South Wales.

The contact was also monitored by Eric, a Shortwave Listening (SWL) station in Victoria. An SWL is a receive-only station, as distinct from Amateur stations, which both transmit and receive. SWLs commonly monitor broadcast stations, and send signal reports (QSL cards). In return, the broadcast stations often (or at least, used to) send “swag”, such as information about the station, brochures, and other goodies. Some SWLs also monitor and send reports to Amateurs, and Eric sent such a report to Robert.

The card was obviously home-made, and fairly plain, though with an unusual serrated edge, characteristic of a dressmaker’s pinking shears:

But there is more to this card than meets the eye. It turns out that Eric, BERS-195, was something of a radio legend.

Robert wrote back to Eric with a number of questions, and soon received back this letter , transcribed below:

340 Gillies St, Thornbury Vic  3071
12 December 1978

Dear Robert VK2NNX

Thanks for the 28(MHz) CW QSL card for my recent report.  I do appreciate it.  Glad you liked my card such as it is.  Congrats on your new call.

Re BERS – firstly, I must explain that I have been an SWL since 1926, and been using the SWL call BERS-195 since 1933.  (I am also SWL VIC30042 – see VK callbook – also I am VK3 inward QSL mgr for the WIA).

In 1933 I became a member of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB in short) and was allocated the SWL callsign BERS-195 by it!! (BERS – BRITISH EMPIRE RECEIVING STATION number 195 – the 195^th overseas empire SWL to join the RSGB!!!  Now you know!!  (BERS has been replaced by BCRS – Empire by Commonwealth but I prefer to be known by the original callsign (RSGB calls me BCRS-195).

No – I am currently SWL only !! Correct – CW SWL’s the world over are as scarce as hen’s teeth!

I am doubly unique as an SWL in that I am CW only – phone has no appeal to me at all and I ignore it completely – like many others, you will no doubt think and say – “queer fellow” (hi) [laughter]. For ages I’ve been known as the world’s foremost CW SWL (hi) although I don’t brag about it.  I might add, (to ease your mind), that I am a retired Post Office & Civil Aviation radio telegraphist –  I retired after 51 years of morse keying straight – for a crust. I gained “my morse wings” in 1929 – just 50 yrs ago almost – 25 wpm to qualify to handle public traffic &  I spent years on the Adelaide – Darwin overland telegraph line circuit (at 4 locations including both Adelaide & Darwin POs) – In my best years, I operated at 50 words per min both sending and receiving (on a typewriter) but I used to write it with pen at 30 wpm (no trouble).  Guess I am down to 40 wpm max now [sending] but that cos I’ve not sent one dash or dot for 3 years (hi) – I can still copy at 50wpm. I held a 1^st class commercial radio TX license (got it in 1940) but since retiring, I’ve let its currency lapse.

After 50 yrs operating day in day out I am not keen on keeping it up as RXing will do me in my old age (hi) – hence my FRG-7 on standby for as & when!!  (I got my 1^st short wave RX in 1926 & have had one in operation ever since – had 10 or 11 altogether, in 52 yrs).

Re the maps pasted on the back of my card – that’s purely for decorative purposes & is of no other significance whatsoever.

As an SWL I’ve made over ONE MILLION ham entries in over 100 log books (some over 100 pages each) – I still have my 1926 log book !! as well as all those post war.

I am known world wide – I have met hams in many countries – entered over 200 SWL contest – won many cups & certificates & of course am well known in VK ham circles (been SQL mgr (VK3) for past 18 years (know personally over 1000 VK3 amateurs alone).  All the best Robert – have ham fun + keep at CW) 

73 Eric/SWL

Where’s ELANORA??  My XYL (we married 37 years ago) was born in North Sydney then moved to Coogee, Clovelly area.

Personal letter from Eric Trebilcock BERS-195 to Robert Drake VK2NNX

More about Eric:

The Mail (Adelaide) commended Eric on his handwriting on 13 November 1926. Presumably this would have been a great asset in his career as a telegraphist. We’re not sure yet what the aim of “The Mail” Club was; perhaps to foster good penmanship, or letter writing in general? If so, Eric was near the top, in the face of some stiff competition (9 October 1926 and 1 January 1927). He was first reported as a “Mate” in August 1926; his sister Elsie was also a member.

On 26 August 1933, the Advertiser (Adelaide) records Eric’s DX reports from Europe, Africa, and elsewhere, describing him as a “northern listener”, from Moonta, near Adelaide.

The Advertiser on 5 October 1935 notes in passing that Eric was at the time stationed in Tennant’s Creek, North Australia [sic], where receiving conditions were “far superior” than in Moonta (SA).

These operation conditions provided rare 20m DX listening from the Belgian Congo (Advertiser, 25 January 1936).

In the April 1936 edition of QST, as winner of the Receiving section of the VK-ZL 1935 DX Contest Results (p.52):

“Under the Receiving Section of the Contest 
Eric W. Trebilcock, B.E.R.S. 195, of Australia 
made first place with 20,640 points. The scores of 
the leading stations in this VK-ZL contest were 
transmitted by radio by VK3EG to W80E, who 
relayed them to Hartford via W8EMW-W1MK. 
Complete results were later received by mail.”

QST, April 1936

The good conditions in Tennant’s Creek allowed Eric to copy VP2AT in Antigua on 40 metres, along with British portable stations in the RSGB National Field Day contest on 40m and 20m, as recorded in the Advertiser on 27 June 1936.

Eric appears in the July 1936 edition of Radio, on p.43 (Calls Heard and DX Departments) and on p.45 in the DX column.

A story about Eric’s success in the contest above also appears in the Adelaide Advertiser on 22 August 1936.

The Port Pirie (SA) Recorder noted on 12 May 1937 Eric’s appointment as a telegraphist to Darwin Post Office.

On 3 August 1939, the Townsville Daily Bulletin (QLD) mourned the loss of the “Worlds News Man”, when Eric was transferred from Powell Creek Telegraph Station to Civil Aviation in Sydney.

Thirty Years of SWL DX Work — an article by Eric in the July 1957 edition of The Short Wave Magazine (p.268)