100-year-old Australian Ham Radio Operator, Pierce VK2APQ.
Age may have slowed 100-year-old Pierce Healy, VK2APQ, but he was still able to front up to the ARNSW rooms at Dural, north of Sydney, on Fathers Day and read one of the news items during the club’s Sunday-morning radio broadcast.
As a young amateur radio operator, Pierce used to compile the Sunday news broadcasts as well. And he regularly read the news items over the air, to be relayed across Australia to the thousands of radio hams who listened to the broadcasts on shortwave radios and in the VHF and UHF bands as well.
Some of the ARNSW members who came to greet Pierce Healy, VK2APQ, on Fathers Day
Pierce celebrated his 100th birthday just before Fathers Day 2011, and was happy to visit the ARNSW shed and radio broadcast station in Dural, to cut a cake honoring him and to receive a special certificate from the ARNSW (Amateur Radio New South Wales) club, which used to be known as the NSW Division of the Wireless Institute of Australia (the WIA), New South Wales Division.
The WIA was the first-ever society of Amateur Radio Operators anywhere in the world, preceding the both the ARRL in the United States and the RSGB in the United Kingdom. Those were the exciting days when radio was new and still very much experimental. The right to use radio transmission equipment was tightly controlled back then by the Post Office, who had the monopoly on sending telegrams by landline (over copper wires) and also by two-way radio circuits, particularly to shops at sea.
Pierce VK2APQ was presented with this certificate of appreciation by Brian VK2WBK
Amateur Operators had to pass strict proficiency examinations, which tested their knowledge of radio theory (including electricity, electronics, radio circuitry and building transmitter antennas). They also had to pass exams on the rules and regulations they needed to comply with, and pass a sending and receiving test in Morse Code, which was the only way the early radio sets could send and receive messages.
And licensed Amateur Radio Operators (or Hams) still have to be licensed today, but the test nowadays is multiple-choice and much easier. Some hams still choose to use Morse Code even to this day, because it does have some advantages over voice. But it is no longer a requirement for a ham license, and prospective radio amateurs do not have to take a morse test any more.
Unlike CBers, who don’t have to take any tests and do not need a license, all licensed Amateur Radio operators are issued with a registered call-sign, and their name and address is on a register so other hams can find them. This makes it simple to check if a ham is licensed or not, and allows operators who want to do so to exchange special postcards — called QSL cards — with each other, to provide written proof that they have exchanged information and “made a contact”. Having this written proof allows licensed hams to apply for awards and certificates which certify that they have worked, for example, 100 overseas countries on their two-way radio.
Back in the 1930s, Pierce VK2APQ, was more than just a keen and active ham. He made a building on his property available to the Hurstville Radio Club. By the 1950s that small group of Amateur Radio enthusiasts has become the St George Amateur Radio Club, which is still a very strong group of Sydney hams. Pierce was presented with a certificate of appreciation, and was also given a special commemorative license and callsign (valid for just 10 days) that was issued to him by the ACMA.
When asked what the secret was to his amazing good health (for someone so old), Pierce explained he used to walk everywhere when he was younger man because he did not own a car.
Tim Mills VK2ZTM (with headphones) and 100-year-old Pierce Healy VK2APQ in the ARNSW studio on Fathers Day. Photo by Dot Bishop, VK2DB, of Hornsby And Districts Amateur Radio Club (HADARC).
The ARNSW still broadcasts news bulletins to ham radio enthusiasts every Sunday at 10 am and at 7:30 pm (local time). If you have an ordinary AM shortwave set, you can hear them on 7.146 MHz in the 40m (or 41m) band. The other radio bands and frequencies are listed on the ARNSW News Broadcasts page on their own web site, but will require more specialized radio gear such as vhf/uhf FM sets or an SSB radio that covers the Amateur Radio HF bands.
You can also read about Pierce’s 99th birthday celebration here:
http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2010/20100820-1/index.php
UPDATE:
Pierce Healy VK2APQ became a silent key on Saturday, 14th January, 2012. He was laid to rest at Leppington Lawn Cementry, New South Wales on Thursday 19th January, following a funeral service at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church, 54 Northam Avenue, Bankstown.
Information kindly supplied by Peter VK2EMU.
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