A CW QSO with GB3RS – a most memorable experience

“I am writing this letter to express my absolute delight at having had a CW QSO with GB3RS at the RSGB National Radio Centre last Sunday – volunteer operator was Simon, M0KBJ. This is one of the most memorable occasions in my 57 years in amateur radio.

Connecting with Bletchley Park resonates with me for several reasons. I was first licensed in 1969 as G8CCY and was a member of the RSGB initially as BRS27869. I then emigrated to Australia in 1973. I have always been active in amateur radio and the skills I gained enhanced my professional career as a signals and intelligence officer in the Australian Army.

I applaud the efforts of the RSGB in establishing a showcase: the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park. We don’t have a NRC equivalent in Australia (I wish we did!).

There is a place somewhat similar to Bletchley, in Brisbane, Queensland. The Central Bureau certainly did not not have the scope that Bletchley covered. Its role was to produce intelligence during the Second World War under General Douglas MacArthur, the US Army’s Supreme Commander in the Southwest Pacific between 1942 and 1945. He subsequently oversaw the occupation of Japan after the war until 1951 and was head of the United Nations Command in the Korean War (1950-51).

I’m sure you now start to see my excitement of having contacted the NRC. But I have more to tell.

I was asked by a local family here in Launceston, Tasmania to research “an aunt”. They were keen to find out what she had done during the Second World War. My research revealed that she had worked initially for the Commonwealth Secret Service (1938-39), travelling through Europe writing ‘travelogues’.

When war broke out she escaped from Germany, joined MI5 and attended specialised courses at Bletchley. Later she joined MI6 and was then stationed In Beirut. She was one of the last people to see Kim Philby before he escaped on a fishing trawler to the USSR. She also connected with a radio amateur in Beirut.

My research on her is not yet complete and I am now on book seven. She’s more like a ‘Jill Bond’ than an aunt! The family who asked me to carry out this ‘labour of love’ for them have now given me the publishing rights.

When I lived in Brisbane in the late 1970s, I discovered the remains of a Whaddon Mk III Tx [a radio transmitter used extensively during the Second World War and known as the ‘Tinker Box’], which I restored… well, more like rebuilt almost completely. How it got to Brisbane I don’t know. Perhaps something to do with The Central Bureau?

GB3RS RST 559 in Tasmania and my RST 579 from Bletchley Park… So much fun!

Many thanks from ‘Down Under’ to all the volunteers and members of the RSGB who make the NRC happen. And thank you again Simon, M0KBJ”.

Nic Chantler, VK7WW, Tasmania, Australia

This letter appears in The Last Word feature in the May 2026 edition of RadCom.

Category: NRC news