A member of the public was cycling past the clubrooms a few months ago and asked Richard ZL4FZ, who happened to be there, if this was a âradio clubâ. He followed up with a letter of introduction stuck to the clubroom door. Reg Stedman is 94 years old, and was a radio Op in the British Army in Malaya, then a shipâs radio officer in the merchant navy. He came to NZ in the late 50âs. I wanted to listen to his experiences in the army, and so I went to visit our new friend. He started describing the WS19 set he used in their armoured cars, and when I said âwell, yes, I have one of those sets in the back of my carâ he leapt (yes, leapt) out of his chair with a broad grin and said, âWell let’s go and play with it!â We had a nice curbside Morse QSO, with me on another army radio, a whole 20m away. Reg loved it. He is keen to come along to a club meeting, and is interested to hear from any other members that were in the merchant navy.
Words & photo by Kelvin ZL3KB
