Tony Smith - Freelance Researcher and Writer

Some of my articles: HISTORY

A Name from the Past - Joseph Henry [Practical Wireless, November 1987]
This article describes the life and achievements of Professor Joseph Henry, first Secretary and Director of the Smithsonian Institution, and one of the greatest American scientists of the 19th Century. He is generally credited with inventing the electromagnetic relay which enabled Samuel F.B. Morse's telegraph system to operate over great distances. Later, there was bitter controversy between Morse and Henry as to who had actually invented both the telegraph and the relay.
(Link: JOSEPH HENRY.pdf)

The Optical Telegraph in Thorpe Hamlet 1808-1816 [Thorpe Hamlet History Group, Occasional Paper]
In 1793, France declared war on Britain. That year, the Revolutionary government approved the construction of a semaphore telegraph system that passed visual signals along a chain of relay stations, each visible to the next station in the chain. Its inventor, Abbé Claude Chappe, was hailed as a "benefactor of the motherland". Yarmouth, Britain's most easterly naval base, was vitally important for the defence of the nation against any French seaborne action. From 1808 to 1816 a line of optical telegraph stations, inspired by the Chappe system, connected the Admiralty in London with the Port Admiral in Yarmouth to provide urgent communication in the event of any attack by the French. Known as the Murray system, after its inventor, Lord George Murray, Bishop of St. David's, Pembrokeshire, the British system is described in detail, as is the Chappe system in France.
(Link: OPTICAL TELEGRAPH.pdf)

Now You See It, Now You Don't (Morse's Statue is Back) [RadioUser, October 2020]
The story of Samuel F.B. Morse's statue in Central Park, New York, erected in honour of his 80th birthday in 1871 and paid for by donations from the telegraph fraternity throughout the USA and Canada. Such was Morse's fame, and the affection in which he was held, that, according to the New York Tribune, some 10,000 people including many telegraphers with their families, came to the park for the unveiling.
(Link: MORSE STATUE.pdf)

Some of my articles: HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SERVICES

Prince and Pauper [HSSJ, December 17, 1981]
The story of the rise and fall of a London hospital, originally founded in 1867; how it enjoyed royal patronage before it became part of the National Health Service in 1948; and how it was abandoned and finally closed by the NHS in March 1984.
(Link: PRINCE AND PAUPER.pdf)

New Stoves at Scutari [HSSJ, March 8, 1984]
In 1855, following reports in the newspapers of appalling catering arrangements in the Crimean military hospitals, Alexis Soyer, chef de cuisine at London's Reform Club, offered his services to the British Government. He suggested that he should go to the Crimea to put matters right. Once there, he effected dramatic improvements both in hospital kitchens and among the troops in the field. In the process, he laid the foundations for future improvements in British Army catering as a whole.
(Link: NEW STOVES AT SCUTARI.pdf)

Some of my articles: TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Morse - the end of an era? [The UNESCO Courier (commissioned), July/August 1999]
From midnight, January 31, 1999, international regulations no longer required ships at sea to call for help using Morse code and the SOS distress signal. The next day, the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), using satellite and other high-tech communication techniques, replaced a system which for nearly a hundred years had saved countless ships and thousands of lives. It was the end of the era of Morse telegraphy, a medium invented in the 19th century, which had created a revolution in world communications serving virtually every aspect of human activity: government, diplomacy, business, industry, railways, newspapers, military, and the population at large.
(Link: MORSE - THE END OF AN ERA.pdf)

Some of my articles: WARTIME

Double Agent Ham Chat [Practical Wireless, August 2022]
In WW2, using a low power (QRP) transmitter and a wire aerial similar to those used by amateur hobbyists, double agent "Tate" sent over a thousand messages to his "masters" in Germany; including misleading weather reports, deceptive information about military, naval, air force, industrial and agricultural matters; the effect of bombing raids; food supplies and the morale of the population. The longest serving double agent in the war, he was described by the Germans as "one of our most reliable trusted spies in Britain," and was awarded the Iron Cross for his "services". The article attempts to solve the mystery of why Tate's historic transmitter is now displayed in Scotland's National War Museum, wrongly described as that carried by another spy who was captured, and executed, before he could send a single message back to Germany.
(Link: DOUBLE AGENT HAM CHAT, 2022.pdf)

B2 Spy Set [Practical Wireless, December 2022]
Designed by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in 1942, this radio was used by agents and resistance groups operating in occupied territory, and by military personnel, operating in the field. This article describes its use, its users, and the dangers they faced in clandestine operations. Today, surviving sets fetch high prices and are coveted by collectors. In a BBC Antiques Roadshow (July 2021), a B2 found in a metal toolbox in an old barn, was valued at ten to fifteen thousand pounds.
(Link: B2 SPY SET 2022.pdf)

Radio Amateurs in WW2 [Practical Wireless, December 2019]
On 31st August 1939, all British amateur transmitting licences were suspended, and all transmitting equipment was taken into official custody for the duration of the war. In Germany a number of stations were permitted to remain on the air under strictly controlled conditions. This article describes how British amateurs kept in touch with their hobby and how some used their skills monitoring radio transmissions by the German Intelligence Services for assessment and decoding at Bletchley Park. In 1944, nine mysterious amateur "G7" stations appeared on the air. These officially authorised stations operated under "Plan Flypaper", hoping to entice German amateur stations into contacts that might reveal useful information for the Allies; or even provide a channel for anyone in Germany wishing to contact the British government.
(Link: RADIO AMATEURS IN WW2.pdf)

Some of my articles: AMATEUR RADIO

RAYNET-the helping hams [Health and Social Service Journal (HSSJ), August 29, 1980]
This article suggested that hospitals could benefit from an awareness of the services provided by the Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network. It was my first published article. I wrote it under a pseudonym, George Forfai, which is a distortion of my amateur radio callsign, G4FAI. I was initially commissioned to write a 10-part series on Health & Safety in the National Health Service (NHS), to be subsequently published in booklet form, but the articles had not yet appeared in print. The editor counselled me against appearing to be expert in too many subjects if I wanted to be taken seriously and suggested that I should use an alias on this occasion. He told me he had once done the same thing and had written an article under the name of his greyhound!
(Link: RAYNET- the helping hams 1980.pdf)

The World of QRP [Practical Wireless, January 1983]
This article describes an exciting world of low power (QRP) amateur radio operating which, in the light of later developments in digital communication, and their widespread popularity today, is almost a world of the past. A few weeks after it appeared, the late Rev. George Dobbs, G3RJV, Founder and Secretary of the G-QRP Club, wrote to tell me that my article had "brought a great flood of enquiries about the club. Over 300 to date and still coming in!" He had a large poster made with the article printed on it and used it for some years as a recruitment display board on the club stand at amateur radio rallies and other events. He estimated that around 600 new members eventually enrolled in the club as a direct result of this article.
(Link: THE WORLD OF QRP.pdf)

Some of my articles: HISTORY OF WIRELESS

Bottled Wireless, Radio-Film, & the Nightingale's Song [RadioUser, December 2021]
1925, a year in the life of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). In the early days of broadcasting many experiments were carried out to try to improve programmes and extend the range of the broadcasts. Considering the adventurous and pioneering state of the early technology and the difficulties that were overcome, the broadcast engineers, producers, and performers created an interesting mix of features, including the forerunners of many broadcast techniques and programmes taken for granted today. The British Broadcasting Company was dissolved at the end of 1926. Its assets and its ideals were transferred to the British Broadcasting Corporation, which continued to be known as the "BBC," on 1st January 1927. The rest is history.
(Link: BBC 1925.pdf)