Bernie Gates Shavers Net.
Natter Net
Do you have any stories ?
Send them to Richard to be added to the Web Site. vk6bmw@iinet.net.au.
from Ron VK6ARE..
Well it seems by the looks of it I’m about to admit to being the oldest participant left , so I thought I should try and fill a few of the gaps .
By the way the copy I have of the book by John Cox will eventually of course be handed on to the Shavers Net, I guess that in time it will be of no use to me .
I have rounded up a few of the old names that I can remember. When I first made contact with the net way back in about 1981 or 1982 when I was a novice, my call sign then was VK6NRB
In 1981 or 1982 my records show Stan VK6LV Burnie VK6KJ Frank VK6FR Les VK6ALD Con VK6PM Les VK6WL Mac VK6MG I wont say that I was a member then but I was casual , as Burnie told me then we had to up grade if we wanted to play with the big boy’s .. Eventually when some of us did upgrade in about 1984 I think some of us novices did become a bit more active on the net .
From here on these names and call sign’s are from 1985 on when I was more active on the net. Bernie VK6KJ, Stan VK6LV , Mac VK6MG , Con VK6PM, Frank VK6FR, Bob VK6GD, Phil VK6BCJ , Max VK6FN, Alec VK6BEB, Jim VK6ATO, Graham VK6HE, Rod VK6ARZ, Charlie VK6ACS, Keith VK6NKW, Maurice VK6NST, Norm VK6KKR , John VK6JY, VK6GL.
There would be more but I wouldn’t say that we would hear from all at one time but as you can see it was quite an active net , and I have probably missed a couple.
A little Story from my self when I first became a Novice it involves Mac VK6MG , he first introduced me to Amateur radio when I was about 14yrs old , he showed me his radio gear at his house , it was enormous stuff valves and wire , I wasn’t allowed to go near it all , anyhow it worked and certainly interested me along with his tails of talking to the world etc. anyhow eventually I got my Novice Licence and went on air and who should by there talking to me but Mac, anyhow I being quite proud of myself getting a licence and being on air with him and others commenced to tell him and others how I had SWARED my aerials in etc. , anyhow when It went back to Mack he got right onto me about this swaring business in front all others . Amateurs don’t use that type of language swaring is out and I should have known better , anyhow It worked I’ve never used that word again when tuning an aerial as it’s now VSWR , as he said that sort of language is for CBers and not for Amateurs..
Anyhow I think in time he forgave me for my short comings , he was a great bloke.
Regards
Ron VK6ARE April 2021
from Richard – VK6BMW
My earliest recollection of the Net was in February 1988. This was also significant as it was the 29th, yes a leap year!
At 0000 UTC or 0800 WST and having only been licenced for approximately 3 months with a Callsign of VK6JRG, I was welcomed to join the Bernie Gates Shavers Net on 3592 KHz.
Stan VK6LV from Albany, Frank VK6FR was portable in Augusta, Mac VK6MG and Neil VK6ANB were somewhere I did not record. Ken VK6BKC called in from Cloverdale, Bernie VK6KJ from Albany and Les VK6ALD was in Crooked Brook.
In my log, these were contacts 18 thru 24, so I was indeed a newcomer.
The following day I also spoke with Lionel VK6LM from Bayswater, TOM VK6TR and Ray VK6RQ.
My first contact with Ron VK6ARE from Bunbury occurred on the next day.
I must have got busy with work or the Net moved to 40M as I don’t appear to have spoken to them again until 3 June 1988 with my new Full Call of VK6BMW.
Richard VK6BMW Sept. 2014
From Gary VK6GAL
Shavers’ Net
What if we could go back in time and find a bunch of radio hams sitting around a pot-bellied stove on a cool morning, in an old general store or railway station telegraph office with well-worn wood floors that smelled like earlier times remembered.
Let’s say about eight or nine people, all of whom have been licenced a long time, talking about days long ago with valves and wire, smells of burned resistors, soldering irons that had a bit of plastic residue along the sides where they had touched something that wasn’t intended.
Of valves like 807s, 6146s, 813s with 866 rectifiers that blinked on and off as the CW was sent. There were home-constructed Yagis with prop-pitch motors for rotation, Marconi T antennas and open wire feedlines.
And then there were RF burns and accidently getting across the B+ of your home-brew rig that had a chassis but no cabinet.
Create that picture in your mind of those people sitting in home-made wooden furniture, poking fun, laughing up a storm, and comparing what is happening today with those long-ago days when things were calm and easy.
Those were the days of early QSOs when the licence was new and a CW QSO from Perth to Brisbane was considered DX and exciting.
Guess what… that’s the Shavers’ Net. I have found the people. I can sit in my Boston Rocker that my wife gave me for our first Christmas 56 years ago, relax with my Shavers’ Net friends, and re-live those times, those days, and those sights and smells.
I am at peace with the world.
Gary VK6GAL ( also known as W4GAL )
August 2021
Now from Clive VK6CSW; this is an article Clive wrote for OTN magazine way back in March 2016
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