History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden

Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden Potted Biography Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden Comprehensive Biography A comprehensive biography of Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden has not yet been prepared for this Wikibook, however the following resources have been assembled in preparation: Research - Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden - Summary of research to date Transcriptions and Notes - Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden - More than 10 transcriptions (Reads like a biography) Photos, QSL cards and other graphics - Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden - Nothing uploaded as yet, but several photos available in Trove and several QSLs held in the NFSA QSL collection Incubator of Wikipedia Article on Stanley Wilkinson Gadsden - Coming real soon now! Key internet links: Gadsden pens a lovely article about the joys of amateur broadcasting for the Sun News-Pictorial JOYS OF AMATEUR BROADCASTING. All Outlay, No Income, But Many Compensations. HAS BIG THRILL. (By S. W. Gadsden) WHAT does the amateur broadcaster get out of providing thousands of listeners-in with free Sunday night entertainment? The transmission set costs hundreds of pounds, and the amateur gets no revenue from listeners' license fees. In the following article, Mr. S. W. Gadsden, of Kew — whose callsign, 3SW, is among the most popular with listeners — endeavors to answer the question: "Why Do I Broadcast?" THERE are about 15 amateurs broadcasting stations working in and around Melbourne. Half a dozen of them have been on the air consistently every Sunday night for some years. My little plant, 3SW, is one of those. We all know each other, on the air, and by correspondence, if we do not actually meet very often, and there is a friendly rivalry between us to improve our transmission and program. Element of Competition. It is our hobby, and we pass on to each other the knowledge we obtain by experiment with our own sets. This element of competition for leadership would in itself be enough to satisfy any reasonable man as a motive in his hobby, but there is a special feature in amateur broadcasting, at least in Melbourne, that gives the game a powerful fascination all its own, although one hard to describe. Need for Audience. Everybody knows that a performer on the stage needs an audience before he can perform at his best, whether his line be Hamlet or Juggling. Well, although the amateur broadcaster is manipulating machinery, and not his own vocal chords or the keys of a piano, he, also, needs to know that he has an audience, before he can rise to that mood of trying to get the best out of his set, and striving ever to improve it, that spirit of enterprise (Start Photo Caption) The operator of 3SW, a well-known amateur radio station, is Mr. S. W. Gadsden. He is showing "putting up" a gramaphone record for listeners. (End Photo Caption) that brings its own reward in achievement. For, although the ultimate reward is in the accomplishment, and not in the praise, few men can bother to go far without the assurance that somebody cares. "That's fine," is pleasant hearing. "That's better than it was before," is encouraging. But even, "That's rotten. What's gone wrong?" is more helpful to the experimenter, including the amateur broadcaster, than silence and indifference. Early Sunday Tradition. As I said before, Melbourne has a special advantage for the amateur broadcaster, arising originally from the policy of the big commercial stations in shutting down at 10 p.m. on Sundays. This was conditioned by Melbourne's old tradition of going to bed early on Sunday nights, a habit becoming rarer among the world's great cities as time goes on. The amateur cannot, in the terms of his license, broadcast while the big companies are working, but on Sundays he can get in a couple of hours before midnight, when most people are ready for slumber — and few are ready earlier, whether they go to bed or not. So Sunday night is the time when Melbourne amateurs can test the results of the work they have done on their sets during the week. Amateurs in other parts of the world have to wait until midnight, or later, when there is nobody to hear them except a few other amateurs, but in Melbourne a big, real, warm-hearted, human audience is waiting once a week to hear how the amateurs are getting on. Tradition Forgotten. In thousands of homes the traditional "To bed early on Sunday night" has been forgotten. The wireless receiver is tuned first to one amateur station, then another. Listeners express their appreciation by letters of thanks for the Sunday night program of the amateurs. We each receive 50, 60, sometimes 70 letters a week. Some letters contain just a few lines of appreciation; others give details of how the items were received, while a goodly number of writers seek advice on ways and means of improving their receiver or building another. Some amateurs have collections of as many as 3000 letters, received from all parts of the Commonwealth, N.Z., and even further afield. Even while the program is going on, listeners often ring up to encore an item, or to report reception. In fact, I have to confess that occasionally I have had to beg Exchange to tell telephone callers that my number wasn't answering, so that the children could get to sleep.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article275254130 JOYS OF AMATEUR BROADCASTING The Sun News-pictorial 1730 Victoria, Australia 29 March 1928 25 June 2025 N7 (SUN NEWS-PICTORIAL WIRELESS SUPPLEMENT) National Library of Australia References