If you look on the wall of my last post you can see a QSL card of John G3MCR ... or G3...Mike Charley Roger! This guy was amazing to listen to on the radio, he could talk for hours about current affairs and always called a spade..a spade, no nonsense! I listened for hours on 160m and 80m. He lived in Breightmet and had a huge tower with a 2m beam on top. I was sooo impressed! I knew that John was bedridden and he frequently told people on air about this, so I decided to pay him a visit along with my friend Ian Harrison. We walked up to the top of the hill one dark night in Winter, knocked on the door and was greeted with a guy in pyjamas who peeped through the side of the door and said "What do you want?" (No nonsense!)
I explained that we were short wave listeners and had listened to him on the radio. He changed completly, opened the door and invited us in. When we went into his living room I was stunned at the amount of equipment he had in racks next to his bed! He climbed into bed and proceeded to show us his equipment. Next to his equipment was a glass with his teeth in it. His voice was different when he spoke to us, but then he went on air and called a station on 80m, having first put his teeth in. Suddenly, the voice of G3MCR came to life...amazing! He usually finished his sentences with the word 'there' and he did that on that night!
Next he decided to call a station on 144Mhz, at the time this was almost unheard of because 144Mhz was difficult to access. John tried to call the station and the decided that the beam was pointing the wrong way...so guess what he did? He jumped out of bed went out of the back door in the freezing cold in pyjamas and climbed up the tower to turn the beam around! We stood there looking astounded!
I spoke with John a few times after I got my licence, but I could never hear the stations he was talking to on 80m and 160m...strange!
This is my QSL card that he gave to me on the night that we went to visit him!
1 comment:
I have just turned on my laptop, and on impulse put G3MCR in to google. And I found your memories of John. I remember listening to him from 1968 onwards on an old MW radio I converted to 160 & 80. I was 11 years old then. I often heard G3MCR and remember his voice now. Often talking about current affairs. He often use to say 'Bring back the birch' for punishment. I never knew he was bedridden. Other AM 80m stations from the era I remember were, G3VMA, G2BAB, G4PJ, G3HRJ, G3KNE, G3WJT,G6BY.The last one was in weston Super Mare, was always an very strong signal!!
Peter G4FQF
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