VK3CKC

    

Image: VK3CKC at the microphone of VK3RI around 1984.

Article Begins: An entry calling for persons interested in forming such a Club was posted in the Victorian Railways internal publication, The Weekly Notice, for the week ending 18th May, 1926. A meeting was subsequently held on 1st July, 1926 and the Club was born.

The callsign, VK3RI, was taken out in 1927.

During those early days, the Club broadcast music (as a lot of amateur stations did) and other items of interest from the clubrooms within the Flinders Street Station buildings in Melbourne. Various rooms were used over the years with the present (1986) being Room 410 - next to the VRI ballroom. Dances, exhibitions and raffles were held with the proceeds, together with member subscriptions, keeping the Club in a healthy financial state. This was at the time when amateur radio in Australia, and everywhere else for that matter, was in its infancy and compared with today, was a novelty.

Around 1930, the Club was able to boast a membership in excess of 150 members.

During the Second World War years, vital Club equipment was placed in storage and some members joined the Armed Services and Merchant Navy. A few did not return.

Music broadcasting by amateur stations was prohibited in the mid 1940's and this caused a decline in membership. The advent of solid state and transistor technology, and the Club's failure to keep pace, exacerbated the decline.

In 1954, the Club's antennas which were attached to the clock tower above the Elizabeth Street - Flinders Street intersection were removed due to the Royal Visit by Queen Elizabeth II. They were apparently considered an eyesore. Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder and obviously some were unable to appreciate the inherent beauty of such a construction. Membership continued to decline.

In 1959, a plea went out to any technically qualified persons who might make themselves available to an ailing club. Several transmitting and receiving items were built and some minor items were purchased. The advent of television and consequent interference caused by amateur transmissions on nearby frequencies led to even further diminishing activity.

Dances, and the revenue derived from them, ceased and more modern transmitting modes such as FM and SSB made the Club's equipment obsolete. The Club could not afford to purchase new equipment and interest turned to tape recording and music - not for transmitting.

Whilst Club activities were minimal for the next 20 years or so, regular meetings were still held which permitted the Club's existence to be continuous. Transmitting and receiving equipment remained set up and gathering dust. Capacitors dried out and knowledge of what exactly was there become obscure.

The Club became a mere shadow of its former self. I can recall, on entering the Clubroom in 1977, I felt as though I was passing through a time warp. There were things that I now know as valves, modulation transformers, carbon headphones, AR7s and heterodyne frequency meters.

Eventually, the inevitable arrived. Despite some new equipment and new blood, the end came in 1990 and the Club was wound up after 64 years. The final meeting occurred June 2nd, 1990. Article Ends.

Image: The VRI 3 Valve Receiver.

1928 - Membership has increased to such an extent that the Committee has had to arrange a Beginners' Class under a competent instructor as well as a Morse class. Now affiliated with the Wireless Institute of Australia. A successful week long Wireless Exhibition was held. A strong financial position permits the purchase of "most up-to-date equipment" including a broadcasting microphone as used by 'A' Class stations. A committee member designs the VRI 3 Valve Receiver "proving to be one of the finest 3 valve receivers to date".

1929 - The 3RI experimental transmitting station is now operating and "ranks with the best of amateur stations" and is popular with the listening public. The Club plans to form Country Centres and hopes to present a scheme to the VRI Council. Beginners Classes are being held one night each month. Lectures are also provided one night each month obtaining "the very best lecturers" in Melbourne and Sydney.

1930 - Another successful year. Another exhibition in the Concert Hall and the Executive has imporoved the Club's apparatus which is now valued at 200 pounds.

1931 - Owing to the financial depression in the Railway Department, it was expected that membership would decline. The decline was not as bad as expected and a membership drive resulted in regaining some lost members and membership approached the 200 mark. The Club's amplifier was rebuilt which greatly improved the quality and output of the transmitter and, at the present, 3RI is one of the most popular stations on the air. It has been found necessary to appoint a member to attend the telephones each Sunday as many listeners ring the station with requests. Features among the year's activities has been the building of thirty all-electric sets in the Club's workshop and the formation of a shortwave section. A shortwave transmitter will be built shortly. It is interesting to note that 3,792 reports were received from listeners on the station's transmission from distant listeners including New Zealand and the Northern Territory.