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WHERE DID IT ALL START?
A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT
OF RADIO
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Page 7
of 7 -
Australian Radio Pioneer - Sir Ernest T. Fisk |
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1886
E.T.
FISK Australian Radio Pioneer. Ernest Fisk was born at
Sunbury-on-Thames, England, on 8th August 1886. At age 16 he attended
the Marconi Company's wireless training school at Liverpool, England.
Both there and at the Marconi Works and Laboratories at Chelmsford he
gained his early training
In 1904 the Marconi Company erected a wireless station at Queenscliff, on the Victorian southern coast, along with a complimentary station at Devonport on Tasmania's northern coast. The purpose of these two stations was to demonstrate to the Australian government and it's people the practicability of wireless communication across Bass Strait between Australia's two land masses. However it was not until 1910 that this new science of wireless, as a communication medium, began to be taken seriously by Australia. In that same year Ernest Fisk arrived in Australia as an employee of the Marconi Company.
Marconi was at this time in negotiations with
the Orient Steam Navigation Company with the ultimate aim of fitting all
their
During this early period in Australia, one of Ernest Fisk's roles for Marconi had been to equip various Australian shipping companies with Marconi wireless equipment and also, where possible, act as ship's wireless operator. At this time Australia had no established wireless coastal stations for communicating with ships at sea. In order to meet this need Fisk arranged a roster system, having ships in port communicate with other incoming and outgoing wireless equipped ships at sea. Under the roster, in-port ship's wireless operators were encouraged to keep wireless watch, communicate messages to other ships both at sea and in port, and deliver any messages to the Post Office for further transmission and delivery if necessary. These in-port ships thereby acted as temporary coast stations. It was a mammoth task, however the difficulties faced by Fisk in achieving these goals merely served to whet his appetite for the future work which lay ahead of him in guiding Australia into the wireless age. Fisk's original Marconi appointment in Australia was for a six month period only, however he so enjoyed the challenges presented by his job that he requested Marconi Company to allow him to stay on permanently.
In 1913, as a result of Australian Government
pressure, the Australian Wireless Company, which
represented Telefunken interests, was merged with the Australian branch of the Marconi Company to
become
The photo at left shows AWA's York Street, Sydney, headquarters.
In 1916 E. T. Fisk took a visit to England on
behalf of Amalgamated Wireless Australia in order to discuss with his colleagues at
the Marconi Company a matter that was of great interest to both parties. The Australian
coastal stations had been picking up signals from Germany's major wireless
transmitter at Nauen. There had been no previous experience of wireless
reception over such a great distance. Fisk believed that direct wireless
communication between Britain and Australia was possible. He arranged for
test transmissions to begin soon after his visit, using the Marconi high power
longwave station at Carnarvon, Wales. These efforts were rewarded when, on 22nd
September 1918, he received the first wireless message from Carnarvon at his
own experimental amateur station in his home at Wahroonga, NSW, a photo of
which is shown below. This success led him to advocate a direct wireless
service between Britain and Australia, the Marconi Company also backing him in
this proposal. Marconi claimed that they could carry all classes of messages
at a price 33.3% below normal cable costs. The Australian Government liked
the proposal, however the Post Offices of both England and Australia
unfortunately opposed it. This initial opposition ultimately led to the
formulation of a scheme called
In 1923 an Australian Parliamentary Select Committee was convened, resulting in the adoption of an agreement proposed by Fisk, which would see the implementation of a direct shortwave wireless service from Australia to England. Rates for this service would be 33.3% below existing cable charges. The agreement also saw AWA's capital increased to one million pounds and the Australian Government become it's major shareholder. Simultaneously the Australian Government took over AWA's coastal wireless stations, which, up until then, had been running at a considerable loss. This agreement was signed and adopted in March, 1922.
Later that year E. T. Fisk visited South Africa and persuaded the Prime Minister of that country to also adopt a direct shortwave Beam Wireless service to England. Fisk traveled on from there to Great Britain, successfully advocating a change in the British Government's policy which subsequently permitted Australian and British wireless companies to establish direct shortwave beam wireless services to England.
In 1924 Ernest Fisk conducted wireless
experiments from Vaucluse, NSW, in conjunction with Marconi's Poldhu,
Cornwall, shortwave transmitter. These experiments demonstrated the
feasibility of direct shortwave wireless communication between Great Britain
and Australia using relatively low power shortwave equipment. Wireless t
The photo at left shows E. T. Fisk with the then Australian Prime Minister, W. A. (Billy) Hughes.
Fisk continued to organize experiments in long distance voice (telephonic) wireless transmissions, including the first inter-Empire broadcast from Sydney to London in September 1927. In April 1930 Ernest Fisk instigated the Australian end of the first inter-Empire direct wireless telephone service. He also pioneered the first world-wide shortwave broadcasting service from Australia, the for runner for what is now Radio Australia.
Questioned in 1927 as to what he felt lay ahead
for the science of wireless,
During the 1920's and 1930's Fisk continued building up AWA's engineering, manufacturing plant and organization in Australia. This included construction of a modern factory in Sydney, set in large gardens and ultimately employing more than 1,500 people to produce all types of wireless and allied equipment. Manufactured by AWA were receiving and transmitting valves, broadcast receivers, high and low power mediumwave and shortwave broadcast transmitters, military transmitters and receivers as well as audio and test equipment. Through Fisk's leadership, AWA beamed the first black and white wireless picture from England to Australia in 1934 and the first colour picture in 1946. Shown above is a Fisk Radiola broadcast receiver, manufactured by AWA in the early 1930's.
An
In 1944 Sir Ernest Fisk resigned his position as Chairman of AWA, leaving AWA's management reins in the capable hands of his long-time deputy, Lionel Hooke. He had accepted the position of Managing Director of Britain's Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI) and, as a result, re-located back to England. Upon his retirement from EMI, at age 65, Sir Ernest Fisk returned to Australia to live, where he remained until his death at age 78, in 1965.
1913 - The use of "soft" (not fully evacuated) valves was generally appreciated in radio receivers. 1915 - Successful telephony experiments between America and Paris. The need was recognized for higher powered transmitting valves, with consequently higher vacuum. Forty to fifty watts was not a big enough valve anode rating to achieve long distance telegraphy at the low frequencies then in use. 1916 - Ship radio installations were still using mostly used arc transmitters. New ships began to be fitted with valve transmitters and receivers. The production of "hard" (high vacuum) valves had commenced, and in June of that year, signals were successfully sent between Portsmouth (England) and Gibraltar. In that case the tungsten anodes of the valves were worked at 2000 volts, and a current of about 10 amps. was obtained in an aerial having a total resistance of 5 ohms. 1917 - The English Marconi-Osram Co. commenced production of transmitting valves for the British Admiralty, and glass valves with anode dissipations of up to 150 watts were being made in this year. French authorities issued thousands of small valve transmitters and receivers for use on the First World War battlefields. 1919 - The obsolescence of the spark transmitter definitely began. CW (Continuous Wave) transmission was in general use in big stations, usually produced by the Poulsen arc or HF Alternator. Silica enveloped valves were introduced, those with an anode dissipation of 1 kW being quite common. 1920 - Thermionic valves were still somewhat limited in power capability and only used in small transmitters, since it was uneconomical to use a large number of small valves in parallel. 1922 - Experimental valves rated at 100 kW had been produced, but 500 watt glass bulb transmitting valves were still the most common. Crystal control of frequency began to develop from this year. 1923 - Demountable transmitting valves were produced, and two rated at 10 kW were installed at the Eiffel Tower. 1924 - The beginning of the HF (High Frequency) era of commercial radio communication. Successful telephony between Poldhu (England) and Sydney (Australia). The invention of the copper-glass valve seal enabled a great increase to take place in the anode rating of valves; the anode became accessible and could be water jacketed in order to cool it. 1927 - The British GPO (Post Office) opened a transatlantic telephone service using the "single side band" (SSB) system of transmission. The power of the transmitter was about 100 kW, and the final amplifier stage at first included thirty 10 kW water-cooled valves. 1931 - A 500 kW demountable valve was installed experimentally in the GPO single side band transmitter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY |
in
wireless engineering and operating. His outstanding ability was soon
recognized by the company and, in 1909, he was sent on a special mission
to the Arctic ice fields. Then, in 1910, Marconi employed him to demonstrate
their wireless systems to the Newfoundland sealing fleet. New York was
his next stop, where the American Marconi Company had him erect and
operate a number of radio sites for them. This task was followed by his
assisting in the early development of a maritime wireless communications
system along the St. Lawrence shipping route. Such a diverse wireless
background served him well during his next deployment for the Marconi
Company, which was in
Australia . The photo at right shows Fisk in
1911.
ships
for wireless. In order to demonstrate the advantages of the service that
this would provide Orient Steam Navigation Company, Ernest Fisk was
stationed, as a wireless operator-engineer, on their ship the "Otranto". Fisk
made two trips on that ship and amply proved to the Orient Steam Navigation
Company the value of Marconi's wireless equipment. At the same time he
established several world wireless records, including two-way communication
between the British Warship "Powerful", moored in Sydney harbor, and his location 200
miles to sea off Fremantle, Perth. In May 1911, following this successful
demonstration Ernest Fisk was appointed resident Australian engineer for the
Marconi Company. From a small office in Bond Street, Sydney, and in the name
of the Marconi Company, he set out to further develop wireless usage
throughout the Commonwealth of Australia and it's territories. The photo
above show Ernest Fisk in 1924.
Amalgamated Wireless Australia Limited, AWA. At the age of 27 Ernest Fisk
was appointed General Manager and a member of the founding board of the new
AWA company. He remained AWA's General Manager until 1916, at which time he was appointed
Managing Director, a role he played until 1944. One of Fisk's early goals
for this new company was to manufacture wireless equipment in Australia
instead of importing it from overseas as had traditionally occurred. AWA
could readily achieve this due to their access to both the numerous Marconi and
Telefunken wireless patents. Under Fisk's guidance the new company also set about
developing maritime communications in the region as well as training operators in
the Sydney/Melbourne Marconi Schools of Wireless. By 1927 20 ships of the
Mercantile Marine had been equipped with wireless, manned by 250 operators,
largely as a result of the Fisk/AWA initiative. The year 1916 also saw Ernst
Fisk marry his Australian bride, Florence Chudleigh, at St John's church in
Gordon, NSW.
World
War 1 presented Ernest Fisk with a severe testing ground. At it's outbreak
he volunteered for active service in the armed forces, however the
Australian Naval Board requested that he continue his wireless work in
Australia with AWA. To this end he trained and supplied wireless operators
and engineers for both the land, sea and transport forces, as well as the merchant
navy. He established wireless detection stations stations at various points
around the Australian coastline, and organised wireless based protection measures for
Australian ships at sea. 
the "Norman Plan" by which messages where to
be relayed via longwave stations located 2000 miles apart between England
and Australia. The Australian
government, and Fisk, were not completely satisfied with such a solution, so when he
attended the 1921 Imperial Conference in London, the Australian Prime
Minister, W. M. (Billy) Hughes, took Ernest Fisk with him as an adviser. The
result being that Australia was released from participating in the Norman
Plan. 
elephonic
communication was also established in May of 1924, and the first
transmission of shortwave wireless telegraphic signals as a public service took place in November,
1924.
Having now been proven, shortwave Beam Wireless transmitting and
receiving stations for Empire communications were constructed 40 miles
northwest of Melbourne at Balan (transmitting site) and 20 miles northwest
of Melbourne at Rockbank (receiving site). These become operational in
April,1927. The
transmitting station at Balan was subsequently name "Fiskville" in honor of
Ernest Fisk. 1928 saw the establishment of a similar Beam Wireless service between
Australia and Canada.
Fisk nominated international wireless-telephony, picturegram services and further down the track, television. True to form
the first two became a reality in the 1930's, with television being
delayed by World War 2.
independent tribute to Ernest Fisk the
amateur, the enthusiast, is provided by the fact that, in 1921, while
he was hobnobbing with the Australian Prime Minister and making his presence
felt at an Empire level, he was still chairing meetings and 'chewing the
rag' with fellow amateur radio operators as President of the
NSW division of the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA). Ernest Fisk was
knighted for his services to Australia in 1937. A friend of Fisk's, F. W.
Larkins, once wrote of Fisk "As Marconi discovered wireless, so E. T. Fisk
discovered a continent - a continent without wireless, but a continent where
he was destined to become one of it's greatest wireless pioneers".
