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CANADIAN EPICS IN RADIOCOMMUNICATION

ALUMNI WHO LIVED THE ADVENTURE OF RADIO

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHISTS  -  SPARKS  -  RADIO PIONEERS

RADIO OPERATORS  -  RADIO TECHNICIANS

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ÉPOPÉES CANADIENNES EN RADIOCOMMUNICATION

LES ANCIENS QUI ONT VÉCU L'AVENTURE DE LA RADIO

TÉLÉGRAPHISTES SANS FIL  -  PIONNIERS DE LA RADIO

OPÉRATEURS RADIO  -  TECHNICIENS RADIO

TECHNOLOGUES RADIO  -  INGÉNIEURS RADIO

INSPECTEURS RADIO  -  GESTIONNAIRES DU SPECTRE

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Mick McWilliams

 
 

 

From the memories of John Weir and Lyle Bates  -  June 2010

 

We remember Mick McWilliams.

There are almost none of us left who can give a good resume on Mick McWilliams.

He was indeed a character. We knew him fairly well but Mick sailed as RO for many different lines as well as working for DOT. He was born in Halifax, N.S. around 1927 and graduated from the Halifax School for Wireless Operators around 1945.

He joined DOT and was immediately posted (who else wanted to go?) to Resolution Island/VAW for one year in the 1947/48 era, serving there at the same time as Dick Geddes and Johnny Weir. Johnny remembers that the winter clothing provided by DOT , although warm was not meant to keep up with the dog teams of the Eskimoes due to its weight and Mick liked to travel in his off- hours, accompanying the Eskimoes on their hunting trips. A kind Eskimo lady made a complete , warm, light outfit for Mick and he was off and running. I remember seeing this outfit at Mick's house over 30 years later.

Wanting a change of life and being a good technician he took time off and sold and serviced vacuum cleaners for the periods 1949/51 but Radio was his calling. In 1951 he signed a two year contract with the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line run by the Canadian and US military and served as operator/technician during 1951/1952.

He then re-joined DOT and worked at VBQ/Halifax Marine Radio telephone which handled ship-to-shore from the vast fleet of Canadian fishing vessels on the East Coast of Canada as well as maintaining a point-to-point CW link for all traffic to and from Sable Island/VGF.

In the early 1960's Mick went back to sea on ocean -going vessels, ending up on the passenger vessel St. Ninian which ran twice weekly trips between St. Pierre et Miquelon and North Sydney/Halifax. He also spent several years on oil rigs off Sable Island and in the North Sea. Mick retired in the late eighties due to ill health, becoming a silent key in the early nineties.
 

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