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Brent Seres

Former Radio Inspector with the Federal Department of Communications (DOC)

Worked in the Toronto District Office, RSSC Acton and Belleville District Office

Worked with Jungle Aviation and Radio Service in Brazil and Guatemala

Taught Technological and Computer studies

Taught electronics and RF systems in Broadcast Engineering at Loyalist College

 
 

 

My name is Brent Seres

 

I recently came across your website, and really have enjoyed browsing it , as I worked as an RI from 1977 to 1991 with DOC. I'll include some biographical info below, and you can feel free to use it as you see fit.

 

I was hired by the department upon graduating from Sheridan College, in Brampton, Ontario in the spring of 1977, and went to work in the Toronto District Office. As I recall, my supervisors there were Joe Calico in radio licensing, and John Nossotti in Enforcement. Others hired with me included Rob Martin, Pim Vanderveen, Mario Luis. I also remember well Bill Hall, George Strongitharm, Ben Baker, Don Edwards, Gary Steckly, Bruce Genery, and Pat Carey, to name a few. It was the 70s CB craze, and I well remember the many hours spent tracking illegal and out of band operators, and investigating all manner of interference complaints.

 

In the fall of 1979, I took a leave of absence from the department, and spent a year doing mission work supporting translators with Jungle Aviation and Radio Service in Brazil and Guatemala, repairing everything from HF radios and avionics to electric fans and power lines. While in Brazil, I operated using the call sign PY9ZAA, and ran numerous phone patches for other missionaries, as telephone service to our part of the country was unreliable and extremely expensive. Also, I guess the 'Wild West' of this remote part of Brazil was considered rare DX, and I had no problem making lots of contacts.

 

I returned to the Toronto District Office in January of 1981, and then transfered to RSSC, in Acton that spring. Art Solomon was station manager at the time, and I worked alongside Ed Cooper, Dave Slingerland, Keith Myles and Eldon Mclaughlin, as well as Glen Ritchie, who became station manager when Art replaced Glen Warsnop in Kitchener DO. We did a lot of training of new inspectors at the time, and developed the 'Petscan' automated sampling system which used a Commodore PET computer and a Radio Shack scanner. Data was stored on a cassette tape and graphs printed out on a dot matrix printer. Other equipment I remember was the Racal 17c, Racal 1772 and CEI and Watkins Johnston receivers whose model numbers I forget. We were just getting started with using the monitoring vans at the time, and we had a SSB link on 4967 kHz using a pair of Marconi CH25 radios for when we were out of VHF range. Working at Acton was probably the highlight of my departmental career, as we had to develop a lot of in house technical solutions to unique problems.

 

In the fall of 1989 I transferred to the Belleville DO as supervisor, where I remained for two years, before leaving to complete my Bachelor of Education degree at University of Toronto. I then taught Technological and Computer studies at Bayside Secondary School in Belleville for 17 years before retiring in 2009, after which I spent eight years teaching electronics and RF systems in the Broadcast Engineering program at Loyalist College, until it was cancelled. I now enjoy doing volunteer technical work for a local Christian radio station, tinkering with Ham Radio, and helping my grandson discover the same magic of radio that I did as a kid.

 

Below are a couple of images I found. I'm not sure of the dates, but it would be in the mid 1980s. The first is of Keith Myles and Eldon Mclaughlin at the RSSC console, the second is of Dave Slingerland working on the updated 'Petscan' system. We had moved from cassette tape storage to 5 1/4 floppy. If you look carefully, you can see the Commodore PET open behind Dave.

 

Again, I really enjoy your site. TNX es 73

 

Brent. VE3CUS

 

4 November 2019

 

Above

Keith Myles and Eldon Mclaughlin at the RSSC console in the mid 1980s

 

Dave Slingerland working on the updated 'Petscan' system in the mid 1980s

We had moved from cassette tape storage to 5 1/4 floppy.

If you look carefully, you can see the Commodore PET open behind Dave.

 

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