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Email: jbsymons@indo.net.id
April 2004
Sun. March 21 was Nyepi day, (silent day), the Balinese New Year.  It always falls on the 3rd no-moon of the year. It was so quiet, most people in our housing estate had moved out, either to a hotel or gone off the island.
No Barking Dogs
Not even a dog bark, just the twittering of birds, a nice change. 
Airport Closed
The airport was closed for 24 hrs. Bali's Ngurah Rai airport has the distinction of  being the only international airport in the world that closes for a public holiday. 
Nyepi Eve Party
Nyepi eve, Pak Made had a Nyepi Eve party at Warung Sobat. A three course Balinese meal for Rp 35,000 (A$5.50), including a welcome arak cocktail.  The meal was extremely nice. First course was banana and onion soup, odd, but very tasty, main course a mixture of Balinese goodies. The desert was Black rice with coconut cream. The dinner started at 6.30, so every one could get home before the street lights were turned out at 11 pm. 
Ogoh-Ogoh Canceled
Each year the Balinese work for weeks making huge paper machete' monsters, called Ogoh-Ogoh, each Bunjar competing for the biggest and most elaborate.  On Nyepi eve they have a fire-torch-lit, procession in the streets. In the case of Pak Made's Bunjar, from the front of the Bunjar building to Petitenget beach. This year, the local government canceled the Ogoh-Ogoh procession, because of the upcoming election.
An Ogoh-Ogoh procession
At the KHO
We spent a quiet day at the house, cooked dinner in the afternoon and served it at 6 pm, while there was still some light to see. We sealed the bedroom windows with sizalation and watched Tv.
A Sizalationized window
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This year is historic for Indonesia as it will be the first time the President and Vice-President, will be directly elected by the people. In the past the MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly) elected the president. The first step in the process will be the General election to be held on Monday April 5. Only parties who gain a significant majority will be able to nominate presidential candidates.  The Presidential election will be held on July 5. If there is not a winner a second election will be held on Sept. 20. 
Megawati on the campaign trail.
Alistair Cooke Dies
BBC: Esteemed writer and BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke, famed for his programme Letter From America, died aged 95 on March 30. For more than half a century, Alistair Cooke's weekly broadcasts of Letter from America for BBC radio monitored the pulse of life in the United States and relayed its strengths and weaknesses to 50 countries. (Including ABC Radio National in Australia)  His retirement from the show earlier this month after 58 years, due to ill health, brought a flood of tributes for his huge contributing to broadcasting. 
Born in Salford, near Manchester, northern England, Alistair Cooke's father was an iron-fitter and Methodist 
lay-preacher. Alistair Cooke  first visited  the United States in 1932, on a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship which took him to both 
Yale and Harvard. Following his return to Britain, he became the BBC's film critic 
He returned to the United States in 1937 to work as a commentator on American affairs for the BBC. He made his home there and, in 1941, became an American citizen. March 1946 saw the first edition of American Letter, which became Letter from America in 1949. The series was the longest-running series in history to be presented by a single person. In 1974 he was
asked to address the United States Congress on its 200th anniversary. He told his audience he felt as 
if he was in a dream, standing naked before them and there was only one thing he could find to say. "I gratefully accept your nomination for President of the United States!" Naturally, he brought the house down.
Making Waves
Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tarangini lies at anchor at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port. Tarangini, which literally means "waves", is India's only sail training ship. It arrived here on a five-day visit on Sun. March 14 with 43 cadets on board.
Gede
Pak Made's 14 year old son Gede drops in to the KHO. While still attending school, he is now helping in the restaurant  at nights. 
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Friend One at the KHO
Our friend from Lombok, One (pronounced Onney) came to stay for a week, the last week in March.
Jamal and One
New Subscribers
Wolfgang & Yolander
Recent visitors to Bali Wolfgang & Yolander from Heidelburg, Germany. They are now happy  subscribers of the KHO news.
Wolfgang sent us this photo of Pak Made, hard at work at the grill.
"Steak anyone?"
Friend Sei from Japan, sent this photo of he and friends enjoying dinner. Sei - second left.
John's new tailor made shorts, copied from a worn out pair of expensive bush walking shorts.
Ana Merino Barbero and family from Spain sent this photo of son Alfredo feeding the geko at Pak Made's, Warung Sobat, 2 years ago. They hope to return soon.
A Real Man's Kitsch
Mix flour & salt, need the butter into the flour, add water to make a dough, roll out. Place the pastry in a pie dish. Beat 2 eggs with a little salt and pour into the pan. Place sliced tomato, cheese, bacon, mushroom and anything else you can find on top. Bake till ready.
Garage Guard Rail
Yet another improvement at the KHO,  in the garage to stop the driver hitting the wall when he is sober. The cat is YuYum.
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As we all know, Bali and Indonesia sit on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" & is a gempa (Ind.-  earthquake) zone. 
5 p/w Magnitude 5.0
Earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or more, are common in the Indonesian islands and they occur about once a week on average. Tremors occur more frequently.
Earthquake Detector
We thought it would be handy to have an earthquake detector in the house - especially to wake us at night. should a medium quake occur, allowing us to get to the street before a possible larger quake or after-shock hit our area.
Research
We searched the internet and found there are 2 kinds of detectors available, the first a very complicated device, QuakeAlert®
This unit reacts to vertical ground movements caused by vibrations in the form of motion waves from an earthquake. It senses the arrival of primary (P) waves, the first waves to reach the detector, and so provides adequate time to react before the arrival of more destructive shear (S) and rally (R) waves. The detector is extremely accurate and will sound only when a vertical displacement above a critical level occurs, giving up to 30 seconds warning of an earthquake. The unit is built in Canada and sells for US$399. (A$555)
The second cheaper unit is made in the USA and called Quake Alarm, it also claims to sense the (P) wave, however is not as sensitive as the previous alarm and retails for US$40 (A$55)
We build our own
We decided it would be fun to build our own unique earthquake alarm in reproduction antique style to go with the decor of the KHO.
The Plan
First we designed the Gempa Detector on computer. The idea is quite simple, a builders plumb bob suspended inside a washer. The unit is bolted to the cement wall, When an earthquake occurs the wall moved horizontally, the pendulum stays stationary and touches the metal washer in turn setting off the alarm. 
First we tried the unit with the plumb bob/washer contact directly 
pulling in a relay. Often the contact was not sufficient to pull in the relay. Next we designed a transistor high impedance switching circuit.
This worked perfectly. The unit has 3 adjustments to perfectly centre the plum bob in the washer. 
One screw adjustment on the top controls the vertical position. Below a gymbal, giving north/south east/west horizontal adjustment.
The Gymbal
During the construction period the electrical circuit was changed 4 times, before a satisfactory result was finally achieved.
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During construction
The final circuit features a door micto-switch which switches from the alarm circuit to a red indicator LED for tuning.
Varnishing the box
The Gempa detector is now mounted in the passageway outside the bedrooms. It is quite sensitive, just hitting the cement wall is 
sufficient to set it off. All we need now is an earthquake to see if it works. I hope not a big one!
John and  finished mounted unit
Lichen in the Waterfall
The KHO waterfall has been suffering from Liken growing on the cement under the water. Not a nice look. The cure Indonesian extra strong bleach Biclin. Just add ¼ of a cup and the liken disappears.
Media Bargains
For some time we have thought of buying a new larger screen Tv, to replace our 6 year old 21" set
Alpha Supermarket in the Kuta- Denpasar road had a March sale with hefty discounts. We decided to buy a Samsung 29", marked down from US$423 (A$587) to US$300(A$415). We had to renovate the media rack to accommodate the new Tv.
The new Tv and Radio/tape
Two weeks later we returned to Alpha to buy a new Radio/Tape/ Amplifier unit. This 100 watt machine is made by the Indonesian Polytron company, part owned by Sanken. This machine was discounted from US$194 (A$250) to US$115 (A$150)
Polytron Radio/Tape/Amp
Jamal is wrapped, as the machine has a record and play deck, he can again make his compilation tapes, that he likes to give to friends and people we meet in Sobat.
"Roll Tape"
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OLD CODGERS
The first 10 years of John's working life, from 1960 - 1970,  was spent at television station HSV7, Melbourne, These were great times as Tv, had only started in 1956. In 2002, 
retired HSV7 old timer Donald Smith organized a reunion of "Old Codgers" It was a big success. Annual 
reunions have followed, each time attendance's increasing. Now a number of members have put together a CD of photo's of the reunions, plus a collection of historical photos of the early days. 
Recently, ex-channel 7 staff member Harold Aspinal sent a copy of the CD to the KHO. I was so inspired by 
these old photos, I decided to write a memoir of the period from my perspective. Photos were augmented by others from the internet. We acknowledge these suppliers of photographs. Harold Aspinall, Russell Bourne, Richard Bence, Dick McEwan, Dick Jones, Graham Foster, Don Smith, David Perry, John Walters & Wilma Gray, wife of the late Ted Gray.
Episode 1
John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird was born on August 13th, 1888, in Helensburgh, Dunbarton, Scotland and died on June 14th, 1946.  The television pioneer created the first televised pictures of objects in motion (1924)
the first televised human face (1925) and a year later he televised the first moving object image in London. The BBC 
J.L. Baird
started broadcasting television on the Baird 30-line system in 1929. 
Baird's first mechanical television
In July 1930, the first British Play was transmitted, "The Man with the Flower in his Mouth. " The world's first regular transmissions using the electronic Marconi-EMI, 405 line system started in England in 1936.
Early ad for Baird Tv kits
The "Logies"
The annual Australian Television awards are called the "Logies" 
in honor of John Logie Baird. The name was suggested by the "King" and first star of Australian 
Television, Graham Kennedy.
How it worked
The scanning wheel, consisted of 2 identical scanning wheels drilled to create a scan of the object.
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The Baird mechanical Tv
The picture information was picked up by a photo-electric valve, passed through an amplifier to a lamp, providing the 2 scanning wheels were in synchronization the viewer would see an image.
The first television picture using Baird's mechanical scanner
Tv in Australia
The technical pioneer of Australian Television was James Hurbert Thomas Fisher, born 1911 and died at the age of 81 in 1992. 
He commenced studying at the University of Adelaide in 1929 and in 1930 he joined the Postmaster Generals department (PMG) as a cadet engineer. 
Mr Fisher
After qualifying in 1930 he moved to Melbourne to work for the PMG research laboratories. 20 years before the advent of television in Australia he avidly read overseas technical publications on the development of television. In 1937 to raise awareness of Tv, he wrote and presented a paper "Recent developments in Television" He gave a demonstration with a hand built system of his own design. Pre W.W.II Mr Fisher presented many secret reports to Australian Government on the development of Tv overseas and it's possible  introduction to Australia. W.W.II interrupted Mr Fisher's research, he was redeployed to the secret development of radar. After the war there was pressure to adopt the British 405 line Tv standard. Mr Fisher put forward the radical proposal to introduce the much advanced 625 line system. He was successful and that system is still in use today. Mr Fisher traveled to Europe and the US to study the latest developments in Television, returned to Australia to train many technicians and creative in the new medium. Two of his students were Hector and Dorothy Crawford. 
Mr Fisher left the PMG in 1954 and joined the Broadcast Control Board where he wrote the first technical standards for the introduction of television to Australia. The following year he was to join HSV7 Melbourne to become Chief engineer. He held the position until his retirement in 1977. In 1986 the Television Society of Australia presented him with the Colin Bednal Award and in 1989 he was awarded the Paul Marlan Award by the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations. 
Building a Tv Station
1955 Mr Fisher was faced with the formidable task of building a television station from ground up. A transmitter had to be built at Mt Dandenong, studios had to be built in South Melbourne, all in time for the Melbourne Olympic Games in late 1956.
The tower under construction
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The Studios
Meanwhile an old paper store owned by HSV7 owners, The Herald and Weekly Times was being partly demolished for the construction of the South Melbourne  link tower.
Demolition at Dorcas St
Tower base and Studio 1
The South Melbourne tower had an unusual feature which allowed the microwave transmitters to be at roof level for easy maintenance. They pointed upwards to a "beam-bender" set at 45 degrees, sending the signal on to Mt Dandenong.
The studio tower, clearly showing the "beam-bender"
On top of the tower was a fully motor controlled microwave dish for receiving broadcasts from the channels Outside Broadcast (OB) van. The location making broadcasts possible from most parts of the city, especially the football grounds, making 7 the premier football channel.
Master Control
From the master control room the motorized dish could be controlled, horizontally or vertically, the 2 large circular white dials in the picture above indicating the dish's position.
Test Transmissions
Work at the transmitter site was well advanced compared to the Studio site. At the transmitter telecine machine was installed and 16mm films could be broadcast.
Telecine machine
Simple 1 camera telecine
The telecine machine was a one source, 1 camera unit, but with mechanical controls you could dissolve between a slide and film. Reel changes where done as in a cinema. Commercial were spliced into the film so the station could rely on just one of these machines for continuous program. The station didn't acquire it's first video tape machines until 1960.
Simple setup
In 1960 the station only possessed 5 Marconi Mk 3 cameras, 2 telecine's and a vidicon caption camera. A far cry from the present day when stations own tens of dozens  cameras. The studio cameras were dismantled and taken out to Outside broadcasts (OB's)
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On Aug. 28 1944, in a little country town 140km from Melbourne, Nancy Symons gave berth to a son, John in the Stradbroke hospital, Leongatha, now the  Dunlop Tyre centre.
 John at 18 months old
When I was about 12 and in form 1 at the Leongatha High, the first Australian Tv channels had started test transmissions from Mt Dandenong, in the Melbourne outskirts. Neither of the 3 channels had completed their studios.  In Leongatha there was only 1 Tv set and that was in the window of Joel's Radio in McCartain St. This was around June 1956. Every night a crowd of people, suitably rugged up and with their camp stools they used at the local footy each Saturday, assembled on the street outside to watch the few hours of test film programs and slides. 
An early Astor 17" B&W Tv
I was there many nights and totally besotted by television. At the High School, the librarian Mrs Daisy Bacon, the librarian, would paste
the daily news paper up on the inside of the library windows, so they could be read from outside by the kids. One day whilst reading the library window,  I saw the photo (far left) in "The Sun" of the Marconi, channel 7 OB van being lifted off the ship from England,  I looked at it for ages - dreaming about the magic of broadcasting outside events  in Melbourne, all the way to our village of Leongatha.
"Jumbo"  when new
Little did I know I would end up sitting for endless hours in "Jumbo" (as the OB van was affectionately known) doing audio, broadcasting the football every Saturday for 8 or so years as well as many other OB's, including "Music for the People", the "Seekers, welcome home concert" and the annual "Miss Australia Ball" 
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I was very interested in electronics (known as RADIO in those days) Every month I would wait for the new edition of Radio & Hobbies, soon to become Radio,Television & Hobbies, to arrive at the Leongatha newsagent. From these magazines I learnt about how radio's and Tv's worked and taught myself to read electronic circuits.
For around 2 years my mother took me to Melbourne by train (shown left) often to see an Orthodontist which only took an hour. Mum went her way shopping and I would hang around all the Radio parts shops. 
I build a Radio
Finally when I was about 14, I built a 3 valve, regenerative short-wave receiver, it didn't work straight away, so I took it to the technician at Joel's radio, who got it working in no time. 
The regenerative radio
Later I discovered that when the radio regenerated, it transmitted a signal, which could be heard as a whistle on other radios, I became interested in transmitters.
I build a Transmitter
I poured over many amateur transmitter circuits and realized maybe I could modulate the transmitted signal from my radio with sound, by putting a speaker transformer primary in the power supply to the regenerating valve and adding audio to the transformer. It worked, then I persuaded my dad to cut down a gum tree at the farm to make a transmitting antenna. 
The range of the transmitter was about 500 meters.
ON-THE-AIR
I built a small 3 channel passive audio mixer, which I could feed a carbon microphone, turntable and radio into. At one stage even connecting the phone line and doing talk-back radio years before the stations were allowed to do it. Programs would consist of waffle from yours truly, 78 records from mum's collection and the news on the hour re-broadcast from 3UZ. 
I don't think we had any listeners, except mum in the kitchen, but a friend at school who lived nearby claimed he could receive the signal.
Television
I was an avid television viewer, fascinated with how it all worked, technically and production. We didn't have a Tv, every afternoon I would go around to Auntie Vi's to watch Tv. I Loved Lucy, the Micky Mouse Club and  Rin-Tin-Tin. Auntie Vi's youngest son Graham built a crystal set, I learnt from him and built one too using a rusty razor blade and a safety pin as the diode, feeding into some army surplus headphones from Waltham Trading Store in Elizabeth St. Melbourne.
I read everything I could find in the High school library about radio, electricity and chemistry. I made my own gunpowder and built a rocket that was electrically fired by a Scope soldering iron transformer. My Uncle Charley returned from a trip to England, he bought me a book on the workings of television broadcasting. It featured the workings of a Tv camera and a studio the transmitter and the receiver. I read it many times.
 To be continued ........... Next Month, "The move to Melbourne"
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