The retirement of my good friend and colleague: Tom Batts
By
Dennis Lanthier
I’ve worked with Tom Batts for almost 33 years now. When somebody spends 33
years in a career, I think it’s important to take a few minutes and go through
how that person’s career unfolded, talk about their contributions and
achievements.
Tom’s
Career
Tom’s career in the Public Service really started on July 16, 1952 — the day
he was born. He was born with a “Public Service spoon” in his mouth. Tom’s
father, Jack, worked for Transport Canada for 37 years. When Tom and his older
brother Terry were young boys, Tom’s dad would take them down to Transport
Canada’s vehicle garage at 325 Granville to show them around. Tom was always
fascinated by the Radio Reg’s interference cars, and especially the equipment
inside. He really wanted to twiddle all the knobs he saw on the equipment.
Little did he know that this dream would eventually come true.
After going to the University of British Columbia for a few years, he
abandoned the idea of getting a degree in Chemistry. Rather, in September 1972,
Tom decided to take Electrical and Electronics Technology at BCIT.
During a campus recruitment event in February 1974, Tom was impressed with
the laid-back attitude of the interviewers from the Department of
Communications, and not particularly impressed with the interviewers from his
dad’s Department, Transport Canada. He did not hesitate to accept the DOC’s job
offer as a recruit Radio Inspector in the newly created Vancouver District
Office.
Tom’s first day at work was June 4, 1974. He got plunked down right next to
me. I immediately made it clear that I had seniority on this guy — albeit by
only one day. That day was also day one for a guy named Bruce Drake. I still
remember that in the beginning, both of us were given RIM Manuals to read – how
exciting!
By 1979, Tom was a fully trained and qualified Radio Inspector. He had
already acted several times for our Interference Supervisor. When a job was
posted for an EL-6 Engineering Technologist in our Regional Engineering Branch,
Tom won the competition, and beat me hands down. He left the District Office in
November 1979, and joined the “Big Leagues”, i.e., the Regional Office.
Right away, Tom was put to work on a major Regional Engineering project — the
Anik B field trials. This project made a significant contribution to proving
that satellite signals in the 12 GHz Ku band could be used to deliver good
quality television signals. This trial eventually led to today’s Direct-to-Home
broadcast satellite television services.
For several years, we worked side-by-side in the Regional Engineering Group.
While I did microwave licensing primarily, Tom did a smattering of microwave and
earth station licensing, along with some Broadcast work.
By the mid-1980's, Tom became the Region’s representative on the national New
Equipment Working Group (NEWG).
Then in February 2001, Wayne Choi, Director of Spectrum and Telecom and
District Director of the Lower Mainland District Office, asked Tom to become the
Manager of Spectrum Quality and Control in the Lower Mainland District Office.
His patience, compassion, and people skills were all put to the test during his
five years in that position.
Wayne Choi (left) presented Tom Batts (right) with his service award.
Some of Tom’s achievements include being part of a National Group Award — for
conducting field trials on Digital Radio Broadcasting — or DRB. He also served
as the Regional Coordinator for the Operations Sector’s People’s Choice Awards
from 2001 until 2006. In 2002, Tom himself was nominated for a People’s Choice
Award.
In 2005, Tom decided to go on Pre-retirement transition leave. This meant
that he worked only three days a week and committed to retire within two years.
It’s hard to believe that his two years are almost up.
Perhaps Tom’s most significant legacy will be our ISOC systems, which Tom has
been involved with since their infancy. That dream as a child has pretty much
come true: he’s been able to twiddle a lot of knobs and push a lot of buttons
over the years. However, he regrets that he won’t be around to twiddle the
really, really cool knobs and buttons of our ISOC systems, once they become
fully deployed as planned.
And so here we are, almost 33 years after that day in June 1974 when Tom
walked into the Office and we became colleagues and the best of friends.