Ed
Davey, a man whose connection with radio dates back to 1920 when he was 16 years
old, retired from the department on March 21, 1964.
Born on Gurnsey in the Channel Islands, Mr. Davey
came to Canada at a young age with his parents. They settled at Chatham,
Ontario, where he got his amateur radio operator's license in 1920 and spent one
year with F. J. Collin's radio station. In 1924 he joined the government service
as temporary operator in charge of Anticosti Lightship at a salary of $55 a
month, plus allowances. A year later Mr. Davey, by then a permanent employee,
was assigned to Chebucto Head.
From 1926 to 1930 he
served at Belle Island, Nfld., and
Yarmouth, N.S. and then in June, 1930
was assigned to the N. B. McLean
which was making her maiden voyage.
That same year Veteran
Davey was posted to Ottawa shortwave and spent the rest of his career in this
vicinity. However, if his location
remained fixed, his career did not. The year he came to Ottawa the
department set up its first
frequency standard or "monitoring station" and along with his assigned duties of operating VAA, Mr. Davey became interested
in the monitoring station. From then
on he had a great deal to do with the
service as it grew. In 1936 he was promoted to a Radio electrician and also helped set up two new monitoring stations at
Strathburn, Ontario and
Forrest, Manitoba.
During the Second War, Mr.
Davey's Ottawa monitoring station,
was called upon to use every means at
its disposal to uncover enemy or
clandestine emissions. It did in fact
intercept such transmissions from a station at Long Island, N.Y., which was subsequently seized by American authorities.
In late 1941 a new
building was erected to house the
Ottawa station where, for the
remainder of the war, Ed Davey supervised a staff of radio operators
numbering at times as high as 125.
During post war years he
had a hand in setting up the
monitoring stations at Wetaskiwin,
Alberta and Beaumont, P.Q. In 1955 he
took over as officer in charge of the Almonte monitoring station when the
Ottawa station closed, and remained in this position until his recent
retirement.
At a celebration in honor
of Mr. Davey, W. A. Caton, controller
of radio regulations, reviewed Mr. Davey's long career and presented a
gift from his friends and co-workers. Mrs.
W. B. Smith gave a floral corsage to Mrs. Davey.
The Daveys plan an
extended trip to Europe as a start on
retirement. A visit with son Donald in
London, England, and another to Ed's birthplace on the Channel Islands are two "musts" on the itinerary.