Edward Davey

 

Joined the Department of Marine and Fisheries as a Radio Operator in 1924. Retired from the Radio Regulations Division of the Department of Transport (DOT) in 1964.

Entré au ministère de la Marine et des Pêches en tant qu'opérateur radio en 1924. Retraité de la Division des règlements des radiocommunications du ministère des Transports (DOT) en 1964.

 

 

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.

 

Links   -   Liens

1956 - From the Dominion Experimental Farm to Almonte - Monitoring Station Moves

1967 - Early Monitoring in Canada  -  A report from Ed Davey

1976 - A monitoring pioneer recalls the way it was

Rivers - Forrest - Winnipeg Monitoring Stations