Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
NameCecil William GOYDER CBE , 1313
Death1980
EducationMill Hill School
FatherWilliam GOYDER , 1229 (1873-1971)
MotherLili Julia KELLERSBERGER , 5178 (1879-1969)
Notes for Cecil William GOYDER CBE
From Radio Society of Great Britain

http://gb2nz.com/?page_id=11

Cecil Goyder was blonde haired and blue eyed and apparently “a pleasant, good looking boy with a friendly smile”. He first became interested in radio in 1915 when living in America. On returning to England in 1920, he carried on experiments secretly at Mill Hill School using a spring mattress as an aerial and ex-Army surplus equipment to make his transmitter.

He wasn’t only interested in radio at school but also enjoyed sport and was on the school gym team. Radio activity was encouraged by Mr Brown, the director of science at the school. Goyder was in his final year at Mill Hill and went to the lab early one Sunday morning. Tuning up the school wireless set he worked five USA and Canadian amateurs within four hours. It had been done before but not by anyone anywhere near his age. In 1923 he established direct communication with the far west of the USA and the Byrd Arctic Expedition.

Frank Bell Z4AA and Goyder attended the first RSGB Convention on 3 February 1926 at the Waldorf Hotel. He wrote an article in the RSGB 1927 Diary called “The Quartz Oscillator and its use in a Transmitter”. Ernest Simmonds 2OD was the first holder of the ROTAB trophy, Goyder the second. He and Simmonds were great rivals, although reading between the lines Simmonds was more bothered with the rivalry than Goyder was.

Simmonds held just about every record there was for first contacts and he wasn’t impressed that an 18 year old beat him ‘down under’ although Simmonds did get the ‘crown’ for the first Australian contact a little after Goyder spoke to New Zealand. However, Simmonds was the first one to have his signals heard in New Zealand.

At the RSGB Convention in 1928, supported by 150 Members (more than one tenth of the membership) a paper was read by Ernest Simmonds on frequency stabilisation in which he described the various methods of achieving crystal control. Goyder argued a case for the master oscillator-power amplifier arrangement and the subsequent debate was, apparently, regarded as one of the most important held at a Society meeting.

Sir Edward Appleton in the BBC publication “Calling All Nations” wrote: “Then a very remarkable thing happened. In October 1924 the greatest distance of all was spanned when communication was established between Mr F Bell of New Zealand and C W Goyder. Thus began what I have often called the short wave revolution. This is probably the most dramatic moment in the history of the development of the short waves when the greatest distance possible on this earth was bridged for the first time”.

After getting his BSc. at London, Goyder worked for a time in Paris for Standard Telephones and Cables. In 1935 he joined the BBC’s Technical Research Division. In 1936 the Indian Government asked Lord Reith to lend them a man to build the Indian broadcasting system and Goyder undertook the task. In the next 10 years, as engineer-in-chief, he built 15 stations, some of them short wave, and his work proved highly successful. He was appointed CBE in 1946 on his return from India.

Cecil Goyder died on February 6 1980 in Princetown, New Jersey following a car accident. He was 74. He had lived in the States for the previous 30 years where he became the first communications officer of the UN. He accompanied the American generals at the outbreak of war in Korea to advise them on communications. After his retirement in 1971 he was invited by BOAC to supervise the installation of the passenger computer and did so with such success that the system was afterwards sold by BOAC to Japan Airlines.

In 1988 Sir Robert Telford CBE (President of the Marconi Company) unveiled a commemorative plaque in the Science School of Mill Hill School. Guests included George Goyder CBE (brother), Mrs Gorge Goyder, Mr & Mrs William Goyder and Sir Richard Davies CBE (President of RSGB).

From Mill Hill School Website

http://www.millhill.org.uk/news/news2014autumn.html

Goyder 90th Anniversary Celebration Week at Mill Hill School

Cecil Goyder

Former Mill Hill pupil, Cecil Goyder, made the first two-way radio communication between Britain and New Zealand from the Mill Hill School Science School on 18th October 1924. Station 2SZ also made contact with Australia, USA, China, India, Hong Kong and the Macmillan Expedition crossing the Arctic Circle in 1925. Goyder went on to have a distinguished career in radio, and also supervised the installation of the first passenger computer for British Overseas Airways Corporation (now British Airways). He was awarded the CBE in 1938.

To commemorate the 90th anniversary of this historic contact, Mill Hill School is hosting working amateur radio stations from 11th to 18th October, organised by the Radio Society of Great Britain. The stations are contacting many of the 3.5 million other radio amateurs around the globe during this week. They are also trying to recreate the first Goyder contact on a wavelength close to that used in 1924. Pupils will be able to visit the radio station, speak to the operators, and even speak over the air.
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