History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/Henry Freeman Coffey/Notes

1913 03
4KY reported burnt in accident immediately prior to opening of VIY "Accident at the Wireless Station. — A slight accident occurred at the wireless station on Wednesday afternoon. While engaged fixing a petrol engine Mr. F. J. Burgoyne, the engineer in charge, was severely burnt about the face owing to some petrol catching alight. Mr. Coffey, his assistant, also sustained some burns. Neither, however, was incapacitated from work. The Wireless Station.— Mr. John Livingston M.H.R. received a telegram yesterday from Mr. Oxenham, the secretary to the Postmaster-General, stating that the wireless telegraph station at Mount Gambier would be open for public business to-day. There will be no official opening."

Border Watch clarifies that 4KY not injured in any way in the accident at VIY "Accident at Wireless Station.— We are pleased to learn that Mr. H. T. Coffey, radio engineer at the Mount Gambier wireless station, was not in any way injured by the accident at the wireless station on Wednesday last."

1926 12
Wonderful ode to the "Maggie" by Coffey "Wireless in Pre-Crystal Days. BY H. F. COFFEY, Officer In Charge, Radio Station, Brisbane. Long before the introduction of crystal and valve rectifiers we put up some good DX work on the magnetic detector, yet the 'maggie' seems to be in oblivion today. From the writer's own experience, the 'maggie' was difficult to beat when skilfully handled, the drawback being that the instrument had to be wound up now and again. I may have been lucky as my first trip to U.S.A. under the White Star flag, was very pleasant on the reception side, although ice reports are frequent during the months of November and December. On arrival in Liverpool I was detailed by the genial superintendent, Mr. E. D. Pereira, to proceed to Hepburn, Newcastle-on-Tyne to refit the s.s 'Stephen,' Booth Steamship Company. While there I met Mr. Robinson, officer in charge of Cullercoats Radio, and had the pleasure of viewing for the first time the Poulsen Arc, which was under initial tests by the British Post Office. I carried out reception tests with Mr. Robinson after leaving Newcastle-on-Tyne, and I distinctly remember holding Cullercoats for a distance of 499 miles on the N.E. Scottish coast in daylight, on the magnetic detector. In the good old days which I refer to, operators were, owing to expansion and pressure of business, verily 'human oscillators working magnetic rectifiers.' For instance, one day I was fitting a new aerial to a sister ship of the 'Stephen,' when the steamer next to us pulled out without an operator. I had no time for reflection, but jumped aboard in overalls with only 10/ in my pocket — very little money, seeing that our next port of call was Havre. On the arrival of the 'Huayna' at Havre I signed on before the British Consul. From Havre we proceeded to Hamburg where we had a jolly time for a period of ten days. While in Hamburg I could read Cullercoats in the afternoon on the 'maggie,' but owing to the very limited amount of power obtainable from our old Manchester type dynamo, I could not raise him. On arrival at Gravesend we picked up my tropical outfit, forwarded by the company from Liverpool, our destination being Iquitos, some 2000 miles up the Amazon, in the heart of Peru. During the voyage out to the Amazon good reception results were obtained with Poldhu, reading MPD well south of Madeira on the magnetic detector, although the 'Huayna' had only a very small aerial, being only a 2000-tonner, suitable for navigating the upper reaches of the Amazon from Manaos to Iquitos, 2000 miles inland. During our voyage up the Amazon, I discovered that I could quite easily compete with the Brazilian and Peruvian stations in the prevalence of static, which, unfortunately, prevailed for nearly 18 out of 24 hours. At this time (1910) the Amazon stations erected by the Telefunken Company were employing, or rather, experimenting with crystal detectors. I distinctly remember, one evening, when we were between Manaos and Para, intercepting a radio for the manager of the Booth Steamship Company, who was aboard our vessel, the message being missed by Santarem Radio, although we passed the latter station early the same afternoon. Once again my old 'maggie' clearly demonstrated her superiority over the crystal detector in the intense static which prevailed at the time. Similarly, while operating in the Union Castle line, the writer has cleared traffic to the H.M.S. Hermes (which was the flagship of the Cape squadron at that time at distances exceeding 1800 miles, without any difficulty and worked Durban Radio over 1500 miles, all over land. On the ships of the Union Castle line, we had splendid aerials, and plenty of power for transmission. I distinctly remember on our second trip to the Cape, my friend, Mr. Hobbs on the H.M.S. Hermes read me at 2000 miles. This was in the beginning of winter, when static conditions were moderately good. Later on, I asked Mr. Hobbs how he did it. He replied: 'It is a secret, but you are using a Fleming valve!' I assured him I was using a simple magnetic detector, which gave me excellent signals at 2000 miles from the 'Hermes,' which was anchored in Simonstown. During this voyage, on the 'Durham Castle.' we enjoyed Poldhu's Press to the equator line, which we considered at the time to be a very good performance for the old 'maggie.' My next flag was the P. and O., aboard the 'Persia' to Bombay. Initial tests with Northforeland Radio showed this particular 'maggie' to be very far from standard. However, with a little patience, and juggling of the magnets, signals improved immensely, so much so during the voyage that Poldhu's signals were intercepted to Port Said. I worked Marseilles in daylight shortly after passing through Gibraltar. During this voyage I remember receiving a coded radio for a commercial representative of one of the big British houses and we were unable to find the key. Some two hours later we received the message decoded by the Eastern Extension Company. The decode was very important as it contained instructions to our commercial friend to catch the steamer to Brindisi, thence overland per express in time to catch the 'Mauretania' to New York a few days later. such was the utility of wireless fourteen years ago! Needless to say, the commercial gentleman celebrated the reception of the decode in an exemplary manner! The characteristic of the service in those days was 'speed,' for the art was young and the prospects very promising to the operator who desired to 'oscillate' as some of us virtually did. I was enjoying a brief spell of leave in Killarney, when an urgent wire reached me, instructing me to report for duty at the London office of the Marconi Company, some 48 hours later. I had to proceed to Newcastle-on-Tyne, complete the wireless installation aboard the 'Dimboola' of the Melbourne Steamship Company, sailing aboard in charge of the installation for Australian waters. Here I desire to impress our readers of the high efficiency of the magnetic detector as a rectifier. During the entire voyage via the Cape we were only out of touch with land for a period of 48 hours, clearing traffic with Durban at 1600 miles, working Durban through the 'Zeiten' the following night, and clearing traffic to Perth Radio at 2400 miles. POP as Perth then was, before its call was subsequently changed to VIP, was being tried out by the Telefunken engineers. Referring to daylight ranges on the 'Dimboola' I remember exchanging traffic with Swakupmond, German S.W. Africa, at a distance of 510 miles observation, verified by our genial skipper, Captain L. Roy, who is at present marine superintendent of the Melbourne Steamship Company. When we were 1100 miles off Durban Radio, the writer intercepted a distress signal from the 'Salamis,' which was in a bad position only some 70 miles north of DBN. Owing to the very bad screening which obtains on this coast. Durban could not read his signals, therefore, I had to stay on watch until the early hours of the morning, relaying all traffic both ways, until such time as the 'Salami' was safe, receiving 'first aid' from two tugs sent out from Durban. Finally, I consider that the 'maggie,' owing to its absolute reliability, purity of note, or shall we say faithfulness of reproduction, should have an important place in the realm of short distance radiotelephony. Placing a single stage of audio amplification behind the magnetic detector will produce true music. Experimenters, give it a trial!"

1934 08
Detailed obituary 4KY "MR. H. F. COFFEY. Mr. Henry Freeman Coffey, of Byng-road, Maroubra, who died on Saturday week and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery, Botany, was one of the pioneers of radio. Born in 1885 in the Barony of Inveragh, Ireland, Mr. Coffey went to London at the age of 18 to train in general engineering. In 1910 he joined the Marconi Co. and served in a number of vessels of the White Star, Booth Steamship Co., Iquitos Steamship Co., Union Castle Line and P. and O. Bombay Mail. Mr. Coffey made two trips up the Amazon River for a distance of 2000 miles. He fitted several Australian ships with wireless when they were built in the United Kingdom and sailed to Australia in the 'Dimboola.' He joined the Commonwealth Radio Service in 1912. In that year Mr. Coffey assisted with the erection of the Radio Station at Mt. Gambier, of which he was placed in charge. Later he was in charge of coastal radio stations at Broome, Melbourne, Sydney, Thursday Island, Brisbane and Hobart. In 1928 Mr. Coffey was transferred to the Receiving Station of A.W.A. at La Perouse. Mr. Coffey suffered only a short illness and died of bronchial pneumonia. He leaves a widow and four children. The chief mourners were Mrs. H. F. Coffey and her sons and daughters. Amalgamated Wireless was represented at the funeral by Messrs. A. S. McDonald (chief engineer), W. G. Clarke (traffic manager), Captain Toombs, P. W. Brown (officer in charge), with a large number of the staff from A.W.A. Receiving Centre, La Perouse, V. Stanley (officer In charge at A.W.A. Radio Centre), together with a number of the staff, K. McLellan (supervisor), and several members of the Central Radio Office, Sydney, and Beam messenger boys. The wireless section of the P.M.G.'s Department was represented by Mr. W. T. S. Crawford, Chief Radio Inspector, and Mr. J. Brown, Assistant Radio Inspector. A number of boy scouts also attended."