ued: "I would like you to notice these two QSL cards I
received in 1933. I1IP wrote on his card 'I am on the air since 1924
but you are the first SV station I have heard'. And the British
listener BRS1183 wrote 'Dear old man, very pleased to report your
signals. Are you the only active station in SV?' I think those
comments speak for themselves."

Norman: "Had you not heard about Tavaniotis, who had also
emigrated from Russia?"

Takis: "No. It was you who took me to the basement shack and
introduced me. I remember how I gaped when I saw the 150 watt
transmitter Bill had built."

Takis then described how he had heard a distress signal on his
home-made receiver. It was in a language he could not understand so
he called his father, who was quite a linguist, to listen. It
appeared that the vessel had caught fire as it was approaching the
port of Piraeus, south of Athens. The captain of the ship said their
predicament was complicated by the fact that they were transporting a
large circus, with many wild animals. Takis ran to the nearest Police
station and told his story, but was greeted practically with derision.
How could a young lad like him know there had been a fire on a ship
which was not even in sight of the shore? Anyway, somebody was
brought to the station and the officer said "Go with this man." Takis
was taken to the coast at Palaio Faliro where he boarded a salvage
tug, and they set out to sea. He said the vessel in distress had been
bound for Piraeus, and sure enough the salvage tug located it, but
when they approached it there was no sign of fire as it had been put
out, before any of the animals could be harmed. But the engine room
had been damaged, so the tug towed the vessel into harbour. What
Coumbias didn't know was that by law he was entitled to a proportion
of the salvage money, and he never got anything.

Another incident involving a small yacht which belonged to a
friend of Takis' led to an interesting assignment. The yacht was
considered to be not seaworthy any more, and a W/T transmitter it
carried was dismantled completely by an electrician who knew nothing
about wireless.

"I was asked to put it together again by the owner who wanted to
sell it to the ship to shore W/T station where they did not have a
short wave capability yet. When I was shown the parts I was horrified
to see that there was no circuit diagram or instructions of any sort.
It took me more than a