ize 'the broadcasting equipment'. Fortunately Bill was not
in the shop when they came. I asked them if they had a search warrant
and they said no. I replied that I was only an employee and could
they call back a little later when Mr Tavaniotis himself would be
there to answer their questions, and thus managed to get rid of them.
When Bill returned I told him about the incident and he left straight
away and went to the Ministry of Posts & Telegraphs to see Mr.
Stefanos Eleftheriou. And so it came about that Eleftheriou who knew
all about our activity in the amateur bands issued the first three
licences to SV1KE, SV1CA and SV1NK 'to carry out experimental
transmissions relating to the study of propagation on the short
waves'. He knew that he had every right to do this as Greece was a
signatory to the international telecommunication treaties.

I would like to record at this point that Aghis Cazazis SV1CA now
a silent key, has left his own 'monument' in Athens. After the end of
World War II, in his capacity as Head of Lighting Development with the
Electricity authority, he designed the magnificent floodlighting of
the Acropolis which is admired by tourists to the present day.

To return to 1937: Mr Eleftheriou entrusted us with the task of
preparing draft legislation for legalising amateur radio activity. We
wrote to the U.S.A., to England, France and Germany and obtained
copies of the laws governing the issue of licences in all these
countries, and we began the long task of drafting a text which would
be appropriate to the political situation then prevailing in our
country (military dictatorship). Norman Joly, then SV1RX, had written
a text in English, but before we could translate it into Greek or do
anything about it, all our hopes were dashed to the ground by the
outbreak of war in September 1939.

In 1944 while serving as a reserve officer in the Greek army, I
was seconded to the British Military Mission to Greece (B.M.M.)
because of my knowledge of English and French. There I met several
amateurs serving with the British forces, and one of them gave me a
small military transmitter, so I was able to come on the air again
with my old callsign of SV1AZ.

3. Constantine 'Bill' Tavaniotis (formerly SV1KE).

There is no doubt that the most active and best known amateur in
Greece before World War II was 'Bill' SV1KE. He was active on 20 and
10 metres on AM phone and CW, using his famous McElroy