A noble industry

On reflection, I'm privileged to have been a part of an extraordinary period of change in telecommunication. If you consider the changes over 50 years, from telegraphic data rates and channelised voice to the blistering aggregated Gigabit data streams that comprise the ubiquitous Internet of today, I don't think that scale of technological evolution will ever be repeated. 

I've decided to create the Telecommunication section of this site no only to share my reminiscing but to also to share historical aspects of the industry. Actually, I'm not sure how long there will be an audience for this material as technology advances so rapidly and the remaining community - those that can identify with the technologies that defined especially my early career - is gradually diminishing.

I started as a trainee telephone technician at the Pukekohe Post Office in June 1969, working on  maintaining a manually operated telephone exchanges and small rural automatic exchanges. I was involved in the conversion of the Franklin district from Manual to Automatic exchanges.

Working in Auckland as a transmission technician from 1975 and promoted as a senior technician to Christchurch in 1982 was a great career move for me. During my time in Christchurch I have moved from the technical through contract management into national roles in network protection and business continuity.