Yes – pre TV, FM, satellites, GPS (and certainly WiFi, mobile phones, internet and email) things were pretty tough on the electronic communications front.

Close-up of a classic electro-mechanical Hellscreiber. Note the paper tape under the keyboard.

However that did motivate many, myself included, to explore the technological magic then represented by radio. Numerous ham radio and electronics careers began when curious youngsters twiddled the dial on the family wireless and wondered how the sound reached them from the other side of the world.

Along with such diverse short wave voice stations as the Voice of America and the BBC News, a huge volume of powerful commercial, embassy, military and news service information passed as hideously sounding pulsed data traffic over these bands.

Tuning weak foreign stations amongst the cacophony of sounds that represented SW listening at that stage was often an frustrating but entertaining experience, compounded by atmospheric static crashes, propagation fades, heterodyne whistles, deliberate jamming interference and – oh yes – analog dials. And you thought video games were noisy!

It often sounded like a cross between an orchestra tune up and a chain-sawing woodpecker and no doubt prompted many a spouse or mum to hit the mains switch.