By Luke Voogt
An astronaut hurtling over Australia at 28,000 km/h answered questions from secondary students in a Grovedale backyard thanks to Barry Abley’s amateur radio equipment.
“It was really quite spectacular,” the newly-minted Order of Australia medallist said, as he remembered students beaming signals up to the STS37 space shuttle in 1991.
“We picked up the transmission when the astronauts were off the Western Australian coast and, ten minutes later, they were off the coast of Queensland.”
Mr Abley’s more than half a century in amateur radio began after the then sparky apprentice was conscripted for national service as an engineer in 1967.
After leaving the army, he began teaching at South Barwon Secondary College, and soon after a “ground-breaking” project motivated him to get his amateur radio licence.
A decade before the invention of the internet, and several more before live-streaming, he and a colleague used amateur television to connect students in four Geelong schools.
Later, he used amateur radio to track explorers travelling across the north pole from Russia to Canada and speak to astronauts.
Mr Abley joins wife Barbara, the City of Greater Geelong’s first female mayor and Member of the Order of Australia (AM) since 2007, on the honour roll.
“I was the first male mayoress,” he said.
They met through the Uniting Church, which Mr Abley has been part of 70 years.
Mr Abley is a member of Geelong RSL and Order of St John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller, and has written several history books.
He is a life member of the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia, Amateur Radio Old Timers Club of Australia, Alexander Thomson Cricket Club, Geelong Churches Cricket Association, Geelong Rugby Union Football Club, since 2014 and East Geelong Recreation Reserve Committee of Management.
