8 Oct 2020 - Silent Key - Prof. Colin W Davidson GM3LAV
Colin Davidson GM3LAV at a MoC meeting in 2012.
Colin GM3LAV (r) with George Millar GM3UM at NFD-1960.
Scotsman obituary, slightly edited: Colin William Davidson GM3LAV died at home in Ardfern, Argyll on 8th October 2020 aged 86 with family present. Born in Edinburgh and educated at George Heriot's School and Edinburgh University, he went on to become Professor and Dean of Electrical Engineering at the Heriot-Watt University, and Treasurer, Vice President and Honorary Fellow of the IEE. He was also a successful and enthusiastic sailor in racing catamarans and later enjoyed years of cruising the Western Isles.
His XYL, Ranee has provided this story about him:
"I remember one of his outings - we were in Belfast visiting my aunt and Colin drove up a nearby hill where he thought the reception would be very good. It was just at the beginning of the Troubles and in half an hour he found his car surrounded by heavily-armed police. After a great deal of shouting it transpired that Colin was interrupting communication at Belfast Airport!! It was thought it was the IRA! He was very chastened!"
Colin was an active member of the Lothians Radio Society in the 1950s, 60s and perhaps longer and gave a number of talks. Here are some recollections by members who knew him.
Vic GM3OWU remembers: as a schoolboy shortwave listener I first came across Colin on 80m with a T1154 AM transmitter and later at an LRS meeting where he supported Jim McCaig GM3BQA in demonstrating his HF three band quad using three vhf and uhf aerials and a signal generator. Colin later helped get us space in the Mountbatten Building of the HWU to run special event station GB3EIF for the Edinburgh International Festival.
Mike GM3PAK remembers: very sad. I remember Colin well at LRS - somewhat awe-inspiring to a 14-year-old, with all his theoretical knowledge, but also some very good practical demonstrations, some at 10 GHz where the 3cm wavelength was easier to accommodate in the meeting room than even 10m would have been!
David GM3TFY writes: like many, I've known Colin for the last 60 years, and visited him several times after he moved to Ardfern. At Heriot-Watt he was a good administrator and looked out for his department, where I did my BSc. He was my final-year BSc project supervisor. We had to choose from subjects put forward by lecturers. He later admitted he had me in mind for his proposal and hoped I would choose it. So I did: a Parametric Amplifier for S-band. Due to a lack of suitable instrumentation, I failed to get it to work in the time available (well, that's my excuse). However, I spent a lot of time on the interesting theory and apparently got well marked for that.
Photo courtesy Museum of Communication Transmitting magazine. (#93, Winter 2020, p.6).
Colin (R) with Trevor Clark (MGS) and Harry Matthews of MoC in January 1992.
Click for Scotsman VIP obituary.
Click for IET obituary.
Click for Heriot-Watt University official obituary.
Photo from HWU obituary.
Painting, from funeral card.
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Lists of honours & achievements, from funeral card.