Applecross Radio Teleservice

Australian inventor of the Slow-Scan Television

It’s disheartening to think that the legacy of Eric Samek, the Australian inventor of Slow-Scan Television, has largely faded into obscurity. Regardless of whether you’re passionate about radio technology or its modern applications, his contribution was groundbreaking — and his name deserves to be remembered.

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Although most property websites list 842 Canning Highway, Applecross as having been built in 1963, aerial photographs from March 1961 already show the house established on the site. Originally built as a single-storey brick and tile residence positioned towards the front of the block, the house was later extended with a second storey and additions to the rear. These changes appear to have been carried out sometime between June 1983 and June 1985.

 

With these extensions complete, the residence featured nine bathrooms, two bedrooms and 10 car bays. Around this time, the residence was recorded as having been converted for commercial use, likely occupying the front portion of the house on the ground floor.

 

1980s–2000s: Radio Service Business Era

For much of the late 20th century, 842 Canning Highway functioned as a radio and electronics repair workshop that was called Teleservice. Whilst a sign on the front door of the Applecross property stated they were “the longest established TV service in Australia non-stop since 1956”, very limited records can be found. One of the earliest evidence of the business dates to a 1976 advertisement in Electronics Australia magazine.

 

The first business name found to be registered to Eric Samek was for Teleservice, on 16 October 1980, which was cancelled on 16 October 2016 (he passed away aged 90 on 15 September 2016). Three other business names can be found:

• Applecross T.V. Service - 17 October 1980 to 24 December 1998.

• Canning Highway T.V. Service - 22 April 1981 to 25 June 1993.

• A A A TV Service - 27 February 1986 to 27 February 1989.

 

Samek offered sales and maintenance of radios, televisions and related audio-visual equipment, which reflects the technological needs of the era.

 

Inventing the Slow-Scan Television

Slow-Scan Television, often shortened to SSTV, is a way of sending pictures over radio waves. Instead of transmitting moving images like a normal television, SSTV sends still pictures very slowly, one frame at a time. The signal fits into the same narrow radio bandwidth used for voice communication, which means amateur radio operators can send and receive images without special broadcast equipment.

 

It’s like radio combined with fax. Your voice might normally take up the channel but with SSTV, the sound waves are carefully converted into shades of light and dark, so a receiving station can reconstruct the picture. Early systems used modified televisions or simple monitors with special glowing screens that could hold an image long enough to see the full picture appear. Operators often swapped snapshots, greetings or QSL cards (proof of contact), creating a very visual kind of radio conversation.

 

In Australia, Eric Samek (callsign VK6ES) was one of the true pioneers of SSTV. While the first amateur experiments began in the United States in the late 1960s, Eric was among the very first to build, test and transmit SSTV equipment here. By the early 1970s, he was already recognised in the amateur radio community as the leading figure pushing this technology forward in Western Australia.

 

This required Samek to hold an Amateur Advanced Radio Licence, which authorised him to operate an amateur radio station under Australian and CEPT international conditions.