G.
BRODIE GILLIES VE3JA QCWA #8642 (SK)
Brodie grew up and attended schools in Vancouver,
British Columbia.
Education / Employment History
1936 - Brodie graduated from University of British Columbia
with a double degree in Arts and Applied Science (both Electrical and
Mechanical)
1937 - Graduate course in Economics and Forest
Management and a log scaling school.
1937 - He joined the firm of Gillies Brothers in
Braeside, Ontario (near Ottawa).
1937-1945 - Had various functions in and around the
Gillies Mill and woods operations.
1945 - He started building a new Gillies Mill at
Temagami, Ontario
1946-1955 - He was responsible for operation of
both Braeside and Temagami mills.
1956 - Brodie visited the winter operations of
several Swedish mills.
1956 - Designed and built the Waltham Hardwood Mill
at Waltham, Quebec
1957-1958 - He was now in charge of Waltham plus
Braeside and Temagami mills.
1958 - Brodie undertook the $2.5 Million design and
construction of a new Braeside Mill to take over from Temagami which was being
phased out. Logs would now come all the way down to Braeside on the Ottawa
River.
1960-1965 - VP of Mill Production as output
increased from 21 to 31 Million feet/yr
1964 - Brodie took the Queen’s University Executive
Course.
1965 - Gillies Brothers was sold to Consolidated
Paper.
1965-1967 - He took several trips abroad to visit
mills and woods operations in Malawi, Guyana, Holland, Germany, France, Belgium
and South America as well as other mills in Eastern Canada with the Forest
Products Research Society.
Amateur Radio History
1934 - Brodie was first licensed as VE5BG in
Vancouver – on air with home-brew 160M rig with RK20 tube screen-modulated with
a 56 tube.
1935 - Endorsed for all-band phone operation.
1937 - Moved to Braeside, Ontario. Now VE3JA
1938 - Operated mostly 10M with home-built AM rig
and rotary beam antenna
1939-1945 – Inactive due to WWII
1962 - Warehouse fire destroyed the home-built rig
while new house being built.
1963 - Purchased a Collins KWM-2 with 30L1 Linear
Amplifier and 312B5 Console
1969 - Purchased an Icom IC-2F 2M FM Rig to
complete the station for all-band operation.
Brodie was a member of QCWA and one of the
twenty-one Charter Members of Chapter 70.
He passed away in the Spring of 1981.