Portishead Radio

Larry Bennett has been involved in radio communications for his entire life. He obtained his Maritime Radio General Certificate in 1979 before joining the BBC Monitoring Service at Caversham Park, Reading as an electronics technician later that year. He then found employment as a Radio Officer at the Post Office/BT's Portishead Radio Station for over 20 years, joining the service in 1980 and leaving BT in 2001 when the Aeronautical and Maritime service was sold. After a short spell of processing historical documents from the station for BT Group Archives, he worked as a Radio Signals Editor for the Admiralty List of Radio Signals section of the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton. In 2011 he was promoted to Radio Signals Manager, overseeing the ALRS suite of publications. He subsequently served on various IMO and IHO radio communication committees and working groups as both Secretary and Chair of the IMO NAVTEX Coordinating Panel before taking retirement at the end of 2019. He is the webmaster of the Portishead Radio website www.portisheadradio.co.uk and has had numerous articles published in specialist radio magazines. He has also given illustrated lectures about the station to radio clubs and local history groups around the country. He is a licensed Radio Amateur (G4HLN) and lives in Somerset.