William John Bray
(William) John Bray (1911–2004), telecommunications engineer
1911 born on 10 September at 198 Walmer Road, Kingston, Portsmouth, son of William James Bray, an engine room artificer, and his wife, Emily Eliza, née Clothier.
WWI The family moved to Yeovil but afterwards returned to Portsmouth
Attended Portsmouth southern grammar school.
1927 became an apprentice in the naval dockyards. In his spare time he built a spark radio transmitter and later made a copy of John Logie Baird's ‘spinning disc’ television receiver.
1932 Attended the City and Guilds Engineering College, London, having won a Royal and Whitworth scholarship
1934 ACGI
1935 Gained MSc (Eng).
1935 Bray joined the Post Office
After initial training in the Post Office's research station at Dollis Hill, Middlesex, and practical experience at the headquarters of the Northern Ireland region, he returned to Dollis Hill as an assistant engineer with the radio experimental branch. There he undertook important experimental work on radio transmission, helping convert the Post Office's transatlantic and other short-wave radio links to single sideband operation and to build the multi-unit steerable antenna. Devised by Harald Friis of Bell Labs, this was the most complex short wave receiving system ever used for commercial purposes, and during the Second World War provided a channel for secure communication between the British and American governments. Bray took part in a number of top-secret wartime projects, such as radio direction finding and ‘meaconing’ (disrupting enemy beam navigation devices).