Hat's Off To Steve - W5BIB - CFO # 1044

[CARMEN DROGO]

A BIG THANK YOU GOES OUT TO 

AE0Q FOR THE FOLLOWING INFO:

Thursday, October 22, 2009

NATO Naval Communications Competition

1969 - Amsterdam in Holland

"In the 7th annual NATO Communications Training Competition  (Contribution by Steve Morris, W5BIB)

I was team captain of the 3rd place U.S. NAVY NATO communications team at Amsterdam in April 1969, finishing 4th individually (straight key sending) in the "CW" portion of the (then) 10 country NATO competition. The competition was for 5 consecutive days with a 30 minute 'test' each day. The test consisted of 5 letter/number mixed groups. On three of the 5 test days I managed to average just over 30 wpm for 30 consecutive minutes with the "straight key"

I was stationed in Turkey (TA2ZZ) at the time & went to Rota, Spain for preliminary competition against other U.S. Navy CW operators. Upon winning the preliminaries, I was selected as Team Captain of the U.S. Navy team.

The team was comprised of 4 communications operators as follows; (all doing five 30 minute tests)

CW reception: RMSN M.W. ALLEN - NAVCOMSTA SPAIN - (finished 4th)

CW sending: CTR1 S.A. MORRIS - TUSLOG Det-28 - Karamursel, Turkey - (Team Captain) - (finished 4th)

Flashing Light reception: SM2 E.A. GRUBB - USS O'HARE - (finished 3rd)

RTTY sending: CYN3 D.R. FARRINGTON - NAVCOMSTA GREECE - (finished 4th)

U.S. Evaluation Group: (from NAVCOMSTA SPAIN)
LT. W.F. WHITEMORE - USN
RMC J.L. TOTH - USN

The final competition was held in Amsterdam that year (1969).
We were all young swabbies (I was the oldest at 22 years old) and more interested in the nite-life that Amsterdam provided than the competition. !! ;) We managed to salvage a third place overall finish out of the 10 countries. I was in third place for the first 3 days & then the nights we all spent "WINDOW SHOPPING" caught up with us !!:rolleyes:

I can still pound out 'round 25wpm or so for a few minutes & then jump over to the BUG. :D
I'm comfortable for extended periods right around 18-20 wpm with the straight key.

BTW; The finishing order of the competition was...
1) Italy
2) Netherlands
3) U.S.A. :)
4) Canada
5) Germany
6) Norway
7) Denmark
8) Belgium
9) U.K.
10) France

What a great experience."Thursday, October 22, 2009

NATO Naval Communications Competition

1969 - Amsterdam in Holland

"In the 7th annual NATO Communications Training Competition  (Contribution by Steve Morris, W5BIB)

I was team captain of the 3rd place U.S. NAVY NATO communications team at Amsterdam in April 1969, finishing 4th individually (straight key sending) in the "CW" portion of the (then) 10 country NATO competition. The competition was for 5 consecutive days with a 30 minute 'test' each day. The test consisted of 5 letter/number mixed groups. On three of the 5 test days I managed to average just over 30 wpm for 30 consecutive minutes with the "straight key"

I was stationed in Turkey (TA2ZZ) at the time & went to Rota, Spain for preliminary competition against other U.S. Navy CW operators. Upon winning the preliminaries, I was selected as Team Captain of the U.S. Navy team.

The team was comprised of 4 communications operators as follows; (all doing five 30 minute tests)
CW reception: RMSN M.W. ALLEN - NAVCOMSTA SPAIN - (finished 4th)
CW sending: CTR1 S.A. MORRIS - TUSLOG Det-28 - Karamursel, Turkey - (Team Captain) - (finished 4th)
Flashing Light reception: SM2 E.A. GRUBB - USS O'HARE - (finished 3rd)
RTTY sending: CYN3 D.R. FARRINGTON - NAVCOMSTA GREECE - (finished 4th)

U.S. Evaluation Group: (from NAVCOMSTA SPAIN)
LT. W.F. WHITEMORE - USN
RMC J.L. TOTH - USN

The final competition was held in Amsterdam that year (1969).
We were all young swabbies (I was the oldest at 22 years old) and more interested in the nite-life that Amsterdam provided than the competition. !! ;) We managed to salvage a third place overall finish out of the 10 countries. I was in third place for the first 3 days & then the nights we all spent "WINDOW SHOPPING" caught up with us !!:rolleyes:

I can still pound out 'round 25wpm or so for a few minutes & then jump over to the BUG. :D
I'm comfortable for extended periods right around 18-20 wpm with the straight key.

BTW; The finishing order of the competition was...
1) Italy
2) Netherlands
3) U.S.A. :)
4) Canada
5) Germany
6) Norway
7) Denmark
8) Belgium
9) U.K.
10) France

What a great experience."

http://davidwperry.blogspot.com/2009/10/royal-navy.html

73 ES GOD BLESS AMERICA