the tape recorder
Bert Trumpie
Dear R/O friends,
Being one of the younger R/O’s – if not the youngest – on board the s/s Nieuw Amsterdam/PGGF, later as PJRS (when the Holland America Line decided it had more tax advantages sailing under the Dutch Antillean flag), I was the lucky blighter who was assigned to the dog watch (from 00.00 – 04.00 and from 12.00 – 16.00 local time). I was on board this luxurious passenger liner from 1969 – 1973. The ship was demolished in 1974 unfortunately.
Initially the radio room had 7 radio officers, but in my time there were ‘only’ 5. Meaning the night watches were covered by a single operator.
Being mostly at the East coast of the USA and the Caribbean we were obliged to receive the press bulletin (px) from WCC Chatham Radio at 01.00 local time or 00.00 local time depended on EST or DST.
So me – the lucky blighter – spent each dog watch at night behind the typewriter and the Philips BX925 receiver to ‘take’ this lengthy press bulletin which was sent at > 25 wpm and lasted for about two hours (as far as I remember). On top of the BX925 we had a tape recorder, recording the entire px. In most cases I was using the 8 Mhz band to receive this px. Sometime I could use the 12 Mhz band. The 8 Mhz band at night was full of QRN caused by the tropical storms and thunder. In addition WCC stopped transmitting the px during the silence periods (sp), meaning I had to leave the HF desk with the BX925 and run to the MF desk to carefully listen to any emergencies. Sometimes it was required to continue listening (and/or responding) to emergencies, resulting in missing out on the px resumption after the sp.
That was one of the reasons why the tape recorder was a benefit. The second reason was the QRN and fading on the 8 Mhz causing the signal to disappear temporarily. The morse speed of > 25 wpm was no problem whatsoever. If it would have been sent at a lower speed, it would only have taken even longer than two hours.
By the way: the typewriter was equipped with an ingenious system on the carriage, allowing a telex paper roll to be mounted, allowing me to continue typing without the need to change paper. The telex paper roll had a length of about 20 meters and had a carbon copy paper between two sheets. There was one disadvantage: a new telex paper roll would weigh quite a lot, making it difficult to quickly move the carriage to a new sentence.
And sometimes there was a passenger at the desk, wanting to call home, resulting in me leaving the HF desk, talking to the passenger and setting up the QSO with WOO or WOM at the phone desk (between the HF and the MF desk). Doing this I could easily have missed 15 minutes or so from the WCC px.
As you can see, the dog watch often didn’t end at 04.00 as I had to check and/or correct/fill in the WCC px before it was sent to the front desk for copying. The passengers were supposed to have their Ocean Post at breakfast.
I would love to hear any comments from fellow R/O’s having experiences with the WCC px.
Keep up the good work. CW forever.
Bert Trumpie PC4Y
D.J.J. Ring, Jr.
In addition WCC stopped transmitting the px during the silence periods (sp), meaning I had to leave the HF desk with the BX925 and run to the MF desk to carefully listen to any emergencies. Sometimes it was required to continue listening (and/or responding) to emergencies, resulting in missing out on the px resumption after the sp.
That was one of the reasons why the tape recorder was a benefit. The second reason was the QRN and fading on the 8 Mhz causing the signal to disappear temporarily. The morse speed of > 25 wpm was no problem whatsoever. If it would have been sent at a lower speed, it would only have taken even longer than two hours.
Bert Trumpie
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Jeff Woods
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Andre CORDIER
Hi all of you
Jeff Woods said:
IAR sent WX at about 32 wpm, in Italian. That was our weather for the Med.
If my memory serves me right, a wx bulletin for all mediterranean regions was also sent in English by Malta Naval Radio (was the c/s GYR ? I’m not sure cos it was so long time ago.) However, the bulletin was very appreciated by captain and desk officers.
It was the good time of cw.
Kindest rgds
Andre
Radio KH6O
12-track reel-to-reel tape machines. Tapes were changed out exactly at
the beginning of the new Radio Day (0000Z). One reel would go into
storage as a permanent record for that day's comms, and the other was
used for play-back in cases of missed transmissions during say, a
distress.
Why 12 tracks? Audio from every receiver, transmitter, and telephone
was fed into each machine.
Today, every USCG station has a Digital Voice Recorder (DVR).
(DR: Yes, every USCG COMSTA's 500 kc transmitter had A2 capability on
500 in order to meet the ITU requirement that an Auto Alarm be sent in
that mode. I would sort of get carried away on my 500 watches,
"accidently" leaving the XMTR in A2 the entire watch...)
73,
Jeff KH6O
D.J.J. Ring, Jr.
(DR: Yes, every USCG COMSTA's 500 kc transmitter had A2 capability on
500 in order to meet the ITU requirement that an Auto Alarm be sent in
that mode. I would sort of get carried away on my 500 watches,
"accidently" leaving the XMTR in A2 the entire watch...)
73,
Jeff KH6O
