Puerto Limon Radio Costa Rica-TIM still there but not in Limon
spa...@codepoets.com
this is my first email to the reflector, so let me see how it goes. I am in Costa Rica visiting my XYLs family and had an interesting conversation with a family friend that recently bought some property outside Cartago CR. In our conversation he told me that the site had some buildings that were for a radio station and that there was a lot of equipment there. Well today I spent 3 hours going through 3 buildings full of equipment and parts that were the station TIM. I took a bunch of photos and will share with the group when I return later this week. There must be a dozen, or more, transmitters, mostly Westinghouse and some TMC equipment. Although the main buildings were stripped of the equipment, the equipment has been stored in two small warehouses. The owner will give any or all to anyone that is interested in the equipment. since I copied TIM on 500 kc many times from NMG-NMR and NMA there must be some MF gear there. They must have used Hammarlund receivers at one time as I found boxes marked Hammarlund parts. All the spare parts for the equipment remains there and is free for the taking, but as you can imagine you have to find a way to ship it back to the states. There may be possibilities if someone is seriously interested. I did offer to return to sort out the junk from the good stuff and if anyone is interested in going down to CR to help, the owner has offered space to stay. The original 440 foot towers are gone, but a plaque dedicated the towers in 1923 and a lot of old stuff is still there. The open feeder wire antennas are still in place but some are in poor shape. I did find a Simplex time stamp for receive messages and I think it was last set in 1989. Please feel free to share this email with anyone who might be applying for the 500kc licenses and may have an interest in the equipment. Once I post the photos you will see what is there. 73 from Costa Rica de K4NCG, ex NBA-NVVW-NMG-NMR-NMA-NMR-1.
DSO-CM 5SR Painter
Yes I am familiar with a similar site and visited the area a couple years
ago. The equipment, or at least the site in Puerto Limon, was the first use
of long range commercial marine MF/HF in Central America. They claim it was
the first HF transmitter site for such use anywhere, but that may be a tall
tale. The transmitters were used to report United Fruit company's vessel
status from Limon to ports in Florida and Louisiana. It may have been United
Fruit that built the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company, Central America's
first communications network, and later the Standard Fruit and Steamship
Company (now Dole) would have also been involved. This would be the origins
of the communications equipment of which you speak. I was told Limon had the
first site(they proclaim this in historical markers) and the second
transmitter site was on the West coast.
Brgds,
Jack
David J. Ring, Jr.
73
DR
David Ring
-30-
David J. Ring, Jr.
BF was a bit of competition for CC down the road. BF,
the Boston Fruit station later became WBF with the advent of prefixes
as CC became WCC. There was a member of the South Shore Repeater
Association in Weymouth, MA of which I am a member who was one of the
operators. The one thing I wanted to ask him was if he knew the
location of the WBF 500 kHz transmitter. There was (is?) what looks
like a flat top antenna supported by vintage ironwork on top of the
World Trade Building in Boston. At least it was there into the 1990s.
When I first saw it, I thought it was either an old AM broadcast
antenna, or a marine antenna. It being in the financial area of town
made me think it was BF´s antenna. I found an article about WBF on the
internet at http://donmoore.tripod.com/genbroad/utes/wbf.htm
WBF - A Typical Ute (Utility Station)
by Robert Fraser
The following item is taken from pages 59-61 of the July 1978 edition of SPEEDX. It is placed here with permission of SPEEDX.
(I am deeply indebted to Mr, Luther W, Eldridge, W1AK of South Weymouth, Mass,, an engineer at WBF, for the technical information and operations of the station; and to Mr. Cornelius C. Maher, Manager of the Public Affairs Administration of the United Brands Company, for a general history of the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company.)
Back In 1871, Capt. Lorenzo Baker of Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Mass., brought to Boston, America's first cargo of bananas. Despite his friends and associates labeling them "monkey fruit", they were quickly sold.. Pleased, Baker immediately went into business growing and shipping bananas. In 1885, Baker headed up a Boston group forming the Boston Fruit Company. The headquarters were located in the Board of Trade Building at 131 State Street and the firm leased the whole south side of nearby Long Wharf. In 1899, the Boston Fruit Company headed up and became controlling member of a merger of 12 American banana growing and shipping concerns which became the United Fruit Company. Merging with other food producing firms in the 1950's and 1960's. United Fruit became the United Brands Company in 1970. Sailing ships first brought the unusual fruit and after 1879, steamships. Refrigerator ships were first used in 1903. The fruit was picked green and ripened on the voyage. But it was highly fragile and the hot tropics or cold Now England weather quickly spelled disaster despite all precautions. Often, tons of rotting bananas had to be thrown overboard while at sea. Bostonians quickly learned to flock to Long Wharf whenever a banana boat was expected, Almost always, stalks of over-ripe bananas, which couldn't be sold would be handed out. A story told me me of a man who received a stalk of about 100 bananas. As he shouldered his way through the mob on the wharf many "helping hands" reached out. When he was free of the peoples he discovered all he had was a bare stalk.
The invention of radio greatly interested United Fruit. By it they could keep in touch with their Central American branches and ships at sea. In 1903, United Fruit began building their own network. The US Navy's "Wireless Radio Stations of the World" (1907) list four radio stations in Central America owned by the Boston Fruit Company. They were: 'B' at Bocas del Toro, Panama; 'X' at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; and 'Q' at Bluefields and 'UE' at Rama, both in Nicaragua. The only details given was that the equipment was all by Shoemaker. As all long distance stations then, they operated an long wave, were of the spark type and used CW instead of voice. Oddly, none of the Boston Fruit Company's American stations are listed nor none of the shipboard radios. The latter may be explained as the Boston Fruit/United Fruit only owned one ship in their whole existance, chartering all their vessels.
The tropics are plagued by many thunderstorms with resultant static. Mr. Eldridge was first at a United Fruit spark type radio station in Guatemala. He told me that the reception of a spark type transmission often sounded more like static than did the static itself.
In 1913, the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of United Fruit to take over and operate the parent company's radio network. it is not known when WBF came into existance but it was in operation in 1928 when Mr. Eldridge joined it. WBF was first located on the Board of Trade Building's roof and the four antenna towers still exist here. Mr. Eldridge passed on two stories he heard of the call letters. One is that they stand for William B. Filene, owner of the famous Filene's Department Store and prominent member of Boston's Board of Trade. The other story was that the letters stand for the Boston Fruit Company. Mr. Eldridge doesn't take stock in either legend.
Due to lack of room for the growing business, WBF was moved to Charles Street, in southeastern Hingham, Mass., located some 12 miles southeast of Boston. Two 250 towers, oriented east and west, were built with a four wire flat top aerial. The antenna was divided into two portions, one for 147 kHz and the other for 436/500 kHz on the long wave marine band. The 147 kHz section was fed directly from the main transmitter using a single wire transmission line. The 436/500 kHz section was energized through an open wire food line to a tuner house under the east tower. Inside it was a relay which selected the proper inductance of the leading coil for either 436 or 500 kHz. The relay was under direct control of the radio operator an well as various other relays within the transmitter itself. A storm (possibly the 1938 hurricane) destroyed the flat top aerial and it was replaced by a single wire, divided into 147 kHz and 436/500 kHz portions.
The main transmitter, covering the low frequency marine band, was rated at 23 kW and used a water cooled tube in the final with 20,000 volts in the plate. The transmitter had come from the TRT Guatemala station at Barrios where it had been a long wave relay between the other TRT stations and as direct communication to New Orleans. The new shortwave transmitters had made it obsolete so it was brought to the US, rebuilt to cover the long wave marine frequencies, and installed at Hingham, No one knows what type it was. Mr. Eldridge said that the nameplate had been removed in the rebuilding and never restored. Despite its age, the transmitter was very satisfactory and under good atmospheric conditions, covered most of the North Atlantic and as far south as Chile.
The auxiliary transmitter was a 750 watt HCA shipboard type. Its antenna was a single line running from the transmitter to half way up the east tower. Switching frequencies on the auxiliary was very clumsy to say the least. The radio operator was unable to do it and he had to call the man on duty at the transmitter to do the switching for him. Fortunately, the short range auxiliary was seldom used. There were also a couple of "home-made" marine high frequency band transmitters rated at 2.5 kw input power. They energized Delta type doublet antennas with one antenna for each frequency used. The transmitters were hand tuned twice a day since there were daytime frequencies and nighttime frequencies. These antennas were oriented northeast-southwest to cover most of the traffic. Marine operation was shut down in 1942-1945 because of the war and ceased in 1950.
The four point-to-point transmitters were also converted RCA types of 2.5 kW each. Each transmitter had its own line to the receiving station and could be separately keyed by the operator on duty. The PTP transmitters used broadband Rhombic antennas energized by 500-ohm open wire transmission lines. The antennas were oriented on Miami, Florida; New Orleans, LA; La Lima, Honduras; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Panama City, Panama.
A FCC ruling about 1939 forced a change in the WBF transmissions. Before, a lot of private messages had been sent but now, it all had to be of a commercial nature. The FCC also required frequent identification on each transmitter while in use. Motor driven identification discs with time delays were used at WBF. With the first impuse over the keyline, the relay opened permitting the use of the transmitter by the remote operator. At the end of the operation and after a predetermined time, the relay closed putting the identification disc back in the keyline.
After World War II, the FCC ruled that each frequency was to have its own call, Thus, the PTP circuits dropped WBF and became WBW, WBO, WBQ9 WCA-36, WCB-20, WCB-23 and WCB-27. (Mr. Eldridge thought there were more call letters but was unable to recall them.) Incidently, the PTP circuits continued in use during World War II but Naval personnel were on hand for the usual censorship.
The receiving station of WBF was also moved from Boston to Charles Street, Hingham in 1930 and it stood on the southern half of the property. In 1938, due to increased traffic and its close proximity to the transmitter, the receiver was moved to Derby Street, Hingham and about 2 miles southwest. This used Rhombic antennas for the PTP circuits and Doublet antennas for the high band marine frequencies. Underground hard drawn copper transmission lines ran from the terminating transformers on the antenna poles to the antenna switchboard in the basement of the receiving station.
Until 1952, all traffic was transmitted by hand or by prepunched perforated tape and incoming messages were transcribed by the operators directly on typewriters. Teletypewriters connected the radio station to Western Union and the United Fruit headquarters in Boston. Afterwards, all manual telegraphic operations ceased and teletypewriters were used. Incoming messages were received in printed form and outgoing traffic was transcribed on tape. To prevent reception of all messages by all stations, a "forked system" (Mr. Eldridge's words) was used. A special coded pulse was transmitted first which started the teletypewriter in the desired station.
On June 30, 1960, the Hingham station was closed and its traffic then handled either by Miami or New Orleans. This may have been due to the fact that the Port of Boston had been going downhill since the end of World War II. In fact, only a few of its 250 wharves are in use today.
The northern half of the Charles Street property (where the transmitter stood) was sold to the Maryknoll Fathers who built a school on the site. The southern half of the property (where the first receiver stood) was used by the TRT Engineering Service from 1938 to 1971. Then they moved to the Prudential Building, Boston and in 1974, to Washington DC. This section of the Charles Street property was then sold to a "gentleman farmer". The Derby Street property (where the second receiver stood) is now the Hingham Shopping Plaza. Oddly, and as previously mentioned, the original WBF antennas still exist atop the Board of Trade Building in Boston.
The Tropical Radio Telegraph Company is now the Tropical Radio Telecommunications Corporation with headquarters in Washington, DC. It is still wholly owned by United Brands Company.
Mr. Eldridge added that TRT has only one active radio station In use today - WNU, New Orleans which also has two PTP circuits. The Miami station, WAX, was closed in 1975, As many utes, TRT is now using landlines, cable, microwave, and satellite relays and automatic message distributions, Despite their radio stations closing, TRT is rapidly expanding its circuits via the new means into Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Far East (via San Francisco).
Peter Hewitson
TIM – now that brings back a lot of memories for me as I worked for the German offshoot of Maritime Fruit Carriers – Frigomaris Kuehlschiff Reederei in the late 60’s – early 70’s. We worked TIM, NBA etc daily while waiting in the Panama Canal for bananas. Which way to go? East or West. When we got the orders, then the race was on for all the banana boats. It all depended on the R/O to get the orders promptly. It could come via KPH, WCC, TIM, SAG, DAN, 4XO, GKA. We had two receivers copying two lists at a time. TIM was one of the best stations in central America. Sad to see them all go.
73,
Peter, VK4QC
TChirhart
I got back from my vacation after Cinderella liberty expired this morning
and will post the photos shortly. There is a plaque at the site on one of
the three tower bases that shows it being dedicated in 1923. There were two
towers, separated by about 330 meters. The current owner of the property
showed me binders full of info and there were some Dole binders in the
group. I asked him not to trash anything until I could go through the stuff.
He was going to dig a pit and bury all the equipment, but he won't now. I
spent three hours on the site and wish I could have spent days there but
having the XYL and two sister-in-laws along for the ride I'm surprised they
had that much patience. I hope to have the photos available later today. 73
Tom K4NCG
wf...@ws19ops.com
If you want to ship equipment, I found that BAX Global is a relatively
cost efficient way of doing it by air. I regularly ship "boatanchor"
radios from Europe with them. From Germany, it costs approximately $9
per kilo by air.
Also, for larger bulk/weight, consider ocean freight. Recently, I
shared with 2 other hams/collectors a 1 cubic meter shipping container
to ship a bunch of radios from Germany, the total cost for the
container, regardless of weight was $500 from Hamburg, Germany. Of
course, we split up the cost by the respective volumes of our stuff.
73, Meir WF2U
Landrum, SC
TChirhart
a week on the site. Since the owner would like the stuff moved out, (no time
limit given) I hope to coordinate with him to separate the junk from the
good stuff. There is a lot of vintage 70's/80's computer stuff that needs to
be sorted/tossed as well as telephones etc. Imagine a full radio station
closing and what level of effort would be involved. I may have lined up an
unused garage for the big stuff. The vacuum variables in those transmitters
are just too nice to let go to be buried which is what the owner was going
to do to all the equipment. Since the site was built in 1922/23 there is
potentially hazardous items there, such as transformers etc that should be
disposed of properly. Perhaps I can locate a company that has small
containers available and ship via the banana boats to Baltimore etc.. what
may happen is it may be too cost prohibitive. But there has to be some MF
transmitters there. Check out the photos once I post the links 73 Tom
Bart Lee, KV6LEE, AWA, CHRS
United Fruit had a wireless station on Swan Island off Honduras circa
1916. The Island was owned by the company and for all practical
purposes it was the company's sovereign territory. Powerful people in
Boston, still connected to United Fruit, ran the CIA in the 1950s
(Dulles, Cabot etc). They used Swan Island as a base to propagandize,
by radio, Guatemala, to depose Col Arbenz in 1954. My friend E.
Howard Hunt was instrumental in that. Then with the coming of Castro
it became the Radio Swan propaganda shortwave station. I gave an
Antique Wireless Assn. presentation on this a couple of years ago. As
it happens, I was a small boy in Hingham when WBF was still
operational. I also have a United Fruit wireless frank stamp in my
collection. They were used for promotional purposes. I gather United
fruit did carry considerable commercial traffic on its circuits. 73
de Bart, KV6LEE ##
On Mar 18, 4:24 am, "David J. Ring, Jr." <n...@arrl.net> wrote:
> ...
> BF was a bit of competition for CC down the road. BF, the Boston
> Fruit station later became WBF with the advent of prefixes as CC
> became WCC. There was a member of the South Shore Repeater
> Association in Weymouth, MA of which I am a member who was one of the
> operators. The one thing I wanted to ask him was if he knew the
> location of the WBF 500 kHz transmitter. There was (is?) what looks
> like a flat top antenna supported by vintage ironwork on top of the
> World Trade Building in Boston. At least it was there into the
> 1990s. When I first saw it, I thought it was either an old AM
> broadcast antenna, or a marine antenna. It being in the financial
> area of town made me think it was BF´s antenna. I found an article
> about WBF on the internet at
> http://donmoore.tripod.com/genbroad/utes/wbf.htm
>
> WBF - A Typical Ute (Utility Station)
>
> by Robert Fraser
>
>
> /The following item is taken from pages 59-61 of the July 1978 edition
> of SPEEDX <http://raven.cybercomm.net/%7Eslapshot/speedx.html>. It is
> placed here with permission of SPEEDX./
>
> /(I am deeply indebted to Mr, Luther W, Eldridge, W1AK of South
> operations of the station; and to Mr. Cornelius C. Maher, Manager of the
> Public Affairs Administration of the United Brands Company, for a
TChirhart
Peter/Everyone,
I posted all the photos I took on Photobucket. Click the link below and you will be taken directly there. I would appreciate it if anyone can identify the unknown equipment. The Westinghouse transmitters are type MW and I think Jerry Proc has photos of similar transmitters that were used up in Canada.
At one time this must have been one heck of a nice station. The current owner cleaned out the building and is converting it into a home. He left all the overhead trolley systems that were used to move the equipment into the building.
If there are any organizations looking for parts for similar equipment let me know and arrangements could be made to ship them. The current owner offered everything for the taking. Shipping would be the issue but I have heard from several members on how to ship heavy items. It may not be feasible but I would hate to see the equipment buried or taken to the dump. I’m sure there has to be at least one or two MF transmitters since I used to log TIM in place of “No Sigs” on my 500 logs…
.
73
Tom K4NCG
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x64/k4ncg/Limon%20Radio%20TIM/
Kilobravo
From: TChirhartSent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 8:50 PMSubject: [Radio Officers, &c] Re: Puerto Limon Radio Costa Rica-TIM still there but not in Limon
Peter/Everyone,
I posted all the photos I took on Photobucket. Click the link below and you will be taken directly there. I would appreciate it if anyone can identify the unknown equipment. The Westinghouse transmitters are type MW and I think Jerry Proc has photos of similar transmitters that were used up in Canada.
At one time this must have been one heck of a nice station. The current owner cleaned out the building and is converting it into a home. He left all the overhead trolley systems that were used to move the equipment into the building.
If there are any organizations looking for parts for similar equipment let me know and arrangements could be made to ship them. The current owner offered everything for the taking. Shipping would be the issue but I have heard from several members on how to ship heavy items. It may not be feasible but I would hate to see the equipment buried or taken to the dump. I'm sure there has to be at least one or two MF transmitters since I used to log TIM in place of "No Sigs" on my 500 logs...
.
73
Tom K4NCG
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x64/k4ncg/Limon%20Radio%20TIM/
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Hewitson [mailto:peterh...@bigpond.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 8:44 PM
To: 'David J. Ring, Jr.'; 'Radio Officers &c'
Cc: spa...@codepoets.com
Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] Re: Puerto Limon Radio Costa Rica-TIM still there but not in Limon
TIM - now that brings back a lot of memories for me as I worked for the German offshoot of Maritime Fruit Carriers - Frigomaris Kuehlschiff Reederei in the late 60's - early 70's. We worked TIM, NBA etc daily while waiting in the Panama Canal for bananas. Which way to go? East or West. When we got the orders, then the race was on for all the banana boats. It all depended on the R/O to get the orders promptly. It could come via KPH, WCC, TIM, SAG, DAN, 4XO, GKA. We had two receivers copying two lists at a time. TIM was one of the best stations in central America. Sad to see them all go.
Douglas
I often worked TIM, but only on 8/12MHz.
Doug/WA1TUT
--- TChirhart <spa...@codepoets.com> wrote:
> Peter/Everyone,
>
> I posted all the photos I took on Photobucket.
> Click the link below and you
> will be taken directly there. I would appreciate it
> if anyone can identify
> the unknown equipment. The Westinghouse
> transmitters are type MW and I
> think Jerry Proc has photos of similar transmitters
> that were used up in
> Canada.
"Those who deny liberty for others deserve it not for themselves."
--Thomas Jefferson.
David Ring
Was TIM off the air on 500 kHz by the time NBA closed down and HPN
took over? I remember HCG was very spotty on 500 kHz - they had a
transmitter, but were rarely on. We were there but no shore leave at
some remote port. The little Mexican stations were on, but no really
good signals until you got to Colombia. They had some strong MF
signals. At night NMG would really cover the area with great signals.
I had lots of two ways from Panama with NMG. NMG (USCG New Orleans)
had a killer MF signal to the south.
Anyone know when TIM went off the air on MF? I´d guess it must have
been 1981 or so. I believe NBA - US Navy Canal Zone went QRT in 1979,
73
DR
Peter Hewitson
looks something like that in the steamy tropical jungle!!! Thanks for
sharing.
73, Peter VK4QC
On Thursday 20 March 2008 09:50, TChirhart wrote:
> Peter/Everyone,
>
> I posted all the photos I took on Photobucket. Click the link below and
> you will be taken directly there. I would appreciate it if anyone can
> identify the unknown equipment. The Westinghouse transmitters are type MW
> and I think Jerry Proc has photos of similar transmitters that were used up
> in Canada.
>
>
>
> At one time this must have been one heck of a nice station. The current
> owner cleaned out the building and is converting it into a home. He left
> all the overhead trolley systems that were used to move the equipment into
> the building.
>
>
>
> If there are any organizations looking for parts for similar equipment let
> me know and arrangements could be made to ship them. The current owner
> offered everything for the taking. Shipping would be the issue but I have
> heard from several members on how to ship heavy items. It may not be
> feasible but I would hate to see the equipment buried or taken to the dump.
> I'm sure there has to be at least one or two MF transmitters since I used
> to log TIM in place of "No Sigs" on my 500 logs.
>
> .
>
> 73
>
> Tom K4NCG
>
>
>
> http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x64/k4ncg/Limon%20Radio%20TIM/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Hewitson [mailto:peterh...@bigpond.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 8:44 PM
> To: 'David J. Ring, Jr.'; 'Radio Officers &c'
> Cc: spa...@codepoets.com
> Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] Re: Puerto Limon Radio Costa Rica-TIM
> still there but not in Limon
>
>
>
> TIM - now that brings back a lot of memories for me as I worked for the
> German offshoot of Maritime Fruit Carriers - Frigomaris Kuehlschiff
> Reederei in the late 60's - early 70's. We worked TIM, NBA etc daily while
> waiting in the Panama Canal for bananas. Which way to go? East or West.
> When we got the orders, then the race was on for all the banana boats. It
> all depended on the R/O to get the orders promptly. It could come via KPH,
> WCC, TIM, SAG, DAN, 4XO, GKA. We had two receivers copying two lists at a
> time. TIM was one of the best stations in central America. Sad to see them
> all go.
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> Peter, VK4QC
>
>
>
>
>
> From: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:radio-o...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David J. Ring, Jr.
> Sent: Tuesday, 18 March 2008 9:03 PM
> To: Radio Officers &c
> Cc: spa...@codepoets.com
> Subject: [Radio Officers, &c] Re: Puerto Limon Radio Costa Rica-TIM still
> there but not in Limon
>
>
>
> Sounds like a wonderful find, Tom. I hope you and your wife have a nice
> visit, Costa Rica is a very nice place. TIM was a very nice station. If I
> remember correctly at one time it was owned by United Fruit, later United
> Brands, and finally the company became Tropical Radio Telegraph, and
> presently it still survives as TRT. I include a message blank from
> Tropical Radio, now TRT. There is a large version of this message blank in
> the files section of this group
> <http://radio-officers.googlegroups.com/web/TRT%20telegram.jpg?gda=SCq5A0EA
>A
> AAw52qqOkYWdf0ZIYkxEY1VytI1sA9Ogf68aOAbheZ0qWG1qiJ7UbTIup-M2XPURDQOQPaNkOZ2
>_ goeh6hBm-q1NOfskmWVvHzB1T8lPOHyJg> <CLICK HERE>.
>
> 73
>
> DR
>
> David Ring
> -30-
Glenn Dunstan
On a similar subject, I was at LaPerouse in Sydney the other day...drove
down Jennifer Street to look at VIS.
The towers are down, but the buildings are still there - being used for a
mobile phone base station, by the looks of it....
Peter Hewitson
look out across Botany Bay from the MF position and see the tankers coming in
to the Kurnell Oil refinery.
They demolished VID. Nothing is left except the sign outside. In January we
took the old GMDSS consoles from Ningi (VIB) for the local amateur radio club
but there were two skips full of other stuff. Tubes, racks of power supplies,
antenna wire etc, too heavy for us to salvage before it all went.
Amazingly they still have 4 of the 10Kw Marconi TX's still powered up. Not
sure what they are used for as there are no maritime services left. The big
log periodics have gone -
Glenn Dunstan
Probably for QANTAS or Virgin air service, mate.
Mike Zbrozek
To All Concerned -
Regarding TIM Radio - I heard that stn on the air a few times while sailing to
Panama
for ARCO. That was 1984-86. And I bet I hrd TIM also while sailing for Exxon
86-89 on a trip or two down the westcoast to HP from KL7 .....They were very
sporatic on 500 KHZ. Hrd HPN many times on 500 near HP. One thing I heard a lot
was the static on 500 anytime of the year off the Central American coast. It
made my ears
hurt..........ouch!!!
73
Mike, K8XF
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ring" <n1...@arrl.net>
To: <radio-o...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 2:15 AM
Subject: [Radio Officers, &c] Re: Puerto Limon Radio Costa Rica-TIM still there
but not in Limo
Spud Roscoe
Do you have tinnitus? That area is the highest level of static in the world.
They claim 1600 khz is the main frequency of most of it and that is only
1100 khz higher than our main frequency back then. I hear that static
continually and have heard it since August 1981. I fully expect to hear one
of you guys tune up and give me a call. The emotion will be severe if you
do. It is not in your hearing if you have it. It simply sounds like that. It
is in one's brain, a sure sign I have one. They claim a cure in 20 to 30
years but I will not be back for mine.
73 one and all
Spud VE1BC
Bryan Fisher
When exactly did TIM go dark? And when did NBA go dark? I was at NMC 1980-1984 and heard NBA sending their QTC prelim on 500kHz from time to time but they went dark sometime in that period - alas, my memory fails me. But I don't feel bad because by the time I had arrived at NMC, both NMQ and NMW had been remoted to NMC and ships were still calling them both years after they had shut down; my memory isn't the only one that shows signs of wear and tear.
I also read with interest the article about amateur experimentation in the 600-meter band. For my money, no band was more reliable over water, especially at night. From Point Reyes we could hear NOJ, NMG, NMA, WCC, WLO, WLB, VAI, VAG, VAJ, and a host of others (even NMO if the conditions were right). I'm not sure about ground-wave prop over land, but if it's anywhere near as reliable as it was over water it's a valuable experiment.
73s
Bryan Fisher
RMC, USCG
Mike Zbrozek <k8...@verizon.net> wrote:
On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 2:01 AM, Douglas wrote:
> I wonder what happened to the TIM HF transmitters?
>
> I often worked TIM, but only on 8/12MHz.
>
> Doug/WA1TUT
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
KSM - San Francisco Radio
>When exactly did TIM go dark?
My full collection of Berne Lists is at home but the lists I have here show:
1937 no power given on 181, 290, 400, 500, 6215 and 11290
1940 500W on 181, 290, 400, 500, 6215 and 11290
1960 2.5kW on 464, 500 and 8478
Richard Dillman
Chief Operator, KSM
Standing Watch on 600m
=================================
KSM - San Francisco Radio
Radiogram Service to Ships at Sea
Mark Your Messages "Via KSM"
=================================
David Ring
on the Cove Trader/KRBY which traveled from Baton Rouge, LA to
Chiriqui Grande (Near Bocas del Toro) in NE Panama. I remember called
them on HF and they told me that 500 kHz service was discontinued - I
would guess from the pictures that the 500 kHz tower came down.
I remember the neat little grass homes all scattered about. Only
wooden structures inside the downtown. The fancy restaurant had a
green plastic corrugated roof. Who could forget the warm afternoon
rains - every day at about 1500. No one minded, it cooled you off and
dried quickly in the sun afterwards.
The MF radio on KRBY worked very well - when offshore Panama I would
often hear an SOS and I´d relay it to NMG in New Orleans - often the
RM on the other end, was TC who started this thread. Small world.
Even looking at Rolf´s nice bright card with YVG on it - noticing the
beautiful handwriting with fountain pen - perhaps a nice Pelikan pen -
also brings back memories when things were beautiful.
73
DR
Earl Needham
>The MF radio on KRBY worked very well - when offshore Panama I would
>often hear an SOS and I´d relay it to NMG in New Orleans - often the
>RM on the other end, was TC who started this thread. Small world.
Now that's interesting -- I wonder if
you also knew/know Charlie Ottnot? His amateur
call is WD5BJT and he now lives down in southern Alabama, I think.
7 3
Earl
KD5XB -- Earl Needham
Clovis, New Mexico DM84jk
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cw_bugs
Quoting from the Coast Guard: ZUT
joe
Your e-mail most interesting as back in 1976 I took a trip to Costa Rica
wilth my KWM-2A and had a
great time, spend three months and met some really great hams. I remember
going into the office of
Control Nacional de Radio , ( the C.R. FCC located in downtown San Jose) and
the tech was
listening to a Collins 51S1 receiver checking local broadcast stations. Boy
my mouth watered for that receiver
and later was able to locate two of them in the states. A dream
fullfilled.You never knew what to expect in
Ticolandia. One afternoon Manual Riveras TI2DL(now a silent key) came over
and wanted to use my KWM-2 to call a pilot frilend on a Lacsa flight going
to Mexico City So we had nnice chat wilth the aircraft
on the ground ( 40 meters SSB) and after the plane was airborn again over
Nicaguara. Ti2DL/AM to
TI2DL. I even have a QSL to prove the QSO,
On the back of the QSL: Shirl tks for the fb qso this is my first contact
on the ham bands Hp;e to
see you again position was 36 n.m.plus TIKXVVOR radial 305
over Tilaran Clsta Rica
time 1840 gmt Altitude 19000 ft
route ElCoco San salvador mexico city
Aircraft BaC 500 and usilng COLLINS 618, 350 watt and LW ant.
Looking forward to see the fotos of the radio gear fmTIM, and hope there is
some Collins.
73 and good luck de Joe w0tut
joe
I recall working TIM several tmes on HF to pass some P tfc while on
vessels of the ROU (Radio Officers Union _Must have beeen mid 80s
... Lot of good memories of the good old daz ( The Radiotelegraph Days,
which will never retujrns.
TIM stood a good wsatch and was easy to get..
My first job in marine radio was at WNU back in 1967 as coast stn radio
opr. And it was a fun job doing something one loves to do, sending and
rcving morse tfc...
73 de Joe wotut
to get.-- Original Message -----
From: "Earl Needham" <need...@plateautel.net>
To: <radio-o...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 4:30 PM
Subject: [Radio Officers, &c] Re: Radio TIM