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IN ORDER TO identify, date and catalogue thekeys of the communications field, it is necess-ary to research a great many early publicationsfor there is no, single reference on the subject.

The material here will not include everykey for some three hundred patents for keysfrom 1844 to the present have been issued inthis country alone, and that total does notinclude any military or foreign instruments.Rather, this study illustrates what may becalled "milestones" in the evolution of thekey that may assist in dating and cataloguingthem.may 1844 was the "birth" of the key.There were, of course, earlier methods ofmanual transmitting such as the knobs that wereused to activate the Needle Telegraphs inEurope; and Samuel Morse had a number of elab-orate and cumbersome devices to indicate hisbinary code. Then, in early may, as AlfredVail tested the wires only a few weeks beforethe Baltimore-Washington demonstration, he foundthat it was possible to create the code by thesimgle method of opening and closing the cir-cui "much in the same manner as a key doesa door", and built an instrument that verymuch resembles the strap key of the railroads.

Both he and Morse gave it the same designationthat had been chosen for the earlier designs -"Correspondent" (Fig 1).

Fig. 1 Correspondent.

The first Correspondent was actually a tempo-rary instrument for the first demonstrationand within six months, by November 1844, Vailhad perfected the principle over which allkeys since then have been based, that he des-sribed as "a lever acting upon a fulcrum".(Fig. 2).As with the first one, all the metal partswere brass including the contacts, and eachpart was mounted separately on the operatingdesk, while the spring was merely a strip ofmetal that supported the lever to hold the con-tacts apart when not in use.Vail, following Nurse's idea, named this onethe "Lever Correspondent".Also, in those early days, and into the late1850's, the contacts were referred to

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Fig. 2 Lever Correspondent.

as the "hammer" and the "anvil", terms easilyunderstood in those days of the village black-smith.The straight lever style was the only typeused by the growing profession for the nextthree years, but by 1848 the need for moreeasily operated keys was apparent, for theoperators did not find the straight levercomfortable.The curved lever first appeared in the Camel-back design of 1648. (Fig. 3).Since the spring was not considered to be ofany help in operating, the heavy, exaggeratedcurve shifted the balance so that the weightwas to the rear of the lever, causing it tofall back automatically, and the spring re-mained the same as the Vail key.Also because there was no provision for acircuit-closing switch, they used a window

Fig. 3 Camelback.

catch mounted near the key. Remember, it wasa brand new indUStry, and everyone was learn-ing by doing.At that time there was no commercial product-ion of telegraph equipment and all instrumentswere made to order by instrument makers. Thefirst Camelbacks were made by Thomas Hall ofBoston, Charles Chubbock of New York, and theChester Brothers also of New York.It was not until 1860 that the commercialmanufacture of telegraph instruments startedwith the L.G. Tillotson Company.In 1850, Thomas Avery, an assistant to Morse,introduced the coil spring. (Fig. 4). Placedto the rear of the lever at first, within ashort time it was moved to under the centerfor better balance, thus obviating the needfor the heavy weight at the rear. Also by1851, the parts of the key were no longermounted separately but were assembled on ametal frame. Akthough the Camelbacks werepreferred the straight lever continued to beused, for the telegraph companies permittedthe operator to work with the key that suitedhim best. (Fig. 5)

Fig. 4 C 011 spring.

Fig. 5 Henning Straight Lever.

Fig. 6 Pocket key and sounder.

As the telegraph industry expanded the needfor some sort of portable instrument that couldbe used to test wires produced the compact"Lineman's Test Set" in 1859. More properlycalled the "Pocket Key and Sounder" this minia-ture unit was used for trouble shooting thewires at the top of the pole (Fig. 6).These instruments that were probably the firsttransceivers were used effectively by themilitary of both sides during the Civil war.In 1860 the Camelback was perfected by Georgem. Phelps of the western Union Company.Phelps redesigned the key for perfect balance,slimmed the lever, and, recognizing the import-ance of the spring, added provision for adjust-ment of spring tension. (Fig 7.)

Fig. 7 (LN. Phelps Camelback.

These phelps' improvements were copied by mostof the major telegraph companies. These 1860modifications not only gave a lighter, moreeasily operated key, they also made the highcurve of the Camelback style unnecessary, andthe lever began to smooth down in 1874 withthe C. m. Lewis keys of western Electric Company.(Fig. 8)-

Fig. 8 c.w. Lewis-key.

Despite their excellence, the Camelback andthe Lewis keys had a grave drawback and that"fulcrum” was the problem. Made of steel, itwas inserted through the brass lever and thesteel eventually caused the softer red brassto wear so that the lever slipped off center,causing poor sending (and usually plenty ofprofanity on the part of the operator).The needed changes appeared in February 1881when James H. Bunnell received a patent forthe "Steel Lever Key" (Fig. 9) that was accept-ed by all the telegraph companies and railroads.

Fig. 9 Steel Lever key.

The steel lever was cast with the trunnion,or fulcrum, as a single unit to guarantee afirm connection of the contacts, and the hollowoval frame gave a light, portable instrument,although the leg and semi-leg styles were em-ployed for permanent installation in many ofthe offices.The L.G. Tillotson Company produced anotherstyle of the solid trunnion lever in 1882 overthe Hamilton patent using a knife-fitting be-tween the trunnion and the standards. (Fig. 1D).

Fig. 10 "Victor Key“.

Advertised as the "Victor Key" it proved sopopular that even after Tillotson went out ofbusiness the Bunnell Company continued to pro-duce it as late as 1918 under that name.The spring also went through several changesafter 1844. There was, of course, Avery's coil

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spring that has never changed; but there wasalso a single wire bent in a shape that maywell be called a "safety pin" spring becauseof its appearance. (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11 "Pacer K6Y"~

So far as can be found, it was introduced invarious patents of the late 1850's and early1860's.The Camelbacks remained in use after 1881 sincesome operators preferred them. Also, many wereproduced without spring tension adjustment inthe practice, or learner's K D 8 (Key on Base)sets. (Fig. 12).However, the Steel Lever proved to be the beststyle for the huge amounts of copy that wasbeing handled on all wires and has remainedas the standard telegraph key.These huge amount of material, that ran fromten to eighteen thousand words that were handled

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Fig. 12 "Key on Base".by an operator in a single trick, brought theoccupational disease of the profession, "Tele-grapher's Paralysis".

Fig. 13 Convertible Telegraph key.

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This hazard, caused by the vertical actionof the handkey, could, and often did, causepermanent disability. Since the telegraphersthemselves had been responsible for most ofthe changes for the better in the instrument,again they came up with ideas to alleviate,if not prevent, this problem. (Fig. 13).The earliest known is the "Convertible Tele-graph Key" of J.A. Maloney and A.G. Johnsonin 1886. It was a straight lever that couldbe operated vertically or turned to eitherside for horizontal operation as either aleft- or a right-hand key.Two years later the horizontal principle wasperfected and advertised in 1888 as the "DoubleSpeed Key" by the Bunnell Company (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14 "Double speed" key. H

More DODUlar known as a "side smiper" becauseit was manipulated from side to side to createthe code, that term became a generic one forany key that used horizontal operation andhas never been the copyright of any manufact-urer. This key was still being produced byBunnell for the telegraph in 1920, and waslater used for radio after CW replaced spark.

Fig. 15 "Twentieth Century" k'ey.

One other key that was devised for this pro-blem is the "Twentieth Century Key" (Fig. 15)of John F. Skirrom and Charles Shirley thatwas manufactured by the Foote-Pierson Companyin 1900-Shirley devised the horse-shoe-type base, butSkirrow is responsible for the unusual keythat could be worked by grasping the handleto move it up and down of tapping it withany finger of fist if desired, again to helpthe victims of that "glass arm".

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As might be expected, the profession promptlynicknamed it the "Pump Handle Key".In the story of the Key, several names areoutstanding: Alfred Vail gave us the leverprinciple; Thomas Avery for the coil spring;George M. Phelps who saw the advantages ofadjusting that spring's tension; and, of course,J.H. Bunnell who took the ideas of these men,added a few of his own, to produce the SteelLeverinstrument that has never been surpassedas a hand key.

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épark- op 19

”X”g mI was interested in the article by C.C. Halliday

(middle East Memories - MM Nr 2). My service in the RAFwas from 1939 to 1946, and in 1940—41 I was a wirelessoperator, in Aden, using the "X" code.It was a much more comprehensive code than the Q—code

which was used later. A few years ago I could haveremembered some of them, but now they have all gone. Nodoubt someone will have a copy of the book, although atthat time it was, of course, classified.

I can remember an amusing use of one of the codes.When on a point—to-point circuit one was in contact witha particularly dithery operator, he would send: X...?The said operator would look in his book and would findit meant "Are you flying in a storm?"

73, Bob Newland, GBVW.

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4ll.0 A,; Give those Ufis

a bit of their own backA

by Gus Taylor, GBPG.

The basic purpose of the amateur licence is self—training in the art of radio communication. Our CW abbrev—iations make communication betWeen people speaking a multi—tude of different languages possible, but any QSO becomesmore meaningful if one can give the chap at the other endeven a few words of his native language. This somehowpersonalises the 980, and in my experience it also greatlyincreases the likelihood of a QSL arriving. Anyone whoworks on the h.f. bands is inevitably going to contact anumber of UA stations, a group who rarely hear the Russianlanguage unless they are working among themselves. Judgingby my own experience they are really thrilled when a hamfrom another country gives them a few words in their ownlanguage, particularly on the key.

The Russian language is based on a 32 letter alphabetoriginated specially for the purpose by Brother Cyril, aByzantine monk, and only slightly altered in the interven—ing centuries. This alphabet consists of Greek, Latin,and Hebrew letters, and sending it in Morse involves theuse of the normal alphabet plus accented letters. (Quitefun at 25 wpm when you are trying to remember the Russianspelling, and the Russian grammar, and which Morse charact-ers represent the Cyrilic letters you want!). Fortunatelyfor simple information it is not necessary to use accentedletters. In passing, note that UA ops are well versed inall our normal CW abbreviations, these being contained inthe Russian equivalent of the ARRL Handbook. We can thusintersperse these abbreviations with a few suitable Russ—ian Words transliterated into Morse code, and so pay ourcontact the compliment of addressing him in his ownlanguage.

M

Hello and GoodbyeThe normal Russian greeting is a word roughly

pronounced ”Zdrasti", and equally roughly translated as"Hello, how are you?" This of course becomes the ZDR

that we have all heard on the bands.The "TOW" often heard after ZDR is an abbreviation

for "Tovarich" which in this context means "OM”. Theoften heard "DSW" means "goodbye".Thanks

If you want to say this in Russian just send"SPASIBO". There is a more formal and polite form, butunless you are a Russian student you will not be ableto remember it, and SPASIBO is quite adequate.The weather

The Russian word for weather is "PAGODA", but WK isquicker and the UAs themselves use it. As one may wishto combine weather states — for example, "raining andcold" - remember that AND in Russian is simply theletter I sent on its own.

Likely weather states can be sent as follows:—Rain; DOVDX IDET ("The rain he goes")Snow; SNEG IDET ("The snow he goes")Sunshine; SOINCE SWETIT

Hot; VARKIJ. Cold; HOLODNO. Fog; TUMAN.

Frost; MOROZ. A Little; NEMNOVKO. Much; MNOGO.

Radio termsThere is no "h" in the alphabet and it is replaced

by "g". KHz and NHL thus become KGz and MGz. Wattsare WATTY. Other common terms such as TX, RX etc areused as in English.

The famous WSEM still sometimes heard during theUA-only contests simply means "all". It indicates thatonly QSOs with other Russian stations are wanted. Radiois the same in both languages, and amateur radio isRADIOSPORT. (You can become a Master of Sport of theSSSR if you are good enough at ham radio!). From thatremark, one can see that USSR becomes SSSR in Russian.

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:3 SL8

PSE QSL is all that you need when asking for one.QSL BUDET WAM BURO will let the other chap know that youare definitely going to send him a card.Other terms

"Yes” is DA, "no" is NET, "not" is NE, "but" is NO and"glad" is RAD. When saying ”thanks for the QSO" sendSPASIBO ZA QSO.

Example of useFirst over (he has called you). UA1——— de G3——-

= ZDR I SEASIBO ZA Q30 =UR RST 589 = QTH Heckmondwyke =Name Cuthbert 2 HW? UA1--— de GB—-- K.

Second over. UA1——- de G3--- = R SPASIBO TOW ALEX =HR TX 2 WATTY I antenna dipole = WX DOVDX IDET I HOLODNO =QSL BUDET WAN BURO = HW? UA1-—— de G3-—— K.

Third over. UA1-—— de GB——— = R SPASIBO ALEX UR SIGSVY FB = RAD Q30 I HPE CU SN 75 I SPASIBO ALEX DSW =UA1——- de G3—-- SK

ConclusionMore able Russian scholars may be able to pick holes

in the above, but at least it has been understood by manyUAs and very often their comment has been "Thanks for theQ30 and the Russian". If you want to do the same thingon phone be prepared for several years of hard but inter—esting part—time study! CW is much easier because accentand pronunciation do not enter into it. Now what aboutsome of our experts in other European languages givingus a few useful phrases for use in CW QSOS?

(Originally published in the 15th issue of the G—QRP

Club' 3 journal SPRAT.)

we?{33‘7“m?(Lf‘itewas,\._i\:1/j/IIw_WT:WW',

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WW”(Someone isalwags listening

By Ken Randall.

Id11962, I was in charge of Communications on boardHMS Protector, the Navy's Ice Patrol ship in the Falklandsand the British Antarctic, working in conjunction withthe British Antarctic Survey bases and two researchvessels, "John Biscoe" and "Shackleton".

One day ashore in Port Stanley, I met up with the RadioOfficer of the John Biscoe, an Irishman known as Paddy,and over a drink or two we discussed inter-ship communic-ation schedules (skeds) of which there were a considerablenumber each day while away from Stanley.

In those days, such skeds were 99% in Morse. Paddysuggested that if ever we needed him in a hurry and could-n‘t wait for the next sked, we should use the auto alarmsignal on SOOkcs (the International Distress frequency),as there were never any signals heard on 500 during theday due to the lack of shore stations and ships in ourlarge area. I was a bit apprehensive about using thatfrequency, except for its intended purpose, but said "OK"in the hopeful knowledge that the need would never arise.

A few weeks later, we were off South Georgia when anurgent need arose to get in touch with John Biscoe, whichwas further south. There was about 2 hours to the nextsked but the Captain couldn‘t wait that long. To send amessage through Stanley would probably not be any quickerthan waiting for the sked. 30......

I tuned up on SOOkcs and listened for about 10 minutes.There was not the slightest sign of any signals at all.So, with much apprehension I very carefully sent the autoalarm signal (a certain sequence of the letter ’T' inMorse), followed by the Protector's callsign. ‘7

I listened for about 15 minutes, but there was noreply. I thought, "I'm not going through all that again,just in case“. The Captain would Just have to wait!

Came our next sked with Stanley, and as soon as wehad established communications, Stanley came straightback to us and asked ”were we OK?" "Of course", Ireplied, "Why?"

”Had a report from Shackleton that the auto alarmsounded off, followed by your callsign, and nothingfurther".

”Crumbs", I thought (or Words to that effect). Thiswould cause a row — I had to report it with as muchflannel as I could put round it, I got a severe telling-off, and that was that.

Next time I met up with Paddy I told him in no un—

certain words what I thought of his idea! Strange thatI hadn't heard Shackleton trying to call us, and thatJohn Biscoe (which was much closer to us than Shackleton)hadn‘t heard me.

It just goes to show, though, that "someone isalways listening" 2

gag; to

"1QB.

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““ Meet DEDX.’by Steve Muster, GaUUL.\"‘

I

(iE)r DX is a Morse code contest trainer that bringsyou the excitement of the DX chase without actually beingon the air. You can place yourself anywhere in the world,at any time of day you wish, and experience amateur radiooperating conditions as they would be felt at that timeand place.

When the program is first started you need to (a) setthe clock for the time of day you want, and (b) selectthe longtitude and latitude for your location. Once youare operating you can change bands, frequency and pOWer.If Dr DX decides that the band you selected is normallyopen at the time you selected, you will hear computergenerated CW signals spread across the band. The stat-ions you hear will be working one another or calling CQ.The radio propagation for each band represents what youwould actually expect to hear on a good day with anomni-directional antenna.

The call letters of the stations you hear are totallyrandom but weighted according to population density, withthe guarantee that for each of the 304 countries whichexist there is at least one station. The speed of thestations operating in the lower parts of the bands ismuch faster than those in the upper parts of the samebands.

The typical two—way contest exchange involves call-signs, signal reports and CQ Worldwide zones. Should youmiss any part of a QSO, you can ask for and receive arepeat. Should you make a mistake, the other stationmight ask you to repeat something. You can even ask theother station to QRS or QRQ, and he will. The program

“i

shows your score and ;30 rate continuously. You can seta time limit on the contest if you wish, so that you cantrack your performance on each session.

Dr DX is good, clean, competitive fun, and is idealfor settling those Club rivalries by competing againstyour friends under identical conditions.

The previous paragraphs on Dr DX were taken from theABA Eanual which comes with the cartridge. Once theprogram is set up and running, notice what the stationsare saying to one another. The contest exchange isRST + CCWW zone, usually run together. B‘or example, ifyou are in England you might send 59914, 14 being thezone for dngland. Some of the numbers can be abbreviat-ed in the interest of faster exchanges; ie, T for ¢,i for 1, N for 9.

Basically there are two ways to enter the contest.”hunt and Pounce” is where you wait for a station to callif, and you answer him. ”Call CQ Forever" is where youstake—out a freouency and call Ci yourself.

is soon as Dr OX knows your sending call—sign, it isposted onto the bottom of the screen. Your call—signmust agree with one which Would normally be found atyour chosen latitude and longtitude, otherwise you willnot score any points.

During the contest the following keys are used on thecomputer — B, to change band; F1, F3, F5, F7, to changefrequency; P to set power (2/20/200 watts); V for'side-tone volume; X (0 to 9) for bandpass filter; C forcelour of screen display; and the Kun/Stop key. Theonly snag I have found when giving demonstrations of theprogram is that Dr DX likes to be sent perfectly spaced5w, so it is almost impossible to use a straight keysuccessfully. Finally a note on operating technique.You need not send all of the call—sign of stationscontacted. For example, if you work VKZABC, you needonly send VKZ or ABC, plus the report.

My highest score to date was with the call-sign 7Q7MIghalawi) in 00, zone 37. I also had the highest :30 rate,at 252 2803 per hour. Pretty hot stuff: The odd hoursbent in a different part of the world is great fun, andis excellent for improving one's CW sending and receiving.

10

(From "Bandspread", magazine of the Southgate AmateurRadio Club.)Note: Dr DX is a computer program for the Commodore 64or 128. A program module plugs into the game—port ofthe computer, and a Morse sending key (preferably elect—ronic) plugs into the module.@ch _

éparR-gap 20 h:THE CASE OF THE MISSING DASHES.

Have you ever heard of non-Morse telegraphywhich has no dashes ? U.S. prisoners of warused it in Viet Nam; voice communication hadsevere penalties.It is impossible to send Morse code dashesby clicking two rocks together for using shoetaps, tapping on lunch tray tops, etc) so some-one invented a dash-less code. Here it is:A B C K .D E

O C c on a .0. a o... o .....F q H i J'- I D‘ d. .0 CO. .. .‘C. O. O.--‘L PI N 0 PC? ‘1 S 1‘ ‘4

V W X y 2.lnav l old-c u. occla v.4 P0"- .4.4 to-.. an.“

For further information, read "Love and war"by Adm. James and Mrs. Sybil Stockdale.I wonder what it would sound like on abug ? 73.Bill Marshall Dots & Dashes

”“29? 1;

Before his death in 1971, Ernst Krenkel was the best-known radio amateur in the USSR. He was radio operator onthe SS Chelyuskin which sank off the northern coast ofSiberia in 1934. His radio was the only link with the out—side world, and for his untiring work towards the rescueof the crew and passengers, during two months on the ice,he was allowed to retain the call-sign of the Chelyuskin,RAEM, as his personal amateur radio call.

His autobiography was publiShed in Russian in 1973,and an English language version in 1978. He was a school—

1),

boy at the time of the revolution, and the book providesa rare glimpse of family life in those troubled times.The young Ernst's reaction to political events was todecide that revolution meant freedom and that schoolattendance was, therefore, no longer compulsory!He was successively a pedlar, an assistant electric»ian, and an assistant mechanic, repairing stoves, sauce-

pans, perambulators, and whatever else was brought to himin a tiny back-street workshop in Moscow.Extra rations!

In 1921, he saw an advertisement for radio—telegraphytraining, including a promise of extra rations whichplayed no small part in persuading him to apply! It wasa cold winter. The students wore their street clothesin class, with headphones perched on top of their furhats. The instructor sat at his Morse key, wearing sim—ilar headgear. He was one of the few radio operators tohave wintered in the Arctic at that time, and his stories,told to the class, gave Krenkel his first interest inthat part of the world where he was to spend so much ofhis life.

After a year he came top of his class. He could readMorse at 150 letters a minute, and was posted to areceiving station where his job was to take down bulletinsfrom newspapers round the world. On his first day, hehad great difficulty in reading Morse "on—the—air", havingonly previously experienced loud, clear, and undistortedSignals in a classroom situation. He was dismissed forincompetence on the spot! He was soon re-instated however,to master the vagaries of radio reception, and to studyradio technology, such as it was in those times."He knows his job"

In 1924, he decided he wanted to go to sea. A friendgave him a note of introduction to a ship's engineer inLeningrad, "Pete! Help this fellow. He‘s a good chapand knows his job". It wasn't as easy as that though,and he was unable to find work until an expedition wasset up to relieve a party wintering in the Arctic, and hewas appointed its radio operator.

The party to be relieved was the first ever to winteron the island of Novaya Zemlya, and there was a general93

reluctance by other radio ops to follow in the footstepsof the pioneers. Glad of any job at the time, Krenkelunknowingly took the first steps towards a career which wasto make him famous.

When he returned home he was called up for a year'smilitary service. He was in a radio—telegraphy battalion,and operated an "improved” spark transmitter, the ALM.Power was provided by a ”soldier motor", a tandem bicyclearrangement, pedalled furiously by two soldiers to turn adynamo. The range of the ALM was officially 75 Km, butconsiderably less as the tandem party tired! There werefive men to each crew. Two pedallers, two operators, anda commander. In later years Krenkel loved to remember thecommand given them on parade, "First radio station at adistance of one station from the next, quick march!"

Wind—generatorused to power

krenkel‘s radio atthe North Pole.

‘Krenkel conferring an honorary diploma upon Yuri Gagarin forestablishing the first VHF link between Earth and space.4%After his army service he took a variety of jobs,

none of which satisfied him and, at the same time, dis-covered amateur radio. AS in other countries, there wasa glut of surplus military equipment in the USSR afterworld war I, which many radio amateurs acquired for theirhobby. Home—constructed equipment, for 200 metres anddown, followed, and by the end of 1926 Krenkel had his owncall-sign and was operating a home—made transmitter andreceiver from the small room he shared with his mother inMoscow, using a wire antenna strung up to, and over, theroof above them.

That year he called at the Moscow office of the NizhnyNovgorod radio laboratory, with a highly embellished storyabout the hydrographic board wanting to experiment withshort—waves in the Arctic. The laboratory was alreadymaking experimental radio contacts with Tashkent andVladivostok. They jumped at this new opportunity, andmade a 300 watt transmitter and receiver available toKrenkel free of charge, apart from the hand-made valves,for which they charged 60 rubles each. ]_Q

fielCOmed

Krenkel rushed to Leningrad where that year's reliefparty for Novaya Zemlya was being recruited and, as before,was welcomed as their radio operator. He then broachedthe subject of an experimental short—wave station which,

hrnst KrenKelin later years

He was soon on hisway back to the radio laboratory, this time in an offic—ial capacity, to finalise the details and collect thenew radio. ’36

fortunately, was warmly received.

He describes the equipment available to him for thissecond expedition. The "official" radio was a 5 Kw

spark transmitter, housed in a small two-room hut, havinga range of 300/400 Km. To begin transmitting the operat-or signalled the mechanic in the next room to start themotor with compressed air. If this failed, members ofthe expedition were called in to turn the motor's bigflywheel by hand until, as Krenkel puts it, ”The thump-ing motor, which made the whole building vibrate, thewhining commutator, and the huge masts, combined with acrackling roar to broadcast the signals of MatochkinShar polar station".

By contrast, the new short—wave equipment he hadbrought with him was positively elegant, requiring onlya fraction of the power, working from batteries, andoffering a substantially increased range, as yet undefined.Unregistered station

He hastened to put it to use, looking for fellowradio amateurs in the first instance. No—one in theArctic had listened on the short-waves. No-one had trans-mitted on them before. The experimental station wasunregistered, and had no official call-sign. Krenkeladopted the call PGO, meaning "Polar Geophysical Observ—atory, and went on the air.

After several calls, he heard a weak reply. Theexcitement was intense, but he could only copy half thecall—sign of the other station. Calling again and again,he finally lost even that fragile contact. He cabled anamateur radio magazine, via the "official" radio, explain—ing what had happened and, after various enquiries, theyestablished that the amateur station calling him was inBaku, nearly 3,500 Km to the south.

Soon, PGO was in contact with amateur stations through-out Europe, and details of each contact were carefullyrecorded for the Nizhny Novgorod laboratory. Six monthslater the operators Dikson Island built a 10 watt short—wave transmitter. They asked amateur stations to listen

17

for their signals, and two—way communication between thetwo arctic stations became commonplace.

The expedition’s headquarters in Archangel built afurther transmitter, and now all signal traffic from Matoch—kin Sher went directly there by short—waves, bypassing theintermediate station which had previously relayed all mess-ages from the old spark transmitter.Improvements

The speeding up of traffic, plus significant savings infuel, were immediate results, but Krenkel's participationin these early experiments led to the increased and effect-ive use of short-waves for Arctic communication generally.

1929 found him in an expedition to Franz Josef Land,where he operated the, then, most northerly station in theworld. On January 12th, 1930, his official day's workfinished, he put out a call on the 40 metres amateur band,”CQ CQ de RPX”. At the other end of the globe, station WFA,serving Admiral Byrd‘s American Antarctic expedition,heard his call and responded. From the Arctic night to theAntarctic summer, their signals set up a world record forradio communication while they exchanged details of eachother's expedition and arranged to meet again the next day.Zeppelin

He was now well launched on his chosen career, and oneexpedition followed another. In 1931, he was one of fourmen representing the USSR in the international team aboardthe German dirigible LZ—127, the Graf Zeppelin, whichexplored, mapped, and took scientific observations in theSoviet Arctic.

In 1932, the second International Polar Year, he wasradio operator aboard the Sibiryakov, a vessel attemptingto pass through the Northern Sea Route in a single navigat—ional season, something never achieved before. The exped—ition became trapped in the ice, and blasted their waythrough with explosives. The ship's propeller blades weresmashed, and were renewed by engineers working in the icywater. When just 100 miles of the voyage remained, theentire propeller hub was lost. They completed the North-ern Route drifting ice-bound in an easterly current,finally erecting vast black sails to take them to thenorthern entrance of the Bering Strait on October 1st, 1932.

Round two continentsRadio contact had been maintained continually, both

with Moscow and with a trawler which had been despatchedto their rescue, and this ship finally towed theSibiryakov through the Pacific to Japan for repairs.The expedition returned home via the southern route toMurmansk, becoming only the second ship to ever sailall the way round the continents of Europe and Asia.

Krenkel seemed destined for a life of danger andadventure. In 1934, he sat at his transmitter in a smalltent on the ice, and keyed, "February 13, 15.30 hours,155 miles from North Cape and 144 miles from Cape Wellenthe Chelyuskin sank, crushed by the pressure of the ice...”The plight of the survivors and their subsequent rescueby Soviet aircraft made world headlines, and Krenkelgives a fascinating account of the day—to—day life ofthe expedition from the time it began to the triumph-ant parade of rescuers and rescued in Red Square, Moscow,on June 10th, 1934.

During the years that followed, every February 13th,Krenkel, the men and women of the Chelyuskin, and theairmen who saved them, met together to remember theircommon experiences although, as Krenkel records, ”Fewof us now remain as illness, old age and war have takentheir toll".North Pole

Other Arctic expeditions followed, with radio playingan ever more important part, maintaining communications,relaying scientific information as it was acquired,and assisting with the safety of those placed in danger.Krenkel took part in several other adventures whichattracted the attention of the world's press, but per-haps the most famous was the North Pole expedition of1937/38. He was radio—operator in a four man team,air-lifted to the Pole, which drifted southwards on anice-flee for nine months taking scientific observationson the way. In his "spare” time, and using the call-sign UPOL, he worked radio amateurs round the world, someof whom, towards the end of the expedition, relayedmessages for him to the base station on Rudolph Island.

His book ends with an account of this latter exped-A7

ition, and a half promise to write about the years thatfollowed. He died on December 8th, 1971, and, presumably,he never continued his compelling story.

He is certainly well remembered in his homeland. A

commemorative postage stamp was issued in 1973, and manySoviet amateurs use a QSL card which depicts some of hisachievements. A bay on the coast of Komsomelets Island isnamed after him, as is one of the islands in SevernayaZemlya; the polar hydrometeorological observatory on HaysIsland; the Central Radio Club of the USSR; a communicationselectro-technical college in Leningrad; and a weatherresearch vessel.

as am am aw aw“ay ar'fle as 11 as aw as «V'nw at as aw m.,w an era

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The 4 kopek commemorative stamp issued in 1973.

His book is compelling reading for any radio amateur,and is of no small interest to the general reader, suffer—ing little in translation. There can be few copies avail-able nowadays however, hence this extended review.

30

RAEM was active for many years, and his distinctive andunusual QSL card is a treasured possession of those whoreceived it. Morsum Magnificat would welcome receivingreminiscences about contacts with RAEM, or any other inform—ation about this well-liked and distinguished radio amateur.

REVIEWER'S NOTE - How this book came into my possession isalmost a story in its own right. In 1978, I received areport from a UA¢ SWL on a CW QSO I had with a UK1 station.The QSL was the RAEM commemorative card, which I had notseen before. I was fascinated by it and after much research,including correspondence with the Krenkel Central Radio Clubof the USSR, wrote an article, "RAEM calling”, which appear—ed in Practical Wireless in January 1983.

Ti sent a copy to Moscow, and was later asked by theSoviet amateur radio magazine "RADIO" to write a furtherarticle on how I became interested in, and researched mat—erial on, matters which occurred so long ago, so far away,and in a language I did not speak. This duly appeared inDecember 1983, translated into Mussian, and shortly afterI received a mysterious parcel covered with Russian stamps.

Another SWL, this time a UA9, had read my article in"RADIO“. He found an English language version of "RAEh ismy call—sign” in a local second—hand bookshop, bought it,and asked the magazine to send it on to me.

To say I was surprised and delighted would be anunderstatement! After reading the accounts of others here,at last, was RAEM's story in his own words. It fills inmany of the blanks from my earlier research, brings himto life for me, and is a fine book in its own right. Itnow has an honoured place in my book collection.

In the same issue of "RADIO", there is a furtherarticle on RAEM which appears to include extracts fromcontemporary magazine reports of the 1930's. If anyreader can offer help with a translation, please contactme! G4FAI.

“294W3|

I f 7-, .:e* rv_”‘ ““ UPC”S;3n v tn

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1

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“(Vi i 1:50 :‘n HF oquuT I 300 MW‘14 { K ‘4'

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xml 7030 kHz ’/2 H 2218

40n I key

Best DX so far is 510 km. For receiving I'm stillng my base-station loom 720, but I'm going to build

fhe antenna used is 2 x 10usi3 small simple DC receiver.metres witn open feeder.

Ton, PASAUK.

.32- «2/5?} {3&1U}Sv

ween.)My best CW......

at one word a minute!by Uhris Lovell, c3juw. K Sggfigw3 \

In the 1970's I was a freelance marine radio operator,specialising in delivery work. lhis usually meant join—ing a decrepit vessel and delivering it to new ownerssomewhere in the world and then immediately flying back.

This type of work suited my restless nature becausenot only were there different ships and different destin—ations but there was a great variety of equipment t .This was often very old, with no instructions and no toolsor reference books..... which made it hard to operate ifthe knobs were covered in non-European writing! Frequent—ly there were faults on the equipment or the aerials.Often the call-sign was given by special dispensation onlyminutes before we sailed, and might be that of the countryto which the ship was being delivered, or a flag-of-convenience country. Advantages were that there were noaccounts to keep, and very elastic working hoursl

6O(O

Organising the delivery of one of these ships is aterrible job because not only do the crew have to befound, but every single item of equipment, from cups toengine spares and food. Sometimes the vessels have beenlaid up for long periods and nothing functions first time.Invariably the ships are unladen, with the screw half outof the water, and quite frequently they are flat—bottomedas well. Such was the case of one memorable voyage whenI signed on as the radio operator of a Tank Landing Shipto be delivered from South Shields to Halifax, NovaScotia, where she was to be used as a supply ship to anoil rig on Sable Island.

There is quite a long story concerning the week Ispent on board before we even left Sngland, but this is

33

recounting all that. Suffice to sayiA ign outside the dock gate where we were

itted, and we went through three crews in twoweeks.... all carted away insensible!

we had good weather until we reached the Atlantic,and then we had gales day after day — in fact I soonbecame known as "Mr Gale Force 8" instead of ”Sparks".He could only manage about five knots and the ship wouldrise up and then crash down on her flat bottom, trappingair underneath, vibrating the whole vessel. When thishappened I was unable to write for two minutes until sherose up again.

dith this pounding, the foremast soon fell off andthe bow doors started to open up. Furthermore, a splitstarted to develop amidships because an enormous hatch—way had been cut in the shoe—box—like vessel. The lossof the foremast meant that the far end of my main aerialhad to be supported by an oar lashed to the railings.....On a delivery ‘ossel there Elf no spare pieces of wood.

There was a change at last from gales, but not forthe better; ice had come particularly far South that year,we were told, -xd there were 400 icebergs, and dense fog,in our path.. . and hurricane Agnes was proceeding upthe East coasr of the States and should coincide withour arrival. There was also an 8.0.3. in operation inour area for a fishing vessel reputed to be on fire.

is my ship only had M.F. equipment, I had not beenable to communicate with either Europe or America forseveral days; the last message I had sent detailed allthe things that had gone wrong so far, and then silencefrom us. How a split developed in our mainmast whichcarried the radar scanner and all my five aerials. Itwavered about for a few days supported by the guy wires,and then collapsed on my cabin one morning about 3 a.m.l managed to persuade reluctant sailors to go out in thefreezing fog and re—route the aerials using more oarsfrom our lifeboats.

Je thought we had found the stricken fishing boat'hen the fog cleared and revealed a large object in theistance. The cook was told to have soup ready forsurvivors, but he said ”what soup?” — we had been at seaso long we were running out of food. it was all a false

3%

alarm anyhow because the object turned out to be anenormous packing crate.

Because it was a while since anyone had heard from us,I thought I would try to contact Saint Johns Radio inNewfoundland although the distance was over 500 miles andI only had low pOWer with my home—made aerial system. Thecaptain and I compiled a message explaining that we werestill afloat and under power. We had so much to relatethat this message was a hundred words long, which is verylong compared to most I used to send on this work.

I managed to raise Saint Johns at about strength 5, andstarted on the message. Because the 3.0.5. had reducedthe number of frequencies available, many ships called ontop of my weak signal_ Saint Johns then had to stop me,tell the other ship to clear the frequency, or ask me tochange frequency. We moved up and down the band abouteight times, and all this took so long tiat two nours pass—ed before I had sent all 100 words.

A day later we received an answer from England, TiiSaint Johns, and all it said was, "I am amazed“.

We got there in one piece, but with no radar set anddense fog the harbour pilot decided that it would besimplest just to run the ship onto the beach.... after allit was a landing ship.

We had more adventures on the way home by plane, butthat is another story.....

// d \‘ \\u-ZQ‘iéDmv

épar’k-sap 21 h:Telegraphers like to apply the Bible versefrom Job 38:35 to themselves.Look it up and see that the answer to thequestion posed was, until 1844, "No";after that telegraphers could answer "Yes!".

35

%~§ Tales fromthe Bath Ttltgr’aph

I

I spent four years with the US Naval Radio Service.I have kept up with the International code and couldhandle a circuit right now. I was handling traffic bet—ween the mainland and ships on the Great Lakes as earlyas 1920. when radio was just getting started in thiscountry International Morse was not used, but AmericanWorse was. while I was in the Navy a Chief Petty Officertold me that he was an op on the Great Lakes when Inter—national Morse was introduced.

by F.M. Thomas.

He told me that the old—timers who knew bothcodes would chat with each other using one code for oneword and the other code for the next, to confuse any ofthe new men who only knew International.

Thirty years later, in Clearwater, I got intoconversation with a man and we somehow got onto commun—ications. We discovered we were both former Naval radioops and began comparing notes on equipment etc. Finallyhe asked me if I knew how the changeover from AmericanMorse to International came about. I simply told himjust what the Chief had told me thirty years before.

He agreed with everything I told him and then hesaid, "I was an operator on the Great Lakes when thattook place". I knew that there were probably not morethan five ops on the Lakes at that time and asked him ifhe knew Chief Telefson. His eyes opened wide. He point—ed to his chest and said, "I'm Telefson”. what areunion we had then.

I believe I am probably the only living memberof the ”Air Mail Pioneers" who flew the mail here in theUSA. In 1920 our radio station was on the air field of

TL ’

o

the Air Mail Service and we took over their communicaticnswhen the telegraph line connecting all the fields betwee:Lakehurst, N3, and Chicago, Ill, was taken out. I was 79or 20 when I became associated with this service. Almostall the others were probably in their 30's or more, so Ifeel I am the only survivor.

I have a photo of an amateur station takenabout 1918. It has an unusual vacuum tube with two fil—aments and terminals coming out either end as wires. Ifone filament should burn out the other filament was therewaiting to be used. The station had honeycomb coils topick up long wave stations.

I came home on leave from the Navy about 1920and the owner of this station and I fixed up a littletx and crystal rx in his home (in the kitchen). He wentto his radio station a couple of blocks away and we hadquite a time talking back and forth in code. The boy'smother was deathly afraid of any type of electricity andkept clear of me while I was "risking my life" sending toher son from the kitchen.

She had stacked all her cookware in the oven ofher kitchen range and my back was towards that. SomehowI got tangled up in something and got a real shock. Itwas so sudden I tipped over backward in my chair and whenI hit the floor the oven door opened and the cookwarepiled out on top of me. The mother heard the commotionand found me stretched out under everything and thought Ihad been killed. Funny thing about that - she neverinvited me back into her home:

Most amateurs probably do not know where thename "ham" came from. I try never to use the word for onlandline circuits it means a poor operator, one who can'thandle the circuit properly. Many times in my youngerdays I have been insulted by some smart bird on the otherend of the wire calling me a ham and requesting they "putan operator" on. I think the professional operators gavethe amateurs that name and it stuck.

Probably you are familiar with the way cablemessages were transmitted and received before modernequipment was designed. It came on an endless paper tapewith a pen making a continuous line, dots on one edge of

37

the tape and dashes on the other. I was looking over theshoulder of an operator copying from London to Chicago in1925. The baseball season was in great shape at the timeand I knew just how the World Seriss was going. Just thenLondon gave us a flash, "MASHINGTJN MUN O.M. FUUR TO THREE".The operator tore out that part Of the tape and gave it tome. I carried it around for several years.

F.m. Thomas.

The telegraph wires, stretched around the globe, arethe harp strings on which the wild song of civilisedman is played. jArthur FUrst .33

transmitter powers are generally lower today than, say,30 years ago, and many ships only have a whip aerial dueto the lack of masts. Consequently ranges are not asgreat as may have been experienced in the past.

On 17th April, 1987, I was on watch on 500 kHz atLandsend Radio. At 0325 GMT the Urgency Signal 'XXX'was heard from callsign SBLL, followed by the message'17/4/87 AT OBOOGMT WATER COMING INSIDE ENGINE ROOM

POSITION 36.47N 001.33W P83 ALL VESSELS KEEP LOOK OUT‘.

This position was recognised as being in the westernMediterranean and a reply was expected from a coaststation in the area. It is normal practice that if anacknowledgement of a distress or urgency message is notmade by the station whose area of responsibility containsthe position given, then any station hearing the messageshould take the appropriate alerting action.

However, in less than a minute SBLL repeated theoriginal message. During this second transmission chartsand publications were checked to ascertain the closeststation. While doing this, and with only a few secondsbreak, SBLL repeated the message for a third time. Thiswas beginning to get unusual, with the urgency beingsensed by the writer as well as being indicated from thesender.Still hearing no response from any station, I called

the relevant Spanish station on 500 kHz asking whetherthe message from SBLL had been received. 'No', was thereply, so the D'panish station was given the message on500 kHz. A few minutes later, a telephone call wasreceived from the rather disbelieving Spanish stationquerying the authenticity of the call. I could onlyrepeat what I had heard.

Several times the Spanish station called SELL, withoutreply. The Spanish station then broadcast a repetitionof the original urgency message from SELL as forwardedby Landsend Radio, preceded by the Auto-alarm Signal.The auto alarm on 500 kHz is a series of twelve 4-seconddashes which actuates an alanm receiver to ring bells onthe bridge, and in the radio officer's cabin, of anyship receiving the signal. This brought a response fromseveral ships in the area who began to proceed towards

3%

Thriiifih Evlpmmstill using iHHHraP

John Chappell.‘~=>2} \Etfih’'Za res-<-

(Ei;er since the sinking of the Titanic and until atleast 1992, British Telecom — formerly GPO — coast radiostations have been, and will be, keeping watch on behalfof the Department of Transport on the International MarineMorse Distress Frequency of 500 kHz.

Until very recently all ships of 1600 tons gross andover have been required to carry equipment and a certific—ated officer capable of transmitting and receiving on500 kHz. In preparation for the "Global Maritime DistressSystem", due to be operational in 1992, some ships inselected areas and/or With satellite communications arebeing granted exemption from carrying a Morse qualifiedofficer, ie, the Radio Officer.

The watch is currently kept from eight stations in theUK, the writer being located at Landsend Radio/GLD. Theday-time range on 500 kHz is generally stated to be about300 miles, although at Landsend ships that put out aneffective signal are frequently worked out to longtitude20.W or about 600 miles. Night-time range is considerablyextended so that signals from ships are heard out to about1000 or occasionally 1500 miles, and coast stations fromIceland to the eastern Mediterranean, and very occasion-ally the Caribbean, are readable.

Any ‘old-timers' reading this must appreciate thatL\Q

the position given.While monitoring this large response, and bearing in

mind the considerable cost of the shipping involved, thequerying nature of the telephone call from Spain. and theapparent fact that no station closer to the position hadheard the calls from SBLL, I began to look for confirm-ation of my report.

Four other UK stations were checked, none of whom hadheard SBLL. Had it perhaps been a hoax call originatingfrom somewhere near Land's End? Some solace was takenwhen Lloyd‘s Shipping Index indicated that SELL, whichhad recently changed its name from ”Demetra Glory“ to"Mimi—K", was indeed trading in the general area of theposition given.

Luckily, all this speculation was soon put to an endwhen the Spanish station reported that a German warshiphad located and rescued all the crew of Mimi-K (laterknown to be 16) from the precise position given in theoriginal message from SELL. This was of course a veryrewarding experience for me.

As mentioned above, 1992 sees the end of 500 kHz as aMorse Distress Frequency world-wide. Readers of MorsumMagnificat, and particularly ex—ships' operators, alongwith the writer, will no doubt be sad at the demise of amode that is wonderfully simple and effective. Neverthe-less it requires a dedicated officer on board ship, whichin the age of simplified radio-telephone and satelliteequipment has been deemed to be unnecessary.It can only be hoped that, in what must be the twilight

0f Morse at sea, devotees of MM enjoy hearing that Morseis still playing its part.

S.J. Chappell,Radio Officer,LANDSENDRADIO.

(John Chappell joined BT‘s Maritime Radio Division in1970 after a period of four years at sea as a radioofficer with Shell Tankers UK. He is also a licensedradio amateur, call-sign GBXRJ.)

d$bLU

Luvfltzztg ‘77wW35WL’VFxGZ’ day/T”igey Nr 12, "Unknown English origin" , in MM Nr 2 was

designed in 1942 to be a standard item in the range of8.0.3. suitcase sets, and in the following years severalthousand were made on contract by Multitone Ltd, London.

Normally fitted by screws to the lid of the Spares-boxon the Type B SMkII set, which then provided a large base,or fitted into clips on the Type A MkIII, the key's mainmerit was that it could be fitted into the cramped sparesbox.It had no counterbalance mass behind the pivot, using

only spring force adjusted by the screw in the bar. Itwas not popular with the users who knew what a good keyshould be, and many preferred the extra size and weightof Army/RAF keys. It speaks volumes for those heroes whoused the key under stressful conditions in various count—ries around the world, that many thousands of groups offive-letter cipher were sent and successfully decoded.

A flex—pigtail was added soon after first productionto reduce "key—bounce" caused by cathode current passingthrough the hinge—screw, a point that applies to someother keys.

John I. Brown, G3EUR.(MM footnote: This key was produced by Multitone forthe series of SOE W/T sets designed by John Brown, whichincluded the Type A MkII and MkIII, and Type B MkII. Thesewere used by SOE (1942—45) in various forms, the most well—known being fitted into suitcases.

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Officer

n:pk_ Maurice SandYS,

§ Part I

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I made my way into civil flying via wartime service inthe RAF as a ground wireless operator, foll wed by aperiod in a similar capacity in the hinistry of CivilAviation, finally being taken on in 1952 by air CharterLtd as a Flight Radio Officer.

Air Charter Ltd was Sir Freddie Laker‘s first reealairline, his previous activities having been cofirethe Berlin airlift. In Air Charter Ltd he hada compwhich was to range all over the world. At the tixie Ijoined they had one long nosed Tudor, one Bristol Freight—er, one Dakota, and several Avro Yorks. But later, in1954, they acquired Avro's entire stock of Avro Tudors.

In the Tudor they had a long range aeroplane that noother British charter company could match. Tudor operat-ions were world—wide. Not until the appearance of theBritannia in 1957 was there a British aircraft capableof flying the San Francisco — Honolulu route, which theTudor took in its stride. RAF contracts to take freightto Christmas Island came Air Charter Ltd's wav becausethe RAF Hastings could not manage the long sea crossing.

W3

1 Can still re all the feeling of superiority it gavef‘\4

us to taxi past a parked Hastings at the USAF Travisairfield in Je‘knowing that the fiastings could proceed no further:

"AVRD YORK"

I stayed with air Charter Ltd until the final demiseof the airborne nadio Officer. Thus my experiences,ostly gained on Yorks and Yudcrs, cover the period 1952o 3950. Those were the last years before advancingtechnology, particularly improvements in long distancevoice communication, rendered the Radio Officer and hishorse key recundant. Cf course, all this happenedthirty years ago and in what follows I cannot guaranteethat my memory is accurate on all points.

C1"

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Charter companies lacked the massive ground organis—ation of the two Corporations, BOAC and BEA. Charter

raft tended to be self—contained and self—sufficients, able to traverse the world with the minimum ofistance from people on the ground, something like anoD rne tramp steamer.

At the start of a voyage the engineer had to super—vise the loading of the freight and make out his ownload sheet to determiie where the aircraft‘s centre oferavity was. If he got his sums wrong the result could

Ltq

have been disasterous. Once airborne, the Radio officerhad to contact the destination to order a het forecastfor the next leg, or to book hotel accommodation. Onceon the ground, the Captain had to settle all bills withthe wad of travellers' cheques he carried with him.Unless we were on a regular run, there were no companyagents to perform these routine services.

Unlike his white—gloved BOAC counterpart, our engineerhad no company maintenance staff to hand a list ofdefects to on arrival. He had to stay behind to super—vise the refuelling and do such maintenance as wasrequired, while the rest of the crew piled into a mini—bus to speed them to their hotel and cool drinks. If anengine change was required (admittedly a rare occurrence}he could toil all day under a tropical sun at some alienairfield, recruiting such local assistance as was avail—able. Once airborne, he had routine duties to perform.

"AVRU TUDOR”

Meter readings and fuel flow readings had to be loggedevery half hour, and a watch kept on fuel consumption.If the engineer was the hardest worker on the ground,

the navigator was the hardest worker in the air. 0n longdesert crossings, usually undertaken at night because

HS

CCtaiiV devoi of navigational aids, thenavi;ator voui; oe up in his astrodome taking star shots

th s"; sextant every half hour. Back at his desk, pains—ulat ions were required to work out the air—" and longtitude. It must have been an

‘ knowing he would be held responsiblemiles off track.

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1»g {/3 which still retained a snacious galley,our own catering. hany crew members,Captains, were excellent cooks and coulde , freshly cooked, three course meal.

the chief pilot, Captain Jennings. Ton a nenzal image of him, after climbing

K in the morning, going aft tothe galley to ore breakrast of bacon and egg for usall. now unlike 3b1C, where the Captain was expected totay at a different hotel to his crew!

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Uhv a Radio Ltfi er?i_i_ifhe rapid growth of air transport between the wars

created a need for air—ground communication in order toregulate the movement of aircraft. in the twenties thetransmission and reception of speech were still in theirinfancy. wireless comnunication by Morse code, on theother hand, had been in existence since the start of thecentury. She simplest way, therefore, to provide air—grouno corwun‘cavions was to instal a specialist operatorwith his radio gear arid iorse Key in the aircraft. Eurther—re, there was a plentiful supply of trained operators toe1tice1 away frOn the hercnant Navy and other services.LPother Iactor favouring the introduction of Radio

Officers was that fiurope, unlike the U3A, had a varietyof 'angua ges. "hen primitive speech equipment becameavaila ole, it was still simpler on Huropean journeys tocomm ll icate in the International Jorse code by means ofc—signals, which were already in widespread use by shipp—' an; other "ervices. hany new x—codes were introduced

aeronautical use and survive to this day, forwance, $2 for altimeter setting. In fact, an entire

”Ccht could be conducted on :_—codes, from taxying outtare oif to parhing on arrival.

1n the ESA, developments followed a a:with no language barrier, american domesticintroduced pilot operated voice communicationearly stage, although the airlines did employ redidoperators on the long—range Pacific flying boats.Aircraft eguipment

The Radio Ofiicer was concerned primarily with longdistance communication, but could also provide navigat—ional assistance. His main equipment was a tr.receiver covering the h? and HF bands {ZOO—5C2—16 hhz}. In 1952 most British charter air .

equipped with the eX—RAF T1154/31155 combiiation or theAmerican BC575 transmitter and 5C548 recei'er. fhaerial was a fixed wire running fr m a shcrt mast to theaircraft's tail, or a manually winched trailing aerialof about 200 feet. The Tudors had a power—operatedtrailing aerial, a luxury much appreciated by the RadioOfficers.

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Reception on the R1155 receiver could be switched toa direction-finding (DF) loop mounted in a streamlinedcasing on top of the fuselage. The loop was rotatedmanually from the Radio Officer's position. A Bendixradio compass, an Instrument Landing System (1L3) and amulti—channel VHF transmitter—receiver completed theinstallation. Two other important items should be ment-ioned, an Aldis lamp and a hand cranked emergency trans—mitter which was stowed just below the escape hatch.These facilities were typical of Air Charter Ltd’sYorks and Tudors.

Aircraft were expected to find their way all over theworld on a few basic instruments. The tools of thenavigator's profession were few in number — the magneticcompass, the gyro compass, the radio compass, the driftsight, and the bubble sextant. In addition, bearingsand fixes could be obtained from suitably equipped groundstations at medium range using VHF voice, or on the LEand HF bands by the Radio Officer. Bearings on radiobeacons could also be taken on the DF loop, but in myexperience the navigator seldom called for one. However,I liked playing around with the DF loop and would oftensupply him with a few bearings whether he wanted them ornot. H']

,01411 cnain 2ti;l ooerated, with stations sited at, uushmills, and Ploneis, giving coverage over

nurope and the Atlantic. It was rather slow for aero—nautical use as it entailed tuning in each station inturn and counting the number of dots beween two call—signs, then referring to a grid of bearing lines on acfiart to :ix the aircraft' sposition. In nurope, radio

r:es which laid down the bpath along the main routes weren operation. The advantage of these two facilities' ‘f a n1 radio receiver was required.

of radio andforth for the far

network of airways covering :urope wasa ' ‘ce coverage was more or less

cer flying east did notant part un;il the hediterraneant oehind. his main function then

to provide en u communication with the controlstation of each Fligh Information Region (FIR) the air—craft passed through. At half hourly intervals the navig-ator would Drepare a position report giving the aircraft'slatitude and longtitud e, its height, track and groundsneed, and the fiTA at the next reporting point. Lithinless than a rinute the Radio Officer would have trans—m'tted this information on his horse key. Sometimes thereport would be made out on a RAF PORAR form, whichcontained additional meteorological observations. POhAR'swere in the form of 5—figure groups.

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fore than once I have read statements in aviationmiqazines to the effect that ”my radio operator was outof touch all the way.’ Indeed, it was because of readingsuch assertions that I commenced this narrative. In myex erience it was unusual to be out of touch with theortrol station. A range of frequencies was available tot the time of day and the distance, and the ground

operrators kent continuous watch. Before joining AirCharter Ltd I had worked at the Air Eraffic ControlCentre at Uxeridge where, in 1950, the bulk of communic-ation was still in horse code, and it was a rare except—ion to have no contact with an aircraft entering the FIR.

L19)

Normal practice was to contact tLe destination air—field as soon as possible after take off to notify themof our ETA and to order a Net forecast for the next leg.It put the Captain in a good mood if there was a forecastwaiting for him when he called at the Let office.

Booking hotel accommodation was considered by the crewto be an important category of message. On the run toSingapore with RAF freight the practice was to call theRAF radio station at Changi while still two days awayon the Bahrein — Sri Lanka leg, asking for accommodationand beer and sandwiches to be waiting for us at theOcean Park Hotel. What a welcome sight the well laidout tray was, for we normally arrived in the small hoursof the morning when the catering services were closeddown.

The latest innovation on the British Airways trans—atlantic service is a radio telephone. Passengers canphone home from mid—Atlantic. One could not do that inthe days I write about, but one could do the next bestthing — send a telegram! The GPO radio station atPortishead, which served world wide shipping, was alsoopen to aircraft. It was common practice for our RadioOfficers,on the last leg of a long journey, to send atelegram to Head Office giving the ETA at the ultimatedestination. Within a short time it would be on theoperations manager‘s desk in Vigmore Street.

I was never called upon to send a passenger telegram,but it would have been quite feasible for a passengerover the Indian Ocean, say, to have sent a telegram any-where in the UK. within half an hour or so, a boy on ared bicycle would have been knocking at the door. Sincethe telegram service has been discontinued there is nolonger a quick method of getting in touch with someonewho does not possess a telephone. Progress can be astrange thing at times.

Company messages could also be sent at long range tothe Ministry of Civil Aviation station at birdlip, fromwhence they would go by teleprinter to Stansted Airport,our home base. I imagine the whole concept of aircraftcommunicating direct with the UK from the other side of

“l

CH% WCfiJ sisappeared with the introduction of pilotoperated :F *oice communications heading weak voice sig—nals througr: interference is well nigh impossible, ~

Wilt ouxh such conditions present little difficulty to theexnerienced horse operator. Paradoxically, the oldmethods way have been quicker. Lessages channelled

ation of the moment and relying onor inward transmission to the UK

to arrive than did ours of thirty

4.1.. an”: .L‘ + A‘ nquI‘x/ujtn one COMuTL/i .1:

our flyils Was 0 er long; ocean routes. The' Flew from Sahrein to Perth via Sri Lenka» V

ani Ila oooos -siands, on their way from the UK toideluide. £0 :eiieve the tedium, the Radio 0 ficer couldexchange a Iew tleasar.tries on his horse key with a ship‘snadio Ur. reEcer somcwl re below in the Indian Ocean. Themarine operator did not nave to speak English. The inter—1ational fi—code and other abbreviations used by radioooewatons ere cu:Lte sufficient for the exchange.

Share was a legalr equirement in those days that air—craft fl§7ing over the sea be able to work on the inter—natiorel maritime distress frequency of 500 kHz. Allsrips Kept watcn on this frequency, or had an automaticalarm device the would respond to a sequence of slowlysent dashes. It could have been a life saver in anemergency. lircraft today do not have this capability— yet another example of the difference between then andnow. hovever, wit the introduction of geostationarystc Lites 1v1n7 VHF cover'ge over an entire hemisphere,they may soon be able to do all the things we could!

Just rambling/(Thanks to everyone who wrote or phoned to tell me thatthe "unknown boatkey” (Nr 33) in the last issue is in factthe standard RAF key used in bombers, etc, from about fifljT.Reader Tony Bernascone thinks the J—31 (hr 32) was used inclandestine operations concealed in the sleeve of the op—

erator. Can anyone confirm this please?british Telecom lnternational's hiton, humoer, and

stonehaven Radios ceased their N/T service on 51st October.The 500 kHz distress watch continues at five other stations.We hope to have a detailed article about the present use ofMorse by BTI in the not too distant future.

1987 was the 150th anniversary of the Cooke a Jheatstonenon—horse needle telegraph, the single—needle version ofwhich eventually became a horse instrument, used by firitishrailways until the 1960s. we will be looking at the work ofthese great telegraph pioneers in future issues.

Have you heard of the FISTS Cd CLUS which sets ut towelcome newcomers to the CW bands? It is open to all, butnewcomers and experienced operators willing to activelyencourage them are especially welcome. Contact Geo Longien,GfizQS, 119 Cemetery Rd, Darwen, Lance, bBBZLA. hon-Gsare welcome. Send s.a.e. or IRC.

If you own a vintage set, try joining in the NorskRadiohistorisk Forening (NRHF) "antique” net around 5.508MHZ on Saturdays at 0730 UTC. They call CQ ANT. Their sec—ond ”clandestine” field-day will be on 28th Lay, 1088, whenthey will use WW2 spy—sets, etc, hoping to work into the UK

just as the original operators did during the war. fulldetails in the Spring issue of MM.

Einally, why not join in the QRP Minter Sports, Jecember26 to Jan 1? Plenty of stations from many countries, includ—ing transatlantic, on all bands. Just reduce power to 5w orless and give them a call. If you're not into low—powerworking already, you may be surprised! 73, 50, Tony

5i

%§ An Important Announcement $4?-

I very much regret to announce that owing to theserious illness of Rinus Hellemons, PA¢BFN, the Dutchedition of Morsum Magnificat will no longer be publishedafter the Winter 1987 issue.

The English edition will, however, continue publicat—ion. Please note that all correspondence and subscript—ions from outside Britain previously sent to HollandshOuld now be sent to me in London.

Under the new arrangements Dick, PABALM, will nolonger be able to work on the production side of the mag—azine although he has promised to help during the change—over period. I would therefore appreciate offers ofassistance from readers in order to keep MM going. Specif-ically, can anyone provide occasional help with photo—graphic work (mainly B & w enlargements or reductions fromoriginal photos)? Can anyone help with cartoons/illustrat—ions etc? And can anyone translate Dutch into English?

I am also having to look for a printer in the UK as itwill no longer be practicable to print MM in Holland. Cananyone recommend a printer who charges reasonable prices?First enquiries in London have resulted in cost quotationswhich could rapidly drive MM into bankruptcy!

I would really like to find someone to share the workof producing MM with me, preferably undertaking the prod—uction side of things, but I‘m open to suggestions. Ifanyone is interested, please contact me.

MM owes much of its popular character and appeal tothe work of Rinus and Dick which will be greatly missed infuture issues. It is my hope, however, that MM will cont—inue to go from strength to strength with the support ofits faithful readers, exactly as it has done since welaunched it with such optimism in the Autumn of 1986.

Tony Smith, G4FAI.

“3649995“S‘L

KR ’56 < 2”,: 41

Wk“ [\A,—(r"?:}e)3L!_

J‘\ ‘ DRay Hunting, G3UC.

In June 1940 I was in France, serving with the BritishMilitary Mission to the French High Command. After theDunkirk evacuation, the Germans drove on towards Paris,and the French GHQ moved some miles south, to the town ofBriare. At a village school nearby I had a No.9 set witha wire antenna between two trees, and began sending CW

traffic to Whitehall via a station at Bulford Camp. TheHead of the Mission was MajorbGeneral Sir Richard Howard-Vyse, who laboured on long despatches with a code-book,and presented bundles of Army message forms with about900 groups for transmission.

German Intelligence soon had a fix on us and noted ouralternative frequencies. Using a powerful transmitterwith a warbling signal they began to obliterate our trans—missions. By moving from one pre—arranged frequency toanother we had a short respite to send a few groups beforethe jamming resumed. It took hours to pass a single des—patch and we became seriously in arrears with the traffic.I explained the problem to the General who replied calmly,"You are Signals - you‘ll find a way to get through".

At the end of one exhausting session the Bulfordoperator closed with "73 OM ES GL". I sent HR GSOC”, andhe came back with "HR XU2--". He was a Royal Signals hamwho had been operating in China, probably from Shanghai.After that we abandoned the normal Army procedure and work—ed as hams. Using our official call—signs only at thebeginning and closing of each session, we stepped up thespeed and worked to BK, QRX, QSY etc. On hearing theGermans tuning to our frequency we simply side—stepped up

S3

or down a few nc's and after a quick BK, went to work,ounding out the groups. We cleared all traffic in recordtime and never lost a group. When France collapsed weclosed the stations, feeling rather chuffed that we had

A

After a lively escape from France I returned home toface a Court of Inquiry. I think the Charge was "Whilston Active Service, employing an unauthorised signalprocedure in a Theatre of Operations”. After an examin—ation of the circumstances the matter was dropped.

'1".L. J.,3ave often wondered who was on the key at Bulford

lamp a how he fared one the operation had ended. itthis d tance in time I seem to recall that his call—signwas ex—KUZUU. I heard it only once. If anyone couldhelp me to identify this brother in adversity I would hegrateful.v Our misuse of official equipment took place inJune 1940.

Im

H (I)

D

{from MERCURI, journal of the Royal Signals ARS, July '84)tomcat—g1:

Ray Hunting tells us that he had some follow-up tothis article. One amateur wrote to him suggesting thatthe name of the operator was Frank LaWSon.

Another, ”Jim Brooks, now GIEALT, of Belfast, wroteto me informing me that he had witnessed this incident.He was then a Royal Signals Electrician—Signalman at theWar Office Wireless Station near Tidworth. The dutyoperator was a former Marconi telegraphist, and when theGermans began to jam the frequency he threw his headphoneson the desk in despair. It is thought that the Sergeantin charge of the station, "Blanco" White (who was both aregular Army operator and a Ham) took over, and began toreceive my long despatches.

This incident disturbed Jim brooks. He told me thatmany times during the passing years he wondered whathappened to the “poor chap" who was somewhere in Francestruggling to get his messages through to Whitehall".

Has any reader a pre-war International Callbook whichcould be checked to see if either of these names, or thecall, is to be found there? If XU2UU is not listed then

one of the other call—signs may be linked to one ofthese names.

If you can help, please write to Rev. R. Hunting G300,25 Station Road, Thurlby, Lines, PE1O OJA.

\. c/ //rfi©x\ fl 2/3

apart-gap 22,

SAVED BY BLINKER E iiby Loren A. Disper. E I

t____________‘I HAD A interesting and vital blinker experiencewhile aboard the 5.5. Admiral Y.S. Williams/KJZT.It occurred while we bound for Singapore short-ly before America's entry into ww II.The whistle on the speaking tube sounded in themiddle of the night, and when I answered it, theCaotain told me to get up on the bridge. whenI arrived on the bridge I saw the vague outlineof a ship off the staaboard side (Probably aBritish naVal vessel) that was signalling tous with her blinker light.I was no ace at reading lights, but I managedto receive a message that said:

"You are north of the swept channel".In other words, we were headed directly intoa mine field.I then asked if Raffles light was lit.It was.The captain ordered a course change, and wemade our may safely into Singapore.

Sparks Journal J? :1:.5S

OUR CONVUY

Once when my consciousness maturedI chose the world for a toybut aftera thou5and departurespart of a beleaguered convoy.Through hostile seas I am sailing.on a course that evokes ill~fateand many a fiend succumbingfor death is never too late.When another comrade is goingmy poor arms fall short of aidand we sail on as if not knowingfor to stop means to terminate. ‘

Good bye my old companionhow useless the flag I shall diptoo shocked and my heart in rebellionI proceed with my faltering ship.For since my experience maturedI learned the world is no toyand after a thousand departuresbelong to a dwindling convoy.

Jan Noordegraaf.Tekemng van J, H Kerkhof

" p‘f. a

T" V '(W ::E%m,QM um"Filling;/

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