Numfier 57 — flpriI1998

Kgplica ofMorse 's Correspondent ’ 0T5um sunigilfihlfi‘liél‘lcgs: . Morsum Magnificat, 9 Wetherby Close, Broadstone. Dorset BHlS 813, England. leat Phone/FAX: Broadstone (01202) 658474; lSSN 09516426 International +44 1202 658474

MORS UM MAGNIFICAT was first published as a quarterly magazine in Holland, in I983, by the late Rinus Hellemons PAOBFN. Now published six times a year in Britain, it aims to provide international coverage of all aspects of Morse telegraphy. past present andfuture. MORSUM MAGNIFIC AT is for all Morse enthusiasts, amateur or professional, active or retired. It brings together material which would otherwise be lost to posterity, providing an invaluable source of interest, reference and record relating to the traditions and practice ofMorse, EDITOR Geoff Arnold GSGSR CONSULTANT EDITOR Tony Smith G4FA1 (l3 Morley Road, Sheringham, Norfolk NR26 81E. England. Phone: 01263 821936. e-mail address: tonyflmorsumdemoncouk) MM home page — http://wwwmorsumdemon.co.uk © G C Arnold Partners 1998 Printed by Hertfordshire Display plc, Ware. Hens SUBSCRIPTIONS (four issues remaining): UK £8.66 Europe £9.33 Rest ofthe World £11.33 All overseas copies are despatched by Airmail @ W— Overseas cheques, etc., must be payable in Sterling and drawn on a London Clearing Bank. Payment by Mastercard. Eurocard or Visa is also accepted; quote your card number and expiry date, checking that you have written them clearly and correctly. We no longer accept payment via PostGiro or PostCash International, or by International Money Orders handled through the Girobank system. For security reasons, we cannot accept orders for subscriptions, magazines, books, etc., via e-mail. Make all chequespayable to ‘G C Arnold Partners’.

“When does my subscription expire ...?” The answer is to be found on the envelope that contained your latest MM. where the number on the top line of the address label tells you the last issue you‘ve paid for, Also, we shall jog your memory with a renewal reminder included with that final issue. MM Back Issues Limited stocks of Issues Nos. 31, 32, 34—36 and 38—56 only are now available from the Editorial offices (see top of page). Price including postage £2.20 each to UK; £2.40 to Europe: £2.75 elsewhere by airmail. Deduct 20% ifordering3 or more.

ON OUR FRONT COVER Full size replica ofSamuel F.B. Morse 's ‘correspondem' (sender) used in thefirst demonstrations of his original numbered code in l 837 (see MM I9, p. 10). Copy ofa replica held in the Science Museum London and madefor Fons Vanden Berghen by the Provincial Technical School of the Province of Brabant, Belgium. Photo/Collection: Fons Vanden Berghen Comment Contents

N THE FIRST PART of his ‘SOOkc/s Story’ (p6 in 2 News this issue), Jeffrey Herman remarks on how glad 5 Readers’ ABS he was to have been part of the maritime 1 communicationssystem in the heyday of Morse. 6 500kc/s Story — Part Looking back on my time at sea, from 1950 to 1960, I feel 12 The Zulu Boys similar sentiments Seagoing R/Os I have talked to very 16 MM Bookshelf since I finally left the marine industry in 1973 all tell me that I was there at the best time. 18 A working Model of the It was a decade of technologicalchange. At the Mecograph Key Morse was our only mode, R/T being reserved beginning. 22 for coasters and trawlers on MF (then commonly referred Showcase to in the marine industry as ‘IF’), or for the transatlantic 24 Morse Learning Methods greyhounds on HF. Then in April 1953, the UK A follow-up authoritiesopened the ‘trawler’ band to deep-sea ships up in for link—calls. I was homewardbound on the RFA Wave 34 Radio Operating Papua Conqueror at the time, and quickly modified the handset New Guinea — Part 2 and control of our Marconi CNYl naval arrangements 39 MM’s future — the latest telephoneset for duplex operation with our Marconi ‘Mercury’ receiver. It was a great success, and very 39 Radio Bygones popular with all who made use of the facility. 40 Info Please! In the summer of 1956 I was appointedto the P&O 42 Electronic Keyer Paddles cargo liner Salsette for her maiden voyage to the Far East. Arrangements had been made with Cable & Wireless for 44 MM Binders V’ transmitterand HP R/T tests between our ‘Oceanspan 45 Your Letters the C&W coast station VPS in Hong Kong, with daily schedules beginningwhen we were in the Indian Ocean. 48 Telegraphy on Stamps Contact was first made from the Straits of Malacca, and in the South China Sea we were able to establish a full duplex link with VPS, which was extendedover point—to- point HF via Nairobi to Rugby. The Captain and I spoke to our respectivebosses in P&O‘s London office, and the whole thing was pronounced a great success. Nowadays. this all sounds rather insignificant, but rememberthat all telephonecalls beyond a ‘local’ area then had to be dialled for you by the operator, and any Mums overseas call had to be booked in advance. The first communicationssatellite and subscribertrunk dialling were not to become fact until almost the end of the decade. Perhaps, therefore, we could be forgiven for not 17 Cal-Av Labs Inc. realising that developmentswhich then seemed to be 21 FISTS CW Club the and duties of the seagoing radio widening scope 21 Club officer, were in fact part of an evolutionthat would G-QRP eventuallylead to his virtual disappearance. 21 MEGS 23 G4ZPY Paddle Keys International 33 The QRP Component Co. 44 Phil

M91157 — flprlf 1998 M1115

RSGB Morse Test Service used, all are welcome to call in and AnniversaryWeekend the ‘ enjoy friendship. County Morse test teams will again be on the air during the 12th anniversary Callsigns to be used by Morse Test : weekend, 9—10 May 1998. For ease of 12th Anniversary Special Event identification, all stations will use the Stations, 9—10 May 1998 special event GBO prefix followed by GBOCW I Chief Morse Examiner the county code suffix, e.g., the Isle of GBOMTS Deputy Chief Morse Wight will use GBOIOW and London Examiner GBOLDN. The Chief Morse Examiner GBOARM Co. Armagh

will use GBOCW and the Deputy Chief 3 GBOATM Co. Antrim Examiner GBOMTS. GBOBFD Bedfordshire There will be a minimum of 27 GBOBUX Buckinghamshire stations active and a Morse Test 12th GBOCNL Cornwall (Poldhu) Anniversary certificate will be available GBODHM Co. Durham to any amateur who makes contact with GBODVN Devon at least 10 of the GB stations. GBOESX Essex The cost of the certificate is £2.50 GBOGDD Gwynedd (cheque or postal order payable to GBOGRN Grampian ‘RSGB’), $5 or 6 IRCs. Applications GBOHLD Highland with log extracts only should be sent to GBOIOW Isle of Wight the Chief Morse Examiner, Roy Clayton GBOLCN Lincolnshire G4SSH, 9 Green Island, Irton, Scarbor— GBOLEC Leicestershire ough, North Yorkshire Y012 4RN. QSL GBOLDN London cards are not required to claim the award, GBOLNH Lancashire which is also available to listeners. GBOMSY Merseyside Activity will be concentrated in the GBONHM Northamptonshire 80 and 40 metre bands and, in order to ; GBONOR Norfolk encourage newcomers to apply for the GBOSCD Strathclyde

award, each team will spend some time 3 GBOSPE Shropshire calling slowly in the Novice CW section GBOSXE Sussex East of the 80 metre band above 3560kHz. GBOTWR Tyne & Wear The event is not a contest and exam— GBOYSE Yorkshire East iners will be happy to reply at any pre- GBOYSN Yorkshire North ferred calling speed. There are no (Information from Roy Clayton restrictions on the type of Morse key G4SSH, RSGB ChiefMorse Examiner)

2 MM57 — fllpri[1998 New Railroad Book age minima, frequency allocations and Michael Gee, a former CPR telegrapher, permitted powers. tells us he has just published his third A new category, ‘Initial’ (prefix AZ), volume of steam rail readings (letters, without a Morse test, allows operation poetry, songs) from railroaders around on frequencies above SOMHz, with a the world including Australia. minimum age for licensees of 12 years. ‘ In the library bound book are half a This can only be held for two years. The dozen poems by telegraph operators de— ‘Novice’ licence requires a 5 wpm Morse scribing their work environment during . test. The minimum age for Novices is the steam era. The book may be ob- also 12 years. tained by sending US$39.95, plus $5.00 The ‘Intermediate’ licence has a shipping and handling, to OLK Publica— 7 wpm Morse test. The minimum age is tions, 1 1 1—10160 Ryan Road, Richmond 16 years, and the licensee must have BC, Canada V7A 4P9. previously held a Novice licence for 2 years. Museums of Interest For the ‘General’ licence, the licen- The two wireless museums on the Isle see must have previously held an Inter— of Wight will be open daily from Easter mediate licence for two years and be onwards. They are located at Arreton over 18 years of age. No additional Manor, near Newport, and at Puckpool Morse test is required (previous regula- Park, between Ryde and Seaview. tions required a 10 wpm test). The annual Wight WirelessRally will For the ‘Superior’ licence, the licen-

‘ be held at Arreton Manor on September see must have previously held a General 6 from 11 am. to 5 pm. For further licence for three years. Again, no addi- information, telephone the curator, tional Morse test is required (previous Douglas Byrne G3KPO, on 01983 regulations required a 15 wpm test). 567665. The ‘Special’ licence is a recogni- tion of merit, awarded to those who have New CW Requirementsfor been licensed radio amateurs for 50 Argentine Amateurs years. New regulations for Amateur Radio (Our thanks to Alberta U. Silva, Licences in Argentina came into effect = LUIDZ, Grupo Argentine de CW, for on 20 January 1998. The previous 10 providing the information from which and 15 wpm Morse tests have been abol- the above report was compiled.) ished. There is now a Novice 5 wpm (previously UP to 5 wpm), and a stand— Morse 2000 Update ard 7 wpm test. The latter, once passed, Writing under the heading ‘Acute Care qualifies for all subsequent progressive and Code’ in the fall/winter 1997/98 licence upgrades without a further issue of MORSEls, newsletter of the Morse test. Morse 2000 Outreach of the University The various grades are distinguished of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; the Trace by qualifying periods in lower grades, Research & Development Center at

MM57 — flprif 1998 3 UW—Madison; and The Johns Hopkins received (R), your turn to send (K), University Center for Technology in Ed- hello (CQ), help (SOS) and laughter (HI). ucation, Arnold Reinhold, K2PNK, sug- Reinhold suggests that such a card gests that those who know Morse code could be distributed via Morse 2000, should carry a Morse Knowledge ID card ARRL, and other Morse-interested or- (see below) for emergency situations. ganisations. MM will welcome corre— He suggests also that a page on Morse spondence 0n the suggestions made by code use be incorporated in standard KZPNK. Any comments received will emergency room manuals; that a ‘Morse be relayed to the Morse 2000 Outreach code in the E.R.’ familiarisation video as appropriate. training tape be developed so that ER This issue of MORSEls also contains personnel know how to recognise that a an updated list of Morse-related equip— patient might know the code, where to ment suitable for use with various disa— find a Morse translator, and how to use bilities, a brief report on the Morse 2000 code to communicate with the patient conference held in Minneapolis last Oc- using a Morse chart. tober, and several other articles relating He recommends incorporation of to the use of Morse for computer access Morse information in living wills of peo- and augmentative/alternative communi— ple who know the code. As an example, cation techniques for people with spe— his own living will contains the follow- cial needs. ing: ‘1 am familiar with Morse code, and The Morse 2000 web site has been my attorney should use a person knowl- completely revised and improved, and edgeable in the Morse code as evidenced can be accessed via http://www.uwec.edu/ by a current amateur or commercial FCC Academic/Outreach/Morse2000/ license that includes a code element to morse2000.html try to communicate with me.’ Those interested in the area of Morse His suggested Morse Knowledge use covered by this Outreach can sub- emergency ID card contains the follow— scribe to the Morse2000 listserver (no ing: charge) by sending an e-mail to [email protected] (leave the ‘I KNOW MORSE CODE subject field blank; type in the body of If] am unable to communicate by the message “subscribe morseZOOO”; turn other means, I may be able to use off any signature field in the e-mail.) Morse code. Observe me for any Additionally, MORSEls is available movement that appears to be a free to those working in this field, or combination of longs and shorts with a special interest in it, by writing or other alternating movements. to: Morse 2000 Outreach, Nursing/ You may also tap code on my body. ’ Human Sciences & Services Outreach Office, University of Wisconsin-Eau The Morse code for the alphabet is Claire, Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004, set out under this text, together with the USA. symbols for . , ? = / error, wait, message

4 MM57 — fllpril199s Eureka Morse Key bearings, silver alloy contacts,and a knob Cal-Av Labs, Inc. have introduced a new style derived from the US Navy type hand key with what the company de- 26003A key. A brass bottom plate elim- scribes as two notable features. First, it inates the need for a dust cover, and has is built into its own case in an inverted a neoprene anti-skid surface. design, ‘which yields an elegant appear- Production of the ‘Eureka’ will be ance, protects the mechanism, and al- limited and each key will be serialised. lows the armature and knob to be very Price US$320.00. Orders are being ac— close to the sending desk.’ cepted as from 16 March 1998, with an Second, says the company, ‘once a estimated first shipment in July 1998. force sufficient to start the knob down- Orders will be accepted by money or- ward is applied, the key’s magnetic- der, cashier’s check, or any major credit release armature provides a dramatic card, including the Japanese JCB. decrease in the required force, acceler- A deposit of US$30.00, charged at ating the armature. This results in a ‘ the time of the order, will reserve a seri—

‘ pleasant positive contact closure, simi— a1 number in the order in which orders lar to a snap-action switch.’ are received. Delivery is FOB Tucson, The case is machined from a single ‘ Arizona, with an estimated shipping piece of brass. The finish is polished : weight of 7 pounds. brass and polished aluminium where the For further information, contact Ken armature protrudes from the case. K6HPX at Cal—Av Labs, Inc., 1802 West 1 Chrome or gold plating can be added at Grant Road/Suite 116, Tucson, AZ additional cost. 85745, USA. Phone (520) 624-1300; Claimed to be extremely stable, the FAX (520) 624-1311; or e—mail calav.com key is 4 inches in diameter and weighs (Informationfrom Cal-Av Labs, Inc. 4.6 pounds. It has stainless steel ball See their advert on page I 7.)

codes, including a one-page list of the Readers 321125 original Q-codes of 1912. Available from Dick Kraayveld PA3ALM, Merellaan FOR SALE 209, 3145 EH Maassluis, Holland. Price 18 PAGE ILLUSTRATED LIST all 1 £5 UK, or US$10.00 outside UK, in- kinds of telegraph related items surplus cluding postage in both cases. Payment to my needs. $3.00 plus equivalent of 4 accepted in cash only. US stamps ($5.00 refund on $25 pur— PHOTOCOPIES OF BACK ISSUES OF chase). Dr. Joseph Jacobs, 5 Yorktown MM. All out-of—print issues available. Place, Fort Salonga, NY 11768. Phone: Price per copy, by airmail (US dollars, 516—261-1576. Fax: 516-754-4616. E— cash only): Europe $7.00; Africa/Amer- mail: [email protected] ica $8.00; Oceania $10.00. Jeronimo THE MM Q & Z CODEBOOK, a com- Orellana R, EA3DOS, Av Roma 10, Z— prehensive list of the Q—codes and 3 08015 Barcelona, Spain.

MM57 — apnf 1998 HE FOLLOWING is for the his- torical record. We are witnessing 500kc/s Story a never-to—retum era of communi- Part 1 cations style and format that was so per- by Jeffrey Herman KH2PZ/KH6 fect that nothing will ever be its equal. I am very glad that I was able to be a part of it, if only for three years.

US Coast Guard Radio Station Honolulu (NMO) In July of 1977, as a 3rd Class Radio— man Petty Officer for the US Coast Guard, I received orders to report from Coast Guard Group Monterey, CA, to 500kc/s CW, HF CW, HF and VHF Coast Guard Radio Station Honolulu voice, air—to-ground,RTTY, Fleet Broad— in Wahiawa, Hawaii. I had graduated cast, landline TTY, and the Chiefs desk.

1 from Radioman School a year earlier From where the Chief RM sat he could concluding 5 months oftrainingin code, watch all ofthe ops to make sure no one propagation, radio fundamentals, ITU fell asleep; woe to the operator (op) who procedures, and other such things. 22 was caught sleeping while on watch! words per minute was the minimum code speed needed to graduate; mine was 25. Voice Op Radio Honolulu, NMO, is situated The Coast Guard is the only military on a huge plot of land owned by the service that communicates directly with Navy, centred in the pineapple fields of the public. Thus we had to know when Oahu. In addition to NMO, the Navy to turn off the military radio jargon, and the Marine Corps had their Central in particular on 2182kc/s (MF inter- Pacific CommunicationsCommand there national voice calling and distress fre- also. By the way, NMO has the longest quency) and Ch. 16/156.80Mc/s (VHF over—watermicrowave link in the world: international voice calling and distress Oahu to the island of Kauai (for VHF frequency). marine band ops). The voice op was kept busy moni— NMO was set up with the following toring over a dozen voice channels: glass-enclosed operating positions: 2182kc/s, the 4, 6, 8, 12, and l6Mc/s high-seas SSB ship to shore frequen- © 1994 by Jeffrey Herman. cies, four VHF repeaters for Ch. 16 All rights reserved (NMO had a repeater on Kauai (the 6 MM57 -an'f 1998 above microwave link), Oahu, Maui, and NMO DE KNFB OBS 8360 K the Big Island), four repeaters for VHF 1 KNFB DE NMO R UP Ch. 23, and whatever else the Chief felt UP needed to be listened to. EE Several times each radio day the EE voice op had to make broadcasts (WX, meaning the ship has a weather observa— Notice To Mariners, etc.) on all these tion (every 6 hours starting at 002 every frequencies (the timing was critical so ship world-wide takes an OBS and the clock had to be checked frequently). sends, at no charge, to the closest shore station), and he wants me to listen for Scanningthe HF CW Calling Bands him on 8360kc/s; he’ll continue to listen The HF CW position required two to me on NMO’s fixed transmitter fre- ops with two racks each consisting of 1 quency. Notice the signal UP meaning four Collins 6518 digital readout receiv- ‘I’m shifting up to that frequency’. An ers scanning the CW calling bands on 4, exchange ALWAYS ends with ‘dit dit’ 6, 8, 12, 16, and 22Mc/s. Daytime hours (and hams thought they’d invented that!). one op would take 8 and 12 — the other operator would take 16 and 22; night Race to Collect OBS time one had 4 and 6 — the other would The above was rare, for during the have 8 and 12. So, an operator might obs hour notjust one ship would call but have 8Mc/s scanning in his left ear and dozens and dozens would be calling (in 12Mc/s scanning in his right (the receiv- both ears with the receivers scanning!) ers automatically scanned a preset band so the NMO operator would have to line of frequencies, for example the 8Mc/s them up numerically: calling band for ships calling shore sta- KNFB DE NMO UH NR 1 tions runs from 8360.4 to 8374kc/s). R 8360 TU A ship calling us might have to send WSLH UH 2 our callsign 20—30 times (no 3X3 for— Fl 12561 TKS

‘ mat here!) while our receiver scanned — 7XYM UH NH 3 then the NMO op would hear, from the DE 7XYM 8370 Fl UP highest to lowest to highest notes possi- ble (within 1—2 seconds) our callsign JGFD UP 25 being sent; he would quickly shut off OK UP 8375 TU the scanner, tune in the ship and turn off then the op would copy the WX obs our CQ tape (when no traffic was being from each ship one by one. After work— passed we’d keep the transmitters busy ing that group of 25 ships he’d turn on sending: co co co DE NMO NMO NMO 3 the CQ tape again and scanners, and CPU OHU IMI OBS AMVEFl 088 4 6 8 12 dozens more ships would pounce on him. 16 22 MHZ AFl — sort of an advertisement Since WX is time-sensitive it was a race for traffic), and the exchange might go to ‘collect’ as many OBS as humanly some thing like this: possible; a lazy op might only get 100 DE NMO during the 30—45 minute period.

MM57 — aprif1998 MF CW at NMO were to aid the 500kc/s op in manually Adjacent to the HF CW position was sendingthe distress auto alarm: key down a smaller room, enclosed on three sides 4 seconds, key up 1 second, key down 4 in 1 brick, painted off-white. The fourth seconds, key up second, etc., for one side was glass, including a sliding glass minute. (More on the auto alarm later). door, with a small sign glued on which simply said ‘MF CW’. This little booth Recordings of modest appearance was well out of One’s attention would next be drawn proportion with respect to the role MF to two Collins 6518 receivers mounted CW has played in the history of mari— in the op’s console. The top receiver time communications. was locked on 500.000kc/s and the bot- Also, though I’m sure not by acci— tom was usually a few hundred c/s on dent, the Chief’s desk was positioned so either side of 500, say 499.500kc/s. he had a direct view of the MF CW This, of course, prevented missing booth. The Chief’s position had a com- signals with which our receivers were plement of Collins receivers, and one zero—beat. The audio from these two re- was ALWAYS set on 500kc/s. More ceivers was fed into a l2—track reel-to— often than not I’d get a glimpse of the reel tape recorder, as were all receivers duty Chief listening, with a gleam in his and transmitters at the station; one track eye, to the evening traffic on 500. The was reserved for WWVH time signals. remaining parts of these articles are de— A second l2-track tape recorder act- voted entirely to 500kc/s. ed as a back-up to the first. Reels were changed at the beginning of each new Largest 24-Hour Clock radio day (00002). Upon entering the MF position one i was struck with the sight of the largest Dialled Frequency/Modes 24-hour clock known to mankind. It had On a panel next to the two Collins the most unusual red markings on its receivers was a telephone—typerotary dial face. Two red wedges, starting from the with 4 red lights above it. If digit 1 was centre and flaring outward covered, re— dialled, the first red light would be lit, spectively, minutes :15 to :18, and min- indicating our MF transmitter was on utes :45 to :48; these, of course, were a 500kc/s in the Al mode; if digit 2 was blatant reminder to the op of the two dialled, the second red light would be world-wide silent periods (more on these lit, indicating the transmitter was on later). 500kc/s in the A2, or MCW (modulated In addition, each of the twelve five- CW), mode (more on A2 later); dialling second intervals around the perimeter digit 3 shifted the transmitter to 440kc/s had the first four seconds blocks marked in A1, where 440kc/s was NMO’s work— in red with the last second left white: 4 ing frequency; dialling digit 4 shifted seconds red, 1 second white, 4 seconds the transmitter to 512kc/s, A1 (more on red, 1 second white, etc., around the en— 512 later). tire circumference. Now, these markings I’m not sure if this was against FCC

8 MM57 — 54pm! 1998 or ITU regulations,but our 500kc/s trans— away from the commercial stations. mitter was ALWAYS set to the A2/ Sitting on the op’s desk was a Vibro— MCW mode when I was at the key. I plex chrome—plated bug, and a cheap hope there is a statute of limitations con- straight key screwed onto a thin sheet cerning this possible violation! I loved of Plexiglas. I, of course, only used the the musical notes A2 produced. I straight key.

Note that our transmitter site was at , least 5 miles away, on the 4000ft peak Watches of the Koolau Mountains. Thus we Shifts at NMO ran like this: 12 hours I enjoyed full duplex transmission. on; 12 hours off; 12 hours on; 72 hours off. The day watch started at 0700 and Log Every SignalHeard ended at 1900 (local); night watch ran At a right angle to the op’s desk was from 1900 to 0700 the next morning a typewriter containing the MF CW ra- (yawn ...) dio log. During radioman school we were During my off hours I rebuilt an old instructed to attempt to log every signal wooden sailboat that doubled as my we heard on 500 (an impossible feat), home; that enabled me to collect money but at worst, make an entry every 5 min— from the CG for off-base housing utes (ITU regsl). If no signals were heard What a life, huh? within a 5—minute period (which would never happen at night) then one would I Loved 500! enter: No one on my shift had any par- ticular love for the 500 position (‘what NO SIGS 500 23082 fools!’ I thought), so, even though we NO SIGS 500 23132 . were supposed to rotate positions every BEGIN SILENT PERIOD 500 23152 3 hours, I volunteered to remain at the END SILENT PERIOD 500 23182 500 position for the full 12 hours shift KPH KPH KPH DE WNKL WNKL (especially during the night watches); I AMVER 425 K / WNKL DE loved it! KPH R UP / UP / EE / EE 500 23202 It was at this modest console that I NO SIGS 500 23252 would spend the next three years of my life. The things that I copied would, at Thus, whatever we heard would be times, amaze me, cause me to laugh so typed directly into the log. At a right hard I would fall out of my chair, or angle to the log typewriter was a second cause me to break down weeping. typewriter which was used to copy traf- To this day I cannot forget the ship’s I distress with — how he fic from ships to NMO: OBS, AMVERS, ‘ op worked a Dead Head Medicos (medical reports stayed at his key while his ship broke up handled free—of—charge), and other non- in heavy seas — and how his transmitter commercial traffic. By US law, Coast emitted a scream at the moment the ocean Guard stations cannot handle commer— flooded his radio room, shorting the cial traffic, for that would take revenue batteries and radios

MM57 — april 1998 Why 500kc/s — 600 metres? time everyone knew where everyone I have researched the literature in else was at! No need to search various order to find an answer to this question, frequencies looking for a particular but have found nothing. I tend to think ship or shore-station. The result was a that this particular wavelength, 600 me— world—wide partyline;if you sent so much tres, became the standard by accident as a single dit everyone would hear it. rather than some body of policy-makers deciding that it was to become the world- All Hell Broke Loose! wide calling and distress frequency. Ships operated on either a one—op or ‘ Maybe the nature of early equipment two-op schedule so our broadcasts coin— might be the reason this wavelength cided with these skeds. But shore sta- became the standard; the length of the tions had to remain on the air 24 hours a antenna on some early transmitters dic- day. Late nights could become a bit of a tated the centre frequency of their very bore for some shore ops, heavy eyelids broadband signal — given that the anten- and such. So out of boredom (or maybe na would run the length of the ship, this by ‘accident’) a single dit would ring might have a bearing on how 600 metres across the Pacific, only to be answered became the international CW wave— by another dit possibly several thousands length. of miles away. Then all hell would break loose: World-wide Partyline every shore station and any ship with an Regardless of whether it was by ac— on—duty op would be sending dits! For cident or choice, what was handed down several seconds 500 sounded as if 100 to us was a wavelength with excellent or more carriers were ditting away. As evening propagation. Starting at about quickly as it started it would fade away. 2100 local, 500 would come alive. Any A variationof this was someone send— ship or shore station within 3000—4000 ing a single GE (good evening). Of miles could be heard by an excellent course it would be impolite not to re- combination of ground wave and sky spond in kind so someone else would wave — nothing was missed within this answer with GE. Within a half second at radius! Shore stations more than 5000 least one hundred GEs would flood the miles were easily copied (Australia and frequency! My log entry would look like New Zealand boomed in nightly). this: Daytime propagation consisted of ‘ only ground wave: 300—500 miles was GE / GE / GE / GE/GE / (OPNOTE: AT the maximum range possible. Thus most LEAST 100 GE’S SENT) 500 11232 daytime traffic was passed on the HF channels. Thoughts As One! The idea of combining a distress fre— Some Coasties were unhappy with quency and a calling frequency was an their duty assignment (Alaska, or some excellent one — it insured no distress LORAN station in the middle of the calls would be missed, and at the same Pacific, or on board a patrol ship) and

10 MM57 — apnf 1998 made their sentiments known to the which KNLS told him he had a travel world. One op would send an F, a sec- report (TR). KOK’s answer was ‘Roger, ond disgruntled Coast Guardsman would I’ll transmit on 485kc/s’, to which the follow with a T, only to be followed by ship answered ‘Okay, you transmit on a third CG op sending G — three Coast- 485 and I’ll transmit on 480 — let’s go ies separated by 1005 or 10005 of miles up’ (up in wavelength that is, not in of water expressing their thoughts as one. frequency — traditions are hard to break!). The acronym FTG stood for a very com- By the way, KOK was a shore station mon expression in the Guard: F— The located on a beach here on Oahu. Guard. In the log it goes: Or, TTT TTT TTI' CO DE ZLD ZLD CYCLONE FTG 500 13052 WARNING NH 15 OSW 428 AR (These types of broadcasts, prefaced Needless to say, the CO (command- with TTT or XXX, are discussed later.) ing officer) (‘The Old Man’) of NMO, Or, upon reviewing the log the following CO CO CO DE WNOP WNOP ANY ONE day, would attach a nasty note express— HV21002 SOUTH PACIFIC WX? K ing his displeasure at seeing such entry WNOP DE XSU GE WILL GIVE 2100 WX in an Official US Government Legal ON OUR 2200 BCST K

Document blah, blah, blah . The OK TKS OM SU Chiefs on the other hand would laugh SEEU and express their delight that this acro— EE nym was still travelling the airwaves. EE and on and on throughout the night — Steady Stream of Traffic very orderly. Notice again that each After 2100 local there would be a ‘ series of transmissions end with a ‘dit steady stream of CW on 500 — ships dit’ (recorded as EE), the prosign the calling shore stations or other ships: amateur radio operators thought they KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK had invented! KOK KOK (making a pest of himself!) To be continued DE (in other words: ‘who the heck is calling me?’) [1] Around the coast of Britain in the DE KNLS TH K 19505, the use ofMCW was de rigeur on KNLS DE KOK R UP 485 K 500. I recall being given afirm rap over OK 485/480 UP the knuckles by Cullercoats/GCC when EE (on RFA tanker Wave Conqueror) I used EE CW out ofconsiderationfor the eardrums Translation: The ship KNLS, ignor- of the Tels on the Naval tug Mediator, ing the usual 3X3 callsign format, was towing us to the Tynefor repairs. going to endlessly call the shore station (We had been ignominiouslyrammed up KOK until he got some attention. KOK i the stern while anchored in thick fog in interrupted him with a simple DE after 1 the River Humberl) — GeofiArnold.

MM57 — fllpril1998 11 ULY 1969 IS FIRMLY RECORDED in the history books as the time when The Zulu Boys men first walked on the moon but I remember the month for another rea— by John Hill ZL2A Y0 son, as that was when I learned of the life of ‘Cricket’ Chalmers. I was working for a weekly newspaper in the Northern Territory of Australia then and Cricket was a local identity who occa— sionally walked or rode his rusty bike around the dusty little town, and more often than not could be seen wobbling his way about with his string bag and his precious Darwin and now they were watching men walk on stubby*. He lived along with a number of the moon. other old men at ‘the barracks’ which was a At the end one old fellow, who looked cluster of ramshackle huts on the edge of the ninety if a day but still sported wisps of rail yards. shockingred hair and beard to match, thanked He was always good for a yarn about me and remarked “Cricket would have liked in I nothing particular and had been a useful to have seen this” , “Oh?” said “Did he not source for background information over come then?”. “No” said the old timer, “he’s the years, especially for what we called the been and shuffled off this earth last night”. ‘early days’. However, Cricket was also always right up to date with world events Enduring Loneliness and had the reputation for knowing the At the end of the showing I saw Bluey news before we printed it. sitting alone in the bar and on an impulse I got drinks and went over to his Shuffled Off This Earth table. We must have drank a gallon or so I didn’t get to learn much of Cricket’s each before he began to speak. He opened life until one evening when the whole town by saying “I suppose you think he got gathered in the faded ballroom of Jackson’s his name because he once opened for hotel for a special showing of newsreel films Australia", then went on to tell me of his of the moon landing. Somehow it fell to me brother’s life. to set things up and run the film though I had The two men were born at the old Bar— never seen a projector up close and had only kley Ponds telegraph station. It was not a a hazy notion of its operation. full staffed mini—town like the Alice Springs Cricket wasn’t there but a number of station, just a couple of small buildings other old men from the barracks were. Some with a staff (officially) of two single men, a of them could remember when it took eight telegraphist and a linesman, whose skills weeks for the mail to arrive from Adelaide - and duties overlapped. The function of the station was to moni— tor north and south traffic circuits and attend (*Darwin stubby — a rather large beer bottle.) to any maintenance and line breaks in an

12 M01157 — flprif 1998 area of about 25 miles north and south of the was an of ‘ party Englishman independent station. There were the usual problems of 1 means who was so taken by the plight ofthe the era, white ants ate the poles, the live— young couple that he promised to invest one stock died for no apparent reason, and there hundred pounds in the name of the child to was an enduring loneliness in a forever hot ensure his satisfactory education. dry climate. Born to the Code InspectorShocked Cricket was the first—bom and he was Donald Chalmers had come north as a truly born to the code as day and night the 16-year—old apprentice telegraphist.After five sounders tapped out the commercial traffic, years he was given a few weeks leave in the coded diplomatic despatches and the Adelaide, just long enough to meet and thousands ofsundrymessages between Aus— marry a mute girl named Margot who had tralia and the rest of the world. His father recently arrived from Scotland. He dressed her in moleskins and one of his shirts to smuggle her back up the line to the station where they into the avail— a squeezed able accommodation. One thing and another was too much for the linesman who got thoroughly drunk and walked out into the desert never to be seen again. Donald and Mar- got were shocked at the loss of their only human contact but too afraid of censure to report his disappear- ance. Donald tried to do both their duties was away for weeks at a time up and down and soon Margot was learning the code and , the line, and with a mute mother the sound- ‘ taking a turn at the key. Head Office in ers were all he heard in that desolate place. Adelaide eventually realised something was 1 He didn’t learn to speak until he was amiss and sent an inspector to arrive at the nearly six but for years he had been commu— station just three days after the first child nicating with his mother in high pitched was born. l clicks and chirps, he may have sounded like He was shocked at what he learned and l an insect to some but a skilled ear could also amazed at Margot’s skill. This was the recognise order and intelligence in the sounds closing decade of the last century and tele— . for he was ‘speaking’ in the only tongue he in world-wide demand. graphists were ‘ knew, the voice of the telegraph. Donald and Margot pleaded to be allowed to l The second boy was born two years later carry on, and with no prospect of relief staff l and he too soon learned the family language. ‘ the inspector gave his reluctant permission, It was another five years before the family signing Margot on the strength as a telegra— was finally relieved and transferred down phist. One of the members of the inspector’s the line to Alice Springs.

MM57—flpri[ 1998 13 School Closed boys finally found acceptance among their One day a telegram arrived from a firm fellow students and from then on made rapid of solicitors in Adelaide seeking instructions progress with their studies. regarding the education fund that had been The other students gave Cricket his nick— invested as promised some 15 years earlier. name, which stuck with the older boy, and The parents were astonished at the sum that this was reinforced when he went on to play had accumulated, and by adding their mea— against the touring All India Eleven. The gre savings they were able to enrol both students’ name for the red-headed brother boys in a prestigious boys’ boarding school was inevitable and it too stuck for a lifetime in Melbourne. Bluey married and returned to the Terri— The boys were like fish out of water and tory to open a small store near the telegraph became victims of merciless taunting and station where he was born, and spent his teasing, so they took refuge where no others entire life in that tiny town until his wife could follow ~ in their unique ability to com- died in 1966. municate in their strange clicking manner. Their remarkable ability did not go unnoticed and language experts were called from the university to study them. The boys played it out as long as they could. The experts took notes, made wax sound recordings and put ‘9 their best efforts into the task. The investigation became farcical when the learned dons settled on the conclu— sion that the boys were reincarnations of Kalahari Desert pygmy bush—men who speak in a supposedly similar language. Eventually, a college servant astonished the experts by showing that he . . V //\l VVHKLD W/PE DEMAND- - . could understand what the boys were saying, thus earning himself instant respect Lawrence of Arabia and attention. He rode the wave until one Cricketjoined up in 1914 and soon found evening, tiring of the game, while serving himself in what is now Iraq. He was held high tea, announced he had once been a captive by the Turks for a time and while telegram boy and was returning to that under interrogation he could hear the click rather than serve such gullible fools. The of a telegraph in the next room. Everything university had never been so embarrassed was in code of course but Cricket was able and promptly closed their School of African to memorise a few hundred characters. He Languages, then used techniques he had learned from aborigine childhood friends to feign a heart Finally Accepted attack and death, causing his captors to throw The upshot of the ‘Zulu Boys’ incident, him out into the street. as the newspapers called it, was that the Friendly Arabs took him in and put him

14 MM57 — flprif 1998 in contact with British Intelligence. When just moved into one of these and was joined he wrote down what he had heard from the by his brother a few years later. Turkish telegraph sounder the British were We spoke for a while of how things had able to decode enough to get the details of a been in the town over the years, what the troop train movement. What then followed railway had done to it, the changes that came has gone down in history, as ‘Lawrence of with motor cars, and of course we talked Arabia’ led a successful attack which about Father Flynn and his Inland Mission. destroyed the train. Bluey mentioned the new memorial for Father Flynn up the road at Three Ways Weather Maps and I wondered aloud what memorial there Injuries prevented Cricket from return— would ever be to Cricket Chalmers. ing to ‘the inland’ for some years. By this time the overland telegraph was being by— And it All Started with Morse passed by radio and coastal cable routes so “Only this” he sighed as he reached into he took a traffic clerk’s job at a railway a bag and drew out a hard covered exercise station. book, one of those with about 200 pages. He was too old for WWII but he man- “This is all he left” he said, “he did one last aged to get a civilian job at a wartime air night” and passed the book to me. base. He started in the meteorological office. I opened it to find pages of drawings of sweeping up and acting as general assistant news events. The first few pages were barely to the forecaster on duty. It was here that he recognisable but as I looked further they learned to draw a complete weather map became more detailed and almost perfect from the analysis messages that arrived copies of news photographs we had pub- as 400 or 500 five-figure groups from the lished over the last few years — the Queen’s offices at Darwin and Melbourne. coronation, atom bomb tests and scenes from The airbase had all the latest equipment, the Hungarian uprising — “Very good”, I including radio teletype, and just by watch- said, “your brother had quite a talent,” not ing the machines print and listening to the yet grasping the significance of what I was clicking of the magnet relays he very soon holding. learned to read the five—unit code. “Turn to the last one" said Bluey. I did Eventually Cricket could listen to the and there was Neil Armstrong and the flag incoming data and draw a weather map in all on the moon. I was astounded as we had its details before the forecaster could even only received that photo on the plane that begin to decode and plot the message. He day when the newsreels arrived. This was a never wrote anything down; the clicks were real shock and I could not believe what I to him a word picture just like the chatter of saw. sounders in his formative years. Then Bluey explained how Cricket had spent his evenings for many years hunched What Memorial for Cricket? over his old ‘short wave’ radio listening first He took a series of jobs after the war, to Morse, later to radio teletype, and finally with the new air services and even for a to the news services’ radio picture transmis- while at our newspaper but most of his time sions from Manila and Sydney. Eventually was spent with the railways. Bluey told me he could listen to an entire 12—minute radio that Cricket and his friends had over the facsimile transmission and draw a perfect years ‘arranged’ for various workmen’s huts rendition of what he had heard to be reported as attacked by white ants and “You know” concluded Bluey, “with a consigned to the dump at the edge of the bit of training he could have made a half-pie yard. When Cricket retired in about 1960 he decent operator.” MM

MM57 — fllprif 1998 15

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MM57 — apnf 1998 17 N THE STORY OF THE A Practical Working Model of KEY, Louise Moreau W3WRE describes how The Mecograph various manufacturers sought to Vertical Semi-automaticKey circumvent the Vibroplex of 1906 patents which protected Dennis Goacher G3LLZ Vibroplex from serious by competition in the market for semi-automatic keys. One successful attempt, in 1906, two years after the Vibroplex appeared, was the invention of a vertical key by W.O. Coffe of Cleveland Ohio, under US Patent No. 812183 dated 13 February 1906. This version was built along the gen- Manufactured by the eral lines ofthe patent drawings but with Mecograph Company in variations to make it a practical working Cleveland, this key’s vertical model. The variations, in the form of an design had a freely swinging extra terminal for the dash paddle wire pendulum, and the spring action connections, and the arrangement of the was the factor that bypassed the underside electrical connections were as Vibroplex patents. The a result of considering what the inventor Vibroplex made dots by creating might have done in similar circumstanc— tension in the spring, but the es, taking account of the then current Mecograph utilised the release engineering practices. of the spring tension, and this The key is assembled on a mahog- design was deemed not to any base, and the main components are infringe the Martin patents. fashioned from brass. The only other In this article, Dennis metals used are steel for the pivots, the Goacher describes how he built springs and the adjusting screws, and a practical working model of the phosphor bronze for the contact spring. Coffe key, with certain The feet are turned from brass and variations, the problems he have rubber inserts to prevent the key encountered, and how he from ‘walking’ across the table when in overcame them. use, and the finger plates are made of teak. The small rivets are of copper.

18 MM57 — flprif 1998 Figs. 1, 2, & 3 of WO. Coffe’s patent, No. 812183 of 13 February 1906

o 5WD-,, 6 61 | __ 71(ch 1: ’ ventoz‘ u JJed . J l" (501/3 WM

MM57 — flpnf1998 19 The size of the key was determined and allowed to strike the fixed contact, by the material available, and then by as if making dots, the oscillations will scaling the drawings to suit the size of stop after about four dots are made, al— material. This resulted in a base size though the rate of oscillation will in— of Thin x 31/2in (140 x 89mm) and a crease noticeably in this short time. height to the top of the standard of This is due to the small amount of 51/2in (140mm). energy stored in the pendulum being lim- Construction was without any diffi— ited by the small swing available when culties, the most awkward part being the the key is in use. To increase the amount bending of a brass rod to form the stand— of swing would involve increasing the ard. This was done by first drilling and sideways movement of the operating tapping one end of the rod for its mount— lever to a degree not acceptable for ing, then bending it a small amount at a comfortable sending. time around a one-inch diameter steel bar held in a vice, while heating it with Increasing the Number of Dots Made an oxy-acetylene flame. Changing the pendulum contact spring, using soft or hard materials, re— Limited Oscillation sulted in minimal change in the number Accurate drilling of the pivot and of dots made, and no improvement in electrical screw holes was achieved by the varying rate. It was not until the final carefully marking and centre-punching assembly, when soldering on the electri- the hole positions, and then clamping the standard to an angle 1 plate for the drilling operations. When assembled, if the pendulum is freely suspended from the top by means of its two pivots, and allowed to swing without restric— tion it will do so for about ten oscillations. When the pendulum is fitted with a contact

Dennis Goacher’s version of the Mecograph (Coffe) key of 1906 Photo: Dennis Goacher

20 MM57 — flprif 1998 cal connection to the top of the pendu— Further experimentation with differ— lum, that a possible solution to the prob- ent gauges of copper wire made some lem was discovered. further, though limited, improvements, The connection was made from cop- and the key was left with a coil of 26 per wire curled into a spring-like coil as BSWG (25 AWG) copper wire and pro— shown in the patent drawings. At first, ducing eight dots with only a small rate this caused the pendulum to be biased to of variation. one side of the natural hanging position I am sure that the basic operation and produced only one dot. By adjusting could be improved by substitutinga prop— the wire so that the pendulum was bi— er steel spring for the electrical connec— ased towards the fixed dot contact, a tion and using the connecting screw as more even stream of dots was produced, an adjuster, and that is an area I will much more in line with what was re— investigate in the future. quired. MM

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MM57—aprir1998 21 French Ducretet key Photo/Collection:Jean Le Gaiudec

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MM57 — fiprif 1998 23 HE RECENT 4—part series cover- ing Morse learning methods over Morse Learning the years (MMSO, 52, 53 & 54) seems to have been well-received, Methods prompting a number of readers to send A follow-up in further examples of to learn the ways by Tony Smith code which have come to their notice. Here, therefore, is a further round-up of methods from the past including, as pre— viously, some that must have been more difficult to master than the code itself!

Scout’s Method Bert van Kleef PAOGVK describes how he learned the code in the Scouts more than 40 years ago. He writes: “As Scouts we practised Morse by whistling it to one another across the streets, in the classroom (the headmaster was not Huis_be_zit_ter amused) and in the dunes near The Hague Ie_mand using lamps and flags. Ja,_o_zo_mooi “The code was hammered in by our Kloos_ter_poort Scoutmaster, so severely that it seems Lik_doorn_snij_der impossible to ever forget it, just like Mo_tor swimming and biking. The method for Noor_den remembering the code is based on key- Oor_logs_vloot words with specific syllables, the ones Per_mo_tor_fiets containing an ‘0’ represent a dash, the N

24 MM57 — 54de 1998 Fons Vanden Berghen sent us a sim— Marconi International Code, The

‘ ilar list from an official Flemish Scout Marconi Dictionary, Secret Ciphering, Handbook, Het Jongverkenners Hand— etc.,’ offers the beginner the opportunity boek, 2nd edition, dated 1957. Again ‘to acquire a good fundamental knowl— syllables containing an ‘0’ represent a edge of the Continental Code in an in— dash, and all others dots. Some of the teresting and economical manner.’ words are identical in each list, but the He explains: ‘The most frequently Flemish list has a few more that seem used letter of the English Alphabet is E, familiar to English speakers, such as a = so in Code it received the shortest possi— al—lo; c = co-ca-co—la; d = dok—wer—ker; ble element, a dot (-), while T, which is l li-mo—na—de. and = next in the order of frequency, is repre— sented by the next shorter element, a Narrative Style Mnemonic dash (-). If the student cares to try the John Alcorn, VKZJWA sent a mne- experiment of substituting, say Z monic from a Morse chart, published by (-—--) for E, and X (-- --) for T, Brown & Son, Glasgow, apparentlysome in sending a few ordinary messages, he time between 1908 and 1921, which he will be surprised to find how much found at the Low Head Pilot Station/ longer it will take to transmit them. Museum, Tasmania. ‘The four letters the i of alphabet This uses the well—known system of which follow E and T in order of fre- grouping progressively changing sym— quency are A, N, I and M, so on the bols together, e.g., E, I, S, H (one, two, foregoing principle they are constituted three and four dots respectively), A, U, of the next shortest number of elements, V (------) in sentences that dot and dash, two dots or two dashes. must have been somewhat hard to re- ‘In order to make use of the Mne— member: monic System the student must first com- E—nglishmen I-nvariably S-upport H—igh mit to memory the six shortest letters, A-uthorities U—nless V-indictive. which have only one or two elements, T—he M-anaging O—wners A (' —), E ('), 1 (' '), M (- ") N (- '), N-ever D-estroy B—ills. T (') R—ememberW-hen L-oose P—lay ‘The other twenty letters of the al— J-angling F—ractious G—alloping Z—ig zag phabet are composed of combinations K-nights X-peditely C-apture Y—our of the above six. For instance, J (- - - -) Q—ueen is formed by, the combination of the elements used to form A (- —) and M MacBeth ’s Mnemonic System (- -). Now, if A and M combined form This in system was described a small the letter J, the word “jam” readily sug- enclosed pamphlet with a Fleron prac- gests itself as the Mnemonic or memory tice - set, probably c.1940. Under the word. Similarly B (- - -) is composed title: The Continental Code ~ How of a combination of the elements used to to Learn it Quickly by a New, Simple form N (- -) and I (- -). As N and I form Method,J.C.H. MacBeth, ‘Authorof The B, the memory word is “nib”.’ Mal/[57 — aprit 1998 25 After memoris- ing the six shortest The Combination of Forms Mnemonic letters, therefore, the N — - & I - - B - - - - niB learner progresses to T - E - T- & E - C - - - - tcteC MacBeth’s Mne- N- - & E - D - -- neD monic Alphabet, as I - - & N - - F - - - - Fin shown on the right. M - - & E G - - - meG E-I--&E- H- Heie Our thanks to A--&M-- J---- Jam Lynn Burlingame, T - & A - - K — - taK N7CFO, who 6- A--&I-- L-- aiL mailed details of T - T - & T - O - - - Ottto MacBeth’s Mne— A - - & N -- P - - — Pan monic System to M - - & A - - Q - - - maQ MM. A-—&E- R-— aRe E - & I - - S - eiS How to Learn the I - - & T - U - - Uit Morse Code in I - - & A - - V - - Via Thirty Minutes and A - - & T - W - - - Wat Remember It N - - & A - - X - - naX If you thought T-&A-—&T- Y---- tatY MacBeth’s Mne— M—-&I- - Z--- - miZ monic System was complicated, try this one! It was pub- lished by Gale & Polden Ltd, price six- 2. The Mixed Opposites: memorised by pcnce (possiblyjust after WWIjudging the sentence ‘Arm Bee Vee, d’you feel by the mnemonics used), and is another Great War ’cutely?’ (Q sound in ’cute- system which promised dramatic results. ly). This equates to the letters AN, BV, In fact, the author considered thirty min- DU, FL, GW, QY with, in each case, the utes to be a conservative estimate, writ— second letter being the exact reverse of ing: ‘Pupils entirely ignorant of the code the first. have picked it up in half the time and Learners are advised to remember A passed a test after fifteen minutes’ in- as ‘dot dash’, because it is the first letter struction.’ of the alphabet ‘and Morse code is a The alphabet is divided into four “dot dash” code.’ B is remembered by sections: its letter shape, one upright and three 1. The Simple Opposites: memorised horizontal lines standing for its dash and by the sentence ‘Atc ’im so hot’, equat— three dots = 13 = B. D by the Latin ‘duo’ ing to the letters ET (one dot, one dash), — two; ‘and so D has only a dash and IM (two dots, two dashes), SO (three two dots.’ dots, three dashes), H (four dots). ‘The word FueL makes the letters F

26 MM57 — flprif 1998 and L quite easy. F = UE in Morse, and Our thanks to Wyn Davies for send- L is the opposite of F. G = ME (or the ing details of this system. word Ger—man-y),Q = MET (or ‘by call— ing to mind the long food queues, and McElroy ’s System that the sign for Q is as G, but with a Under the heading ‘Morse Methods dash added’). — Notes on Learning the Code and Oper— 3. The Sandwiches: memorised by the ating Technique’, Wireless World (April sentence ‘Kaiser pax’. The letters here 1942) didn’t think much of the various are K R P X and to recall these: ‘We and aids to memory then available for learn— our Allies are dots: the enemy are dash- ing Morse, but was clearly impressed by es.’ the system used by TR. McElroy, the ‘Kaiser began war and hemmed us American champion telegraphist: in, so K, which begins Kaiser is: dash ‘Of late the Morse code has been dot dash.’ ‘R is END of Kaiser, so we very much in the news. Some indication have him; R is therefore: dot, dash, dot.’ of the widespread interest in the subject ‘P is beginning of peace, for which is given by the fact that sales of the enemy is forced to sue, because Allies Wireless World booklet Learning Morse have surrounded him; therefore P is: dot, have now passed the quarter—million dash, dash, dot.’ mark. Even the columns of The Times ‘X is end of peace (pax), with Allies have carried a voluminous correspond— in the centre, sending dismissed armies ence on the learning of the code. home; therefore X is: dash, dot, dot, ‘Far too much stress has been laid, dash.’ both in The Times correspondence and 4. The Outsiders: memorised by the sen— elsewhere, on the relatively simple mat— tence ‘Seize Jeremiah’. These are the let— ter of learning the code; that is, of mem— ters C, Z, J, for which there are no orising the Morse symbolscorresponding opposites. ‘We learn them by the sound to each letter and figure. of CZ, memorised as ‘Seize’, and the J ‘Admittedly, the use of some of the by ‘Jeremiah’. C is dash, dot repeated. Z ingenious aids to memory that have been is harsh C sound, so is double—dash, dou- suggested may save a few hours in a ble dot, which is a sort of emphasised C. process that in any case should not take ‘J is memorised as Je-re—mi-ah — one more than a day or two. But the point short sound (dot), and three long sounds is that such aids involve an indirect line (dashes). C can also be memorised by of thought that is far too slow even for word CaNNe. Z by M1. J by AM (or the slowest reception or transmission of JAM).’ signals. In his introduction to this booklet, ‘It would hardly be an exaggeration the author wrote that he would ‘be glad to say that the memorising of Morse to receive any recommendations for im— symbols as such is a waste oftime, if not provement from practical signallers.’ worse. What the would-be wireless op- One wonders if he ever did receive any erator must memorise are, for reception, recommendations — and what they said! rhythmic sounds and, for transmission, MM57 — flprif 1998 27 rhythmic wrist movements. Until these a minute or so, I made a half dozen are firmly impressed on his subconscious series of two dots, the two dots being should be, but mind he is a long way from becoming right together as they much between each of competent. space group two dots. Then, after an interval, three ‘What seems to be a more direct dots the same Then four dots. and that is less wasteful of way. method, one And then five dots. Then two dots effort in the of early stages instruction, again as originally. Amer— is described by TR. McElroy, the On the first night I ran that slip ican champion telegraphist, in the May through my Mac Auto at 20 words per QST. minute. A dot ran through, and I an- ‘Writing under the title “Good Morse nounced loudly ‘That is a dot. One is Easier”, he claims to have succeeded dot, or dit, is the letter E. Now here it in getting a class of average beginners, is again; write it down with your pen— none of whom knew a dot from a dash, cil. Forget that it is dot — it is E’. The slip meanwhile, running at to copy simple words at 20 words per 20 words minute, had come to the minute dun'ng their first evening’s in— per second dot. Each of the 16 persons in struction. This is how he did it, in his the group almost automatically wrote own words: E when they heard it Then we came to the two-dot “On the ordinary paper slip, in a Mac group. I said ‘Now we’ll hear two dits. Recorder, made with an ordinary hand Listen.’ And along came dit dit at 20 key, I made about half a dozen dots words per minute. 1 said “That is I. spaced very widely apart. Then, after Now here it is again. Write it down with your pencils when you hear it.’ And the slip, running all the while,

‘ The Tireless Professor I Fons VandenBerghen drew our attention to a set of (proba- bly) five double-sided records published by the Ecole Cent— rale de TSF (Central Wireless College), in the Rue de la Lune, Paris, date unknown. The record label shows ‘The Tireless Professor’, and reads ‘The method used in the School to teach aural reading by means of gramophone records.’ Lesson 10 covers the use of the automatic key.

28 MM57 — apnf 1998 MAC AUDIO OSCILLATOR In 1941, Webb’5 Radio, located in London’s West End, was advertising a ‘Mac Audio Oscillator’; and a ‘Mac Practice Set’, incorporating a ‘heavy duty Mac Straight Key’ and a ‘Hummer’. See advertisement left. Does anyone recall the ‘Hummer’, described as a 1000 cycle mechanical oscillator?

An audio oscillator for morse practice or modulation. Three position switch gives choice of three tones at just as you did the letters. Don’t 600, 800 and |,000 cycles. Used In conjunction with let it fool you.’ any of McElroy’s Keys. this instrument makes an Ideal practice set for the individual or morse class. The And then letter S ran through. price includes two glass 6C5 tubes, ballast tube and All ofthis at 20 words per minute line cord for any stated voltage between HO and 250 understand, but with lot of volts. AC. or DC. operation. you a PRICE COMPLETE . . 37/6 space between the letters. Then MAC PRACTICE SET the letter I and then the letter S again. ‘And now friends, you’ve A 1.000 cycle mechanical oscillator designed for the word SIS at 20 words producing an audible note as the key is pressed. The copied "Hummer" ls mounted on to a Heavy Based Mac per minute. Isn‘t it easy?’ And Straight Key of very popular design. One of the most by showing them how simple the ingenious little gadgets in the whole radio telegraph industry. COMPLETE SET 22/6 code is, and how easy to copy at Heavy Duty Mac Straight Key only l|/- 20 words per minute, they had HUMMER only (may be added to any other key or the job licked before they had used as an ordinary buzzer) . ”/6 hardly started. Then came the word I-IIS and the word SI—IE, etc. The second lesson, two nights lat- came to the two dots, and again auto— er, I took them to the dash characters, matically the group wrote 1. and the third lesson, two nights later, After doing that a half dozen times, to the combinations. The entire group, they would recognise I when they after the first week of three nights, one heard it. Mind you, they had never hour each night, were copying, auto— heard a dot or a dash before. But at 20 matically and happily, easy words at words per minute they automatically 20 words per minute, and copying slapped down I. Then the letter S in them correctly too. Very easy ones, of the same way. Then we came to the course, but words just the same letter H and the figure 5 in the same way, Signal Card 1937 And then back over it again, ex— Published by His Majesty’s Station— cepting that this time I said ‘Now, re— is member this is E,’ and a single dot ran ery Office, price 9d, this more of an i aide mémoire than a through. ‘This is I’, and two dots ran ‘ learning system, through. ‘This is S,’ etc. ‘Now then comprising four stiff cards in booklet friends, here is a word. Write it down form with a canvas back pasted on, MM57 — 24de 1998 29 ALPHABET NUMERALS Plate V from the Signal Card 1937 a— A -———— I __-. 3 .-__— 2 —-c——- c ~—-—--—- 3 obviously intended to survive —.U D n‘un— 4 treatment. u E .u-u- 5 rough -..._- F .._--.- 5 It contains Naval signalling _.—-- 6 -——-——-¢- 7 and .--- H -——-——-- 8 flags Semaphore signals as -. I —_..._..... 9 well as the Morse code, and in- ._—_ J —. _.——__ B K NOTE cludes Morse punctuation, proce— _..._. THE FIGURE NOUGHT Is WRITTEN -—-- L THUS: 9 dural and miscellaneous signals, ——- —— M PUNCTUATION SYMBOLS N plus Morse signals representing __ .__..... o ----- — AAA COMMA Naval flags and pendants. ..—_-—- P —- -- -- iiI FULISTOP ——"—‘ 0 D—U No doubt Naval signal— _..---._ HYPHEN many R FRACTION EX-— men spent countless hours poring ""___ S '—""_ SEPARATIVESIGN __ T N.._._-_. FR PARENTNESIS over these cards to memorise the *’ —— INVERTED ____ U ______RR commas special signals, as opposed to the ---— v *----- —U’K‘ét‘&$fit‘a~$a§“o normal which, by that time, _____ w 2E ones x —--—- oases _-._ COLON they were presumably more than ____ Y —-——--- os familiar with! Note ——---- Z — CN SEMICOLON particularly GTE ----- the accented letters Is ALWAYS * BEFORE AND AFTER wonos (see right) ‘ro Br-Hafiz] CONCERNED. which were referred to in MMSS, WESLETTER 0 Is WHEN RULES FOR SPACING p.7. I A LONG IS EQUAL To THREE SHORTS. 2 THE SPACE BETWEEN ELEMENTS WHICH FMM THE SAME LETTER. FIGURE. ORSY'MB 0L 13 EQUAL TO ONE SHORT. Our thanks to Duncan Leak 3. THE SPACE BETWEEN TWO LETTERS FIGURES.OR SYMBOLS IS EQUAL TO THREE SHORTS (I. E.. ONE LONG ). for sending copies of 4.1’HE SPACE BETWEEN TWO WORDS I3 EQUAL TO FIVE SHORTS these cards. He tells us PROCEDURE SIGNS MISCELLANEOUS SIGNS that his son was issued ------VE GENERAL CALL Fl NUMERAL SIGN '— -—ETC MITCUNKNOWNSHIPCALL "C1! FLAG SIGN with a similar card ._----- ETCNNNNNL‘I’CANSWERING SIGN IN"? INTERROGATIVESIGN when he was in the -- -- ii SEPARATIVESJGN BREAK E‘SI NEGATIVE SIGN Navy in the 19705. ------ETC EEEEEm ERASE SIGN -..._..— ET PENDANT SIGN IMI REPEAT SIGN —-——-- T_L TACKLINE SIGN fi LONG BREAK SIGN ACCENTED LETTERS Morse Indicator 5 FURTHER MESSAGE SIGN B —--— 5 ———" This double-sided “’“ST‘WES RRRRR RECEIPT SIGN a ————— p 5 SECOND: In— EXECUTIVE SIGNAL E ----- Rotor—Tutor Self rLAgn mm! Dutcrxa wfivmww a --—-- "—— .....KT! quwoflENDING SIGN ——--—' structor and Practice a ————— i Board, price 9d, was intended for use in accordance with the from the International code used by the instructions printed on the device. See RAF possibly indicates early WWII use. illustrations at the foot of the opposite Thanks to Duncan Leak for copies page. of this device. One side contained the alphabet. The other contained numerals, punctuation The Complete Morse Instructor and some procedural signs. Although un— Written by F. Tait, ‘Telegraphist and dated, the printed reference to variations Wireless Operator, Central Telegraph 30 MM57 — amt 1998

' Instructions on how to request repeti— There’s no doubt that such systems tions using the signals IMI (barred) and help in memorising virtually anything the letters AA, AB, WA, and WB. (once the system itself has been mas— This is one of the best teaching sys- tered). However, this can be self-defeat- tems I have seen in the material reviewed ing when using Morse in a practical for this series. Having taught the basic situation where what is required is in— code, it then goes on to cover many prac- stant recognition of not one but a stream tical aspects of actual operating which of signals. usually mystify a beginner. By the time one signal has been men- Apart from listing the more common tally aligned to a mnemonic to identify Q—codes, including the QSA and QRK it, several more will have arrived. The strength and readability signals, it ex- result will be complete confusion and plains the 24-hour clock; provides an the only way to progress is to forget the introduction to light signalling, includ— hard—learned memory aids at the earliest ing procedures; lists old and new punc— opportunity. tuation signs, both of which were likely In the past, many people did learn to be heard at that time; and has a sec- the code using these systems, and sur- tion on semaphore. In short a book for vived to become good operators, but one the complete signaller! can’t help wondering how many more Our thanks to Duncan Leak for pro— who had mastered their favoured system viding MM with a copy of this book. gave up when faced with the realities of real-life operating. Thanks As mentioned several times in the My thanks to the many readers who series, and on other occasions in MM, sent in material referred to in this, and in the best way to learn Morse is by a sys— the previous articles, relating to Morse tem which teaches the student to memo- learning methods. It has been an inter— rise the sound of individual symbols, esting exploration of the subject, al— thus ensuring instant recognition when- though it must be stressed that the ever they are heard. reproductionof mnemonic or other mem— Please note that this is the final arti- ory aids in MM is purely of historical cle in the series and no further examples interest and is in no way a recommenda— of Morse learning methods are required tion to learners to try them! by MM.

Out-of-Print MMs Available Photocopies available of all out—of—print back issues of MM, bound in covers similar to the originals. Price per copy (dispatched by airmail): Europe $7.00, Africa/America $8.00. Oceania $10.00. All payments to be made in US dollar bills only. Send orders to: Jeronimo Orellana R., EA3DOS, Av Roma 10, 08015 Barcelona, Spain

.32 MM57 — jlerif 1998 ADVERTISEMENT The CW Gentle.

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MM57 — flprif 1998 33 ACK QUEALY worked in Port in Moresby, Lae and Rabaul. and at Radio Operating many other smaller outstations. He New Guinea relieved many a European operator who Papua went ‘home’ on leave after a 21 months Part 2 — Working Life on the stint in the Territory. Smaller Islands — Early Equipment One station interesting was Sohano, by Allan Moore VK1AL an Island near Bougainville and only about 3/4 of a mile in circumference. Jack is unsure of the receivers (possibly different types of AWA receivers) but well-remembers using 382 transmitters between Sohano and Rabaul. The 3BZ (there were earlier mod- Joseph Auna, whom I met many years els), was a pre—war transmitter designed later in Melbourne. in about 1936—37, and made in about Officers—in—charge of Post and Tele— 1938—39 by the AWA Company, which graph outstations were usually lst Class may have been known as a Teleradio. It Certificated Officers with indigenous covered SOOkHz to 22MHZ (similar to staff in some locations, and supported at the AR8/AT5). times by European female voice opera— Jack sent many thousands of words tors working smaller stations. Where using this old-style equipment by CW staff with little or no technical qualifica— and it only had an output of about 10 tions were situated, the ARS/ATS watts. The 3BZ was also used by opera- configuration, or perhaps Australian tors of the Australian Coast Watcher made AT20 SOD—watt transmitters, were Service during the War. Originally de- used. signed for pedal or battery operation, they obviously did a sterling job. The ARB/AT5 receiver/transmitter Jack knew Amos Tamti and Nelson configuration commonly used at many (or George) Tokidoro very well, and said Post and Telegraph controlled outstations they were superb operators. He knew of in Papua New Guinea. about 20 indigenous operators round the Made by Amalgamated Wireless of Territory in his time and said he never Australasia (A WA) this MF/HF installation found a poor operator — they all appeared was originally used in Beaufort and Hudson to have a flair for Morse code. Another bombers during WWII. well known PNG local operator who Power, about 50 watts, modes CW, worked in Port Moresby with Jack was MOW, AM, and pulse transmission >>

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mozqm «a. L: moZLdm oz< 5:26 L L:.L... 2 L: L: L: ,-./ <4 \@ 9 @ @ ® @ @ MIA/[57 — :4de 1998 35 Teletype Transmitters and Equipment Radio teletype circuits existed be- Port Moresby transmitters were lo- tween Port Moresby and Lae with HF cated at the shared 4 Mile OTC site. SOD-watt marine type transmitters, us— They were principally AWA 500—watt ing a tone-modulated Hellschreiber marine types used for CW and AM trunks (German) system. Received copy was to Rabaul. Made for the Royal Austral- on thin paper tape with letter quality ian Air Force during WWII, Australian similar to dot-matrixprinters. Tapes were STC-built ATZOM 500-watt transmitters cut and pasted by staff on to telegram were also in use at the three main cen— forms prior to delivery or re—transmis— tres. (Some of these models were also sion. CW was used in the event of diffi- built by a Melbourne firm, Eclipse culties with equipment or the circuit. Radio Company, a subsidiary of Radio The ‘old’ looking teleprinter churned Corporation of Australia). out miles of paper during its long and They were coupled to delta-fed relatively effective life. Siemens Model dipoles operating between 5 to lOMHz, 100 teletypes were also used on VHF and duplex frequencies allowed incom— telegraph circuits to Lae. Jack Quealy ing and outgoing traffic to be continu- tells of his time in about 1966—67 when ous. This system was replaced later by a radio teletype circuits were introduced 5-channel VHF system via Mt. Lawes between Lae and Rabaul. At times when (30 miles from Port Moresby) and Mt. the circuit was ‘not commercial’, opera— Kainde (near Wau). One channel was tors at both terminals would tape up their RTTY, the remainder were telephone cir- traffic ready to transmit when the circuit cuits, although only two of these could was restored. be called commercial quality. There were some early difficulties The ARS/ATS receiver/transmitter here, for when the local operator at the configuration was common at many distant end was asked to re—transmit Post and Telegraph controlled outsta- his message from a particular message tions where indigenous operators were number, some could not initially do this complemented by expatriate (usually as they had not been taught to read tape Australian), operators. (the 5-unit Baudot system). The prob- lem was quickly overcome with some Radio Switchboard rapid tape reading instruction. There was a two—person manned ra- A system using standard landline dio switchboard for controlling trunk techniques and Siemens Model 100 calls within the Papua area, which at machines was used between the Port night was lightly loaded. The AM Voice Moresby Telegraph Office, and Kone- Radio Network was also handled from dobu, the Public Service and Diplomatic one of the exchange positions. At night Headquarters. Quite a volume of traffic an operator handled all Territory calls passed over this circuit, but it did not on an Emergency frequency of 5880kHz particularly excite the operators rostered until the Telegraph Office opened again to work it. at 7 am. the following day.

36 MM57 — apnf 1998 There was an SSB circuit between tralian Wireless Telegraphy Act. Rob Port Moresby and Samarai for telephone Gurr formulated a proposal to introduce trunk traffic, which was not used at night. local PNG Legislation to cover such Similar arrangements were in force in emissions which was supported by the Lae and Rabaul. Expatriate operators like local Administration, however this took myself, would take turns at weekends many years to achieve. on a rotating roster to man the radio The PNG Administration, well aware switchboard. that much planning towards locally con- trolled administrationof the International Categories of Traffic Radio Regulations would be necessary Much of the traffic was similar to as Independence approached, employed that we had handled in Australia, such Rob Gurr as Senior Inspector (and his as shipping telegrams, meteorological support staff of three Inspectors — John messages, birthday and other congratu- Rutherford, Jack Bell and Ruth Dono— latory messages, business and commer— van) to administer the requirements of cial traffic, and even vulcanology reports the Australian Wireless Telegraphy Act, from scientists in areas where large, ac— the controlling legislation of the day. tive volcanoes were being regularly Monitoring facilities, as mentioned monitored. earlier, were located at Paga Hill, adja— A great deal of traffic was exchanged cent to the Telegraph Office at Port between the principal Administration Moresby, and from here the general con- Offices in Port Moresby and their repre- duct of all services, Marine, Aviation, sentatives in the field — the District Com- Land Mobile, Amateur, and of course missioners, District Officers and Patrol our own fairly extensive telegraph net— Officers. Some of these men were locat- work, was professionally monitored. The ed in extremely isolated areas and the usual international checks were made story of the Patrol Officer is highly including frequency accuracy, modula- recommended reading. tion bandwidth, procedures and overall All circuits were very busy and it legal operational aspects. was rare that operators could have a de- The monitoring equipment in use cent yam while on the job. A perfect varied, but high grade Rohde and situation for operators who enjoyed Schwarz receiving and frequency meas— transmitting and receiving Morse code uring equipment was used for most pur— all day for their living. poses. The little group of busy Inspectors rapped the operators’ knuckles occasion— Radio Inspectors and ally when they departed from established Monitoring Functions protocol, and I had a warning or two In the early 19605 the Posts and Tele- myself. graphs Department was handicapped by Some of us from PMG backgrounds not having its own Radio Communica— tended to ‘forget’ to use the official call- tions Legislation. All Radio Frequency sign and abbreviated them into 2-letter emissions were controlled by the Aus- callsigns. For example calling VL8BR MM57 — Aprit 1998 37 (Rabaul) would suddenly become BR circuit access problems, and was techni- BR BR de BM (Port Moresby). We soon cally unsound for a number of other observed the correct regime, however, reasons. Rob Gurr’s Radio Frequency and the PMG operators became first- Administrators and Engineering staff class hands with CW operating proce- found this circuitous route frustrating to dures after a short time. say the least.

OTC Office and Coastal Radio Amateur Operating The Australian Overseas Telecom- There were a number of amateur op— munications Commission handled erators in the region in those days, and international and coastal radio circuits, they were allocated the Australian VK9 including telephone and telegraph traffic prefix. They were quite active and an on behalf of PNG, and were located in invaluable backup in times of emergen- Rabaul, Lae and Port Moresby. I remem- cy. Nevertheless, they were obliged to ber seeing a Chicago Model 14/15 observe the same rules and regulations Teletype in the Port Moresby Office as their Australian mainland counter- (co—located in the Post and Telegraph parts, and in all were a well-disciplined Office Building) which was used be- group. A Branch of the Wireless Insti- tween there and Sydney. tute of Australia was formed in Port They had 5 to lO-kilowatt transmit— Moresby, which was active for a number ters for the Sydney circuit, and I imag— of years but ceased in 1962. ine Rabaul and Lae may have been similarly equipped. Rob Gurr said the Well Operated Network OTC operators (who held First Class Even with limited radio experience ‘Tickets’) used to receive taped Wheat- at the time, I sensed a particularly strong stone CW at up to 35 words per minute, and very well operated and administered closely comparable with the speeds radio network in Papua New Guinea. It achieved by Posts and Telegraph opera— was fast and accurate, and provided em- tors. ployment not only for excited and inter— An emergency link for administra- ested expatriates, but for a long list of tive purposes was set up between Port indigenous citizens who turned out to be Moresby and Hollandia, the then capital first-class radio operators, technicians, of Netherlands New Guinea. This caused engineers and Inspectors — who would some concern as it was OTC’s Charter handle their own Telegraph Service in by legislation to provide International the not—too-distantfuture with confidence circuits. and expertise. The normal connection would have The progress towards independence been from Port Moresby to Sydney by was assisted by loans from the World radio, Sydney to Holland by cable, and Bank and this enabled the modernisation Holland back to Hollandia on HF radio. of the PNG Communications System. This circuit was difficult to manage, how— The system in existence today would ever, because of time differences and not be anything like that of the 505 and

38 MM57 — apnf 1998 60s, but from our personal viewpoints Later, I spent seven months in the Solo— we believe that the 60s methods men- mon Islands on the well-known Island tioned above were commercially as good of Guadalcanal of WWII fame. My as the technology of the day permitted — amateur callsign was H44AM, and I and the work was very enjoyable. had some interesting experiences with amateur radio and the annual Scout End ofa Short, Busy and Jamboree of the Air with an old, but InterestingPeriod trusty Kenwood TS—520. My stay in the Territory was for a My most sincere thanks and grati- few months only. I learned a little about tude are extended to Rob Gurr for his radio — not enough, but sufficient to whet time, technical input, advice, and back— my appetite while I was aiming for the ground information, most of which I Antarctic. knew nothing about at the time. I am With some regrets I left Port Mores- also very grateful to Jack Quealy for his by and flew to Brisbane, and later Can- welcome contributions and, similarly, to berra where I worked again as a landline John Gore (VKIPG) a retired Canberra telegraphist in the two Chief Telegraph radio inspector and Heard Island veter- Offices. In 1962 I was selected to go an of 1950, who provided additional South with the January 1963 Expedi— information regarding the 3BZs and tions. AR8/AT5 equipment. All three men are Some years later I returned to the retired but still have a strong love of Pacific area and spent some time in a radio and Morse telegraphy, and retain clerical relief position in Vanuatu. their skills to this day. MM

"i, we In the current issue of :ééie 01‘5le Mgnificat Bygones the latest news the vintage wireless magazine Following the announcement of - Restoring the R.1116 receiver closure plans in MM56, we received ' A home-brew valve tester from approaches several parties - Starting a ‘living’ collection interested in overthe taking magazine. 0 The W.S. (Canadian) No. 58 Discussions are now going on with For further two of these parties, and we hope to details, contact G be able to make a positive C Arnold Partners 9 announcement in our next issue. Wetherby Close Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8JB GCA & TS Phone/tax 01202 658474

MM57 — aprit 1998 39 InfoTfease!

Barker

Jack

Photo/Collection:

Key marked ‘Ward & Goldstone Ltd, PENDLETON, MAN/CR1 Jack Barker comments: ‘It is all brass except for the tension control, and appears to be a rathercrude and cheap variation of the early GPO keys. It has the same base and arm dimensions, but the base plates are much thinner and are poorly aligned. It works well, though, and has a nice action.’ Any information on this key, or on Ward & Goldstone Ltd, will be welcome

Small key, just over 2/2 inches long, bought in Prague recently. Has an additional contact under the lever (insulated from the rest of the key) which closesjust before the front contact. Mike Kerr, ZL2BCW, says: ‘The metal work is finelyexecutedand the lacqueredbrass has that patina that is only acquired over a considerable period of time. The knob and base are ebonite or hard rubber perhaps. There are no markings of any {‘1

V2: L ghsmuxtxosxlk kind'. Info requested 31211 Alsttylflrsiglgtht‘éth Collection/Photo: Mike Kerr

Readers require further information on the keys, etc., featured here. Please write to Tony Smith, 13 Morley Road, Sheringham, Norfolk NR26 8JE ifyou can help. All useful information received will be published in MM in a later issue

40 MM57 -— flprif1998 Unknown German key, shown with cover removed. Any information welcomed re maker, use, date, etc.

Collection/Photo:Clive Hedfern G4CZFt/PAaEUX

Unknown key, possibly British. Sends ‘SOS’ continuously when handle is turned. Top view above; underneath view, showing code-wheels, right. [The upper of the two code-wheels appears to be intended for transmission of the auto-alarm signal (four—second dashes with one-secondspaces) used to alert off-watch operatorsbefore the ‘808’ is transmitted. ~ Ed. ] Info requested

Collection/Photo:Stephen P. Smith, VK25PS

MM5 7 — fipn’f1998 41 PERFECTLY adequate iambic ‘starting’ paddle Electronic Keyer can be made in five min— utes (I timed myself) from a piece of flat Paddles wood, 1‘/2-inch (40mm) nails, seven by Dr Gary Bold ZL1AN scrap aluminium and masking tape. Trim an offcut of chassis aluminium into a strip about 200mm by 10mm. Bend it symmetrically in the middle around something cylindrical (about 20mm in diameter) to form a ‘U’ shape. Wind a few turns of masking tape around both 3 clumping ends. Place the strip on the edge on the A”?/ nulls ----- wood with the ends projecting about 20mm. Aluminium Fix it in place by hammering in sev— /slrip 8 m. en nails as in the sketch. Outwards ten- 2 positioning sion in the strip keeps it pressed against Af/ nails the two outer nails, and the Dol positioning o o koazgifonluct three nails at the bend keep it clamped ggfil'xl’r in place. The only two nails that don’t 4-Tupe winding touch the metal strip (but are very close to it) form the dot and dash contacts. Sketch of Gary Bold’s simple paddle

Nobody Can Tell Difference Solder wires to these nails, and an- other (the common or ground) to one of the back ones (or just use alligator clips using this or my precision machined, — keyer input Circuits draw very little gold contact professionally made pad— current). These three wires go to the dle. In fact, if you are only capable of keyer. The dot and dash contacts are manipulating a keyer at about 20 wpm, closed by simply pressing the ‘U’ strip this simple paddle might serve you per- inwards to touch their respective nails. fectly well, and the money you save will I have made ten paddles over the buy the components for the keyer. years, and this is by far the best of the cheap and dirty variety. Up to about Qualities of Good Paddles 30 wpm, nobody can tell whether I am In what way is this paddle inferior, 42 MM57 — Zpril 1998 and what qualities should a good one Economical Movements have? These are MY requirements: both I prefer the spring tension very light, the movement and the finger pads must with both dot and dash gaps very small, be very rigid so that nothing bends (even about one—thousandth of an inch — much slightly) in use. I even replaced the thin less than bug gaps. With this spacing pads that came with my commercial pad— you can’t even see the arms move. You dle with thicker Perspex ones — but I can get away with such minute spacings don’t know anyone else who has gone to because the dot arm doesn’t have to start this trouble. a massive horizontal pendulum swing— The spring tension should be adjust- ing. able — but separate springs for dot and I’ve set the ‘finger gap’ (between the dash are not necessary. The dot and dash outer faces of the finger pads) 23mm contact surfaces should be large with apart — larger than most people prefer, non—corrosive plating. The contact gaps with the pads 55mm above the table, at should be finely adjustable with locking my comfortable relaxed wrist height.The screws. The base must be heavy with paddle sits six inches (150mm) back on individually height adjustable legs (to the operating table, and I rest my wrist cope with uneven tables) and non-slip on the table while sending, using only feet. How do these qualities make a pad- thumb and forefinger on the paddles, dle ‘better’ than the el cheapo one de— fluttering my hand left and right. I have scribed above? trained myself to use the most economi— cal (smallest and lightest) movements. Feels Better This is less tiring and aids higher speed The movement I use is the elegant sending. but very simple one that came in 1977 from the Brown Brothers Machine Co. Home-brew Successes and Failures of St Louis, MO, USA. This was the I like this paddle so much that I have paddle originally recommended by Jim home-brewed two others to the Brown Garrett for use with his ‘Accukeyer’, Brothers’ pattern, but with simplified and although you couldn’t tell at the adjustmentsand rubber bands for springs. receiving end which paddle I was using, Both send Morsejust like the original. I certainly could. I have also made some really lousy The BB paddle ‘feels better’. It’s set experimental paddles, e.g., two straight up exactly right for my personal sending keys horizontally back to back (not much style, and it stays in tune. It is solid and good, movement too heavy, paddles too responds like a piece of precision ma— far apart and unwieldy to grasp); two chinery. I’m sure that when I’m tired, or microswitches with finger paddles, sending at my upper speed limit, I make screwed to a baseboard (very positive fewer mistakes with it. But frankly, most feel, but too much movement, and too of the time it probably doesn’t form my ‘sloppy’); also clothes—pegs, hacksaw Morse any better than my nails and alu— blades and my converted Eddystone bug. minium paddle. None of these efforts were very satisfac

MM57 — aprif1998 43 tory, but many operators do use convert- Thus, if you replace a $10 gadget ed bug movements with complete satis— with a $100 gadget, it will deliver faction. TWICE the performance, not ten times the performance. (Be honest — is your EmpiricalGadget Principle new $5000 rig ten times as useful as the Before you run out and buy a $500 rig it replaced?) chromed, complex, magnificently ma- (Extracted and edited for MM from chined mechanical masterpiece to im- Gary Bold ’s ‘The Morseman’ column, prove your electronic keying, think of in Break—In, journal ofNZART, August Bold’s ‘Empirical Gadget Principle’: 1988) ‘The improvement effected by any (We will welcome brief descriptions gadget you buy is proportional to one from readers of their own ‘home—brew’ plus the logarithm of the price of the paddles, with comments on their per— new one over the price of the old one.’ formance. — Ed.)

Covered in a hard-wearingred grained finish, with the magazine title logo blocked in gold on the spine. Each binder holds two years-worthof the finders magazine, retained by strong wires, but easily removableshould the need arise. UK addresses — £6.50 each, or £12.00 for 2 binders (both prices inc. VAT) Overseas addressesby surface mail: for MM EU States — £7.20, or £13.20 for 2 (inc. VAT); Elsewhere — £6.15, or E1 125 for 2 (no VAT). All prices include postage and packing. Send your order with a cheque or postal order, payable to G C Arnold Partners, or Visa/Mastercard number {only a and expiry date to: G 0 Arnold Partners, 9 Wetherby Close, Broadstone,Dorset BH18 8J3, few left!) England, phone/fax 01202 658474 Overseas payments must be by Visa/Mastercard or in Sterling. Due to high costs, we cannot accept paymentby Girobank transfer

ADVERTISEMENT r---_----_---_-----_--_-_1' WANTED," MARCONI'MERCURY'receiver| : WANTED___ MARCONI 365 shrouded key I Phil, I : WANTED Telephone: . . (0113) 244 0378 - Office, 1000—1700 | I for on-air use (0113) 281 2064 - Home, to 21302 I L---_------_---_---—-----.I Please mention Morsum Magnificat when responding to advertisements

44 MM57—fllpril 1998 ourLetters

Headers’ letters on any Morse subjectare always welcome, but may be edited when space is limited. When more than one subjectis covered, letters may be divided into single subjects in order to bring comments on various matters together for easy reference

Unknown Key MM38 The WS No. 21 had a key built into The unknown key at the bottom of p.39, the control box, and there was no way of MM38, is a model MA-K6 made by connecting a No. 19 Assembly. In fact, Ohshima Denki Kogyosyo Co. Ltd, the set had no facilities for connecting Tokyo, Japan, as illustrated in their an external key of any type. 1930 catalogue. Regarding the No. 22 set, all my documentation indicates that this set used the No. 2B Key & Plug Assembly. Tony Bell VK5UA Broadview, South Australia

Mystery Logo A friend of mine has two keys, marked as sketched. Presumably these indicate the manufacturers and I wonder if any- one can identify them? Fons Vanden Berghen Halle, Belgium

It was used on Japanese ships c.1929— 1945. The terminals are numbered 1 to 3, connected as illustrated, and were used for break-in operation with MF and HF transmitters. Motoaki Uotome JAI GZV Tokyo, Japan

Key & Plug Assembly No. 19 In MM37, p.12, the question is asked (The initials could be JHB, representing ‘ whether the No. 19 Key & Plug Assem- J.H. Bunnell, but we have been unable bly was used with the Wireless Sets to find such a logo in the several

21 . Nos. and 22. Bunnell catalogues held at MM. — Ed.) MM57 — apnf 1998 45 I have overlooked Height Measuring Instrument , probably more that or The height measuring instrument shown am not aware of: on p.33 of MM56 is a ‘hypsometer’. (a) Manipulating Key R688B (see the There are two legs to the inverted V in photograph below). This appears to be the photo. The left leg should also be quite early. The knob is of the Key WT graduated on one face and should slide 8 Amp type which may be a replace- in and out through the mounting. ment. I do not know what equipment How do I know this? My son has a this key was used with. book on science projects for the home, (b) Key, Transmitting 3R2018. This ap- one of which is to make one of these to pears to be a Key WT 8 Amp mounted measure skyscraper heights. on a wooden base. As far as I am aware, Peter Holtham VK4COZ it was used with the 3B (Coast Watch— Chapel Hill er’s W/S), 3B2 and the Reciprocal Lend- Queensland, Australia Lease version of the 3BZ, the AMC- 145, supplied to the United States. (Peter included details of how to use (0) Hand Key B50410. This appears to this instrument to measure the height of be a No. 9 Key & Plug Assembly, with- telegraph poles. Ifany readerwould like out the top cover. It was used with the to have this information, please contact Reciprocal Lend-Lease AMT—150 Trans- MM. — Ed.) mitter. (d) Key & Plug Assembly No. 2B, AWA Keys ZA4500. Appears to be identical to the Readers may be interested in the follow— British version. It was used with Wire- ing list of keys made by Amalgamated less Sets No. 11 (Aust.), N0. 108 Mk.III, Wireless (Australasia) Pty Ltd. These No. 208, and 208 Mk.II. The latter three are the ones I know about. There are sets were made by Radio Corporation.

AWA ManipulatingKey R6883

46 MM57 — 541ml 1993 (e) Key & Plug Assembly No. 9, ZA0937. (f) Key & Plug Assembly No. 133, ZAA4317. Used with both the WS No. 133, and its successor, the WS No. 153. I assume this used a Key WT 8 Amp with an unknown mounting. (g) Key Telegraph, Lightweight, (Aust.), No. l, Yl/TSE(W)9—2 (a stock number- ing system used for a short time during the 19503), later re-numbered 5805—66— 054-5423. Used with the Radio Set A510 which was widely used from about 1955 to about 1970. Based on the British ‘Key Telegraph’ 5805—99—949—9618 used with the British A13 and A14 manpacks of . the 19505-19705. (h) Key Telegraph, Lightweight, (Aust.),

1 No. 1 Mk.2. Identical to the above except for the connector which was changed for the PRC-Fl Radio Set which saw service from about 1970 to 1995. Both keys have a base dovetailed to facilitate mounting on a key support fixture on the front panel of both sets. Tony Bell VK5UA Broadview Key Telegraph, Lightweight, (Aust.), South Australia No. 1 Mk2

Key Info was of Italian manufacture. Who knows An early camelback key similar to for sure? mine on page 42 of MMSS is described Regarding the ex—USSR marine key on Tom Perera’s website (http:/l on page 23 of MM56, I have received www.chss.montc|air.edu), at N 0181, as an from Greg Ulsamer a photo of two simi- early Prussian landline key. (There is a lar keys, but with the addition of two link to this site, the Telegraph and Sci— switches on the top cover. One is for entific Instrument Cyber—museum,0n the switching TX/RX, the other to select CW MM home page. — Ed.) wide/narrow. These keys were used on I have a similar key to the miniature aircraft stations R847 (mikron) and R849 key, purchased in France just after (yadro). WWII, shown on the same page. Mine Jean Le Galudec was obtained in Italy, and I was told it Nancy, France

MM57 — flipril1998 47 “Elegmpfiy on5tamps by Tony Smith

Thematic stamp collecting is the the genesis of the electric telegraph, in— ; practice of collecting stamps relating to cluding the Morse, ABC, Telewriter, particular themes. Even if they are not Bain’s Chemical Printing and Hughes dedicated stamp collectors, the possibil— Synchronous Printing systems. ity ofa themed collectioncovering Morse There are also stamps covering the telegraphy, or telegraphy generally, may submarine telegraph, the Baudot multi— well be of interest to those who already plex system, and even a stamp (from collect other telegraphic memorabilia. Mali) illustrating pneumatic tubes such Many stamps with a telegraphic as were used by the London Central theme have been issued over the years, Telegraph Office in the 1870s to carry usually commemorating a particular an- telegrams physically to and from other niversary, achievement, or inventor. The large offices for onward transmission stories behind them may already be on different circuits. known, or they may spark off research Concluding with stamps dedicated to to discover information previously un— inventors, including Marconi, this small known to the collector. publication, if obtainable today, would Literature on the subject is scarce, be an excellent introduction to the idea just an occasional magazine article or of starting one’s own Telegraphic stamp booklet written by enthusiasts. One collection, and learning more about the example, by the late Don deNeuf, subjects illustrated in the process. WAlSPM, was a superb lO—page article Add in Amateur Radio, which has in IEEE Spectrum', August 1983. This also been featured on many stamps, and included 9 pages of full-colour repro- there is great potential for acquiring ductions of stamps from around the an intriguing collection related to tele- world on aspects of electricity and elec- graphic interests. As a ‘taster’ of what trical science. Apart from telegraphy can be obtained, a number of stamps are itself, this article covered telephony, illustrated inside the back cover in this radio, broadcast listening, telecommun- issue and there will be more in the next ications, the ITU, power, the United issue of MM. Nations, and famous inventors. Also included were examples of non-postal References franking stamps issued by early telegraph [1] ‘EE Heroes and Happenings: A Phil- companies to be affixed to telegrams. atelic Review’, by Donald K, deNeuf. A small 16—page booklet, Tele- IEEE Spectrum, journal of the Institute graplzy 0n Stampsz, by retired Post of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Office Telegraphist W.C.L. Gorton, was August 1983. in 1982. published This begins with l [2] Telegraphy 0n Stamps, by W.C.L. stamps illustrating Signals by Fire, the Gorton, pub. 1982 by Picton Publishing, African Bush Telegraph, the Heliograph, Citadel Works, Bath Road, Chippenham, and the Semaphore before moving on to Wilts SN15 ZAB. ISBN 0 902633 84 8.

48 MM57 — 54pm! 1998 "(,OGPETATFHII PAJHU ' 3 33;} me.» A, mm: , "0' ; 5’,a My,

fitit: o suns POSAEG

What Hath God Wrought! Centenary of L . - 4.4 the Morse Telegraph 1944. USA, 3¢ ”. 'nEN'rA (ZCCP x10

Demonstration of the first reception of radio, zz : 3 1895' From a painting by MA. Sysojeva. 3 Commemorating A.S. Popov 1359—1906. i USSR, 1989, 10 i i kopeks

unocopgflqpuoou

< Emst Krenkei, HAEM, heroic polar radio operator, famous radio amateur, Hero of the Soviet Union. 4 oooooo USSR, 1973, kopeks Fry, Open-Circuit, Dry Battery, Telegraph Key Mr U.J. Fry has devised a key to be used in telegraph circuits operatedby dry batteries, which are being used in place of gravity cells by some railroads. In such a circuit, the dry batteries must be left on open circuit when not being used to send signals, but the line circuitcontaining the relay must at the same time be closed so as to be able to receive signals. The connections are shown at (a), and a view of the key and its connections at (b). In order to use the key devised by Mr Fry, the operators do not have to learn anything new. The movement for throwingopen the circuit-closer on the Fry key is the same as for the ordinary key, this movement connecting the battery in series with the line and relay, that is, in a position to transmit signals. The reverse movement, or the closing of the circuitcloser, puts the home dry battery on open circuitbut leaves the relay in series with the line, that is, in a position to receive signals. When the circuitswitch is in closed position, the battery circuitcannot be closed by pressingdown the key lever, hence there is no dangerof wasting the battery by a book or other heavy article resting on the key knob. It is claimed that reliable dry cells are so much cheaper than gravity cells that exhaustedones can be thrown away and replaced by new ones at less expense than for attending and renewing gravity cells. Enough cells must be used, however, at each station to operate the whole line. illustrationand text taken from: Elementary Telegraphy, published for International Correspondence College. USA, 1911