Numfier69 — May/June2000

Milfiken-fliekg Repeater

I I I I I I I IThe InternationalJournal of Morse Telegraphy

EDITORIALANDSUBSCRIPTIONOFFICES:

Morsum Magnificat,The Poplars,Wistanswick, Market Drayton,Shropshire TF9 ZBA, England.Phone: +44 (0) 1630 638306FAX: +44 (0) 1630 638051

MORSUMMAGNIFICAT wasfirstpublishedas a quarterlymagazine in Holland, in l 983, by thelate Rinus Hellemons PAOBFN. It has been producedfour, then six times a year in Britain since I986,and up to January 1999 was published and edited by Tony Smith, G4FAI and GeoffArnold,G3GSR. It aims to provide international coverage of all aspects of Morse telegraphy, pastpresent and future. MORSUM MAGNIFICAT is for all Morse enthusiasts, amateur or

professional, active or retired. It brings together material which would otherwise be lost toposterity, providing an invaluable source of interest, reference and record relating to the

traditions and practice ofMorse.

EDITOR Zyg Nilski G3OKDe-mail: MorsumMagnificOMorsemagcom MM home page — www.MorseMag.com© The Nilski Partnership MM Printed by Hertfordshire Display plc, Ware, HertsAll drawings, photographs and articles are copyright and no part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without express permission of the publishers,The Nilski Partnership. Copyright may also be the property of contributors.

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS (six issues):UK £13.00 Europe £14.00 Rest ofthe World £17.00 (US $30 approx)

All overseas copies are despatched by Airmail' Prices in US dollars may vary slightly withcurrency exchange rates and commission charges

@EMake all cheques payable to ‘MorsumMagnificat’

“When does my subscription expire ...?”

This is printed on the top line of the address label.Also, we shall jog your memory with a renewal reminder included with that final issue.

MM Back IssuesIssues Nos. 34,35 and 38—68 available from the

Editorial offices (see top of page). Price including postage £2.50 each to UK; £2.70 toEurope; £2.85 (US $5) Rest of the World by airmail. Deduct 20% if ordering 3 or more.

FRONT COVERA Milliken—Hicks Repeater, circa 1870

Photo/Collection:Dave Pennes

The news pages of this issue contain moreannouncements of new radio amateur licencestructures which put a lower emphasis to Morseskills. It seems the world has pretty well made up itsmind. Interesting though, in the USA a petition hasbeen filed to retain 20 wpm for the Extra Classlicence.

Sadly, but not unexpected the final closure ofPortisheadRadioformaritimeMF/HF/VHFserviceson 30‘h April. Special arrangements were made forspecial farewell event when radio amateurs couldwork cross-band to GKB. Portishead Radio will beremembered as one of the great maritime stations ofthe world.

Many thanks to all readers who informedus of the delivery date of MM68. They were allgiven to the Royal Mail on 6m March. UK copies aremailed 2nd class and the rest are mailed air mail/priority. Based on the 73 replies the delivery servicefor MM is satisfactory. Copies arrived on thedoormats of the UK and Europe in 2-3 days and theEast coast of mainland America (North and South)in 3-4 days. Deliveries to the mountain zone andWest coast of the N. Americatook 8-10days (exceptWashington State — 3days). Delivery to all otherplaces was 8 - 10 days.

The index of all MMs, produced in Englishsince 1986 through to issue 64 (July 1999) is nowavailable on the Morsum Magnificat web pages athttp://www.MorseMag.com.

Please note that BOTH our old and newintemet addresses will continue for the foreseeablefuture.

The annual index is published in theSeptember issue and will also be incorporated in theconsolidated version.

Zyg Nilski G30KDW68 — May/junta 2000

2 News10 Maritime Memories12 Mysterious Morse - and

More16 Job Opportunity17 MM68 Searchword18 Off Again, On Again,

Gone Again, Finnegan22 Learning Morse in the

US Navy24 Showcase26 Testing on Open Wire

Telegraph Lines31 American Morse Code

vs. Continental33 Operators Paralysis -

Advertisement34 Info Please36 Your Letters43 Clubs & Societies -

AGCW-DL45 MM Bookshelf47 Readers Ads.48 Solution to MM68

Searchword

9 The QRP ComponentCompany

11 G-QRP Club21 Radio Bygones23 MEGS36 FISTS CW Club

OK1CZOn page 24 of MM68 Petr Doudéra,President of the OK-QRP CLUB, wasreferred to as “she”. My apologies forthis error - Ed.

1

Portishead RadioFinal Farewell with

Maritime/Amateur RadioCross-band Event

At the time of preparing this news itemthe following message was beingtransmitted by Portishead Radio GKB:

CQ DE GKB = BT REGRETS TOANNOUNCETHECLOSUREOFGKBAND ALL UK VHF SERVICESAT12002 SUNDAY 30 APRIL 2000. MPSTATIONS WILL CLOSE AT 12002ONFRIDAY 30 JUNE 2000.WESENDOUR THANKS AND BEST WISHESTO THE MARITIME COMMUNITY,WHICH WE HAVE SERVED FOROVER 90 YEARS = BT MARITIMERADIO SERVICES, LONDON, 30MARCH 2000 +

By the time you read this, it willbe all over. Portishead Radio and allBritish Telecom (BT)VHFcoast stationsclosed at 1200 UTC Sunday 30 April2000. MF stations Stonehaven GND,Humber GKZ, Wick GKR, PoxtpatrickGPK and Land’sEnd GLD will close at1200 UTC on Friday 30 June 2000.

2

Portishead Radio the UnitedKingdom’s long range maritime radiostation and one of the world’s mostfamous names in maritimecommunications used its transmitters atRugby and its remote receiving array atSomerton as part of the final farewells,working cross-band to the amateur bandson Saturday 29th April 2000. The CW—

only event operated from07001 to 19002as follows

Callsign Frequency AmateurFrequency

GKB2 4274 3525GKB4 8559.5 7025GKBS 12835.4 14050GKB6 171 13 18075GKB7 22448.7 21050

Three stations were operating atany one time - subject to the commercialrequirementsof the station. Specialeffortswere made to beam towardsCommonwealth countries at appropriatetimes. Additionally Portishead sentfarewell broadcasts at the closure timeof 1200 UTC on 30 April 2000.

BT appointed the Radio Officer’sAssociation to handle the amateur sideof this operation and the liaison officerwas David Barlow, G3PLE. Amateursare asked to note that, following closure,

171/[91469 — May/flung 2000

there will be nosurplus equipmentfor sale. Anyother enquiriesfrom radioamateurs should berouted through:David Barlow,G3PLE PO Box50, Helston, TR127YQ.e-mail (forthis event):dbadow@ugenieoo.ukEvent Website:h t t p / /you.genie.co.uk/dbarlow

D a v i dBarlow said, “Weare very grateful toBTMaritimeRadioServices for allowing this uniqueopportunity to make contact withPortishead Radio - in its time the largestradio station in the world.”

BT Maritime Radio Servicesallowed this day as a celebration of 100years of maritime radio and to mark theend of the terrestrial service. For historicas well as commercial reasons it will beCW only.”

A special QSL card will beavailable to all amateurs and SWL’s.Send a report to: GKB, PO Box 50,Helston, TR12 7YQ.

Cards will be sent via the RSGBbureau unless an s.a.e. is enclosed. Pleasenote cards will not be printed untilnumbers are known. Please do not sendQSL cards.(Information: Bruce Morris, DavidBarlow, Tom St John-Coleman)

W68—May/J1me 2000

The old control at PortisheadRadio in the days of the Area Scheme

Proposed NewAmateurLicensing in New Zealand

Radio SpectrumManagement Agency ofthe Ministry of Economic Developmentin New Zealand has informed NZARTthat it will be some time before newRadio Regulations are in place to makepossible any changes to the regulatoryprovisions for amateur radio in NewZealand.

The Ministry has givenconsideration to new Amateurqualifications and licensing provisions,having regard to NZART proposals,changes overseas and to current trends.The Ministry sees a number of changesas desirable to promote and to encouragethe further development of Amateur

.5

Reproduced

bykind

permission

of

British

Telecommunications

plc

Radio in New Zealand as follows:

1. Three levels of amateur radio operatorqualification and radio licence to beretained, withNovice andLimited gradesrenamed Entry and Technician to betterreflect their purpose. Callsigns to nolonger be grouped to indicate licencegrade or need to be changed with changeof grade.

2. A pass at the present Novice level inthe new combined Regulations andTheory Examination to give immediateaccess to the present Novice band above30 MHZ (i.e. 144 to 148 MHZ) at existingpower levels.Access tobe extended to allthe current Novice bands below 30 MHZwhen credited with a Morse test pass at 5words—per-minute.

3. As at present, a pass at the presentLimited/General level in the newcombined Regulations and TheoryExamination to give immediate access toall the amateur bands above 30MHzwithfull amateur radio privileges. Access tobe extended to all the current amateurbands below 30 MHZ with full privilegeswhen credited with a Morse test pass at 5words-per-minute. A Morse test passobtained at Novice level to be a credit.

4. The present 12 words-per-minuteMorse test to be retained meantime andto be voluntary for reciprocal licensingpurposes if required.

No change is proposed to thepower limits for radio amateurs. Theseare to remain as at present for the threegrades of licence.

4

These proposals are not firmand may of course change as a result ofpublic consultation.(Information: Fred Johnson, ZLZAMJ,NZART)

Petition Filed To ReduceUS Code Allocation

On March 9th Dennis Kippa, KWSG ofHawkins,Texas and David J. Hill, WSXKofMount Pleasant, Texas filed a Petition

.for Rulemaking with the FCC. Theyrequest that the amount of Amateur highfrequency spectrum reserved for CWoperation only — be reduced by about 50percent. They state:

“Whereas the Amateur Radiobandshavehistorically had largeportionsof the radio spectrum reserved for anddevoted to the CW mode ofcommunications and whereas this modeof communication is archaic andabandonedby all FederalAgenciesexceptAmateur Service the Commission can nolonger justify the broad reservations ofthe radio spectrum for CWonly.”

They say, “A study of thefollowingchart showstheCWreservationis totally unjustified and that the phonebands are proportionally disadvantaged.”

Band CW band Percent10 Meters 300 kHz 17.7%12 Meters 40 KHZ 40%15 Meters 200 KHZ 44%20 Meters 150 KHZ 42.8%30 Meters 50 KHZ 100%40 Meters 250 KHZ 50%75/80 M. 250 KHZ 50%160 Meters 200 KHZ 100%

W69 — .‘May/jwre2000

The petitioners believe that“...due to advances in radiocommunications and license upgradesphone band crowding cannot be justifiedany longer. A more realistic approachwould be:”

Band CW Spectrum10 Meters 28.000 — 28.100 6%12 Meters 24.890 — 24.910 20%15 Meters 21.000 — 21.100 22%17 Meters 18.068 - 18.088 34%20 Meters 14.000 — 14.100 28%30 Meters 10.100 — 10.120 40%40 Meters 7.000 — 7.100 33%80 Meters 3.500 - 3.600 20%160 Meters 1.800 - 1.820 10%

“This change of the CW onlybandwidth will help to alleviate thechaotic overcrowding on the voiceportions of the amateur bands. This isespecially true ofthe80, 40 and 20—meterbands.”

“It is expected that a largeportion of Amateur Radio operators willwill be or are upgrading to higher-classlicenses and to more phone privileges. Alarge phone spectrum is needed toaccommodate the expected increase inactivity.”(Information from W5YI Report)

Petition to Retain 20 wpmfor US Extra Class

Licence

Alan Worrnser, NSLF, Frederick Adsit,NY2Vand MichaelDinelli,N9BORhavefiled a very professionally completedW68 -May/June 2000

i

1

RevisedPetitionforPartialConsiderationof the Report & Order (R&O) thatrestructured, the Amateur Radio Servicein the USA. They say their goal is “Toensure that the Amateur Radio Serviceremainsa fundamentallytechnical servicein the 21St century as it has remainedthroughout the 20th century.”

The petition includes an addressto retain the 20 wpm telegraphy test forthe Amateur Extra Class, and not allowcode waivers;

“The petitioners are all active,licensed amateurs who serve theircommunities through theAmateur RadioService,” the document reads. A commonthread is that they are all members ofFISTS, a large organization of CWenthusiasts.

The petitioners take issue withthe R&Owhich states that telegraphy is ahindrance to those that might enter theAmateur Service or attempt to upgradeskills. “...the Amateur Extra Class, withthe 20 wpm telegraphy exam, remainsthe fastest growing class of license afterthe Technician.” Telegraphy skill “...isonly a barrier to unmotivated individuals.As theARRLHandbook states, ‘learningMorse code is as easy as learning about40 words in a foreign language.”

“Almost all HF emergencycommunications in amateur radio useSSB voice supplemented by telegraphy.Reduction of telegraphy skills willseverelyhampertheabilityoftheAmateurRadio Service to respond to regional andnational emergencies.”

“The R&O states that theacross-the-board 5 wpm speed waschosen, in part to avoid the need for acode waiver. ...We believe that the 5

.6”

wpm General Class is reasonableaccommodation to give disabledpersons the opportunity to fulfil the basisand purpose of the Amateur RadioService.”The petitioners recommend that”... theAmateur Extra Class telegraphyexamination be maintained at 20 wpm[and] eliminate the waiver.”(From W5YI Report)

Fullerphone Mk IV Manualon the Web

In June 1999 Lyn Burlingame, N7CFO,publisher of the N7CFO Keyletter, took atrip down the Oregon coast and found an .

Operator’s manual for the Mark IVFullerphone in a small bookstore inNehalem,Oregon. Thiswas an interestingfind because there aremanyFullerphones

‘

still around, but this was the first manualthat has turned up. It is a 4 3/8" X 7 1/8"(11 cm x 18 cm) paperbound manual ofabout 40 pages.

Lyn used to sell copies of thismanual at cost, but recently was able toscan it into Adobe Portable Document

1

Format (PDF), so anyonewhowould likea copy, can download it from his webpages at:littp://www.qsl.net/n7cfo/fuller/fuller.htm

These are high resolution scansso the files are very large. They arebrokendown intomore manageable sections, butthey still take a long time to download -

please be patient. Please note that pages3

17 through 24 are all blank. These are the“Notes” pages for the use of the operator.The last page is an amendment that was l

6

loose in the manual.The files are Pages 1 - 5, Pages 6

- 10, Pages 11 - 16, Pages 25 - 30, Pages31 - 34 Pages 35, 36 and amendment.

If you do not have the AdobeAcrobat® Reader, you can download itfree of charge at the Adobe Website athttp://www.adobe.com

Lyn would appreciate a quick 6-mail with your comments on thedownloadprocess. If youarenot satisfiedwith the PDF copy, drop him a note and

; he will provide cost and addressinformation for a photocopy.(Information N7CFO web pages)

New Version of MorseTutor Announced

Black Cat Systems (http://www.blackcatsystems.com) announcesthat Morse Mania version 1.7.0 has beenreleased and is now available.Morse Mania is a Morse code tutor forthe Macintosh. The softwarepackage helps you learn Morse code atspeeds ranging from 5 to 30 words perminute. MorseManiais ideal for amateurradio operators who desire to learnor improve theirMorse codeproficiency,especiallyin orderto upgradetheir licenseclass.

In addition to drills to help learnthe various characters, MorseMania alsoallows complete text files to be sent, sothat “real life” messages can be used forpractice.

It also supports the Farnsworthmode, which increases the speed of thedots and dashes, and lengthens the pause

W69 — May/June 2000

between letters sent, allowingthe student l arrangements regarding the Morse codeto learn Morse code at higher speedsmore easily.

This version adds the ability tosend the commonly used abbreviationsAR, AS, BT, SK, and ERROR.

MorseMania is shareware.Afullyfunctional copy of Morse Mania may bedownloaded from the Morse Mania website. The URL is http:/lwww.blackcatsystems.com/software/morsemania.html

Black Cat Systems creates anddistributes Macintosh software, witha specific emphasis on programs for thescientific, amateur radio, andhealth markets.

Information about Black CatSystems entire line of products can befound at:http://www.blackcatsystems.com(Chris Smolinski, N3JLY, Black CatSystems)

Australian Vote for 5 wpmBy a unanimous vote of all states andterritories, the Wireless Institute ofAustralia - the world’s oldest radiosociety formed in 1910 - is on record asofficially favouring the reduction of theMorse test requirement from 10 wpm to5 wpm.

A letter of notification was sent toACA, the Australian CommunicationsAuthority, by WIA.In its reply the AustralianCommunications Authority (ACA) hasagreedinprincipletoimplementchanges 1

to Australia’s Amateur licensing l

W68 —May/June 2000

requirement. At present, Australia hastwo telegraphy examination speeds, 5words-per—minute for the Intermediatelicense and 10 wpm for the unrestricted(full privilege) license.

The reply includesthe followingstatement, “Given the overseas trends inrelation to this matter, the ACA agrees inprinciple to implement changes toAustralia’s amateur licensingarrangements in relation to therequirements for Morse code.”

An ACA press release on thematter is posted to the VK4 website at<http://www.wia.org.au/vk4>.(From W5YIReports)

American Morse Alive andWell

The Morse Telegraph Club Inc., whichincludes many retired railroad andWestern Union telegraphers, but alsomembers who are ham radio operators,demonstrates American Morse onsounders at various events around theUSA and Canada.

There are chapters in many citiesin theUnited States andCanada. OnMay28, the Lone Star Chapter will have atable at a train show in FortWorth, Texasandwill demonstrateMorsecode sendingand receiving.

TheSpokaneChapterof theMorseTelegraph Club has put up their ownwebsite. They have a great recording ofAmerican Morse as sent on a telegraph

7

sounder. It can be heard at:http://members.aol.com/sktelegr/WELCOMEWAV

New members, world—wide arealways welcome. Members receive Dots& Dashes, a quarterly newspaper full offascinating articles and reminiscences ofthe days of the American telegraph.Contact:SteveM. Fried,GrandSecretary-Treasurer, 409 Savoy Ct.,Schaumburg,Illinois, IL 60193, USA.Tel: 847-985-5766e—mail: KZPTS @home.comThe MTC web site is at:http://members.tripod.com/morse_telegraph_club

CD of Coast StationFarewells

Sylvester Focking, DH4PB has produceda double CD of coast station farewells.The price is DM 15,— including post &packaging within Germany of which DM7,- is contributed to the Seefunker-community who try to keep old things likeCW alive! The Seefunker web site is at

l

www.Seefunker.deFor more information e-mail:

foecking@main-rheiner.deorwrite: Sylvester Focking,Worrnser Str.16, 55276 Oppenheim, Germany.(Information: Monika Arnold, PA3FBF)

Israel New Licence Class

The Israeli Ministry of Communications.

has introduced a new licence class thatgives all HF band access for those who

not include HF phone privileges.The new licence is called the “D

Plus”. It is an enhancement optionfor holders of the existing “D code free”licence grade.These licensees on passinga 6 wpm test will now get full HF bandprivileges to operate on CW, as well astheir existing all-mode privileges above50 MHz.

Existing tests of 16 wpm for the“A grade” licence, 12 wpm for the“B grade” licence, and 6 wpm for the “Cgrade” licence remain unchanged atthis time.

‘1 (Information from W5YI Report)

Art & Skill of Radio-Telegraphy Third Edition

An excellent translation of the book “TheArt and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy” byWilliam Pierpont, NDHFF, is nowavailable in French. It was done byMaurice Golombani—Gailleur F6IIE. It isin downloadable format at his WEB siteat: http://f6iie.free.fr

There are severalWeb sites whichhave the new third edition in Englishincluding:Jim Farrior W5FOK This is part of hisexcellent Code learning and speedbuilding program “The MILL” at WebSite:http://www.net-magic.net/users/w4fok/Dr. Jon Oates at:http://www.joates.demon.co.uk/megs/Dave Clarke at :

http://www.raes.ab.ca/book/index.htmlThis edition has additional

material to make it more attractive

pass a6wpmMorse code test - but it does '1 to young people.

8 W69 — May/June 2000

The CW CentreUK Price List

R A Kent Keys and accessories Swedish Pump Key. Hand key, kit £43.50 ~ Pedersen DK1000

Hand key, assembled 56.50_

KTI Professional key 65.50 L°9'ke¥ “eye'sTwin paddle, kit 56.50 L°9'key K3 key‘.”

. Superkeyer 3, kltTwm paddle, assembled 69.50Single paddle, kit 48.50 Samson keyersSingle paddle, assembled 59.50

, ETMQC x3, W11h paddlesThe Dual Key 99-90 . ETM9COGx3, no paddlesMorse trainer 44.95 . ETM SQ Twin paddlesPractice oscillator 18.50 ,

Practice oscillator kit 7.50 Schurr keys and paddlesEK4 keyer 4750 . “Profi” twin paddleEK4/ M memory keyer 73.50 , ' ”Portable" “”19 paddleEK4 memory upgrade kit 29.50 - TM” mechanism, no baseTouch twin keyer kit 27.90 SilggdfireSTrtl/Ialilxjrsty baseElectronic keyer kit 15.00 ’

DK1 WEBencher keys and paddles . “Minky” miniature pump- BY1 Twin, black base £79.95 . “'Twinky” miniature twin

BY2 Twin, chrome base 89.95STi Single, black base 79.95 MFJST2 Single, chrome base 94.95 - MFJ418 Morse trainerRJ | Pump, black base 69.95 . ' 301i case for 418RJ2 Pump, chrome base 74.95

Spares stocked, Repairs undertaken.Please ‘phonefor details

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Postage & Packing extra. Payment welcome in cash, cheque [UK £), Visa or Mastercard

G3TUXThe QRP Component CompanyPO Box 88 Haslemere GU27 2RF, EnglandTel: +44 (0)1428 661501 Fax: +44 (0)1428 661794

e-mail: g3tux@aol.comW68 —Magazine 2000

OMETIMESWHENREADINGMMI tend to get depressed. Thatis when it is rubbed in that I know

just only one kind ofMorse: the Morse Iwas taught at the Radio-Holland schoolin Rotterdam. That is when I realize thatI have never set a world speed Morserecord, that I have never owned - or evenused — a bug. That is when I realize thatI have never managed to take the Tokyosynoptic weather with my left hand, 1

quietly tapping out a stack of cables withmy right, and in the meantime preparingand lighting up my pipe or having a wittychat with the Old Man. When, come tothink of it, Ihave never even smoked!And I neverwoundmy own transformers,nor did I build miniature transmitters inmatchboxes or excel at other similartechnical achievements.

But then, when I think how dulland almost useless my days at sea musthave been,the sun usuallybreaks through.Dull life? What about having done myjob as aR/O on 20vessels (andone oilrig),under 7 different flags. And did not oldCaptain Scriven on my first non-Dutchflag vessel introduce me to a newMasterwith the words, “and this here’s yourSparks, and a damned good one”, thenturned away, leaving me speechless. I

knew I did my job well, but such praisecoming from his lips...

Speed record? My forte wasquality, not quantity. Did not I once senda long, an endlessly long, cable throughPortishead Radio ordering a

10

MaritimeMemories

by Albert Spaans

complete inventory of British Admiralty(B.A.) charts, and did not my colleagueashorebreak in when I wanted to confirmall those figures, telling me, “well doneom, vri well done, QSL nr ..”. Howproud I was of those few words!

OK, I was never quiteambidextrous. But on somevessels I wasthe only one who could draw a properweather chart. (I found one day that someMates from, let’s say, a Mediterraneancountry had never even seen onebeing made on board...). A rather handything, though, especially duringthe typhoon season in the South ChinaSea. And after crossing the Pacific,approaching the Japanese coast withthe Decca radar on the blink, I was theone to climb the radar-mast, take out theblasted transmitter unit from the blastedscanner unit, when the blasted disc,together with its whole collection ofcarbon-brushes was soaking wet again.(A particularly challenging job in thedark, or when raining or windy, or acombination of those). When luck wasonmy side the electrician would lend me

W69 — May/June 2000

a hand, otherwise an AB. (able-bodiedseaman) would have to help me, heavingthe transmitter unit up to the scannerplatform, trying to keep it fromslamminginto the ladder and keeping a piece oftarpaulin around us, in an attempt to keepthe rain out whilst putting the TX backin). But I always managed, and I feltquite pleased when the Old Man wouldlook at the radar-screen, smile with reliefand say “Yofi Sparks, thank you”. (Yofi= hebrew, meaning good, nice).

Speaking about water in theradar transmitter: On one specific vesselI used to have a problem that reallypuzzled me. Sometimes, when the radarhad not been used for some days, whenswitched on it would workflawlessly. And then, suddenly, even inbright beautiful weather, when switchedon it performed very poorly. Everythingworked, but there was no picture, or itwas very weak. When all otherpossibilities had been eliminated I cameto the bottom of the checklist, “water inthe waveguide”.

Indeed, so it was and havingdried it out, checked whatever I couldcheck, no clear cause was discovered.Some weeks later the same fault aroseandthe sameremedyresolved it. Checkedagain all flanges, scanner foundation atthe crosstrees - nothing! I asked the

Bosun to rig up a bosun’s chair to checkthe waveguide all the way along theforemast, up to the point where itdisappeared into a junction—box at thefo’cs’le deck, together with awholebunch of cables, neatly sealed with alayer of concrete - no sign of anymechanical damage, whatsoever.

Then I found out, by tasting,that the water was salty, and socondensation was eliminatedl took adeckhose, turnedonthewater andwasheddown the wageguide, checking thetransmitter unit in the fo’ 0’ sle for signsofa leak - Nothing! I gave up, asked forshore assistance in the next port, but theresult was the same. The technicianscould not find anything either. Dryingout the waveguidebecame quite a routinejob for me, but it was not a situationIcould live with so, in Durban I askedagain for shore service.

After explaining thewhole story, the two technicians and Iwent through all the possibilities butthey were as baffled as I was. Then, oneof the two gentlemen slipped on the wetdeck and, as he fell, grabbed thewaveguide which, by the shock ofhis weight, tore free from the concretebed in which it had been corrodingaway for some years....This put an end tomonths of frustration. MM

G-QRP ClubThe G-QRP Club promotes and encourages low-power operatingon the amateur bands with activity periods, awards and trophies. Facilitiesinclude a quarterly magazine, Morse training tapes, kits, traders’ discountsand a QSL bureau. Novices and SWLs welcome.Enquiries to Rev. George Dobbs GaFtJV, St Aidan’s Vicarage,498 Manchester Road, Rochdale, Lancs OL11 3HE. Send alarge see. or two IRCs

W68 —May/jww 2000 J]

ITH 10 SPARE MINUTESthismorningbefore leaving forthe Halls of Learning, I fired

up the rig for a fast DX QSO on 20metres before the D region rose with thesun. Far away in Europe, a lone CWstation called CQ with impeccable, 25wpmMorse on an otherwise empty band.I replied. When he came back to me,everything had changed.

Now his callsign was a single,spacelessdit/dah string. So was thereport,but there’s plenty of redundantinformation in 3 numbers, and I decodedit as 579. Things got worse. The namecame across as “Alf97am” which Isubsequently decided was probably“Alfonzio”.WithcreativelisteningI thinkI followed about 10% ofwhat came next.Making appropriate fervent wishes toCUAGN, we parted after a short QSO.

Driving to work, three thingsbothered me. Firstly, I felt a hypocrite. Idid not actually want to see this jokeragain, since I could not understand him.Yet I had not told him that his Morse wasunreadable. Should I have done this?Would he have been offended?Would hehave thanked me and gone off to aMorseclinic for remedial sending practice?

Secondly, I felt inferior. Am I theonly person who cannot read thisoperator?Is senilityovercomingme fasterthan I thought? Or does everybody elsedo what I did when faced with suchinscrutability - terminate the contactpolitely and sign off?

12

Mysterious Morse- and More

by Dr Gary Bold ZL1AN

Thirdly, I felt baffled. How couldthis operator, after sendingan impeccablyspacedCQ, suddenlystartproducing suchmysteriousrubbish?Had Iworked aJekyl

r andHyde personality? Did Dr Jekyl sendthe impeccableCQs to entrap the unwary,then subside, overpowered byMrHyde’ ssinister, humiliating gibberish?

This is probably what hadhappened: The CQ came from a memorykeyer, but the subsequent Morse camefrom the operator’s fingers - I quite oftenoperate that way myself. Maybe theoperator’ s sending had slowlydeteriorated over the years Without himnoticing it, and without anybody having

r the heart to tell him. I put this down to theuniversal, inherent good nature andkindness of CW operators all over theworld.

We very rarely tell anybody thattheir Morse is bad. Should we be morehonest? What do you think?

W69 — {May/Jam:2000

Morse Typewriters.In one of my “Morseman”

columns in ‘Break~ln’, I mentioned thatCharles Yetman had patented amechanical “Morse typewriter”, theforerunner of Morse keyboards, in 1902.I said that this was used in afew telegraphoffices but rapidly became extinct.

Bob, VK6BE,madethis comment:“The Morse typewriter mentioned byGary was used in Australia for manyyearsonthe FlyingDoctornetworkbeforethe advent of two-way speech operation.

“The outback radios were built byTraeger, himself a VKS amateur, andwere pedal~powered. Signals were sentfrom theminMorsecodeusingthisMorsetypewriter, while the base station repliedby voice.

“Thus,theoutbackkeyboardusers(pastoralistsand theirwivesand children)only needed to be able to type. Theydidn’t need to be able to read Morse, norto send it on a conventional key. Only thetrained base station operators neededthese skills.

“I guess the main advantage ofthis setup was the simplicity of the radiogear needed for sending Morse.

“Incidentally, I saw one of theseMorse keyboards demonstrated by thelate Wally Coxon, VK6AG, for manyyears the radio engineer for the FlyingDoctor Network in Western Australia.He brought one to a WIA meetingsomewhere around 1957 or 1958. He wasstill building the transmitters for theWARFDS network at that time but thekeyboards had gone out of use by then.”

QRM in the USABecause we ZLs are so few, and

W68 —May/June 2000

so far away from high Ham—populationareas, most of us assume that everyone inthe rest of the world respects band—plansthewaywe do. In particular, it’s believedthat the increasing numbers of SSB anddigital ops respect, and will continue torespect the “CW only” allocations.

It wasn’t until I operated in theUSA myself recently that I found howuntrue this has become. I’ve just queriedmymateJess,W8MCP, about the currentsituation. This is what he emailed back:“Hi Gary:“I can tell you that there is an increasingamount of data and single sideband onthe CWportion of the 40 meter band hereand it is mainly coming from SA. I wason 7030 last Saturday night in QSO witha friend of mine in Las Vegas andwe hadto move three times to run from the SSBin the CWportion! They were strong andright on QRG so that even the 250 Hzfilter could not reduce their effect. Wefinally managed to get on a QRG thatdidn’t get jammed. It is getting bad herewith both digital and SSB in the CWband. There is also a lot of RTTY fromSA there too.

“As you may know, Canada hasallowed SSB in our CW band for a longtime but they usually stay above 7050. Iam not sure what their legal band limitsare for SSB but I have heard them in theCWportion many times. The SA stationsare really bad though. They seem to beeverywhere and no one asks if the QRGis QRL. You can forget that.”

MostUS CWops canrelate similarstories. I can see how some of this arises.The CW bands may seem to be full ofempty spaces, because many CWops uselowpower andwire antennas - this is why

19’

they’re often fanatical filter—freaks. Non-CW people may not even hear them, andit’s temping to drop intowhat seems to bea hole for an almost certainlyunpunishable, but illegal, QSO.The SSBallocations are becoming so jammed upin the Northern hemisphere that this isincreasingly common.(Unfortunately, since this was written,my dear friend Jess has become a silentkey. A great loss to the Morse fraternity)

Forked Lightningwith the TridentI spent a couple of days at Easter

staying in afamily holiday cottage aboveLake Tarawera. I’d packed (naturally)the Trident mobile whip, a recentlyacquired Kenwood TSSOS, the K8+keyer, the MFJ-945D transmatch, and acouple of 12 volt gel-cells. The TSSOShas the optional CW filter fitted, and Ilooked forward to some night-time .

paddle—work.Woe. Everything hadgrown since

I was last there, and there was no way Icould mount the whip 0n the wagon roofwithout fouling the trees. However, therewas a clear area in front of the cottage,and a serviceable, 4 pronged garden forkamongst the tools.

Mid—afternoon, I drove thegardenfork right into the ground. I clamped themounting plateI use for the whip on topof the fork’s foot-rest with a g-cramp,and screwed in the whip. That mountedthe whip with its base only about 10 cmabove the ground. A very odd place for amobile whip.

Rain came down. I connected thecoax, retired into the cottage with theelectronics, and fired up. The transmatcheasily loaded on 40 metres, and I

14

immediately broke into an SSB QSObetween Charles, ZLZHS, and Boyd,ZL2AE, who reported my signal as 5 and5.

The sun went down, and I foundthat the whip also loaded easily on 20metres.Relaxingin an armchairthat night,I worked all over Europe and the USA onCW. Nobody gave me less than 559!Roy,W7VR, was intrigued to hear of myantenna arrangement. “Don’t move thefork!” he said.

Moral: You don’t have to mount amobile whip on a vehicle. In a pinch, it

1 will probably work quite nicely mountedon all sorts of things.

A Chat with TomThe HF bands are coming back,

but 20 metres is not getting down into myvalley too well yet, so I’ve mainly beenworking DX on 40. Last night I wasdelighted to hear Tom, W4BQF, callingCQ, and I grabbed him. We’ve chattedextensively by email, but had neverworked each other on CW before.

I printedemailexchangesbetweenme and Tom dealing with high-speedCW in my October 1997 column. Tomcan read “conversational” Morse in hishead at 122 wpm, and “enough to answerquestions” at 140 wpm.

Tom’s comments about thiscreated a lot of interest, so I print themagain: “Many years ago I had a speedwall. As much as I wanted to copy highspeedCW, I could not get over the 40—45

wpm barrier. My wife bought me a code3 reader which I used for about two years.When you first start using one, you relyon it completely, but as you continueusing it, you suddenly realize that you’re

W69 — May/1mg 2000

over that ‘hump’ and don’t need the codereader any more.

“When you are trying to copyhigher speeds, if your mind loses the‘flow’ of the CW, it panics, and you loseconcentration. and it’s darned hard tocatch up again. With a code reader, youcan glance up at the screen, see the wordyou missed, and your mind continues theeven flow of copying. I went from 45wpm to 60 wpm, without actuallyrealizing it. For those ‘nay-sayers’ whowill comment on code readers, I can tellyou that when you hear hams having aQSO at 70 wpm or better, they are NOTusing code readers, principally becausecode readers are not worth a hoot aboveabout 65 wpm and they can not copy CWin the presence of QRN. I can copy inexcess of 100 wpm, of plain English,normal conversation, inmyhead; it’ s justthe same thing as speaking in anotherlanguage.”

L a s tnight,we stayedat a modest 30wpm because Iwas gettingSSBQRM from theA s i a ngentlemen whoinfest thebottom end of40 now, andTom had QRNand QSB. Also,I can’t readanywhere nearthat fast.

T o mwas using aTen—Tec OMNI

W68— Mag/(Yum2000

VI+ rig, but he told me that its QSKbecomes unreliable about 60 wpm. Foroperating above that speed he uses aYAESU FT1000MP.

But Torn calls CQ on 40 metres atabout 20 wpm, and as a gentlemanlyoperator, ifyou come back at some otherspeed, he’ll adjust to that. And of coursehe sends with a keyboard, so hisMorse isperfect. If you hear him, give him a call.

The Brown Brothers PaddleI’ve often mentioned this paddle,

which I’ve had and loved since 1977. Atthat time, theywere considered the Rolls-Royce of paddles by the US CW ops Italked to. They’re rare now, and I’veoften been asked what one looks like.There’s mine in the photo.

I know of no other paddleconstructed like this. There are nobearings. The two shafts are attached to

Gary Bold’s Brown Brothers Paddle

the insulated back-post by thin springymetal shimswhichflex as the shaftsmove.You may be able to see the four screwsholding the shims just in front of thecable at the back. The two gold-tippedscrews with locknuts at the shaft centresadjust the gaps. These both make contactwith the same grounded cylindrical postbetween them. The front screw andlocknut adjust the tension of the singlespring (I have never found this to be adisadvantage, and it’ s simple)which restson an insulated plate at one end forelectrical isolation between the shafts.

You may also see that the base iscantedupwards slightlytowards the front,with front legs that are longer than theback legs. This is to raise the finger padsto the height at which my finger andthumb rest naturally on the table, Mostkeyers place these too low. TedMcElroy,the last great “World ChampionTelegrapher”was verydefinite aboutthis.He believed that anything that forced thehand, arm, or body into a slightlyunnatural position affected your sendingand caused fatigue faster.

One thing I didn’t like were thefinger pads the paddle came with, which

i

l journal ofNZART, 1998/1999.)

flexed too much for my taste. I replacedthem with thicker and smaller perspexones. I experimented a lot to find theshapes that suited me best, and you cansee that they are different. The left (dit)paddle projects 6 mm further than theright, since the thumb naturally restsfurther back from the mechanism thanthe forefinger. This reflects the padgeometry that Horace Martin considered“right” in the first of his legendaryVibroplex bugs, and which has beencopied ever since.But I know of no keyerpaddle that has been producedcommercially like this. I wonder why?

This paddle is very solid and verysimple. When the Brown Brothers died,production stopped. Recently, I heard arumour that somebody had obtained thediesandwas goingto produce them again,but nobody can definitely confirm this. Apity, because many paddle-lovers wouldlike one. I know that a used unit changedhands recently at a US Hamfest for $500(US).(Extracted and adapted forMMby TonySmithfrom various issues ofGary Bold’s‘The Morseman’ column in ‘Break-In’,

MM

Job OpportunityJob opportunity owing to the depression in the shipping industry, more than 2,000

competent marine wireless operators are unemployed. On the other hand, there appears tobe a shortage of operators in theRoyal Air Force. In the latter service all wireless operatorswill be given the rank of Leading Aircraftsman or Aircraftsman (First Class) as soon as

the attestation test has been passed, according to the skill shown. This carries with it payat the rate of 5s.2d or 4s.6d a day. All operators are fed and clothed. By attaining the rankof first-class sergeant—major it is possible to obtain pay at the rate of 15s. a day.(From the Experimental Wireless magazine, March, 1924. Contributed by Ted Jones.)

16 W69 — May/June 2000

MM68 Searchwordby Tony Smith

(Find the answers to this puzzle in MM68. Solution p.48)

Across2 Spanish language Morse

learning program (5)7 One destination of “via IIndo” telegrams (4)8 She wrote “The Story of

the Key” (6)9 Argentine Morse club (4)12 Author of a history of the

GPOMk1, 2, & 3 keys (7)13 Much info on codes, from

Q to Myer, from thischap (6)

14 Australian telegraphpioneer (4)

to it about SSBintruders(10)

17 Town named after wifeof 14 (12)

19 Employer of the firstwoman telegrapher (6)

22 State at war with France, 1870 (7)23 Protestor in 15 across (3)24 Onemaker ofAP16001 signalling torch(6)

15 French club has protested I I

Down1 Miss Bagley had a “fair knowledge” of

this subject (9)3 Awarded an RSGB special certificate of

appreciation (6)4 WU and Postal Telegraph had workable

wires from here in 1906 earthquake (7)5 American regulatory body (3)6 Messages from the giant Cunarders (12)

W68 —May/wa 2000

IIIIII“-IIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIII

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I I IIIIIIII I

10 They issued a wide variety of frank stampsfor many years (12)

11 1940 author of book on the AssociatedPress (8)

15 J.H. Bunnell quick adjustment relay (3)16 Light colour of base of new dual key (4)18 Another destination of “via Indo”

telegrams (5)20 Telegram that sparked a war (3)21 Their Board of Directors unanimously

favour a 5 wpm code test (3)22 Governmentcontrolledtelegraphandother

communications services (3)

J7

INE ISLAND TODAY is abedroom community for nearbyRochester, Minnesota. Other than

the Douglas Trail, the blacktoppedbicycle trail terminating at the south endof town, there is scant evidence that theCGW (Chicago Great Western) andC&NW (Chicago and North Western)ran through Pine Island. And even lessevidence of telegrapher James Finnegan,who as the sender of “Off Again, OnAgain, Gone Again - Finnegan,” broughtfame to his village in the 18903.

For 140 years, Pine Island hasbeen a small farm town in the rolling hillsof southern Goodhue county. Situatedwhere the middle and south forks of theZumbro River join, a forested island inthe stream gave its name to Pine Island.From its earliest days it was the markettown for nearby Swiss, Irish, andNorwegian settlements.

Pine Island’s fortunes brightenedin 1878 once the R&NM (Rochester &Northern Minnesota) pushed 23 miles oftrack north from Rochester Junctionthrough Douglas, Pine Island, and NewJerusalem to Zumbrota. At Pine Islandthe R&NM built a station and a freighthouse. The C&NW assumed the roadimmediately after the track’s completion.

Jim FinneganThe R&NM also built a small

station at Douglas, halfway between PineIsland and Rochester, to which the i

Finnegan family moved from Chatfield, i

18

“Off Again, On Again,Gone Again -

Finnegan”

by James Burt

Minnesota, in 1883. Jim, one of six sonsand daughters of John and MargaretFinnegan, was born in Chatfield in 1865.Jim hired on theNorthWestern (Chicagoand North Western) in some capacity atage 18 and in a few years became itsagent. By 1893 he ran the agency at PineIsland. His spinster sister Anna becamethe CGWagent at Douglas once that roadbuilt through Zumbrota to Rochester in1902.

A glimpse of his character andbehavior can be had from local items inthe newspaper and old acquaintances. Hejuggled Indian clubs. He was a carefuldresser, congenial, talkative, and alwaysin ahurry. OnePine Islander rememberedhim scurrying each morning to the barnnearthe depot to milkhis cow, sometimesriding his bicycle. He had brief, earlyaspirationsas awriter, but his penmanshipwas so deficient that he signed railroadchecks by typewriter. A wheelman in the1890s, he energetically cycled on his

W69 — May/jwua2000

days off with hiscurrent fiancee ofchoice to visit thefamily at Douglas.Once safetlymarried to MyraBolles in 1896, Jimplaced an ad in thenewspaper offeringone bicycle inexchangefor agoodteam.

Jim andMyra had nochildren. Even so,Jim was tolerant ofboys hanging about the depot in

‘

TALKATNE". we; 9N cwas. , . MILK ms aw. . . h‘vkxy/

prompting the telegram are not known.But Pine Island tradition maintains that

TEACH. . AWVKw" ,

the Dispatcherhad mildlyreprimandedJames Finneganfor being toowordy and tyingup the wire inreporting thederailment of awork train.Taking thecriticism to heart,Jim pondered hismisdeed andcrafted histelegram for thenext derailment.

The new

summertime looking for excitement. He ;

offered to teach telegraphy to any kid sointerested.Telegram InspiredPoem l

The exact circumstancesl

W68 —May/jun2000

telegram sent,telegraphic news services picked it up tospread it far and wide as a novelty item.That’s how it came to the attention ofStrickland Gillilan, a cub reporter at theNew Richmond, Indiana, Palladium.

19

Gillilan was an Ohio farm boy, born in1869 and a recent graduate of OhioUniversity at Athens.

It was a dull springday for news inNew Richmond when Gillilan wrote hispoem to relieve the tedium. He publishedit in the Palladium, then revised it a fewmonths later for submission to Life, ahumor magazine which published it in1897. His poem was extremely popular,an instant hit. It made Gillilan’s career asa writer, humorist, and lecturer. He diedin 1954 having recited it from stagethousands of times.Uneventful LifeFame passed by James Finnegan. Henever profited from his telegram andseldom mentioned it in later years. Buthis two sisters, Anna and Olive, fiercelyand proudly defended his authorship.

Jim’s life remained uneventfuluntil C&NW embargoed the Rochester-Zumbrota line in 1933. He then workedout of Rochester and a few other stationson the mainline until he reachedretirement age at 70, with 52 serviceyears. With the railroad gone, C&NWsold the station to the Gospel TabernacleChurch which moved it to South MainStreet. It’s still there, hidden deep insidethe present dayAssembly ofGodChurch.

After retirement, Jim and Myrastayed in their house at 300N. Main untilhis death in 1943. Myra died 12 yearslater. Both are buried in the Pine IslandCemetery across County Highway 1 1

from the Douglas Trail.(The author thanks Cheryl Finnegan andRachel Morris for their help with thisarticle.)(Our thanks to Ralph Reinhold, AF4EZ,for drawing our attention to this article,

20

‘ which originally appeared in NorthWesternLines,journal ofthe Chicago &

3 North WesternHistorical Society).

FINNIGINTO FLANNIGAN

Superintindint wus Flannigan;Boss av the siction wuz Finningin;Whiniver the kyars got offen the thrackAn’ muddled up things t’ th’ divil an’

‘

backFinnigin writ it to Flannigan,Afther the wrick wuz all on again;That is, this Finnigin

. Repoorted to Flannigan.

Whin Finnigin furst writ to Flannigan,He writed tin pages—did Finnigin.

1 An’ he touldjist how the smashoccurred;Full minny a tajus, blunderin’ wurrdDid Finnigin write to FlanniganAfther the cars had gone on agin.That wus how FinniginRepoorted to Flannigan.

‘

Now Flannigan knowed more thanFinnigin—He-d more idjucation—had Flannigan;An’ it wore’m clane an’ complately outTo tell what Finnigin writ aboutIn his writin’ to Muster Flannigan.So he writed back to Finnigin:“Don’t do sich a sin again’

,Make ‘em brief, Finnigin!”

Whin Finnigin got this from Flannigan,He blushed rosy rid—did Finnigin;

1 An’ he said: “1’ ll gambleawhole month’s. pa-ay,

That it will be minny and’ minny a da-ayBefoore Sup’rintindint, that’s Flannigan,

W69 — May/June 2000

Gits a whak at this very same sin agin.From Finnigin to FlanniganRepoorts won’t be long again.”

Wan da—day on the siction av Finnigin,On the road suprintinded by Flannigan,A rail give way on a bit av a curveAn’ some kyars went off as they madethe swerve.“There’s nobody hurted,” sez Finnigin,“But reportsmustbemadetoFlannigan,”An’ he winked at McGorrigan,As mam'ed a Finnigin.

He wuz shantyin’ thin, wuz Finnigin,As minny a railroader’s been agin,An’ the shmoky ol’ lamp wuz burnin’bright

RadioBygones

the vintage wireless magazineAnnual subscription (6 issues):

UK - £18.50; Europe - £19.50; Restof the World £23.75.

Or send £3.25 for a sample copyFor further details, contactWimbome Publishing LimitedRadio Bygones, Allen HouseEast Borough. WimbomeDorset BH21 1PF, England

Phone: +44 (0) 1202 881749Fax: +44 (0) 01202 841692

E-mail: radiobygones@wimborne.co.uk

In Finnigin’s shanty all that night— w wwwradiobygonescom WBilin’ down his repoort, was Finnigin! 1—An’ he writed this here: “MusterFlannigan:Off agin, on agin, 7 ,7Gone agin,—Finnigin” S.W. Gillilan

W68 —May/jam: 2000 21

LEARNED MORSE BY MYSELFas a kid, trying to decipher all that“secret” stuff between the

Short Wave broadcast stations on thefarm radio and didn’t get a ham licensetill years later.

When I joined the Navy in the late50’s, already knowing Morse, I wasautomaticallyplugged into theRadiomanrate and sent to radio school. In that erathe Navy had three radio “A” schools, atBainbridge, SanDiego, andOrlando. Allwere run the same, and each graduatedabout 50 new radiomen every 2 weeks.

The course was nominally 12weeks long, and you needed 22 wpm tograduate. Four hours of each day werespent on Morse training, (three hoursreceiving, and one hour on a “net” so youalso practiced your sending) the rest onprocedures, equipment tuning andoperation, voice procedures, teletype,security stuff, etc.

Morse training started out withlearningthe alphabetandnumerals,whichwere introduced to you in related groups,like EISHS, AUV4, NDB6, TMOO, etc.This was a rate of 4 wpm, and took youabout a week or two usually. Trainingcode was sent by paper-tape machines,similar to a Boehme keyer, and speedwas increased (ordecreased)by changingthe capstan pulley on the machine, intwo—WPMincrements.

Military communications onlyused two punctuation marks at the time— the slant sign and the hyphen —— so we

22

Learning Morsein the US Navy

by Hans Brakob, KHHB(Ex - Master Chief Radioman, US Navy)

were not taught periods, commas, orquestion marks. In fact, in militarycomms.,therewas a prosign“IMI”,whichmeant “repeat”. Soundsjust like a “?” onthe air, but was used completelydifferently.For example,ifIweresendinga really oddball word like“XYGGISTROM” I would make sureyou copied it correctly by sending“XYGGISTROMIMIXYGGISTROM”.The prosign for a question was “INT” -for example if I wanted to ask my signalstrength I would send “INT QSA” ratherthan “QSA?”.

But I digress! Back to how wewere taught Morse - The students sat at adesk with a communications typewriter(“mill”), akey, andajackbox with severaljacks for headphones. In another roomwere several tapemachines, eachrunningat a different speed, and connected to thejackboxes at the students desks. Thestudents would plug into whatever speedthey were pursuing at the time, and it wasall “straight speed”, not Famsworth.

All copying was on a mill, not bypencil. For the first 10 weeks, all copyingwas S—charactercoded groups, not plaintext. This made it impossible to “think”about what you were hearing, and tryingto anticipate the next character. After a

W69 — May/Jwte 2000

while you got in a “zone” and the codewent directly from your eardrums to thekeyboard as a completely automaticsubconsciousresponse,withoutanyactionby your conscious brain. Very fewstudents got stuck at any “plateau” likeyou hear hams talk about, and when it didhappen it was almost always at 18 wpm.

While it was some advantage toalready know the code, coming into theschool, it was really kind of difficult to re—

leam to copy on the mill, as opposed to“head copying” and just jotting downpencil notes as I had as a ham. Manyexperienced hams simply couldn’t makethat transition, as military operating wasnot “conversational” like ham radio, andthecopyingtechniqueswere so completelydifferent.

At the end of 4 weeks came thefirst speed test. At that point you hadlearned the characters and had beenpractice copying for quite awhile. Thefirst test at 4 weeks was 6 wpm. Thenevery week you were expected to be atleast 2WPM better. Copying tests were10 minutes in duration, and you wereallowed 2 errors for a passing grade.Sending tests were 5 minutes in duration,and you were allowed no uncorrectederrors (you could make an error, but hadto catch it yourself, and go back andcorrect it using proper procedures). If youfailed a given speed you were dropped

back one week in training to the classbehind you. If you failed two weeks in arow, youwere washed out and sent to thefleet, probably to become a deck hand,although a lot ofguyswhodropped out ofradio school found their way up to theSignal gang using flashing light andyardarm flashers at about 10 wpm.

You could “test out” at any higherspeed, upto thefinal 22 wpmrequirement,but still stayed in school to learn the otherthings. Students who completed their 22wpm early got extra study time for othersubjects during code-practice hours, oracted as “junior instructors” to help outthe staff.

When you got into the fleet yourfirst duties were probably copying the“fox” broadcast. This was a realconfidence builder, because it normallyonly ran at about 16 or 18 WPM, so wasreally easy to handle, andperfectmachinecode. You sat an eight hour shift, justtyping 5-letter coded groups, and reallygot into a “zone”.

The tales you hear about copying20-30 seconds behind, drinking a cup ofcoffee, and carrying on a conversation allat the sametime are absolutely true. Thenjust when you were getting cocky aboutyour skills andfelt like a “real” radioman,they stuck youon the ship—to—shorecircuitto send outgoing traffic but that can bethe subjectof anothertale! MM

THE MORSE ENTHUSIASTS GROUP SCOTLANDMEGS was formed in 1991 to encourage the use of Morse, especially bynewcomers. Regular skeds are held using our callsign ‘GMQRSE’ each Mondayand Thursday from 7 until 9 pm. (local time) around 3.530MHz. Among otherservices, we offer Morse practice tapes free of charge, other than postage. Thisoffer is now also available [0 MM readers. Membership is open worldwide, the

? ‘Scotland’ in our title simply shows place of origin. Lifetime membership £1.00.Details from Secretary: G.M. Allan GM4HYF, 22 Tynwald Avenue,Rutherglen, Glasgow G73 4RN, Scotland.

W68 —May/flute 2000 27’

Photo/Collection:

Wyn

Davies

Readers are invited to contribute any additional inlormationand stories, no matter how minor, to the

Editor, Morsum Magniticat. There have been thousands of designs of keys & telegraphy instuments.

Informationwill be lost unless it is compiled in one place and shared with other readers.

Photo/Collection:

Robert

W.

Betts,

N1KPR

i

Strap key marked “Queen & Co. Makers, Phila. ” and “USMA” (US Military Academy)removed from service at West Point, NY. The meaning of #43 is not known.

Bulgarian Postal Key

24 W69 — Why/June2000

Photo/Collection:

Wyn

Davies

Photo/Collection:

Dave

Pennes

This little chrome bug is a Les Logan ‘amateur’model, the economy line made by the companyin the 1930’s and 1940’s. Much more scarce than the Les Logan ‘professional’ (Speed-X) line,the amateurbugswere lowerqualityandcheaply put together. The chrome is usuallypitted andbubbly because the cast iron bases were not copper plated under the chrome. This one isunusually well preserved. Les Logan amateurline bugs were sold by mail order retailers suchas Sears Roebuck and others. There was never any ID on the bugs. The paddles were acharacteristic ‘drooping’ shape.

KeyManufacturedby the KumeElectronicCorporation,Osaka, Japan

W68—May/June 2000 2!

INCETHERANKS OFTHEOpenWire Testboardmen are thinning,and Open Wire Telegraph lines

are almost non—existent today, it may beof interest to describe some of the testingtechniques employed by those who didsuch work.

Western Union, the railroads,AT&Tandothercompanies hadextensiveopen wire plants spanning the US. upuntil the 1960’s. Technological advanceslargely supplanted the open wire linesand overcame their vulnerability todisaster.

Interesting JobThe old—time Testboardman or

Wirechief had an interesting job,especially when the weather was lessthan ideal and rain, sleet, snow and icewreaked havoc on the lines. Then, too,Lightning often walked about, seekingarbitrary paths to Mother Earth, andwhatbetter place to go than a nice fat telegraphwire strung high on wet poles.“Atmospheric” electricitywas somethingto be reckoned with indeed, and it causedmany a Wirechief to tear at his hair.

When the weather was fine overhis district, the Wirechief usually didroutine tests once a day which wereintended to determine the basic “health”of the wires traversing his territory.Routine measurements at one end of theline, with a distant office assisting, wereconducted to measure the leakage toground or “insulation resistance” of each

26

Testing onOpen Wire

Telegraph lines

by L.E. “Ed” Trump AL7N

It will not be longbefore there is no-one leftwho has had experience of testing openwire Iandline circuits. The author did thiswork for a number ofyears and was alwaysfascinated by it. Ifyou ever wondered whata “Wirechief” did, here’s the answer.

wire, continuity of same, and theworkingcurrent in the circuit assigned to the wireif any.

Thesemeasurementswereusuallyrecorded at intervals perhaps daily, orweekly or even monthly depending onthe particular Company’s policy. Theserecordswerekept for reference, andcouldbe referred to as a “standard” orbenchmark when things went wrong.

VMA Primary Test InstrumentThis testing was service-

interrupting, so it was normally doneduring the “low usage” part of the daywhen the wire was idle. If this was notpossible, servicewould bemaintained by“patching” the circuit carried by a givenwire off to a known good spare wirewhile the testing was done.

The primary testing instrumenton a typical telegraph switchboard was

W69 — May/jam 2000

the Volt—Millameter (VMA). TheSwitchboard Volt-Millameter was aspecial “zero center” Galvanometer(microammeter) that was calibrated to200 units each side of center. A specialset of shunt resistances, alongwith ajackand plug arrangement allowed the meterto be quickly set up as either a voltmeteror amilliammeter,withafull scalereadingof 200 volts, or 200 milliamperes eitherside of center, as desired.

When set up as a voltmeter, specialtesting potentials up to plus 200 volts,minus 200 volts, or ground, could beconnected to one side of the meter, withthe other side of the meter connected to atest cordwith aplug tofit the linej acksonthe board.

A strapkey was also provided thatcould reverse the testing battery potenialapplied to the meter. When set up as amilliammeter both sides of the meterwere connected to the test cord. Currentvalue in milliamperes anddirection couldthen be easily observed by plugging thetest cord into a series jack in theswitchboard jack circuit of any givenwire.

Insulation ResistanceTestsInsulation resistance tests were

carried out with the distant end of thewire under test known to be open at agiven location. The switchboard meterwas set up as a voltmeter, and connectedto the wire under test at the line jack insuch a manner as to open off the normallyassigned office equipment and workingbattery. First ground, then bothpotentialsof the testing battery were applied in turnand the meter readings observed. On aclear wire, on a dry day, with no crossesW68 —May/jwre 2000

or grounds, and testing battery appliedthrough the meter, the voltmeter readingwould settle to a steady value of only afew volts, indicating a high value ofinsulation resistance.

DISTANTOPEN END

Tesl cord in line cuts all normalworking batteryand instruments

INSTRUMENTLOOP

TERM BATTERY

Test for foreign potential, crosses etc.

DISTANTOPEN END

Normal dry weather shunt leakage:Targetvalue approx.mmmof line.If significantly less lineman should bedespatched to find trouble.

. This test is unreliable in wetweatherdueto heavy leakage losses alongthe wire

Basic Insulation Test

LeakageResistanceThe voltmeter reading was

recorded, and the value was used tocalculate the leakage resistance of thatsection of line, using Ohm’s Law. Therelationship of testing battery voltageand voltmeter resistance, both knownvalues, aided in this calculation.

Normally a leakage resistance of100 megohms per mile of line was the

27

target value. In practice, once thiscalculation was completed, and the valuerecorded, it was not often repeated unlessmajor changes to the wire occurred, suchas changes in length, or repair of majordamage, or something of that nature thatwould materially change thecharacteristics of the wire.

GroundedWiresIf the wire was “crossed” with an

adjacent wire, or grounded, the meterreading would indicate a higher valuethan normal, reverse polarity, or possiblywould fluctuate in unison with theworking of the other wire. The meterwasobserved while each of the other wires onthe line was opened in turn until the“cross” was determined.

Wire can be openedat intermediate officesto localise the fault, startingat a nearoffice .

and working towardsthe far end DISTANTEND OPEN

LiNEJACK

GFDUNDFAULT

VM- Voltmeter reads Wire on groundM testing or touching

4601 +160potential value groundedobject

7? T .

Distantendcan openOperating reversrng key or close the wire. N0will indicate same value of effect is seen atoppositepolarity testing station.

WlFiE UNDERTEST DlSTANT

Fault wires crossed or END OPEN

shortedtogether \3—iliT

'VMA set up as TANvoltmeter to ground,

DIS T

STATION

Cross with a workingwire

In the case of a grounded wire,intermediate offices would be contactedto open the wire under test until thetroublewas localizedbetween two offices.This was also done to determine thelocation of a cross. Once a ground or across was so localized, a lineman wasdispatched to investigate and clear thetrouble.

28

Test for grounded wire “A”

Similar tests would be repeatedwhile the lineman was in the area of thetrouble, if necessary, to assist him inlocating the trouble. A competentWirechief familiar with his district andworking with a good lineman couldusually pin the problem down to within aspan or two fairly quickly.

DISTANT

. \ LINE \33+ JACK"r GROUND

FAULT

Reversing keyoperated - meterreadingreversed,iulltesting potentialindicated

_

A difference in meter readingswhen reversing key isHQ“; operated indicates foreign potential is either ‘aiding‘ or

‘bucking’ the testing potential applied. Verify with

voltmeter-to-ground test.

Test for grounded wire “B”

Static Kick TestOne other test performed with the

wire open at the distant end was the“static kick test”. The testing batteryapplied to the voltmeter was reversedwith the strap key, and the action of the

W69 — May/June 2000

meter needle observed. On a clear wire,openat adistantpoint, the meter indicationwould swing to a value of several tens ofvolts, and settle back down to its normalreading.

Wire has no significant groundsor crossesas verified in other tests

“Normal“ kick DISTANT END

depends on KNOWN OPEN

Vlengthof line LINE :. 3’ I*9? *%

§+—L§Kl The test voltage charges theVM _ J‘l capacitancebetweenwire& earth

“{-1602%+150

a1- i_=. V

7—— Momentarily operating reversingkey will.I r m

. cause meterto deflect to some peakvaluemore thanthe steady“escapereading, andthen return to the lower value.

“Dry Day” Static Kick Test for dry weather only

The peak value ofthis “kick” (dueto the capacitance of the wire to earth),was noted and recorded. With the wireopen at a known location, this meterreading was a coarse indication of thelength of the wire. In the case of a wirebeing open at some intermediate point,the kick would be of less value, and so arough estimate ofhow far out a wire wasopen could be obtained.

WIRE OPEN FAULTI DISTANT

.r END OPENShort kick’ reading

,-a—\ LINE

Véi’J:JAQK- _. g Meter kick will be less thanV2150

i +150 expected. lfseveralintermediate:Wzm' _ 3 offices are available the wire can

n T;— be groundedatsuccessivecfficesto localise the trouble startingfromthe distantend.

Static Kick Test to locate open wire fault

W68 —May/June 2000

For example, a wire known to begood, and open at the distant end gives akick of 60 volts, and a similar wireadjacent to it, also known to be open atthe distant end, but suspected of beingopen at some nearer point, gives a kick ofonly 30 volts. It is a fair assumption thatthe location of the open is about half waybetween the testing office and the far end.This would give the Wirechief a place tostart the lineman out, at least.

One last test of the wire would beto have the distant office ground it, andverify that the voltmeter (with testingbattery connected to it) indicated fulltesting battery potential. This indicatedthat the wire was at least continuous t0the distant office.

High Resistance JointOnce the voltmeter testing was

completed, the switchboard meter wasset up as a milliammeter, and pluggedinto thewirewith normalworkingbatteryapplied.

This gave a current indication ofroughly half the normal working value tothe distant ground, and anythingsignificantly less than this could indicatea possible high resistance joint or splicesomewhere in thewire. The distant officewas then requested to “put it regular” ortake off his ground and the normalworking current measured. With thisbeing satisfactory, the wire was returnedto service.

Magnet Gap Adjustment NecessaryIn practice,on complaintoftrouble

on a wire, the switchboard VMA wouldbe plugged in and cursory checks ofcurrent/voltage from each end etc, would

29

Normal loopcurrent5060 mA

OfficeInstrument Loop

VMA setup asmiliiammeter

To Term Battery

DISTANT OFFICENORMAL

To Term Battery

DISTANT ENDOPEN

SERIES

Leakage due to brokeninsulators, contactwith trees etc.

OfficeInstrument Loop

VMA set up asmitiiammeter .Reststance Lamp

To Term Battery

Working Margin Test - idle current with distant office normal minus leakingcurrent with distant office and open

be quickly done and then more thoroughtests would be performed as thetroubleshooting effort went forward,depending on what was found in theprocess.

During periods of wet weather,the insulation resistance of any wiredecreased owing to imperfect insulation.Thevarious leakagepaths to groundalongthe linewere accentuated by themoisture,and voltmeter tests as described abovewould be virtually useless because theincreased leakagewould cause afull scalemeter deflection.

Most wires would still be capableofworkingin this situation,but theamountof current change in the variousinstruments along the line would be lessthan that on a dry day. This would resultin the operators along the line having toreadjust their relay or sounder magnetsaway from the armatures so as tocompensate for it.

The leakage to ground of theworking current tended to hold the relayarmatures up, unless the magnets werebacked away, allowing signals to be read.This is why most Morse relays andMainline sounders have a quickly and

30

easily variable magnetic gap adjustment.

Now a Lost SkillThis “working margin” on wet

wires couldnot be detectedwith theVMAused as a voltmeter, but could bedetermined by setting it up as amilliammeterand havingthe distantofficeopen the wire under test.

The VMA was then plugged intothe circuit with regular working batteryapplied. The resulting currentmeasurement represented the leakage toground and the difference between thisvalue and that obtained with the wireclosed up would be the available currentto work the instruments.

Given the vulnerability of anyopen wire pole line to troubles caused bybrokenwires, insulators,crossarms,poles,and the likelihood of the wires on itcoming in contact with foreign voltages,grounded surfaces, lightning, etc. youcan see that the old-time Wirechiefs hada challenging job. There was a never-ending variety of things that could anddid go wrong.Wirechiefing is a skill thathas followed the Landline MorseTelegraph operator into history. MM

W69 — May/June 2000

MERICAN MORSE wasalways confined to the US,Canada and Mexico* because

the spaced—dot letters and the long Lwere not suitable for submarine cableoperation and the early needle typeinstruments in Europe. The ContinentalCodewas adoptedat thefirst InternationalTelegraph Conference in Berlin in 1851.

Efforts were made at the turn ofthe century to induce American Codeoperators to adopt the renamedInternational (ie, Continental) Code butthey steadfastly refused to do so.However, in the early days of wireless,American Code operators aboard ships 1

were forced to learn Continental in orderto communicate with European shorestations and other foreign ships.

Withequally skilledoperators, theuse of American Morse will providesomewhat faster transmission ofinformation than will Continental(International) Code. The late Dr. Ivan S.Coggeshall KAlAVG made anexhaustive study of this subject incomparing two speed contests - onechampion using American and the otherContinental — both using as a text the‘Command of Gideon’.

ConsiderableDifferenceHe computed it took only 7978

pulses to send it in American but 9076 inContinental. Spaced dots in American,instead of the dot and dash combinations ‘

in Continental, make a considerable i

EMA/[68 — May/June 2000

AmericanMorse Code vs.Continental

by Don deNeuf WA1SPM(SK)

difference. However, the actual speed ofletters in American Morse is often notconstant sincemost skilledoperatorshavea practice of slightly slowing down andemphasizing uncommon or difficultcombinations of letters.

Some words sent in AmericanMorse can be made up solely with dots.For example ‘SHE HOPES ERIE ICECO SHIPS HORSESHOE ZIPPERSCOOPS’. Try it in both codes and timeyourself.

Very Weak LionThe spaceddots used for the letters

C, O, R, Y, and Z, and the long dash forthe letter L in American Code sometimesgot careless operators into trouble. In1846, President Polk dispatched Gen.ZacharyTaylor toTexas to seizedisputedland from Mexico. A press telegramarrived in Washington reading

31

American Morsel

Continental Morse

A 0— A .—3 _000 a _..IC .0 O C —.—oD -00 0 _OCE 0 E O

F 0—0 F 00—.G ——o G ——oH 0000 H o...I O. | O.J —O—O J 0—-—K —O_ K -o—L — L 0—0.M —_ ’M -—N —o N -0O o o o ———P 0000. p I——oQ 00—. Q ——o-R. 00 no...5 000 5 000T — T —U 00— U 0.—V 000— V o..—Wo—— wo—Il—X 0—0. x —00—Y 0. o. y —O——2 000 0 Z —_00r .—_. 1 o——-—2 0—00 2 oo———3 000-0 3 000--4 0000— ‘ 0000-—5 ——— 5 000006 too... 6 —oooo7 ——oo 7 —-oooa _.... 5 —‘—oo9 —oo— 9 _———oO _- 0 ————-pflmd ,,,,, 00--.. Period.. 00 no 00Comm: ”0-0— Comma ...... «0—0—0—lnrcrroaauon‘.—OO-O interrogation“ O._—OOColon ....... _o— o O CH(G¢r.'Sr~on) _———Semi.Colon....OO .0 Paremhesns.... —O—_I_Doll.rs’5)....... 0-.0 Fanil,....,. .—.—.D:sh(——‘ .....—.. g—oiDisucuCnlL. .gg— — _ o o o

A comparison ofAmerican and Continental Morse Code

32 W69 — LMay/wa 2000

Readers are invited to contribute any additional informationand stories, no matter how minor, to theEditor, Morsum Magnificat. There have been thousands of designs of keys & telegraphy instuments.

Informationwill be lost unless it is compiled in one place and shared with other readers.

Photo/Collection:

Raymond

Lee,

VRZUW

A wooden-based Swiss telegraph keymeasuring (overall) about 15cms (L)x6.3cms(W)xacms(H). It is a nickIe—platedbrasskey that equipped with dual contact points nearthe knob endofthekey arm. Info please on it’s maker, year of manufacture and it’s usage.

This key is believed tobe of British origin of1910 -1930. It has awoodbase, Navyknobalso made ofwood. Allmetal parts appear tobe brass. Note theunusual way the springpulls the armaturedown. Info please onthe maker, date andhistonl.

34

Photo/Collection: Nigel Collier Webb.GJOVJP

W69 — :Mayflune 2000

Photo/Collection:

Wyn

Davies

Two folding keys onwhich futher info. issought. The one onthe right looks like

part of ‘WWI W.T.Set, Trench,Continuous Wave’andif this is correct,it was known as‘Key, W/T, Folding’

Does anyone recognisethesekeys, especially theone on the left of thepicture.

Air Ministry 10F/4067 -

Buzzer Practice Board.Quite a number of theseboards have been turningupover thepast two orthreeyears. There are a numberof subtle differences whichare interesting. Someboards have a brass A.M.plate with a clearorblackedbackground. Some of thekeys have square pivotblocks and others aretapered. Most have asquare section 5 inch leverbut one hasa nicelyshapedlever taperedback to the knob. Some have large terminals and others small, all with '0’ rings.AlthoughtheseA.M. boards appearsimilarto the ESL No. 1261 boards made byMerit ofPottersBar there appears to be no evidence that they were made by this firm. Does anyone know whomade the AM. boardsand if they were made by more than one firm.

W68—May/June 2000 3.5”

Photo/Collection:

Jack

Barker

TwistersHeaders‘ letters on anyMorse subjectare always welcome, but may be edited when space is limited. When morethan one subjectis covered, letters may be divided into single subjects in order to bring comments on various

matters togetherfor easy reference. Please note that the views in readers letters are not necessarilythose of MM

Keyboard Characters pound symbol was — probablyjust an ‘L’.

. My rewardafterthis mammothtask,usingMOTSE EqUIValemS an RAF Type D Morse key (which I still

use), at 0300 on the night watchwas “OKOver 30 years ago I was taught that UK ‘1 Son — but you messed up that bit in the(-----—) sent together as one symbol

‘

middle, didn’t you? - Go on, put thepreceding and following a piece of l kettle on!”selected text meant that the text should 3 Strange thing was I actuallybeunderlinedorwrittenin capital letters. considered it a pleasure to get evenI don’t remember ever hearing it on air . such faint praise from operators who hadalthough I usedto use it when sending the done their time at sea or in aircraft whenfront page of the Daily Telegraph (quite I was just starting out on mine, althoughappropriate really!) to my older and wiser I would never have admitted it. I suspectfellow operators many years ago at they realised though and were quitePLYMOUTHRESCUE (GFO/MQD). I pleased at having their own apprenticehad to send every letter and character l who listened intently to their talesincluding all the uppercase sections l of trying to get through to Portishead or(bracketed by ‘UK’) at a steady 20wpm . ‘zogging’ between Wapiti aircraft overand no uncorrected errors allowed. I what is now Iraq. I was delighted toremember that dollar (3%) was sent as read about the practice in MM because-------- (5/) but can’t think what the no one ever believes me when I tell them

FISTS CW Club — The International Morse Preservation Society. ,

FISTS exists to promote amateur CW activity. It welcomes members with all~ g

levels of Morse proficiency, and especially newcomers to the key.K

‘ The club has awards, nets (including a beginners‘ net), dial-a—sked for

beginners, straight key activities, QSL bureau, newsletter, and discounts fromtraders.

Further information can be obtained from Geo. Longden G3ZOS, 119Cemetery Road, Darwen, Lancs BBS 2LZ. Send an s.a.e. or two lRCs.

36 W69 — May/June 2000

of this early air-to-air communication, orof the penalties for forgetting to wind inyour aerial before landing!

I can never understand why thereis no Morse symbol ifor anexclamation mark although SN (-----)is used bymany including me for exactlythat. The 1968 edition of the GPOHandbook for Radio OperatorsAppendix 1 (p.154) lists ----- as“Understood” and I have heard this signbeing used by amateurs before thecallsigns are sent at the start of an over.

Dave Lane, G4MUY

Lincoln, England

History of a Key

BetweenFebruary 1943and October 1944,during WWII at RAFStation Leuchars inScotland and

W68—May/June 2000

Stockholm in Sweden, civilian versionsof the ‘Mosquito’ aircraft of B.O.A.C(British Overseas Airways Corporation)carried items essential to the war effort,particularly Swedish ball bearings andoccasionally a single passenger in whatwas the bomb bay in RAF versions.

Radio contact was maintainedfrom Leuchars. Departure and arrival ofthe aircraft was monitored by both RAFwireless operators and, being civilianaircraft, GPO wireless telegraphists. Iwas an RAFwireless operator at the timeandtheMorse key shownon the enclosedphotographs was given to me by one ofthe GPO telegraphists on my departurefrom RAF Leuchars.

37

It is a most unusual key and I’ve‘

often wondered where historically the ‘

key originated, (i.e. design, manufactureand other uses). I am particularly ,

interested to know the purpose of thecircular window in the cover situatedover the contact points.

Tom NunnDerby, England ,

Wehrmacht Miniature Key

The Wehrmacht miniature Key (MM68p25) is a “Mouse Key”. There are

‘

two styles, the one illustrated, in black,and another, brown coloured with a pressstud on the underside (female) and a half-moonshapedknob,maybefor clandestine(in pocket) use. I think that they weresub-contracted to a number ofmanufacturers. Junker was certainly oneof them as I have seen both keys there inthe company’s small museum.Clive Redfern W6/G4CZR, California

Volunteers Wanted ForTelegraph Re-enactments

MM subscribers who receive copies of 1

Dots & Dashes, the quarterly publication‘

of the Morse Telegraph Club, may have 1

read the articles in theWinter 1999-2000issue concerning the growing interestrelative to re—enactingtheAmericanCivilWar in the United States with the useof telegraph.

AmericanCivilWarre-enacting‘

also occurs and is gaining in popularity ;

on the British Isles and over on 1

the continent of Europe.38

Could we possibly conspire withyou to generate interest among operatorson your side of the pond in potentialinvolvement with telegraphic set—ups atsuch events? I currently have re-enacting contacts in England and acrossthe Channeleagerlyawaitingsupport.TheEuropean contact is Vic Farrer, 27 EssexDrive, 41179 Monchengladbach,Germany. Tel/Fax +49 2161 551588e—mail: HFarrer476@aol.com

WaltMathersSignal Corps Association Reenactors ’

Division (SCARD).(There is a report on SCARD in MM64,

‘

p.4. — Ed)

Troublesome Morse

I am writing about two letters in yourno.68 issue. The firstis that fromG4SSH.I am sorry about his trouble, caused bythe 2K, callsign and loss of importantQSLs and I expect he is now resigned tothe errors his callsign creates. I too havehad the same problem with the last letterof my callsign over the last 53 years.

Receiving errors are easilycaused by shack conditions and not on—

band QRM, domestic noises, e.g. xylshouting etc. My antidote is to make theQ signal QTR? which is not often heardon the bands. If your contact comes backimmediately with the time then you canguess he can read you pretty well. If heignores your request then it is best toterminate theQSO.Often I used topersistand hope to have my correct callsignreceived but after one repeat it is better to‘switch’ off so to speak.

Coming to the other letter fromG4GMZ I would suggest that having a

W69 — May/yum 2000

Morse character for all those intemetsymbols would be easy enough to makeup but there would be many mistakesmade. Most folk learn the alphabet andfigures plus the odd punctuation markand mistakes are made in plenty by themajority without adding to them. Forinstance after using the code daily I stillfind the use of apostrophes —————— ‘

upsetting. There are quite a few who useit quite unnecessarily and one wonderswhether they appreciate how it can ‘stopthe flow’.

Not having a PC myself (what!- is this man still here in 2000?) Iunderstand from friends that one needsabsolute accuracy when imparting anintemet address etc. but it would be bestachieved by using simplewords to imparta particular symbol. Of course, we havesimple Morse characters for obliquestroke, full stop etc. but not many of ususe them as they seem rather ‘affected’to the daily ragchewer!

John Worthington GW3COI .

Abersoch, Wales

Morse Signalling Torch

In MM67 page 38, the signalling torchpicture from Wyn Davies, is virtuallyidentical to the one I have on my deskawaiting restoration. Myexample carriesan Admiralty Pattern number on theend cap - stores/part No. A.P. 16001together with a broad arrow. Oncomparingitwith the photograph,Iwouldsay it is the same item and basic designbut from a different manufacturer, thedifferences being as follows:1) Name plate would appear to be of apoorer quality, it is nowjust a plain steelplate the information having worn off.2) The operating knob is different shape(may not be original).3) The part of the conical head that isattachedto themainbody tube is differentin detail, the smaller diameter cylindricalportion is much shorter and the largerdiameter portion longer. The overalldimensions are the same.

Movies—May/June 2000 3.9

I believe you have had sight of %

another similar torch with a moreelaborate head, the property of RayBullock GOEML, which was from yet athird manufacturer. As they say the plotthickens, I had a feeling before seeingRay’sexample that it mightpossiblyhavebeen part of the survival equipment froma lifeboat. I am now not so sure, but as itseems to be a relatively common item Iam sure a definitive answer will quicklybe forthcoming. I will sit back and wait.

Derek StillwellShrewsbury, England

Morse Clickers andTelegraph Codes (MM68)

In the film The Longest Day, a Morseclicker (Andrea GaetaMM68) is used byan American Airborne Division foridentification when they have landed.One paratrooper mis-identifies the boltaction of an enemy rifle with fatalconsequences.

As regards numeric telegraphcodes, the possible origins of 55 arediscussed in MM38,39 and 40 and theviews expressed by most writers is that ithas nothing to do with HH.

The Railroad Telegrapher’sHandbook by TomFrench lists a numberof numeric codes including 73 - ‘acceptmy compliments’. It does not list 88.

Gerald Stancey, G3MCKRutland, England

40

MM66 P.42Info on Key

Following on from the letter and photo ofJackBarker in MM66 (p.42), I own a keyexactly the same as in the photo which iswired under the base in exactly the sameway.

The base is made of a “sandwich”of two layers of high quality wood,mahogany and a lighter wood.

The most important feature is thatthere is an inscription under the base,“RFC. 1916” which stands for ‘RoyalFlying Corps. This became the Royal AirForce in 1918.

My key is in very good conditionand I use it for ham radio (F6AOU)because it has a very nice feel and sound.

Henri Heraud, F6AOURis Orangis, France

First CW 080I liked the article on hints for your firstQSO, which brought back memories ofmy first CW 080 in 1969, with G3GNSwhowas also the local RSGBSlowMorsestation at RAF Locking just over theBristol Channel. I could read Morse atabout 15 WPM but couldn’t think andsend at the same time. So I wrote somenotes such as my name, QTH and rig(PandaCubborrowedfrommy neighbourand BC 348 receiver) and a message ofthanks to GBGNS for helping by sendingthe slowMorse transmissions. It workedout verywell untilhe askedme a question.I had to sendQRX,writedownmy answerand then send it to him! All good fun HI!

Neil Little, GW3YVNCarmarthen, Wales

W69 — May/jam2000

Morse From Balloons 1862

TheUnitedStatesPostalServicecurrentlysells a series of lightweight‘Aerogrammes’ for airmail messages.They are illustrated , and one of themcommerates thework of “ThaddeusLowe(1832-1913) American Balloonist”.

I thought the name Lowe soundedfamiliar and one of the pictures on thecover rang a bell. “The Telegraph - AHistory of Morse’s Invention and itsPredecessors in the United States” byLewis Coe, page 59 reads, “..other eventsof the war also foreshadowed the futureof electrical communication. ProfessorT. S. C. Lowe, an enterprising balloonist,had made numerous ascents in captiveballoons to observe the enemy. Hisultimate achievement came at the battleof Fairoaks, May 1862. A telegraphinstrument was taken up in the balloon,connected to the military telegraphnetwork by a trailing wire. The operatorin the balloon observed enemy activityand transmitted the information directlyto the military commander.”

JohnElwood, WW7PPhoenix, Arizona

wwmrw'

W68 —May/sze2000I

Use Morse on the Internet

In doing research for abook onthe historyof the first telegraph company in Texas(Texas and Red River TelegraphCompany; 1854) I have met manyrailroad and/orwire—servicetelegraphers.When I began my research, I subscribedto “Dots and Dashes,” read MorsumMagnificat, and talked to many of thesegreat folks on the air from my amateurradio station. At a recent MorseTelegraphClubmeeting I was introducedto ‘Morse Dialup’ and felt like an oldtimer when invited to work the line.

Amateur radio works well for thosetelegraphers who are hams and many ofthem even send American Morse overthe air. When one is not a ham, however,she/he is forced to use Morse dialup andthat means a long distance call forsomeone. The World Wide Web,originally a system of telegraph wires,may provide a nearly-free Morsetelegraph system that would be availableto any telegrapher who has a key, andowns a computer that can be connectedto the WWW.

Recently, I became aware of a free

41

long distance telephone service that usesa person’s computer and the WWW.There are several such systems in use,each with it’s own set of advantages anddisadvantages,but they all workand thereare no long distance charges. Lea Hime,ABSTY,just informed me that there is atleast one free world wide system. These“lines” currently carry voice from onecomputer and/or telephone to another.Why not use them to carry Morse?

Here is where the Morse communityneeds a person or group of people to puttogether the software, if it doesn’t existalready, and design a simple modem thatwill convert the current-loop of atelegraph set to whatever is needed toplug into a computer. Through the use of

‘

such a converter, the Morse signal couldthen be sent, just like voice, overthe WWW for free to all other computerand telegraph sets that are “logged on” atthat time. With the graphics programsavailable today itwould even be possibleto have an “active” virtual sounder on thecomputerscreenwith realisticclicksfromthe computer speakers as the armatureresponded to the Morse signal. Anyoneout there who is up to the challenge?

I will be talking to some localengineers and computer folks about sucha system in the coming months, but Iwould like to see a discussion of ideasfrom the rest of us Morse folks in themean time. Please e-mail toroth@onr.com

Duie Roth, K5KZQAustin, Texas.

The ‘Code Quick’ Method

I wonder if readers have heard of the CWteachingmethodcalled the “CodeQuick”course by W6TJP.

The object of the method is tohelp students to recognise theMorsecodealphabetbymeansof shortphrases,whichhave a rhythm and sound like the Morsecharacter, not dahs and dits - for example‘DOG DID IT’. There are also pictures todescribe the phrases and adviceonmentaland physical meansofassisting the recall.

I havenotgot any originalmaterialabout this method and would be veryinterested if it is still available. I havenever seen it advertised and very fewpeople seem aware of its existence.

I feel that this method of teachingshould be widely available because Ihavefound that, afterthe initial sniggeringat the sound-alikes andpictures has wornoff, people are amazed at how well theycan identify the alphabet in a very shorttime.

It’s great for getting started andparticularly for youngsters andolder folkwho have struggled and given up aftertrying to count dots and dashes as somany do.

I think that raising awareness ofthis method might encourage some tocontinue who wouldotherwise fall by thewayside.

Ken Evans, MOAQQSt. Helens, England

W69 -— {May/flute2000

CWa SocietiesClubs, Societies and Associations with an interest in Morse are welcome to introduce

themselves on this page

AGCW-DL (Telegraphy Activity Group - Germany)

Membership and Aims

1971. It has its own managing body,

;

contest on the 4th Saturday in June.AGCW-DL has approximately 2000 3

members and was founded by DJSQK in I

while co—operating closely with the ‘

German national IARU society, DARC.Theprinciple aim ofthe club is to promote“in any conceivableway” the use of CW onthe amateur bands. Itscurrent Chairman isDLSXL, Felix Riess.

ContestsThere are many

internationally opencontests or CW partiesthroughout the year. TheHappy New Year Contest is on Januarylst. The New Year’s contest is also heldon VHF/UHF. The Winter QRP Contestis on the first complete weekend inJanuary. The 80m Straight Key Party ison the first Saturday of February.

A Semi-Automatic Key Party(mechanical bugs only) is on the thirdWednesday of February, the YL—CW

Party is on the first Tuesday of March,and a VHF/UHF contest on the thirdSaturday ofMarch. A QRP/QRP Party ison May lst, and another VHF/UHFW68—Mayflwle 2000

)*

H«\‘U 000a, AGBW'DI. éwill?

TheSummer QRPContest is overthe third weekend of July, with a furtherVHF/UHF contest on the 4th Saturday inSeptember. The 40111 Straight Key Partyis on the first Saturday in September, andAGCW also co—organizes a national

contest (foreignparticipants arewelcome) together withthe two other majorGerman CW clubs HSCand RTC on October3rd.

* '\Q‘ Activity WeekA yearly activity

week is held Mondaythrough Friday in the week beforeWhitsun. During this week, it isrecommended that operators considerthepossibility of using F2A mode.

AwardsAGCW issues nine different

awards, open to all licensed amateurs andSWLs. CW 2000/1000/500 awards arefor the stated number of CW QSOs

, achieved within any one calendar year onall bands.

QRPCW 500/250/1 00 awards are43

for the stated number of QSOs, duringone calendar year, using a maximum of 1

5w r.f. output on the bands 160 — 10m.VHF CW 250/125 awards are for

the stated number of QSOs, during onecalendar year, achieved on theVHF/UHF .

bands, 144 MHz and above.There is also a long term award for

those who work several of the abovementioned year awards.

The W-AGCW—M award is for‘

QSOswithAGCWmembersonly, scoring .

1 point for contacts with members inGermany, 2 points for EU stations, 3points for Dx, YL/XYLQSOs count as 3,QSLs fromAGCWQTC station 5 points,and VHF/UHF contacts count as double.The basic award requires 100 points. A 3

bronze sticker is awarded for 200 points,silver for 300, and gold for 500.

An AGCW-DL Wall Plaque isawarded to any amateur or SWLwho hasacquired at least six CW awards and hasbeenplacedamongthefirst ten contestantsin at least three different CW contests,including at least one AGCW award andone AGCW contest. Last but not least

‘

there is a new Millennium award for j

QSOs held in the Y2K.

News from AGCWThe club magazine, “AGCW—DL

1

INFO”, published twice a year, is in theGerman language. CW news bulletins ‘

are broadcast on Mondays at 1800 GMT(QRG appr. 3573 kHz).

Other ActivitiesEvery Spring AGCW and other

CW clubs hold an international CW ‘

Meeting at “Fuchskaute” in Germany.CW operators and “CW minded” SWLs

44

from all countries are encouraged toattend. All relevant information can beretrieved on the intemet (www.agcw.de).There is also an AGCWmailing list (seeweb site). Via the agcw.de domain mostAGCW officials are reachable by e—mail

to the address format call@agcw.de, e.g.the chairman’s address isd15xe@agcw.de.

AGCW is a founder member ofthe European CW Association andencouragespmticipationinEUCW events(EUCWFratemizingParty,EUCWSKD)and support of EUCW in general.

MembershipandFurther InformationThere are three classes of

membership. Full members pay anenrolment fee of EU 5.00, and an annualsubscription of EU 10.00. They havevoting rights, and receive the clubmagazine. Family members pay no fees.Theyhave votingrights but do not receivean additional copy of the club magazine.Associatemembers (foreigners only) payno fees, have no vote, and do not receivethe magazine which is written entirely inGerman. Associate members receive amembership certificate on joining theclub.

Applications for membership andall enquiries aboutAGCW-DL should beaddressed to: Lutz SchroerDL3BZZ, AmNiederfeld 6, D-35066 Frankenberg,Germany. Email: secretary@agcw.de

(This profile of AGCW-DL, whichoriginally appeared in MM20, Summer1990, has been updated with the latestavailable information by Martin Zurn,IKZRMZ, on behalfofAGCW-DL, April2000.) MM

W69 — May/June 2000

WWW”Speciafist Books on Tekgrapfiy by MailOrdkr

ALL WORLD ORDERS ARE SHIPPEDBY AIR MAIL UNLESS OTHERWISESTATED

Watchers of the Waves by Brian Faulkneryawn-A

Watchersmm:

Waves A history of maritime coast stations in Britain, from Marconi’s early experiments“MW“ and through the days of spark, valve, and automatic WM" and R/T to the computer—

controlled systems of the 19905. Profusely illustrated with 24 drawings and over 80photographs -128 pages, 21 cms x 29.5 cms (8.25 in x 11.6 in).

£15.00 UK - £15.50 EU - £17.10World

= '. WW Classics of Communication (English Edition) by Fons Vanden Berghen

" creams or(:QM}1§}N§CAT§ON A book of exceptional quality produced originally to accompany a Brussels

Exhibition sponsored by a Brussels bank. Illustrated with 240 high qualityphotographs, 140 in colour, including many rare telegraph instruments. The textincludes the history and technology of electricity through to wireless and earlytelevision, but a large section of the book is devoted to telegraphy. Withoutsponsorship, a book of this size and quality could not have been economicallypossible for such a limited readership - 107 pages, 24.5cms x 29.5cms (9.7in x

11.6in). £16.95 UK - £18.25 EU - £21.00 World (US $36)*

Perera‘s Telegraph Collector’s Guide by Tom Perera

An essential pocket—size reference guide for collector and historian, designed to fit in thepocket. 2“d edition, 100 pages, 300 illustrations, information for identification of keysfrom around the world. Advice on buying keys, price guide, historical background,reference material on lever shapes, manufacturer lists, dates, restoring and adjusting keys.Special sections on bug keys. £7.60 UK - £8.10 EU - £8.90 World

UK EU WORLD

The PhillipsCode - a facsimile reprint by Ken Miller(MM61) £10.00 £10.20 £10.50Telegraph codes for press reports

The Story of the Key by Louise Ramsey Moreau £4.25 £4.50 £5.00The Best of MM Vol. 1. 77 photos/Illustrations, 60 pages.

Wake of the Wirelessman by B. J. Clemons £14.20 £14.70 £17.00A true story of an early maritime wireless operator

”Q41” and Beyond by Shirley Lawson £6.20 £7.20 £7.90The story of a Wren (Womens Royal Naval SeNice) telegraphist

McEIroy: World’s ChampionTelegrapher by Tom French £15.30 £16.00 £18.00The life and times of T. R. McEIroy, telegraphist & key maker

CONTINUED OVERLEAF

W68—May/June 2000 45’

UK EU WORLD

Railroad Telegrapher’s Handbook by Tom French £8.00 £8.30 £9.00Old-time telegraphy on the American railroads

Bunnell’sLast Catalogue with notes by Tom French £5.50 £5.70 £6.00Illustrates and describes the company’s many telegraph instruments

History,Theory & Practice of the ElectricTelegraph £13.95 £14.95 17.50(facsimile reprint of 1866 edition) by George B. Prescott

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (MM63) £8.30 £8.40 £9.30The story of the early telegraph pioneers

Keys, Keys, Keys by Dave Ingram £8.50 £8.90 £9.80A visual celebration of the Morse key

Marconi’s Battle for Radio (children's book) by Birch & Corfield £5.85 £6.00 £6.80Illustrated story book. A present for the grandchildren

Fladiotelegraph& Radiotelephone codes -Prowords & Abbreviations by John Alcorn £12.85 £13.70 £15.50

A History of the GPO Mark 1, 2 and 3Morse Telegraph Keys by Dennis Goacher(MM65) £6.00 £6.50 £7.20

Marconi’s Catalogue of Receiving & Measuring Instruments (circa 1912) £4.70 £5.25 £6.60A high quality facsimile of the 1912 book with photos, circuits and specs

93inder5f0rMommaMagmficatTidy up your bookshelf

with these attractive bindersCovered in a hard-wearing red grained finish, with themagazine title blocked in gold on the spine, each binderholds twelve issues of the magazine, retained by strongwires, but easily removable should the need arise.

Price including postage & packing:£7.90 ............. UK£8.50.... ...Europe£9.80.............Rest of the World (Air Mail)

" Prices in US dollars may vary slightly withcurrency exchange rates and commission chargesCredit card orders welcome by phane: +44 (0) 1630 638306or Fax on +44 (0) 1630 638051

Please make cheques payable to ‘Morsum Magnificat’ [W—MasterCard 1 VISASEND YOUR ORDER TO: ‘—

Morsum Magnificat, The Poplars. Wistanswick, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 ZBA, EnglandPayment welcome by Mastercard or Visa (quote your card number and expiry date)

or by cheque/bank drafi drawn on a London bank

46 W69 — May/yum 2000

Headersadvertisements are free to MMsubscribers.‘

The number of insertions should be specified,otherwise it will be assumed thatitis required in thenext issue only. Non-subscribers are welcome toadvertise in the Classified Ads section. PleasecontactMM tor styles available and rates.

New - Ads can include one photo free of charge

FOR SALE 1

FOR SALE, WT 8 AMP KEY COL-LECTION: 50 keys. The earliest modelis dated 1938. They are all different in-cludingan upside-downversionandmod- 1

els from USA, Canada and Australia. - l

£1000 plus carriage/postage. Please re-ply to Box Number 1 at MM.

KEY & PLUG ASSEMBLIES ( WT 8 .

AMPKEYS ) Type 2B (UK), Type 2B(New Zealand), Type 8, Type 9 Mk 1/1ZA 26291, Type 9 USA-Bunnell, Type 9Canada—Westclox, Type 19 ZA 28656

.

PCA, Type R 11950. £25 each pluscarriage/postage. Please reply to BoxNumber 2 at MM.

WANTED: PADDLE KEYS such asi

Nikey,Autronic,Ham-keyHK1 and HK2etc. Write or phone Ray Bullock, 40 1

Little Harlescott Lane, Shrewsbury, ‘

Shropshire SY1 3PY, England. Tel: +44 3

(0)1743 245896.

W68 — Mag/flung 2000

Wanted -, articlesgand‘tips 0n maklng and restoring k'eYs‘ caatac‘iml'

5

. 16+ PAGE ILLUSTRATEDLIST allkinds of telegraph related items surplusto my needs including straight/semi-au—tomatic keys, sounders, relays, KOBs,military items and many miscellaneous

' items (e.g. WU dolly gram - 19505’-code learning machines. $3.00 plusequivalent of 4US stamps ($5.00 refundon $25 purchase). Dr. Joseph Jacobs, 5Yorktown Place, Fort Salonga, NY11768, USA. Phone: 516-261-1576.Fax:516—754-4616. E-mail: joekey@aol.com

BOOK: “Radiotelegraph andRadiotelephone Codes, Prowordsand Abbreviations.” 2nd Edition.AUD$16 posted within Australia. 90Pages. Q,X,Z Codes, 97 Phonetic, 20Morse Codes.Phillips,Myer, 10,11,12,13Codes. Much other info. Probablyworld’s best listings. Internet: http:/lwww.nor.com.au/communitv/sarc/phonetichtm. Also via MM. VK2JWA,John W.Alc0rn. QTHR. +61 02-66215217. jalcom@nor.com.au VISA,MASTERCARD, BANKCARD (Aus,NZ) accepted.

‘ THE MM Q & Z CODEBOOK, a. comprehensive 82—page list of the Q-codes and Z-codes, including a one—pagelist of the original Q-codes of 1912.Available from Dick KraayveldPA3ALM, Merellaan 209, 3145 EHMaassluis, Holland. Price £5 UK, orUS$10.00 outside UK, including post-age in both cases. Payment accepted incash only.

47

FOR SALE - continued

EXCHANGE MMs, numbers 36 to 67inclusive forVibroplex double-paddle orbug. Phone Keith, at +44 (0) 1827 56825evenings or weekends.

WANTED

WANTED: Early paddles such as theNikey, Autronic, Ham—key HKI &HK2. Ray Bullock, 40 Little HarlescottLane, Shrewsbury SYl 3PY, England.Tel: +44 (0) 1743 245896.

BOOK WANTED: Original orphotocopy of the book ‘A TelegraphicCode for Fingerprint Formulae’ bySuperintendent C. S. Collins, publishedin 1921. Contact Geoffrey Walsh, 64Liberton Drive, Edinburgh EH16 6NW,UK. Phone: (0) 131-664—3046. email:Geoffrey.Walsh@ed.ac.uk

WANTED TO BUY: Telegraphic CodeBooks, as used to reduce the costs oftelegrams by replacing common phraseswith codewords. Would be interested inboth originals of photocopies. I am ahobbyist in Cryptography and amfacinated in different ways data is andhas been represented for differentpurposes (e.g. speed, economy,confidentiality etc.) Also interested inrelated items. Letters to Mark Darling,

48

132 Knowlands, Highworth, SN6 7NE,United Kingdom or e-mail:darling@patrol.i—way.co.uk

WANTED: TELEGRAPHY ITEMS(esp. land—line). I am looking forsomewhat special telegraphy apparatus:Single and Double Needle, Wheatstoneetc. Buy or swap. I can swap for earlyelectricity (e.g. tubes from Crookes,RO'ntgen and Geissler; Ruhmkorff;Wimshurst;..), very oldradiovalves,sometelephony and ofcourse telegraphy. Whoelse collects telegraphy ?? All lettersanswered. Fons Vanden Berghen;Lenniksesteenweg462/22; B-1500Halle,Belgium.Tel. +32.2.356 05 56 (home: after 8 pmmy local time) or office: +32.16.38 27 21

or e-mail: fovabe@telindus.be

SOLUTION TO MM68 SEARCHWORD

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SENT BY MAIL 0N RECEIPT U!” PRICE, $1.00.

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THE IMPROVED“ SNAPPER ” SOUNDER.

A Compact Pocket Telegraph In-strument, Made in 3 Styles.

SwapperSounder, phinmitbBook................... $0 2.5

Snappe: Sounder, plain, withBook, 1) doz ............ I ‘20

Snapper Sounder, plain, withBook, per do: .......... l 75

Snapper Sounder, nickel-pmted. With Iiook, EuclL 00

Snapper Sounder. with Rub~be: Knob...... . ....... 75

Snapper Sounder, Frog Put-tern, without. Book, each 10

Snnppu Sounder, Frag Put-tern, per dozen......... 75

SENT BY MAIL ON RECEIPT OF PRICE.

The 'Snapper Key' and the 'SnapporSounder'. An 1886 advertMmentfor these medmiml devices used for trahhg pulposes. They removedthe need Iorbattories. See also letters 'n MM68, p.42 and this issue p.40