# Collective Call Signs



## Trevorw

Does anyone remember these? My company (Blue Funnel) was GTZB, Marconi was ( I think) GTZM - anyone got any more?


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## K urgess

Here you go, Trevor.
Try *this* site


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## non descript

For some reason the Houlders Collective Call Sign was GZTT - why on earth I should remember that I have no idea... Funny thing memory.


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## K urgess

They've got GZXY as the National Maritime Board whereas I have it as the Radio and Electronics Officer's Union.
That's from 2 messages I have that were sent out by the REOU in 1973.


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## sparkie2182

the first telling you to pay your overdue subs..............

the second that they could not help you with your imminant redundancy........

"titter"


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## K urgess

Sorry, Sparkie, Wronnnnnggggg.

The first asking BP radio officers if they felt "their present salary adequately compensates for all hours worked".

The second was to do with the REOU trying to turn the MN into a closed shop as far as ROs were concerned. I seem to remember that we collectively told them to stuff it and resolutely refused to go on strike over the matter.
Sparkies don't go on strike. Irresponsible union pratts.(Cloud)


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## Moulder

*GBMS* = All British Merchant Ships!

Steve.
(Thumb)


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## Gulpers

*GZWR* - Denholm


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## Ian

....another one, but already covered in Marconi Sahib's link.....

International Marine Radio Co (IMRCo).... GTZR

Crikey, they were a good company to work for as they had some lovely ships... (Pint) 

Regards


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## Ron Stringer

*Collective Callsigns*

How about MBMS - All British Merchant Ships?


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## sparkie2182

i do remember that period marconiman........albeit vaguely.
i never had any dealings with the reou....or the mnaoa, though i was a member of both....seemed a good idea when i started out as a cadet.
i tried to remember the format of the quarterly periodical the reou used to send to our home address, but cant for the life of me remember what it looked like in the slightest.
we all had a huge pile of post when we got home after 5/6 months at sea, and much of it was just thrown in the gash can........much of it unopened.
i think this fate befell the quarterly rag...........

keep your batteries in the green..........................


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## gwzm

Hi All,

Is my memory failing or did we have GACQ in the 1960's for "calling any British warship"?

gwzm/John


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## Ian

gwzm said:


> .... GACQ in the 1960's for "calling any British warship"?


You mean from the days when we had any warships? It was GBXZ GBXZ. See Marconi Sahibs link in the second post.

Regards


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## Alan Couchman

Hi Trevorw,

Have a look at sections 3 & 4, of the do***ent in website

http://www.jcs.mil/j6/cceb/acps/ACP113AFCh3.pdf

This provides collective call signs for miltary naval usage. It contains lots of other useful info.

All the best,
Alan C


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## peterjholcroft

Hi Trevorw

BP Tankers collective callsign was GTZX


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## Robinj

BA204259 said:


> ....another one, but already covered in Marconi Sahib's link.....
> 
> International Marine Radio Co (IMRCo).... GTZR
> 
> Crikey, they were a good company to work for as they had some lovely ships... (Pint)
> 
> Regards


I agree they were a great company to work for. Also recognized a few other callsigns.


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## Ian

Robinj said:


> I agree they were a great company to work for.....


In my own short career (and I include leave relief trips of only a fortnight or so) I logged up Ore Carriers Ltd (Houlders), Anchor Line (x2), Cunard (x2), Blue Star (x2), South American Saint Line, Furness Withy, Nerdrums (ex South American Saint Line's "St Helena") and Trader Navigation Co..

In my humble opinion and with the hindsight of over 40 years... to die for!

Oh, yes! In case I am accused of being OT (true), just want to say thanks to collective callsigns GTZR...and also to GTZM for having no vacancies at that time!

Regards


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## LucyKnight

*Collective Callsigna*

Here are a selection of the more recent companies:-

GZWF SHELL TANKERS
GZXW CANADIAN PACIFIC STEAMSHIPS LTD
GTZA OCEAN FLEETS LTD
GTZB ALFRED HOLT & CO
GTZC CUNARD STEAMSHIP CO LTD
GTZD P & O PASSENGER DIVISION
GTZE ELDER DEMPSTER LINES
GTZF ELDERS & FYFFES LTD
GTZH KELVIN HUGHES
GTZJ SIR WILLIAM REARDON SMITH & SONS
GTZM MARCONI INTERNATIONAL MARINE CO LTD
GTZQ BLUE STAR LINE LTD
GTZR INTERNATIONAL MARINE RADIO CO LTD
GTZU P & O STEAM NAVIGATION CO
GTZX BP TANKER CO LTD
GWZB UNION CASTLE LINE
GWZC PORT LINE LTD
GWZJ MANCHESTER LINERS
GWZK ESSO PETROLEUM CO LTD
GWZL PALM LINE LTD
GWZM T & j BROCKLEBANK LTD
GWZN FURNESS WITHY & CO LTD
GZTA LONDON & OVERSEAS FREIGHTERS LTD
GZTE MOBIL MARINE SERVICES LTD
GZTR SHAW SAVILL & ALBION CO LTD
GZTT HOLDER BROS LTD
GZWB ELLERMAN LINES LTD
GZWC ELLERMAN'S WILSON LINE LTD
GZWE CONTAINER FLEETS LTD
GZWF SHELL TANKERS LTD
GZWJ PANOCEAN SHIP MANAGEMENT LTD
GZWR J & J DENHOLM (MANAGEMENT) LTD
GZWX BIBBY BROS & CO
GZWZ HUNTING & SON LTD
GZXD F T EVERARD & SONS LTD
GZXF REDIFON LTD
GZXM BRITISH & COMMONWEALTH (GROUP MNGMT)
GZXN WALPORT LTD
GZXP OVERSEAS TANKSHIP (UK) LTD
GZXQ SUGAR LINE LTD
GZXR P & O BULK SHIPPING DIVISION
GZXX SCOTTISH SHIP MANAGEMENT
GZXY NATIONAL MARITIME BOARD
GZXZ P & O GENERAL CARGO DIVISION


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## Graham P Powell

I have a feeling that Royal Mail line was GTZT. I have a picture of the wireless room somewhere .....!
rgds
Graham Powell


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## King Ratt

Royal Fleet Auxiliaries GZXB
Any / All British Warships GBXZ
Any / All Nato Warships NAWS
British Merships GBMS / MBMS
British Merships Wartime GACQ


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## LucyKnight

*Royal Mail Line*



Graham P Powell said:


> I have a feeling that Royal Mail line was GTZT. I have a picture of the wireless room somewhere .....!
> rgds
> Graham Powell


Royal mail line was GTZT according to my list.


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## Ron Stringer

*Collective Callsigns*

On a deleted post there was a link to a website showing a comprehensive list of British Collective call-signs. I converted the list to produce two lists, sorted alphabetically, by call-sign and by company name.

I have attached them and you are welcome to use them as you will.


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## Ron Stringer

R651400 said:


> Good effort with a lot of nostalgia...
> Blue Funnel GTZB kept in contact on MF with TR's as a matter of company policy.
> Unlike other flags I get the feeling that under the rules of the issuing authority ie HM PMG HF scheds between ships with British call signs was not allowed.


I went to sea in 1960 and every company that I sailed with kept HF skeds between their ships. If it was illegal, so be it but my impression was that everyone did it. Certainly we were never warned of any restrictions during college days - and I had the impression at the time that 99% of our training concerned the hated 'Regs' and procedures.


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## Naytikos

During my one trip with Bank line, the ship happened to be in Port Natal together with two other Bank boats and, having met the other R/Os, we kept in touch on HF, using the 16 Mc/s second working frequency, for about a week and then ran out of things to talk about. There was no easy way to get any other ships of the fleet to join in, and in any case, it wasn't as if any of us had an afinity for the company.


Niarchos took the company sked very seriously to the point that most of the ships had an extra HF working frequency, where the type of Tx permitted, in a particular section of the band to keep them all close together. There was no official collective callsign, though, just 'LNR'
If you heard it and didn't know what it meant; then you didn't need to!


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## trotterdotpom

R651400 said:


> Don't see any harm at all in HF scheds which were the norm free-lance and used to pass free of charge enormous ship chandler lists and other jiggery-pokery.
> I cannot speak for other British companies as Blue Flue radio-wise were in my opinion neanderthal yet the terms of the licence as I remember PMG allocated HF frequencies were for calling/transmitting ship to shore traffic only..


I may be kidding myself, but I've got it in my head that there were allocated HF Intership frequencies.

John T


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## richardwakeley

We definitely kept skeds on HF in GTZB. I think it was on 12MHz, forgot the frequency now. Exchanged noon QTH, bound/from, Capt & R/O names. Info was always passed to the bridge. I still have my "TR Book".
Also, on my brief interlude with EDs in 1970-71, we acted as the coast station when berthed at Warri. Last ship in took over the duty. Kept brief watch on 500 several times a day.


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## Troppo

From memory...

VLJB - AWA

VLAA - ANL


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## Graham P Powell

I think we used to have daily skeds on RML A boats. I think the most vital information exchanged was the current Argentine peso/pound exchange rate and positions as we used to pass within sight of one another. We also had a daily skeds with the Falkland Islands.
I worked them once from London docks. BP had skeds but don't remember it being more than chatting. Not much QSP'ing of traffic went on.
Niarchos ships were certainly very slick with operating . On nights at GKA if you answered one you would find two or three others lined up behind him. They must have all known each others working frequencies. rgds
Graham Powell


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## Troppo

We always had daily skeds in E and A (P and O)


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## trotterdotpom

R651400 said:


> Trawler band definitely. Affectionely known at GND as "the 135" metres which equates to 2222 kc/s if my maths are cct.
> All Blueys and I expect British flag in general the HF transmitters had one calling and two working crystals unlike Niarchos where I had a box full of extras if necessary plugged into a switchable socket on the front of the RCA tx.
> GTZB must have changed their policy as there were never any intership HF scheds when I was there 1956/60.


All the trawler companies conducted skeds several times a day. They told each other lies about positions and hauls. When the control ship left for home, he handed over to the ship that had been on the grounds the longest. The skeds were conducted on 4 mc/s but can't recall the frequency. Everybody listened to everyone elses sked in the hope of picking up a bit of gen by a process of deduction.

The BISCO iron ore ships also had a sked a couple of times a day. There were a couple of hundred ships on charter and they swapped positions, where bound and from, etas and whatnot, more with same 
company ships. I think that was on 8 mcs.

I remember that Control ship bizzo up the creeks in Warri. It was the only way to get messages to and from the agent. Half an hour listening to crashing static a couple of times a day - quite a challenge picking up the messages sometimes. The White Man's Grave - a laugh a minute.

John T

PS the trawlers also had W/T frequencies on (I think) 1612Kcs or thereabouts - very useful for ship/shore coms with Wickradio.


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## John Leary

T and J Brocklebank were very keen that the GWZM skeds were activated and recorded in the radio log during each of the four, two hour watches. If memory serves me correctly there was also one sked on MF during the day. 

One evening on the Magdapur in the Indian Ocean during the 1748 to 1800 sked the old man burst into the radio room and told me to stop transmitting because it was interfering with his enjoyment of the BBC's World Service. He had every right to do so but I told him that I would have to enter his instruction into the radio log and advise the Radio Department accordingly. The outcome was that the decision was reversed and all skeds were maintained as normal.

Happy days

John


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## Duncan112

Seem to recall that when BP started to flag out in 1985 the Union wanted to contact all BP ships and BP shipping refused to let them use the collective call sign - is that right that use of the call sign for traffic was vested in the company? 

Anyhow the Union used the GBMS call sign and this generated a lot of support from other companies who recieved the message and thus brought our plight to a wider audience quicker than otherwise might be managed.


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## Tai Pan

See Radioofficers.com /archives for the full list


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## Troppo

K urgess said:


> Sorry, Sparkie, Wronnnnnggggg.
> 
> The first asking BP radio officers if they felt "their present salary adequately compensates for all hours worked".
> 
> The second was to do with the REOU trying to turn the MN into a closed shop as far as ROs were concerned. I seem to remember that we collectively told them to stuff it and resolutely refused to go on strike over the matter.
> Sparkies don't go on strike. Irresponsible union pratts.(Cloud)


And how did that work out for you? 

As an "irresponsible union pratt" in Australia, let me tell you that our redundancy scheme was excellent. It set me up for many years. You could either take the pot of gold or retrain as a mate.


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## sparksatsea

*Bibby Line Skeds*

Bibby Line kept skeds on 12 & 16 MHz at each even hour +30 and +35 minutes respectively - mainly to help vessels who were trying to clear traffic via GKA or in our case had a defective main transmitter for over 5 weeks.

A comprehensive list of collective Call Signs can be found on the Radio Officers pages at :-

https://www.radioofficers.com/archives/collective-call-signs/

Geoff


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## ernhelenbarrett

Didn't the Rugby Press have a Callsign of GTZZ then Maba Press as I seem to remember this from days on the Karanja/MACS between Bombay/East African/Durban ports taking the Press for the ships newspaper thru lots of QRN
on the night watches way back in the good old days on the Indian Coast with BI
Ern Barrett


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## R651400

Never took the press but I'm sure MABA was later allocated to Orient lines Orcades.


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## hawkey01

MABA was definitely the Orcades. Don't ever remember the press using that code.

Neville - Hawkey01


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## IMRCSparks

To resurrect an old thread...…..
Can anyone enlighten me on how collective callsign messages were sent/received. As I recall they were very infrequent occurrences (certainly with GTZR - just a couple in the 10 years I was with them for Gold Franc rate changes). Did GKA send them blind or did we have to call up GKA and receive/acknowledge the messages? The blind transmission seems to make more sense but I simply can't recall how it used to work.
Thanks, Kevin.


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## Troppo

In Oz, they were sent after the H+50 VIS tfc list...


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## Paul Braxton

The collectives were b'cast 'blind' at the finish of the British ships tfc list, as far as I remember, but you had to be listening out at the beginning to see if there was going to be relevant to you. If you happened to miss the first part of the b'cast, you would then have had to monitor the whole of the sometimes seemingly interminable list itself to check. Sometimes, as I recall now, there were a group of collectives sent out, so if yours was something like GZWF (Shell), you had a lot of boring listening out to do, just to make sure. GTZM (Mimco) were quite high users of the service.

Many's the time I missed the intro to the GKA tfc list, usually due to taking too long over breakfast, then racing up the several flights of stairs, only to find I'd missed the start, yet again. That meant you'd have to wait for the seemingly interminable list to finish, then QSX for anything which might follow and which could be relevant to you. If there were a group of them, as sometimes happened, you could waste a lot of time monitoring the damn things as they were sent out, awaiting yours. Must have missed quite a few over my time for that reason. Always my own fault, admittedly:

"That's what you get for not attending staff meetings..." as Captain James T. Kirk once memorably said in a line from one of the Star Trek films.


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## IMRCSparks

Troppo & Paul, Thanks for clearing that up. 

Paul, That sounds like a complete pain, it was bad enough waiting for your c/s to pop up on the GKA list never mind having to stick around till the end on a regular basis for collective messages. Although I did seem to cop for a fair number of GX.. GY.. and GZ.. call signs so I spent a fair bit of time waiting around. It usually resulted in being QRY25+ by the time I got round to calling GKA.

Quick calculation.....
10 years as R/O = 3650 days
50% at sea (less leave/port time) = 1825 days at sea
4 GKA lists per day = 7300 traffic lists received
20 mins per list (est.) = 146,000 minutes / 2433 hours / 101 days of my seagoing career just receiving GKA traffic lists.
And they wonder why we went crazy?

Kevin.


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