# Ctv



## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

Many of you who were at sea in the 1960's will remember CTV, a Portuguese coast station at Cape Saint Vincent, which broadcast WX forecasts..

We nicknamed it "Gentle Jesus" on account of it's tendency of using phrases like "gentle breezes", and "partly cloudy with increasing nebulosity".

It was hard to miss, as the transmitter had a serious chirp.
Listen to the attached sound file (I think its working frequency was 480 though, not 418).


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## howardang (Aug 3, 2008)

spaarks said:


> Many of you who were at sea in the 1960's will remember CTV, a Portuguese coast station at Cape Saint Vincent, which broadcast WX forecasts..
> 
> We nicknamed it "Gentle Jesus" on account of it's tendency of using phrases like "gentle breezes", and "partly cloudy with increasing nebulosity".
> 
> ...


If that is Monsanto Radio, I also remember the phrase "Wind - gentle zephyrs". It never seemed to vary!

Howard


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Phrases I recall are "gentle breezes" (hence the nickname of the station, "Gentle Jesus"), "mild zephyrs" and "smooth wavelets". And all the time it was blowing an absolute hooley on deck and we were rolling on our beam ends. But in the radio room - according to Monsanto - everything was peaceful.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Think Monsanto/CTV has had as big an airing as any coast station on the SN Radio Room forum and my recollection of copying his wx forecast in the 50's the word wasn't "breezes" but "zephyrs."


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## Troppo2 (Jun 25, 2018)

That is a CHIRP, for sure!

(Jester)


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

howardang said:


> If that is Monsanto Radio, I also remember the phrase "Wind - gentle zephyrs". It never seemed to vary!
> 
> Howard


Yes indeed, it was called Monsanto Radio, and gentle zephyrs was the term.


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

Troppo2 said:


> That is a CHIRP, for sure!
> 
> (Jester)


Sadly the sound file is not a real recording, but made using Audacity.

I use such files as notifications on my phone - eg QTC, QRJ, SMS, and even the names of contacts in Whatsapp. It sure turns heads, and the chirped version drives people crazy (MAD)!

Earlier Nokias used SMS in morse code.


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## beedeesea (Feb 28, 2006)

Did anybody ever discover WHY they actually used such quaint English? Was it perhaps just a case of standard formats being repeated over the years?

Brian


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

The thing is though, we all took it down and trundled it through to the bridge !!

David
+


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

david.hopcroft said:


> The thing is though, we all listened to him !!
> 
> David
> +


Guilty, but I don't know why I did - they were useless as weather reports and even worse as forecasts. Only needed a few references to sea monsters and unicorns to complete the picture.


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## Harry Nicholson (Oct 11, 2005)

Ron Stringer said:


> Phrases I recall are "gentle breezes" (hence the nickname of the station, "Gentle Jesus"), "mild zephyrs" and "smooth wavelets". And all the time it was blowing an absolute hooley on deck and we were rolling on our beam ends. But in the radio room - according to Monsanto - everything was peaceful.


What a delightful chirrup! The nostalgia brings me close to damp eyes.
Was the origin of the chirp due to an overly simple design, so that the keying load detuned the oscillator? 
Port Sudan had a wobbly note too, as I recall.


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

I guess the " gentle zephyrs " was what an old translation book would have come up with ?
If English was not your first language it would not be obvious.
I liked receiving them, it made a change from the usual.
The chirp was nice too.

Remember TAH they sounded rough, the Spanish stations has strange tones too.
Any others with weird tones ?


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## spacetracker (Jun 17, 2008)

david.hopcroft said:


> The thing is though, we all took it down and trundled it through to the bridge !!
> 
> David
> +


Some Clan Line captains were obsessed with the wx report and didn't settle until they had a copy in their grubby mitts. Pretty weird when considering the total inaccuracy of the contents.


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## Troppo2 (Jun 25, 2018)

spaarks said:


> Sadly the sound file is not a real recording, but made using Audacity.
> 
> I use such files as notifications on my phone - eg QTC, QRJ, SMS, and even the names of contacts in Whatsapp. It sure turns heads, and the chirped version drives people crazy (MAD)!
> 
> Earlier Nokias used SMS in morse code.


Ha! I use a ringtone that says:

VLLB DE VIS QRJ K


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## beedeesea (Feb 28, 2006)

sparks69 said:


> I guess the " gentle zephyrs " was what an old translation book would have come up with ?
> If English was not your first language it would not be obvious.
> I liked receiving them, it made a change from the usual.
> The chirp was nice too.
> ...


Makes sense, Sparky. Sounded like Shakespeare's wx forecast for "The Tempest"!

Brian


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## Worldspan (Jan 2, 2012)

I think there was another Portuguese station with the call CTH. These were the initials of CT Holmes, one of the old-timer lecturers at Norwood Tech in the 1950s.
W


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## Paul Braxton (Jul 21, 2005)

Re #16 : 

And GLD was G. L. Danielson from the same venerable institute, the co-author of the renowned "Marine Radio Manual", the blue and white tome you had to purchase on joining or get chucked off the course. (I still have my pristine edition, hardly ever looked at, then or now).


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

The station near Cape St. Vincent is Sagres Radio, callsign CTS. Monsanto Radio is located near Lisbon.

On the subject of stations with distinctive tones, Dakar/6VA had a very distinctive rasping tone on HF.


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

6VA........once heard never forgotten


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

6VA - good for getting rid of OBS if in a hurry. (Filum night etc)
The real reason was I loved sending that call sign on my side swiper keyer.
Pure poetry !


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

The thread *here* is worth a look at for that elusive coast station call-sign or adding to if not there.
Comparing 5-ton chirp and drift to the Spanish coast stations or worse Alexandria/SUH I don't recall CTV as being that bad. 
Lisboa/CUL was as solida a signal as you'd find anywhere.


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

U.S.C.G were my stations of choice for AMVER and OBS.

Always returned with AA00.

?


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Troppo2 said:


> Ha! I use a ringtone that says:
> 
> VLLB DE VIS QRJ K


Aha ... Lake Barrine? Why do I remember that?

John T


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

sparks69 said:


> I guess the " gentle zephyrs " was what an old translation book would have come up with ?
> If English was not your first language it would not be obvious.
> I liked receiving them, it made a change from the usual.
> The chirp was nice too.
> ...


Pretty sure Monsanto was a Portuguese naval station - you could send OBS to them if you could get an answer out of them. 

Sometime in the '70s I think, they switched from "zephyrs" to "breezes".

They reported me to Geneva or somewhere for something or other. I lost a lot of sleep over that and cross complained about them not keeping watch.

John T


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

sparks69 said:


> 6VA - good for getting rid of OBS if in a hurry. (Filum night etc)
> The real reason was I loved sending that call sign on my side swiper keyer.
> Pure poetry !


I remember being lured into a "nightclub" in 6VA (Dakar to the uninitiated) by a young lady who took her top off in the street. Wow! Thinking about it now, if I'd been as consciencious about suncream then as I am now, it would have been "poetry in lotion".

John T


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

spacetracker said:


> Some Clan Line captains were obsessed with the wx report and didn't settle until they had a copy in their grubby mitts. Pretty weird when considering the total inaccuracy of the contents.


Ha ha. Remember them studying the fax map covered in low pressure thumb prints and then going off for a nap clutching their CTV security blanket.

John T


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## gordonarfur (May 27, 2018)

Worldspan said:


> I think there was another Portuguese station with the call CTH. These were the initials of CT Holmes, one of the old-timer lecturers at Norwood Tech in the 1950s.
> W


Horta radio in the Azores


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## Harry Nicholson (Oct 11, 2005)

Morse has not been abandoned - this from an American R.O. site: 


quote:
Morse Code from HLG Seoul Radio (ship shore communications) 1400Z on 12935kHz.





 source: http://www.trafficlist.net/info-from-hlg-coast-station/

SeoulRadio is one of the very few remaining coastal ship-shore maritime radiocommunication stations still in operation using Morse Code today.

Another is a flshing fleet company in Japan. Asia's two most TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED countries CONTINUE to use Morse Code for some communications even in the non-military commercial sphere.

In the military at the very least PR China, Russia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and a few more are still using Morse Code, due to its resilience.

Think about why that is. Morse Code is NOT obsolete and it is the most efficient means of communications during difficult radio conditions without the aid of extreme high technology susceptible to break-downs.


end of quote


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## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

Hope for all us Ex Sparkies then. Though I am not so sure I want to come out of retirement.After 15 years I am beginning to enjoy it.


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Me too !!!!!!


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## CT1GZB (Feb 25, 2015)

*Monsanto Radio/CTV*

This OM is SMOR António Gamito ex-operator from CTV. 
In this video (make by my request) Mr. Gamito (CT1CZT) make a demonstration of one QSO whit a ship.
The video is recorded in Núcleo de Radioamadores da Armada (CS5NRA), Mr. Gamito is one of founders.


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