# Worst Coast Station ever ???



## johnvvc

What's the worst coast station you ever worked - or didn't work ???

Did a couple of trips down to Monrovia to load iron ore (on the Ribblehead I think). The local coast station I seem to remember was ELC and he must rate right up there amongst the poorest. 

Anyone worked Aden Radio ZNR - I seem to remember he wasn't particularly good either - or is old age playing tricks with my memory ?

When I was with Fyffes (who by then were owned by United Fruit) the owners were very insistent we clear traffic via certain stations. I think United Fruit were somehow tied up with Tropical Radio (maybe owned Tropical ?) so we were expected to use them to keep costs down. I think WAX was one of theirs and and having traffic handed in on the last watch of the day for the owners in Boston often meant you were in for a long watch... The story was that Tropical had a few ship stations and they all had the same calling frequencies on HF so that's where WAX listened. If it got boring the op would quickly scan the band then return to the Tropical channel...

Also sailed to Puerto Barrios and Puerto Cortez in Central America - I think the ops at those stations had their straw hats permanently pulled down over their faces and were dozing - or couldn't find the on/off switch - I NEVER heard either of them on air !!!


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## lakercapt

VKT Nauru.
Don't think they ever listened for traffic.


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## Graham P Powell

I offered to relay a message once for another ship to ASK ( Karachi).
Hopeless with practically unreadable morse. 
rgds
Graham Powell


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## Moulder

lakercapt said:


> VKT Nauru.
> Don't think they ever listened for traffic.


They did - but, and this is no excuse, the ops there were also very busy with landline links to Oz. It was a case of knowing when to call them and then being patient and wait for the reply.

Steve.
(Thumb)


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## Troppo

When in Barron Murray/GWES, I actually made the effort to visit C2N (Nauru Radio).

Old gear....but the thing that stood out was a hand written note stuck under the prespex top of the operating console that said:

*Maintain the integrity of Nauru Radio*

(LOL)


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## Tai Pan

ZNR was a dream compared to the Indonesian, especially Palembang.


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## holland25

The US Coast Guard station on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal was a difficult one to raise,probably due to the constant heavy static. The Indonesian coast stations were OK to work it seemed to be the internal comms that let them down. I sent a message through Djakarta for Surabaya,a first trip mistake,I think they are still waiting delivery.


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## CrazySparks

It's all so long ago, but I also recall ASK as particularly ghastly. But some of the worst service was also from a French HF RT station when I was serving on Italian vessels. One of their operators actually told me to shut up once as I persisted in trying to raise his station. Suez was also a problem - I could never ever work out why its service had such a restricted range - you could only ever get hold of it when you were virtually on top of it. Was it SUK?

I grew to love and hate IAR - particularly for RT - by the time you got your turn the sun was into another cycle and comms was no more. But they were busy! Evey man and his dog on the Italian ships wanted to phone home just about every day. The trouble was that IAR was so cheap. The volume of calls fell considerably when this 'marconista' started sending calls through Bern, Portishead and elsewhere! I am still haunted by the musical tones of Italians as they tracked me down no matter where I might be resting: : 'Hey! MArconista! Quando possible telefonare?!" But that's another thread - maybe I should start one for those of us who 'went Italian'!
Happy days.


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## trotterdotpom

I know there were exceptions, but the vast majority of radio stations between about 30N and 30S were crap.

It was a waste of time calling when the book said they were listening, because mostly they didn't. The best thing to do was wait for their traffic list and call straight after that, with luck they would be listening for a few minutes.

John T


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## Robert Hilton

GNI or Niton on VHF (okay, I'm not a sparks) ever efficient, but often worth a listen as they handled traffic.

Two contrasting operators, one with a laid back Southern accent that made you visualise him in pyjamahs, the other clearly feeling a deep sense of urgency. I once heard him telling a vessel that was queuing for a link call, "Don't be so impatient!"

However the best was another operator dealing with a vessel I shan't name. After a routine call the man rather alienated listeners, eavesdroppers and Niton by saying, "This is personal. Wait 'til I clear the bums and stiffs out of the wheelhouse."

Then he booked an interflora delivery of a dozen red roses with the message, "Ma petite fleur, will you marry me?"

Niton asked for a signature and the vessel replied, "That's all right, she'll know where it came from." To which Niton answered, "Maybe she gets lots like that."

If the perpetrator of that excellent riposte reads this I offer my envious congratulations. I wish I'd said it, but maybe I will.


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## Moulder

Robert Hilton said:


> ............. one with a laid back Southern accent that made you visualise him in pyjamahs,..................


Ah - Rodney ..... he was famous amongst some who were returning from deep sea and waiting their turn for a R/T link call. Actually met him ashore in later years and worked with him overseas. A nice chap who's demeanour matched his 2mHz transmitted voice. (LOL)



(Thumb)


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## Robert M Hughes

Anyone remember that station at the top of the Persian (now Arabian) Gulf that one tried to contact to arrange a Pilot for I think Rastanura - calling, calling with just the sound of static - to the point that you felt the apocalypse had arrived ?

Bob


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## R719220

johnvvc said:


> When I was with Fyffes (who by then were owned by United Fruit) the owners were very insistent we clear traffic via certain stations. I think United Fruit were somehow tied up with Tropical Radio (maybe owned Tropical ?) so we were expected to use them to keep costs down. I think WAX was one of theirs and and having traffic handed in on the last watch of the day for the owners in Boston often meant you were in for a long watch... The story was that Tropical had a few ship stations and they all had the same calling frequencies on HF so that's where WAX listened. If it got boring the op would quickly scan the band then return to the Tropical channel...
> 
> Also sailed to Puerto Barrios and Puerto Cortez in Central America - I think the ops at those stations had their straw hats permanently pulled down over their faces and were dozing - or couldn't find the on/off switch - I NEVER heard either of them on air !!!


I think that in those days quite a large part of Central America was "owned" by the United Fruit Company. Back in '62 bound Puerto Matias de Galvez (Puerto Barrios). Checked Sparkie's Bible for a suitable coast station and it only mentioned one. I'm sure it was Puerto Barriosradio and that the call sign was TGF. M/F only. Tried calling occasionally from a couple of days out on 500 but never heard him. Eventually, a Panamanian registered ship called me and said words to the effect that I was wasting my time as TGF had closed 15 years previously and that tfc was handled by Tropical Radio. As you say, one of them was Ojus/WAX and I'm fairly sure that another one was Slidell/WNU, but I don't remember any problems working them, WNU in particular I remember as being pretty slick. Strange the little things we remember....we hope.


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## trotterdotpom

Robert M Hughes said:


> Anyone remember that station at the top of the Persian (now Arabian) Gulf that one tried to contact to arrange a Pilot for I think Rastanura - calling, calling with just the sound of static - to the point that you felt the apocalypse had arrived ?
> 
> Bob




Top of the Gulf might have been Khorramshahr but it's not near Ras Tanura, that's down near Bahrain. Khorramshahr was certainly down there with the worst.

Is the Persian Gulf called the Arabian Gulf now? Surely that depends on which side of the magic carpet you are. Next thing you know they'll be calling Bombay "Mumbai" or something (but not in this house).

John T (formerly of Yorkshire, Teesside, Cleveland and Yorkshire again).


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## Steven Lamb

For me possibly the worst - SVA / Athens. Spend hrs QRZ him possibly because wasn't a Greek c/s ? When eventually up on the working freq with a QRY he'd simply forget you and continue working greek vsls instead. Lagos Radio (5TT ?) runs a close 1st also - never QSX on the calling freqs.
Agree "Nasty Rasty" Aramco radio in the gulf cud be a right pain !
"Aah the memories - all part of the fun" 

Rgds / 73's
Lamby


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## Robert M Hughes

Lamby,

The trick with SVA was to run his call letters together which seemed to madden him into replying !

bob


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## Clive Kaine

Ras Tanura/HZY was one of the worst I can remember. Just appalling, virtually unreadable morse.


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## Baulkham Hills

Some stations I never got through to in West Africa even being in the harbour you could not raise them. Stations in Zaire and Takoradi Ghana.
Then there was what I called the line of sight stations which they only answered if you were in sight of the station window. Beiruit ODR Malta 9HD. Tripoli, Algiers
After that there were the fictional stations which according to the A.R.L.S. had a full service 22,16,12,8,6,4 and m/f but actually only worked on 8 mhz for 30 minutes after a traffic list, if you were lucky. Guayaquil comes to mind.
If I could not get on a QRY I would try and find the frequency of the ship working the station and call direct
when his traffic was finished. Sometimes it was the only thing that worked. That's where a 2nd main rx and of course a synthezised transmitter came in handy.
Cranky stations Athens SVA Bombay and Hong Kong VPS. HZY.
Powerful stations that never seem to hear your call WCC WSL and WSC unless you were in U.S. economic zone.
Looking at this list it's a wonder I ever sent a telegram at all.


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## Graham P Powell

This happened at GKA years ago
R/O tapping microphone "effing thing isn't working"
GRL - Breaksea Light Vessel "Oh yes it is Portishead"
On RML we monitored about 20 different radio stations every day. Never had much trouble with any of them and I worked SVA from the South Atlantic when we picked up four badly burnt Greek crewmen off a cargo ship. (one died unfortunately). As I said before ASK was the worst but that was on another ship.rgds
Graham Powell


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## Tony Selman

ASK and HZY were bad. Was the one at the top of the Gulf EPY8? That would be on many tanker men's short list.


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## hawkey01

EPY8 previously Bandar Mashur later renamed Bandar Khomeini.

I must have been lucky as I don't remember HZY being that bad. In the 60's when I was up the Gulf seem to recall they all used bug keys and were OK. It was an Aramco station, maybe the RO's changed over the years.
Lagos, 5TT - that seems familiar - was a pain and even within a few miles I never managed to raise him. In peak put the Crusader on full power but even that failed to activate him. 
One of the best was 9LL - Freetown - in the good Colonial days!

Hawkey01


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## trotterdotpom

EPY8? Wasn't that a valve in the Alert receiver?

5TT was crap but Maxim's nightclub in Lagos was a laugh - swings and roundabouts.

John T


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## Graham P Powell

Anybody work LOI the pilot station on an old warship in the River Plate?.I seem to remember very fast morse and being woken up to work him as Argentina had no VHF. The warship had a ram bow and stern and was very old with RECALADA written on the side in large white letters.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## jimg0nxx

Lagos as I recall was 5OW. Also can not recall having any problems with him, on the few times I went there ships had Oceanspan Txs.
My last ship was Ffyfes and the Central American stations were the worst. Ffyfes belonged to United Brands in Boston, who I think owned Tropical Radio, so all our traffic to C America was sent via their US stations WAX or WNU.

Jim


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## mikeg

Thought EPY8 were not too bad. What was the station for Ras al-Khaimah? I remember signals being blocked (by terrain) in some areas which was a bit annoying.


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## andysk

mikeg said:


> Thought EPY8 were not too bad. What was the station for Ras al-Khaimah? I remember signals being blocked (by terrain) in some areas which was a bit annoying.


EPY8 was OK when I went up there on several occasions in the mid 1970's. Was there was one at Bandar Abbas as well - perhaps a naval station ?

The worst (IMHO) were most of the west African ones, with the notable exceptions of 6VA Dakar and TUA Abidjan. One evening when struggling with the OBS, I did manage to raise someone in the Bight of Benin somewhere, Cotonou perhaps ?


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## Gareth Jones

Does anyone remember Bahrainradio having a british callsign GNV comes to mind ? or is my selinity worse than I thought ?


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## R719220

Gareth Jones said:


> Does anyone remember Bahrainradio having a british callsign GNV comes to mind ? or is my selinity worse than I thought ?



You are quite right. I couldn't swear it was GNV, although that rings a faint bell (it will come to me at 3 o'clock one of these mornings), but Bahrain did have a British call sign.
Never went up the Gulf but remember it well in the Indian Ocean when I was on Anchor Line and Blue Star. Certainly there in the early sixties before it became A9M(??).


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## R719220

Gareth
It was GNV. If you google Bahrainradio/GNV you will get just a bit of info.....eg before it was A9M it was GNV. You're not as senile as you thought!!

What would we do without Google?


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## Steven Lamb

Robert M Hughes said:


> Lamby,
> 
> The trick with SVA was to run his call letters together which seemed to madden him into replying !
> 
> bob


Hiya Bob
Tks fer the tip - will use that next time round in the next life !

cheers mate
Rgds / 73's

Lamby


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## Steven Lamb

Apologies to all !

Me thinks i've screwed-up the c/s of Lagos radio ? Was it not '50W' insteadof '5TT' ? If anyone out there could please correct me - tks.

All the best /73's
Rgds
Lamby


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## david.hopcroft

This thread starts with ELC - Monrovia. On the fruit run from S.Africa - UK/Continent, I remember several times hearing ELC come up on 500 with a CQ...... QRU? - He simply ignored everyone who called. Including me looking to send an OBS, but luckily 9LL at Freetown was very keen and even asked for the previous two days worth !!

David
+


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## Barber Hector

In my experience Aden/ZNR was bad. Nasty bit of work expecially after the British troops were murdered by their native police 'partners'. Station would come up with a T/L stating Aden South Arabia and some political crap.
Most difficult, as already noted, was the USCG station N?? at Panama. Weak signal amongst heavy static.
Hongkong/VPS used to infuriate me with its typhoon warnings/forecasts at 16 wpm. Dragging away for ages and then interupting for T/Lists.


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## hawkey01

I am now doubting Lagos callsign.

Both seem to ring a bell 5TT and 5OW. Now thinking 5OW is in the lead. One of you with the old books please clarify.

Hawkey01


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## Pat bourke

hawkey01 said:


> I am now doubting Lagos callsign.
> 
> Both seem to ring a bell 5TT and 5OW. Now thinking 5OW is in the lead. One of you with the old books please clarify.
> 
> Hawkey01


Hawkey01,

Lagos Radio was 50W

Regards Pat


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## trotterdotpom

Thanks for that, Pat. Pretty sure there was a 5TT too, could it have been Lome?

John T


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## jimg0nxx

5TA-5TZ Mauritania 

Jim


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## trotterdotpom

Thanks Jim - must have been Nouakchott near Nouhadibou.

John T


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## jimg0nxx

John,
Could not remember name of place but pretty sure the callsign was 5TA.

Jim


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## Barber Hector

R651400.

Yes your right, NBA.
I was driving along to see to my granddaughters horses this morning thinking suitable equine thoughts when NBA drove right through them, my thoughts that is.
How sad is that !!!


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## Pat bourke

trotterdotpom said:


> Thanks for that, Pat. Pretty sure there was a 5TT too, could it have been Lome?
> 
> John T


Hi John T

According to my 1973 Radio Signals there was no 5TT.
But 5TA was Nouadhibou (Port Etienne) Mauritania.
Lome was 5VA.

Regards Pat.


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## SparksG1714

*Pg*



trotterdotpom said:


> Top of the Gulf might have been Khorramshahr but it's not near Ras Tanura, that's down near Bahrain. Khorramshahr was certainly down there with the worst.
> 
> Is the Persian Gulf called the Arabian Gulf now? Surely that depends on which side of the magic carpet you are. Next thing you know they'll be calling Bombay "Mumbai" or something (but not in this house).
> 
> John T (formerly of Yorkshire, Teesside, Cleveland and Yorkshire again).



That'd be EQK who didn't maintain a watch during the afternoons' high heat/humidity. Spent a slimming afternoon with an RCA R4U-fitted station on the last UK-registered victory ship: Persian Shipping Services' John L Manta/GHVA. Eventually passed out (no aircon) and woke up on the bridge wing with water being poured all over me in an attempt to re-hydrate. Later visited EQK who's op did actually take a nap between 1200 and 1600. With no VHF how to contact? Perhaps by(Applause)

73 de Richard


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## hawkey01

Pat,

thanks for the cs. 

Hawkey01


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## Moulder

Pat bourke said:


> Hi John T
> 
> According to my 1973 Radio Signals there was no 5TT.
> But 5TA was Nouadhibou (Port Etienne) Mauritania.
> Lome was 5VA.
> 
> Regards Pat.


I reckon a station callsign '5TT' would have caused a little confusion on 500kHz. (*))

Steve.
(Thumb)


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## Steven Lamb

Pat bourke said:


> Hi John T
> 
> According to my 1973 Radio Signals there was no 5TT.
> But 5TA was Nouadhibou (Port Etienne) Mauritania.
> Lome was 5VA.
> 
> Regards Pat.


'Crickey' Pat
1973 Radio signals (ALR's ?) must be a collector's item !

Rgds /73's
Lamby

P.S. Anyone got any earlier publications stashed away ?


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## Pat bourke

Greetings "Lamby",

I also have a 1972 copy of "Alphabetical List of Call Signs" published by UIT.
Found both while decorating.
Regards Pat.


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## david.hopcroft

I have an October 1963 'Dicky Dappel'. 5TT is not shown in that either.

David
+


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## 5TT

> I reckon a station callsign '5TT' would have caused a little confusion on 500kHz.


Especially if we threw in Spanish station EAU for good measure.
The first time somebody sent "UP EAU" to me I thought he was being rude.

= Adrian +


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## trotterdotpom

david.hopcroft said:


> I have an October 1963 'Dicky Dappel'. 5TT is not shown in that either.
> 
> David
> +


I've got a 1948 dickey dappel.

Obviously 5TT is a figment of some of our imaginations.

John T


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## ex ro

hi was on a ship running to West Coast of Africa for 12 months during 1975/76 definitely worst station i have ever encountered was Banana Radio 9PB was supposed to answer on 500 khz actually answered on 508 so most ships just called and called him 9PM Matadi was also a nightmare so much so that all QTCS For Zaire were sent via OST.
Another joke was 5OW lagos at this time there were over 200 ships anchored waiting for berths and constantly calling 5OW on 500 khz it got so bad that one ship would call out the 5 another the O and then yet another the W , anything to pass the time. LOL


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## gordonarfur

Anybody ever work Leningrad, UUA I think, took light years to get a response and then he used an electronic bug key so fast that it was almost impossible to comprehend.


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## pippin

Late on watch here but I would definitely agree that the Panama Canal Zone Stn NBA was one of the worst to raise.
Especially as it was imperative to get one's TR/QTC in by a certain time before arrival.

Thanks for confirming LOI as the pilot boat for BsAs. 
I have had that running through my brain for ages.
There was another LO? pilot station - any recollections?

There was a 500kHz Iraqi Stn on a wooden platform at the entrance to Basrah - any ideas?


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## Dimples82

johnvvc said:


> What's the worst coast station you ever worked - or didn't work ???
> 
> Did a couple of trips down to Monrovia to load iron ore (on the Ribblehead I think). The local coast station I seem to remember was ELC and he must rate right up there amongst the poorest.
> 
> Anyone worked Aden Radio ZNR - I seem to remember he wasn't particularly good either - or is old age playing tricks with my memory ?
> 
> When I was with Fyffes (who by then were owned by United Fruit) the owners were very insistent we clear traffic via certain stations. I think United Fruit were somehow tied up with Tropical Radio (maybe owned Tropical ?) so we were expected to use them to keep costs down. I think WAX was one of theirs and and having traffic handed in on the last watch of the day for the owners in Boston often meant you were in for a long watch... The story was that Tropical had a few ship stations and they all had the same calling frequencies on HF so that's where WAX listened. If it got boring the op would quickly scan the band then return to the Tropical channel...
> 
> Also sailed to Puerto Barrios and Puerto Cortez in Central America - I think the ops at those stations had their straw hats permanently pulled down over their faces and were dozing - or couldn't find the on/off switch - I NEVER heard either of them on air !!!


The worst Coastal Radio Station I ever used was Jakarta Radio / PKI.
I am convinced that the operators at PKI did not know morse code, 3 wpm was to fast for them to understand. In the end I gave up and sent the traffic to Indonesia via Singapore Radio / 9VG.


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## R651400

Never had any probs with PKI or Surabaya PKD even fixed hours Belawan PKB and Balikpapan whose c/s escapes me. Singapore VPW later 9VG was excellent.
Except 9MG Penang (previously VPX) all those post Independence calls weren't around in my time with GTZ.B.
One trip to Oz via the Cape after Suez on a OBS ship bunkering Dakar FGA and Bathurst/Freetown with VP* calls all gave good service.
Tbh '56/62I can't think of any really bad coast station service even TR's to SUK (Port Tewfik?) on the Red Sea side of Suez were acknowledged efficiently.
Jedda then had no coast station but later I believe became HZH. ETA Msgs were sent via Port Sudan STP and as far as I know arrived safely on time.
Caribbean side Curacao PJC stuck out as one of the best though I believe Haiti with some peculiar call HHH a bugger to send and I heard a bigger bugger to raise..
Have to concur though SVA was positively biased towards Greek and FoC ships calling on HF.


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## Dimples82

I was in a big tanker (Singapore flag), taking on cargo more or less every 3 weeks from the Balongan SBN, in good faith, I tried to contact PKI (no problems on M/F, every time), I think it was when they tried to receive a message they had problems. I don't know, perhaps 60 to 80 word cargo messages sent by Singapore flagged ships sending reasonable morse, or perhaps . . . . . I don't know.


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## wireless man

Concerning the ALRS I have a 1940 copy which has the following caution in it
"It should be bourne in mind that during the present hostilities in Europe (1939-1940) navigational aids of all kinds are liable to be discontinued or to alter their services without previous notice. For this reason the information given in this publication should be used with caution. This warning should not be regarded as applying only to belligerent countries"

WM


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## pippin

WIRELESS MAN - does that ALRS give any details of the Area Scheme? Several of us are trying to work out what happened to the "missing" areas like Nr4 in later years.


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## Baulkham Hills

Running down to Mathadi in early 80's still using OST instead of local stations. Douala was quite good as well a Takoradi and Dakar apart from that I did not rate any of the others. I suppose these were very poor countries and good equipment was expensive and for the operators is the old communist motto "they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work". 
Ghana was so poor (or corrupt) at the time I remember the Ghanian navy coming aboard begging for few boiler sight glasses because their warships could not fire up the boilers safely let alone go to sea.
The stations in the gulf on paper fantastic service from 4mhz to 22mhz with impressive hours of service, if you were lucky they sent a traffic list on 8mhz and listened for a few minutes then worked the ships, too bad if you missed out.
Bahrain (A9M I think) run by Cable and Wireless was a very good station and the one I used most. 
It was not only the 3rd world I had a about 700 word stores telegraph for Las Palmas when I warned the operator about it, back came the reply "use sat".


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## lakercapt

One station I enjoyed working was Port Patrick. We even managed to get him on occasion when in the Medi on 2182 and then his working frequency. This when I sailed on Robbie boats.
Even work him when I was on Canadian ships as we did not have R/Os but only R/T.


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## Larry Bennett

According to one of my more 'mature' GKA colleagues, Area IV in the Area Scheme was the area controlled by Stanley in in the Falkland Islands. For some reason this never was fully implemented and the area became Area IIA with Cape Town as the controlling station. I haven't yet found any do***entary evidence about if Area IV was formally implemented or even planned, but I will continue to plough through my collection of archives. It does seem strange though that there is an Area III and Area V, so I would presume the area was allocated before being withdrawn.

Larry +


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## majoco

I got quite good at working HZY Ras Tanura - his morse was so bad but after a while you realised that his replies were what you expected to to hear - so his reply to your call was just gibberish and you sent your pilot request MSG which resulted in more gibberish so you sent back R OK TNX and changed back to 500 quickly. The pilot boat was always there so you can only assume that the MSG got through..... or was the pilot boat always there....hmmm.

I used GNI Niton quite often from the Straits of Hormuz in the early dawn - listen on 464kHz for his traffic list and call him on 468kHz when he'd finished with my TR - not many failures although he was sometimes surprised!


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## djringjr

johnvvc said:


> What's the worst coast station you ever worked - or didn't work ???
> 
> When I was with Fyffes (who by then were owned by United Fruit) the owners were very insistent we clear traffic via certain stations. I think United Fruit were somehow tied up with Tropical Radio (maybe owned Tropical ?) so we were expected to use them to keep costs down. I think WAX was one of theirs and and having traffic handed in on the last watch of the day for the owners in Boston often meant you were in for a long watch... The story was that Tropical had a few ship stations and they all had the same calling frequencies on HF so that's where WAX listened. If it got boring the op would quickly scan the band then return to the Tropical channel...


Tropical Radio was owned by United Fruit / United Brands, their last stations were:

WBF Boston Closed in 1960s.
TIM Limon, Costa Rica.
WAX, Ojus, Florida Closed in 1976?
WNU Slidell, Louisiana closed in 1999.

Tropical Radio became TRT a telecommunications provider (telex) might still be in business.

73
David

DR N1EA


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## bhill

johnvvc said:


> What's the worst coast station you ever worked - or didn't work ???
> 
> Did a couple of trips down to Monrovia to load iron ore (on the Ribblehead I think). The local coast station I seem to remember was ELC and he must rate right up there amongst the poorest.
> 
> Anyone worked Aden Radio ZNR - I seem to remember he wasn't particularly good either - or is old age playing tricks with my memory ?
> 
> When I was with Fyffes (who by then were owned by United Fruit) the owners were very insistent we clear traffic via certain stations. I think United Fruit were somehow tied up with Tropical Radio (maybe owned Tropical ?) so we were expected to use them to keep costs down. I think WAX was one of theirs and and having traffic handed in on the last watch of the day for the owners in Boston often meant you were in for a long watch... The story was that Tropical had a few ship stations and they all had the same calling frequencies on HF so that's where WAX listened. If it got boring the op would quickly scan the band then return to the Tropical channel...
> 
> Also sailed to Puerto Barrios and Puerto Cortez in Central America - I think the ops at those stations had their straw hats permanently pulled down over their faces and were dozing - or couldn't find the on/off switch - I NEVER heard either of them on air !!!


I recall whilst with Cunard going up the St Lawrence River that the Canadian coast stations were not the best ones to work, some of the morse was appalling


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## pippin

That didn't stop them from reporting the most minor of infringements of the Radio Regs!


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## Troppo

A mate got a "bluey" from the Japs for calling too many times on HF....

The old man had it framed and mounted in the smoke room....


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