# La Coruna Radio/EAR



## Drunkensailor (Dec 19, 2007)

Came across this on www.youtube.com plenty of 500khz morse on the audio from this video clip on La Coruna Radio/EAR. Nostalgic stuff. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E9-69U5oio


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

No wonder the station's tone was crap - Groucho marx was running the place!

John T.


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Thanks Drunkensailor, wonderful, the best of it's type I've seen. The years rolled away and I was right back there, heading down the channel outward bound. Although a very happy and contented man, I still came close to shedding a tear for those wonderful times and my long-lost, often dissolute but much enjoyed youth. 

Nostalgic stuff indeed!


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Cheers Drunkensailor, FB OM.

73 de Rab T


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

As soon as I saw ''EAR'' I immediately had memories of the Spanish coast stations that quacked like duck on 500. Never found out (even on many subsequent business visits to HRM and CRAME in Madrid) what equipment they used and why their modulation was so primitive. Of course in the early days, one had to be careful about asking questions about nationa communications arrangements - Franco had so many squirrels around the place.


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## Tai Pan (Mar 24, 2006)

No wonder Im deaf, ten years of that. very nostalgic though


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Which one of the stations down that coast used to be known as 'Gentle Jesus' because everytime you took a weather forecast you got 'gentle breezes' even if your ship was balanced on its stem in a force 10 atlantic storm?

I think he just didn't like bad weather, ... so he didn't send any.


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## mikeg (Aug 24, 2006)

BobClay said:


> Which one of the stations down that coast used to be known as 'Gentle Jesus' because everytime you took a weather forecast you got 'gentle breezes' even if your ship was balanced on its stem in a force 10 atlantic storm?
> 
> I think he just didn't like bad weather, ... so he didn't send any.


Monsanto had 'gentle zephyrs' whatever the weather...


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Monsanto/CTV.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

ahhh that's the one. Monsanto.

Reminds me of my standard weather report which I used if I (cough cough) ever should have missed one.

Winds variable force 1 to 12.
Seas slight to phenomenal.
Visibility good but occasionally poor.
Outlook similar.

(==D)


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## Gareth Jones (Jul 13, 2007)

What a pleasure to hear that burst of 500 as it was in the good old days ! gone but not forgotten.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

.. and what a great collection of transmitter tones. It's well over 20 years since I heard any of that stuff.

As Rutget Hauer said in Blade Runner ...

'All those moments will be lost in time ..... like tears in rain.'


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## Pat bourke (Jun 30, 2007)

Nice one drunkensailor, brought back many memories, ran up and down the Bay of Biscay for a month between St Nazaire and Vigo. Pat


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

Drunkensailor said:


> ....... Came across this on ....... plenty of 500khz morse on the audio from this video clip on La Coruna Radio/EAR. Nostalgic stuff. ......[/url]


It's really wonderful stuff. but does anybody know how to get a copy of the file downloaded onto their PC (ie) get a copy ?

Cheers

Andy


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

andysk said:


> ... but does anybody know how to get a copy of the file downloaded onto their PC (ie) get a copy ?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Andy


Do you use Firefox? If so I can tell you how, but don't know how to do it with IE (haven't used it in over five years). You will also need a media player which will play FLV files. Are you running XP or Vista?


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## steve Coombs (Sep 27, 2005)

Thanks for the memories


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

BA204259 said:


> Do you use Firefox? If so I can tell you how, but don't know how to do it with IE (haven't used it in over five years). You will also need a media player which will play FLV files. Are you running XP or Vista?


Hi BA204259 ...

I am using Firefox and XP.

My media player of choice is Irfanview, I don't kow if they have a plugin for FLV files though.

Thanks for your help ...

Cheers

Andy


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Andy

The answer is a Firefox extension called Video DownloadHelper obtainable from here:-

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006

When installed it will put an icon on your Navigation toolbar, usually to the left of the address bar. As ever, there will be a learning curve but only a small one. It works and works very well. Read the little bit there is about it and use it to d/l the video - which is by the way 18.5 Mbs.

The best player for this is VLC media player (latest version 0.8.6i ) obtainable from here:-

http://www.videolan.org/

The reason is that it already contains the necessary codecs for playing FLV files and is reliable and easy to use. It is open source and the price is perfect. (Incidentally I use the portable version as it doesn't need installing, but they're both good).

Let us know how it goes. Enjoy.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Using free software downloaded from this site

http://keepvid.com/

I've downloaded a number of U tube vids via any browser. Not exactly sure what the legal situation is though ?


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Just checked the IrfanView plugin site and there is a plugin available for FLV files but wouldn't know how it works.


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Anybody have any ideas about why the Spanish coast stations had that peculiar sound? Unsmoothed H.T., keying the MO or whatever?

(R651400?)


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## omega2618 (Aug 7, 2008)

I have RealPlayer installed which you can get as a free download.This programme places a small 'window' above the You Tube video window with an invitation to 'download video'.Once activated a new window will open showing the download progress and once complete the video can be accessed in the RealPlayer library.If a silver surfing duffer like me can do it .....Hope this helps.


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

R651400 - 

Aye..a combination of any or all those things. CUL certainly stands out amongst them. As an aside, I've often wondered if CUL was chosen as a call sign with tongue in cheek as the word, with only slight variations, has a common meaning amongst the Romance languages (Jester)


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## Barber Hector (Jan 13, 2008)

Thank you D'Sailor for sharing that with us. The years have just fallen by listening to that. 
Talking about chirpy W/T tones anyone remember Colomboradio/4PB and Singaporeradio/VPW which was eventually 9VG, and the dreaded Shanghairadio/XSG. They all had distinctive notes.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

> la Coruna street lighting going up and down in synch with EAR morse!!


Glad I'm not in a bar there if that sort of thing were to start up. I'd think I'd finally gone Portishead .....(Pint)


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

Thanks all for the download hints, I'll have a go over the weekend and see what happens.

I played the video to my wife last night, she couldn't understand why I went all misty eyed and the right hand started tapping in time !


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## Rhodri Mawr (Jul 6, 2008)

*Distinctive Modulation on 500*



Barber Hector said:


> Thank you D'Sailor for sharing that with us. The years have just fallen by listening to that.
> Talking about chirpy W/T tones anyone remember Colomboradio/4PB and Singaporeradio/VPW which was eventually 9VG, and the dreaded Shanghairadio/XSG. They all had distinctive notes.


Same thing for Galveston/KLC. His MCW tone on 500 reminded me of a
cricket chirping away


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

Great stuff drunken sailor---brings the memories flooding back of the good old days!!. cheers ftf


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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

One of the more distinctive was Las Palmas, whose 500 note rose in pitch while transmitting. I was never able to work out if the transmitter had a directly-keyed oscillator, or if the ht line to the oscillator was keyed, or what...


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