# English Channel 500kc/s nighttime



## Robert M Hughes (Oct 16, 2010)

For actual nostalgia go to radiomarine.org/audio which exhibits Maritime Radio History Society of America - Coast station recordings - and that will put you back in the radio room. FFB FFM PCH GNI CUL etc etc.
Anyone remember which station was TAH and IAR ?
Quite a list of recordings mainly US KPH WSL etc.

Cheers,

Bob


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## Moulder (Aug 19, 2006)

Yes - a good bit of nostalgia. I QSX'd that recording a while ago and listened out for one of my old callsigns as I was in the channel area at the time of the recording.

IAR = Rome
TAH = Istanbul

(Thumb)


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## valencia59 (Feb 23, 2008)

Hi Bob,
IAR was Rome radio, I remember it well, the first ship I sailed on was italian and I used it all the time, they were pretty good, though putting thru r/t calls and having to listen rapid fire Italian was an experience !

Nic


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

IAR also operated the international radio medical service - can't remember it's correct name, but it was an excellent free service.

I always used to wonder why those Spanish stations didn't fix their warbling transmissions, but now I wonder if it wasn't a deliberate ploy - it certainly makes them easy to read through the general cacophony.

John T.


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

"but it was an excellent free service"

Funded by the Doctors themselves who manned the radio's 24/7.

http://www.cirm.it/eng/index_eng.html


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

CIRM - thanks. Remember it now.

John T.


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## hughesy (Dec 18, 2007)

I was on an Italian job worked Rome all the time, they even argued on the key. my call IBIA, I sent it saying to my seld I Belong In Assylum
Long waits for IAR from Brazil, where we was sailing.

all the best
Hughesy (Thumb)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

R651400 said:


> I think the Italian free medico service was a different station than IAR.
> I recall the call sign on the hf bands as IRM


I think you're right but it was operated by IAR (I think).

John T.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

R651400 said:


> I think the Italian free medico service was a different station than IAR.
> I recall the call sign on the hf bands as IRM


Yes, that is how I remember it from the 1960s - used it once or twice when we ha medical problems aboard. A guy with what turned out to be a grumbling appendix was one I remember - the Mate was decidedly not looking forward to having to perform any emergency surgery and was grateful for the advice I got for him via IRM!


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## Robert M Hughes (Oct 16, 2010)

Moulder said:


> Yes - a good bit of nostalgia. I QSX'd that recording a while ago and listened out for one of my old callsigns as I was in the channel area at the time of the recording.
> 
> IAR = Rome
> TAH = Istanbul
> ...


Thanks,
Bob


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## Robert M Hughes (Oct 16, 2010)

valencia59 said:


> Hi Bob,
> IAR was Rome radio, I remember it well, the first ship I sailed on was italian and I used it all the time, they were pretty good, though putting thru r/t calls and having to listen rapid fire Italian was an experience !
> 
> Nic


Thanks Nic,

Bob


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## Robert M Hughes (Oct 16, 2010)

trotterdotpom said:


> IAR also operated the international radio medical service - can't remember it's correct name, but it was an excellent free service.
> 
> I always used to wonder why those Spanish stations didn't fix their warbling transmissions, but now I wonder if it wasn't a deliberate ploy - it certainly makes them easy to read through the general cacophony.
> 
> John T.


Thanks John


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## Robert M Hughes (Oct 16, 2010)

hughesy said:


> I was on an Italian job worked Rome all the time, they even argued on the key. my call IBIA, I sent it saying to my seld I Belong In Assylum
> Long waits for IAR from Brazil, where we was sailing.
> 
> all the best
> Hughesy (Thumb)


Thanks, I was on the Sovac based in Naples IQH so I should have remembered.

Cheers, bob


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

One night at GKA we heard a British ship calling IRM with a medico.
He didn't get a reply whereas just one call to us and we would have responded straight away as we had him monitored on the supervisors console on a loudspeaker. Just one of those odd things that happened. Somebody just happened to hear him calling.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

There were a couple of "different" things that UK Coast Stations used to do when sending - one was sending an "R" as dit-dahdit instead of ditdahdit. I often wondered how many operators from the other side of the world thought they were sending "EN". There was at least one other oddity but I can't remember it.

Any takers?

John T.


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## Moulder (Aug 19, 2006)

trotterdotpom said:


> There were a couple of "different" things that UK Coast Stations used to do when sending - one was sending an "R" as dit-dahdit instead of ditdahdit. I often wondered how many operators from the other side of the world thought they were sending "EN". There was at least one other oddity but I can't remember it.
> 
> Any takers?
> 
> John T.


I don't think that was just a quirk of UK coast stations - in my experience any operator would send 'R' as EN when trying to put a bit of expression into the QSO - I used to send it like that when agreeing with something that the other operator had just said. The more I agreed the longer I would make the 'dah'.

Steve.
(Thumb)


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## Jack Lynch (Apr 12, 2006)

Hi on my ship one of the crew had a medical problem and I had to send a Medico call which was answered by Queen Mary. After a while IAR came on to me and said they handled Medical problems so I continued working IAR and got problem resolved. That was back in the good old days 1952 on ss Sedgepool


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

R651400 said:


> I still have the habit from MN days sending dih dih dih dah dit as something of a warm up before sending anything else, (even with an electronic key)...
> I've never fully understood what SN actually meant but do recall something like "I understand" as an assurance to the receive side...



Yep = understood.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

VE,

As far as I am aware it stood for - Understood. However origin unknown, unless it was military in origin.

Hawkey01


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## radioman1969 (Dec 12, 2010)

*recordings*



Robert M Hughes said:


> For actual nostalgia go to radiomarine.org/audio which exhibits Maritime Radio History Society of America - Coast station recordings - and that will put you back in the radio room. FFB FFM PCH GNI CUL etc etc.
> Anyone remember which station was TAH and IAR ?
> Quite a list of recordings mainly US KPH WSL etc.
> 
> ...


The distress of bulker (Sad)(Sad)WOOH/Marine Electric on 12 Feb 1983 was particularly harrowing - the R/O was one of 31 crew lost and only 3 survivors. The USCG report on this incident was interesting (profit over safety). First SOS at 0253 LT and ship sank 0415 LT only 30 miles from Chesapeake Bay in force 10 storm. 

Can you guys remember where you where on 12 Feb 1983 ? I was in the Pacific on passage from Guayaquil to Valparaiso (to load fish for Japan) onboard Carmania/GPUJ.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Baron Murray/GWES outbound from Hong Kong.


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> There were a couple of "different" things that UK Coast Stations used to do when sending - one was sending an "R" as dit-dahdit instead of ditdahdit. I often wondered how many operators from the other side of the world thought they were sending "EN". There was at least one other oddity but I can't remember it.
> 
> Any takers?
> 
> John T.


John, was completely taken in by this on my very first trip to see as Junior R/O.
Boss gave me an Interflora SLT for the Mates wifes bierthday. QSO Portishead went well until I finished sending. Portishead gave me 
Dit.............DahDit. I of course was expecting QSL1
Yep I read it as EN and I was completely nonplussed as my training did not include any EN code!!!. Portishead obviously thought I hadn't heard and sent it again, this time streaching it out even further!
Dit.............DaaaahDit.
Feverishly looking in R/Os handbook, he abandoned me with a stream of morse I didn't get.
I was very thankful when the Mate said that he had a letter from his wife saying how nice the flowers were!

Best wishes

Alan


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Yes Alan, I was a little confused by it at first too. It definitely seemed to be only British coast stations and ships that did it and, eventually, I found myself doing it too. One day I met a German RO and he brought the subject up, asking why they did it (he thought it was bloody stupid). I had no answer for him and never did it again.

John T.


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## gwzm (Nov 7, 2005)

The full story of the Marine Electric is set out in the book Until The Sea Shall Free Them by Robert Frump ISBN 0-09-944558-1, which I'm re-reading at the moment. It sets out the harrowing story of the sinking and subsequent epic legal battle by the mate to show the owner's culpability. Well worth a read.

gwzm


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> Yes Alan, I was a little confused by it at first too. It definitely seemed to be only British coast stations and ships that did it and, eventually, I found myself doing it too. One day I met a German RO and he brought the subject up, asking why they did it (he thought it was bloody stupid). I had no answer for him and never did it again.
> 
> John T.


Well of course it comes from R/T really as in "your number 1 received" or "Roger" (some how Romeo does not have the same appeal!!!) but streaching it out in the familiar way can cause confusion. I suppose it is easy to hear through static/noise?
Perhaps we might get some comment from our GKA colleagues about this.

Best wishes

Alan


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Yes, Alan, for some reason "Romeo" doesn't seem to have taken off, it just doesn't sound right, but then, neither does "Wherefore art thou, Roger?"

I don't think "EN" meant anything other than "R" for "received" it was just a "style thing".

John T.


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> Yes, Alan, for some reason "Romeo" doesn't seem to have taken off, it just doesn't sound right, but then, neither does "Wherefore art thou, Roger?"
> 
> John T.


Nice one John(Applause)(Applause)

Alan


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Regarding the extended letter R, 
I personally never used this at anytime, of course this was not possible with an auto-key. Even with a handkey it never happened. Acknowledging traffic using R1 etc was OK if you had an RO who was on the ball - however with some it was much simpler to use QSL, no room for misunderstanding then. With very heavy traffic - when we had endless QRY´s it was not a good thing to just use R. At coast stations it was OK as it was a one to one situation.


Hawkey01


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