Historic Morse Code Station to Broadcast from Original Marconi Site

Maritime Radio Historical Society ^ | Richard Dillman, W6AWO

[Denver Ditdat]

The Maritime Radio Historical Society, in cooperation with the Marconi Conference Center, will return historic Morse code radio station KPH to the air from its original Marin county, CA location on Sunday, 26 February.

KPH, once called the "wireless giant of the Pacific", arrived in Marin county in the early 1920s. With its receiving station at Marshall, CA and transmitters at Bolinas, CA, KPH provided telegram service to ships at sea via Morse code.

Operation at Marshall continued until the beginning of WWII when KPH was shut down for the duration. After the war the receiving station was moved to the Pt. Reyes peninsula. But on Sunday, 26 February, KPH will return to the air from Marshall for the first time since 1942.

Vintage equipment will be used. The transmitters at Bolinas will be operated remotely from Marshall just as was originally done. Messages will be exchanged with historic ships including the SS Red Oak Victory, a WWII Victory ship using its original radio equipment. And radiograms will be accepted from the public for transmission by Morse code and delivery anywhere in the U.S.

On HF, KPH will transmit on 6477.5kc and listen for calls from ships on 6276.0kc.

On MF, KPH will transmit on 500kc and 426kc.

K6KPH will also be operational for handling radiogram traffic from visitors to the event. K6KPH will guard 7050kc for calls.

Reception reports may be sent to:

Ms. DA Stoops
P.O. Box 381M
Bolinas CA 94924-0381
USA

Operations are expected to begin at 1000pst/1800gmt.

The public is invited to visit the receive site at Marshall. For directions to the Marconi Conference Center see:

http://marconiconference.org/

[Denver Ditdat]

I'll be listening. KPH would be a nice historic QSL for my collection. Being there would be even better.

[Denver Ditdat]

Ham Radio Ping List

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[Lx]

Very cool, I'll be listening as well. Thank you.

[billorites]

I remember radio.

I used to listen to WLS, KDKA, WBZ...

I don't think many other people do anymore, though.

There's no reason to listen over the air if you you have broadband.

[darkwing104]

can u hear me now kkk

[Denver Ditdat]

It's still kinda hard to listen to broadband in the car, while fishing, camping, boating, biking, hiking, or from a mountaintop. It sure has changed the way many of us consume programming at home.

I enjoy both, and will always have a use for good ol' RF radiation.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I'll be listening too. I got a QSL card from HAARP after they transmitted a short message in Morse Code a few years back. Everyone had to copy the message, send their copy in along with a reception report, and they in turn sent along a QSL card.

[billorites]

Yes, it is hard in the car and while camping, etc..

Have you tried XM or Sirius?

I've signed up for XM, and for $8.95/month, I can't imagine why I'd ever give it up.

[Lancer_N3502A]

.__ ._ .__ _._.__ _ __ _ ._..

[Andy from Chapel Hill]

XM is one of the best technology values to ever come along. Listening to commercial radio becomes annoying once you have lived with XM. I signed up for the 5 year pre-pay plan. Hope they stay in business that long....

[Bobkk47]

.. -- ..

[Denver Ditdat]

I don't have XM, though I do listen when in a friend's XM equipped car. It's a great service and I have been considering it, though I'd like to listen to Sirius for a while as a comparison before subscribing.

[Denver Ditdat]

QSM, OM.

[billorites]

XM has 160 channels, and I only listen to one.

Go figure.

[BluH2o]

I used to listen to WLS, KDKA, WBZ...

As a teenager growing up in eastern Canada the hot station at night ... only at night ... WKBW Buffaaalo, NY ... Buffaaalo, NY!!!

[USN40VET]

Once upon a time, I used to listen to the marine traffic as a distraction from the radio work I was supposed to be doing. It was very interesting to look for the ships on the calling frequency trying to raise the big shore stations. HF radio is far less interesting now that these marine HF morse code transmissions have ceased.

[uglybiker]

.-- . .- .-. . -.. --- --- -- . -..

[Lancer_N3502A]

What have I done!...8-)

[uglybiker]

Just for fun.

Java Morse Code Translator

[SIDENET]

I enjoy both, and will always have a use for good ol' RF radiation.

I still like radio, too. Heck, I even have some old vacuum tube A.M radios from the '40s that I use for listening to baseball games and Rush.

[capt. norm]

Back in the 60's when I was in college, I used to stay up late at night studying while listening to the most distant stations I could pick up.

In the middle of winter, in Iowa, the reception was fantastic. There was something on every AM channel. It was just a matter of which station was coming in strongest on a give frequency.

[capt. norm]

WKBW Buffaaalo, NY

"KB" came in like a local in Iowa at night. I still have tapes of them and their great jingles.

[uglybiker]

Nowadays, after the sun goes down, all I can pick up is Mexipolka.

[billorites]

Yeah, there was Larry Glick on WBZ and Jean Shepherd from New York on WOR.

I used to read myself to sleep with Readers Digest in my hand and those guys in my ear.

[capt. norm]

Nowadays, after the sun goes down, all I can pick up is Mexipolka.

Yeah, they use those gazillion watt stations across the border where they can get by with that. We used to pick up Wlofman Jack on XERF in Del Rio (on the Mexican side) at night.

Now, at night, they cover the AM dial. Here in Florida we are saturated with signals from Cuba. Back in the 80's, the FCC gave some Florida stations, that were being hosed by the Cubans at night, permission to increase their nighttime power to drown out the Cuban stations locally. They are still about 4 out of every 5 stations you can pick up here after sunset.

On a side note, you seem to have noticed the same thing I have about polkas. I thought they were a European thing...the polka music just doesn't fit in Mexico, and yet there it is.

[danamco]

Back in the 60's when I was in college, I used to stay up late at night studying while listening to the most distant stations I could pick up.



What kind of grades did you get???

[capt. norm]

What kind of grades did you get???

It was strictly background. I guess I must have conditioned myself to where I couldn't get really absorbed in my studies without it. (Kinda' like Pavlov's dog and the bell)

Thirty years later at the helm of a ship, everyone from the XO on down knows I 'need my tunes' in the wheelhouse. If the radio station ain't tuned, I ain't either. You'd be surprised how far offshore we can pick up AM radio at night. During the day, we have our own ship-wide station with which we use when we're far enough out that we won't bother any legitimate shore stations.

[ladyjane]

Was it Larry Glick who used to say "loos-ah without a missoo-suh"?

[Semi Civil Servant]

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. North America and all the ships at sea."

[processing please hold]

-... ..- -- .--.

[processing please hold]

Another.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/morsecode/notopad.shtml

[danamco]

Thirty years later at the helm of a ship, everyone from the XO on down knows I 'need my tunes' in the wheelhouse. If the radio station ain't tuned, I ain't either. You'd be surprised how far offshore we can pick up AM radio at night. During the day, we have our own ship-wide station with which we use when we're far enough out that we won't bother any legitimate shore stations.



Hey, no I'm not surprised about the AM, you are talking with a retired Radio Officer (1947- 1981) from the Merchant Marine. Also during a two year on the weather station "Nord" in Greenland only a few hundred miles from the North Pole, we would easily get reception from Luxembourg Radio in Europe with the top-20 music, etc. Also a plethora of U.S. AM stations would "sail" up to us near the Pole with the then gooood pop-music, and rappers were not invented at that time!

Station Nord:


Station Nord was build by the USA in 1952, its purpose was to fill the gap in weather service and emergency landingstrip between Svalbard and the weather station Danmarkshavn.

Due to the northern location all oceangoing transport is impossible, so building materials had to be delivered by air, and during the summer of 1952 the following deliveries was made:

32 parachute drops, bringing 150 tons.
5 free fall drops bringing 25 tons.
125 landings bringing 600 tons.

From 1952 to July 1972 the base was operated by GTO (Greenland Technical Organization) with help from the US.

The US did the transport to and from the base, delivered the fuel and heavy equipment used for maintaining the runway and keeps it free from snow.

In this period Station Nord housed 28 - 31 men, who at that time had there own postal code.

By the end of July 1972 the US terminated their support to Station Nord, due to fact that weather information had become available from satellites.

At the same date the Danish government decided to close the base, because it would be too expensive to continue the operation with Danish funds alone.

July 30th 1975 Station Nord reopened as a military base.

The reason were to maintain the only manmade gateway to Northeast Greenland, hereby being able to "show the flag" in North Greenland.

Furthermore, the reopening of Station Nord, gave scientific expeditions access to this huge area, an access which had been terminated by the closure in 1972.

The station had to be operated with a minimum of personnel and as cheep as possible, it was decided to post 5 men for a one year term, they were recruited from all 3 branches and each year 2-3 new are recruited for replacement.

You sign up for a one-year tour with a max. of two years.

The area around Station Nord is very flat, with the highest point being Knuths Mt. rising 100 meters of ground.

Here and there is placed small huts where the men can go for recreation either by dog sled or snow mobile.

Supplies to this remote place are splendid, which is a real important factor, when you consider that meals often are the highpoint of the day.

Cooking is shared by all men one week at a time, and you are sure of one thing, no matter how good or bad you are in a kitchen, you will not receive any criticism. If so, the person who did so immediately has kitchen duty for the rest of the week.

Beside the fuellift from Thule Air Base and some scientific expeditions during summer the air traffic in this area is long apart.

There is a plane from the Royal Danish Airforce every 2 to 3 month, bringing supplies and most of all mail.

The station has a very good car pool, witch can handle most duties, but shortage of manpower is a problem during repair of the runway of renovating buildings etc., which is why extra personnel is brought in during summer.

[PUGACHEV]

If you intend to learn code, don't ever study a chart with printed out dots and dashes. I think it's the worst thing you could do, and I wish I'd never seen one, not even once. It's so poisonous later when you want to increase your speed beyond 5 WPM: you're trying to convert the sound of dots and dashes to a picture in your mind, and then compare that picture to a chart you memorized. You cant do that quickly enough once you get much past 5 WPM, and it's exhausting, and no fun anyway.

The best approach is just to learn the sound, or really the unique rhythmic pattern, of each letter, IMHO.

[processing please hold]

I went to the link on post#19. I'll check it out in depth tomorrow. I found it very interesting for the few minutes I was there. I bookmarked it. The 'CGI' Morse Code Translator with sound link in the article.

[PUGACHEV]

This site may be of interest to you:
http://www.aa9pw.com/radio/morse.html