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Old October 7th 06, 01:53 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors,rec.radio.shortwave
Al Dykes Al Dykes is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Oct 2006
Posts: 21
Default Ship/marine traffic HF radio (BC-221).

In article . net,
Richard Knoppow wrote:

"Steven Swift" wrote in message
...
I was cruising around the HF bands last night look to see
if I could
snag the BBC in my area. I stumbled across a SSB HF
broadcast of
Alaskan seas conditions. This caused me to do a search on
Google for HF
marine stations. After drilling into various sites, I hit:

http://www.shipcom.com/frequencies.html

I was surprised to see the front panel of an old BC-221
(SCR-211)
staring back at me. It is good to see that venerable old
frequency
meter still considered "cool" enough to be part of a
commercial web
site.

Steve.
--
Steven D. Swift, ,
http://www.novatech-instr.com
NOVATECH INSTRUMENTS, INC. P.O. Box 55997
206.301.8986, fax 206.363.4367 Seattle, Washington 98155
USA


AKA LM. I was lucky enough to find a nearly mint one
complete with power supply and original calibration books,
they are still very useful.
The site you reference has two familiar calls, once
coastal telegraph stations: KLB and WLO. Years ago I learned
code partly from copying ship traffic. Both RCA and MacKay
main stations (KPH and KFS in the West and WCC and WSL in
the East) sent about two hours of press every day, machine
sent at about 25 WPM. That went away sometime in the early
1980's when it was switched to teleprinter.


In 1966 the family did a car trip to Cape Cod. As a young ham, I was
attracted to some huge rhombic antennas that we were driving past. At
some point we found an RCA facility, knocked on the door and asked for
a tour.

It was their ship-shore facility. There were rows of cubicles with
a vibroplex key and a mechanical typewriter in each one. ISTR the
receivers had an RCA logo and appeared to be late-WWII vintage. The
transmitters were somewhere else. The whole room appeared to be
essentially unchanged since the 30s, except for the receivers.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m
Harrison for Congress in NY 13CD www.harrison06.com
Don't blame me. I voted for Gore. A Proud signature since 2001