Once there were dozens of coast station in the US alone. They ranged from the power houses of the big communications companies like RCA, Globe Wireless and Tropical Radio to the smaller, privately held stations. They stood shoulder to shoulder across the commercial marine bands working ships, sending weather and press and putting all else aside when those most electrifying three letters - SOS - crackled in their headphones.
Every one of these historic stations was closed and bulldozed before the tubes in the transmitters even grew cold. Every one that is except KPH. That's because both the transmit and receive sites
are within the Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS), part of the National Park Service. KPH continued in service until 30 June 1997. On that day the transmitters were shut down, the lights turned off and the doors locked.
The PRNS now owned this major communications facility with only a general idea of what it was and probably very little idea of what should be done with it.
Fast forward to 1999. Two guys show up saying they have founded the Maritime Radio Historical Society. They say the thing to do with KPH is to preserve and restore it. And not only that, they say they're the guys to do it.
Think of the vision of those folks. And think of the trust they placed in the MRHS. Today it seems almost impossible to imagine. We still find it hard to believe. But from that day to this they have been unstinting in their support and enthusiasm for The Cause.
We appreciate the thanks we get from fellow True Believers who think our project meaningful and worthwhile. But the real thanks are due to to Point Reyes National Seashore. Without those folks none of the things we have been able to accomplish would have happened.
Why not plan a special trip to visit the PRNS, one of the most spectacularly beautiful parks in the country. Plus you'll be able to stop by and pay us a visit!
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DENICE CONTINUES TO MAKE PROGRESSAs many will recall our beloved Denice Stoops suffered a stroke aboard her newly assigned ship. After beginning her rehabilitation in a Singapore hospital she's now home and continuing her recovery. Lots have folks have sent cards and letters to Denice via the MRHS. She's received and enjoyed them as we hear in this report just received from Kathy Lauer, Denice's sister:
Greetings to Denice's Fans all over the world!
Good news comes to you this week. Denice was released from the rehab hospital and is now resting comfortably at her father's home in Saginaw, MI. Denice will start out patient rehab on Mon. July 2nd. What a happy fourth we will have this year. Rehab will be three our hour days a week about half a day each.
Denice is "moving" around the house quite well. Her speech continues to progress daily as she hears "new" words. Today it was California and Florida. She said she was moving there..........what she meant was here in Mi. Each day I seem to get a good laugh out of her. This is always a funny moment for both of us.
She is keeping up with in-coming emails on her blackberry. Not sure if she is returning any of them yet. Her sea gear finally arrived just this morning. She now has her lap top, though we haven't gotten it out yet. Hopefully soon. Not to rush it. We only take things as fast as she wants. Her brain may not be quite ready for that task yet.
I wish to thank you all for all of your well wishes, cards, emails, etc. It is very good for Denice to hear from you all. I know she is thinking of you as well.
Current address is:
1524 Marquette St.
Saginaw, Mi. 48602
Blessings,
Kathy Lauer
Denice began her radio career as a radioman in the US Coast Guard at NMC, then transitioned to KPH in 1979 to become the first female radiotelegrapher at the station. When KPH closed she had a number of jobs but none really satisfied. Then she decided to go to sea on Military Sealift Command ships. She got all the licenses and certifications needed and began her new life aboard ship. She was about to set sail on her new ship when she suffered her stroke.
Denice is a central part of the MRHS and is known the world over for her keying style on the air. We at the MRHS join her family and all of you in wishing her a full and quick recovery.
Denice in the radio room aboard SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN/KXCH where she is R/O
Flash!
Just before press time we received this wonderful email, the first from Denice!
richard,
i am on the road to recovery. all warmth received. sending love you way!
xo
denice
As you can see she knows her fans all around the world are sending her all their love. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWII VET VISITS THE MRHS
We receive lots of requests for information about visiting the transmit and receive sites we've restored. But this one was special. Normally we ask folks to join us during one of our regular Saturday work days. But this particular request was for a visit on a weekday. And it was from the son of Sam Bayer, WWII veteran, a radioman aboard USS IOWA (BB-61). So of course we made a special arrangement for the visit.
Sam Bayer tells MRHS Chief Operator Richard Dillman of some of his experiences
Sam was aboard USS IOWA in Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremonies. At the last moment he was advised that the radio ship assigned to send news of the ceremonies had not arrived and that he was in charge of sending all communications through his ship's radio facilities. The problem was... he hadn't had the required high power transmitters on the air before! But in the grand traditions of the service he had the transmitters tuned and on line in time to transmit the press information about the historic event.
That was only one story he told us. Like every WWII vet I've had the honor to meet he was modest about his own contribution to the war. But of course he is a genuine hero.
After the war Sam had a great time with his home brew kilowatt and HQ-129X at his amateur station W2PAR. He had a rotary beam driven by the post-war classic prop pitch motor. It was a 40m/20m/10m beam (that's right kids, 15m did not exist at the time!). The beam was bigger than the house! Sam reports a neighbor running in to say the house was turning as turning as he aimed his beam at some choice DX.
Sam is a happy man after sending a CQ via the K6KPH transmitters
In an email, Sam wrote:
"It was great to visit with you and get a little nostalgic. When I sat down at the key it was the first time in a little over fifty years that I handled one. Brought back a lot of old memories."
Visits like Sam's remind us what we're really about at the MRHS. While we're busy with repairs and restorations our real program is to assure that the traditions and skills of men like Sam are not forgotten.
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PRESS WIRELESS PW-15 TRANSMITTER IN INDIA
Those True Believers who have followed our project may know that some years ago we recovered two Press Wireless PW-15 transmitters from the KFS transmitter site in Palo Alto, CA, south of San Francisco. One of the transmitters, which was on the air on the supposed last day of Morse code, has been restored and is on the air as an alternate transmitter for the KSM 12Mc channel (see below...). On Night of Nights this transmitter will be back on its KFS 12Mc channel.
With that as background check this out...
One of the great things about this project is the correspondence one re
ceives. Take for example this note from Harvey Masters who noted our restoration and use of a PW-15. Harvey writes:Hi Richard ---
I was in the Army Signal Corps during WWII and trained at the Signal Corps base at Camp Crowder, Missouri. I was working at a radio station in Greensboro, NC as a broadcast engineer (technician) at the time I was drafted, so the Signal Corps was a natural. I went to radio school there for several months. One of the transmitters we studied was the Press Wireless 15 kw, the largest transmitter the Signal Corps had. They did all kinds of things to simulate failures which we had to locate. One of the things, I thought, was kind of dirty. They would put finger-nail polish on some of the relay contacts. You would locate the fault, but there appeared to be nothing wrong. Finally, as a last resort, you would use an ohmmeter. Eventually, I came to know the transmitter pretty well.
Overseas I was in the CBI Theater (China-Burma-India). I was part of an eleven-man team. Our mission was to operate and maintain fixed-station transmitters. The team consisted of 3 transmitter technicians, 3 diesel/generator technicians, and 5 key operators (Morse Code). I, of course, was one of the three transmitter technicians.
Our first assignment was in Kharagpur, India --- about 80 miles outside Calcutta. This was a B-29 Bomber base (20th Air Corps). There we had only the one transmitter, the Press Wireless 15 kw. We provided communications for the 20th Air Corps Headquarters at Kharagpur to the Pentagon. The transmitter fed a Rhombic Antenna (a highly directional, four-tower, diamond-shaped antenna). We transmitted directly to Hawaii. From there it was relayed to Washington.
I have only one picture of the transmitter which I took with my Kodak Brownie 6-20 Box Camera.
From left to right are Joe Richmond and Joe Machost, both key operators. They took away my two transmitter operators and assigned them to the receiver station. As we were operating strictly Radio Teletype, 24/7, they didn't need key operators. So these two were pronounced transmitter operators. They both did a great job. As you can see, formality was rather relaxed in the hot, India environment.
Later, the B-29's moved to Tinian in the Mariana Islands where they bombed Japan constantly.
We moved to Kunming, China where I was responsible for a number of smaller transmitters, the largest being 1 kw. They were all keyed. Strangely, my older brother was a bombardier on one of the 29's and had been in India for some time before I arrived.
Harvey Masters
As it happens our own PW-15 was on the air on KSM frequency 12992.0kc on Saturday 30 July. Here it is in full operation:
Note the flashing mercury vapor rectifiers. When we received the transmitter these had been replaced by solid state units. The MRHS Transmitter Department replaced these with the original tubes, filament transformers and wiring.
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MIKE PAYNE'S REPORT
Mike carefully collects the "holy water" condensed by the dehumidifiers in the control room at the transmitter station. We bottle this in small flasks for sale to visitors.
