22477.5                RCA H Set                 H over 2

The restoration of the H set has been chronicled in past issues of the Newsletter.  It will return to revenue service for the first time in decades for Night of Nights.  See Newsletter No. 38 for information about and photos of this magnificent transmitter.


We want to offer our sincere thanks to Globe Wireless for the help and support they have provided for our project since the very beginning.

Frequency            Transmitter                     Antenna

17026.0                Henry HF-5000D            H over 2

> KSM

Frequency           Transmitter                     Antenna

12993.0               Henry HF-5000D            H over 2
16914.0               Henry HF-5000D            H over 2

Verification card for K6KPH.  A similar card is available for KSM.  Both were designed by Paul Shinn

> K6KPH

K6KPH ops will monitor the frequencies below as propagation and the number of available operators permit.

Frequency           Transmitter                    Antenna

3550.0                 Henry HF-5000D           Double Extended Zepp
7050.0                 RCA L Set                     Double Extended Zepp
14050.0               Henry HF-5000D           H over 2
18097.5               Henry HF-5000D           H over 2
21050.0               Henry HF-5000D           H over 2

> Reception Reports

Reception reports and verification requests for the MRHS stations listed above may be sent to:

Maritime Radio Historical Society
PO Box 392
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
USA

> Station Telephone

The receive site may be contacted by phone on 415-669-9646

Community radio station in Point Reyes Station will broadcast a special presentation about Night of Nights on the Epicenter program at 5:00pm Pacific time 8 July.  Listen directly to KWMR on 90.5 Point Reyes, 89.9 Bolinas or 92.3 in the San Geronimo Valley.  Not in the listening area?  No problem.  Listen on line via the KWMR Website.  Just click on Click to Play.  Can't listen at that time?  Again, no problem.  Listen to the KWMR archive of the program.  Click on the date, 8 July, and the program name, Epicenter. 


Frequency            Transmitter                         Antenna

472.0                    Nautel ND2500TT/6           173' monopole tower
500.0                    Nautel ND2500TT/6           173' monopole tower
6383.0                  Rockwell-Collins RT-2200  Omni-directional
8574.0                  Rockwell-Collins RT-2200  Omni-directional
17220.5                Rockwell-Collins RT-2200  Omni-directional

NOTE regarding NMC/NMQ/NMW MF transmissions.  Only one MF transmitter will be in service at each station.  Morse transmissions will be made on an as-available basis from each station as USCG operators must also accommodate scheduled NAVTEX transmissions.

> NMQ (Transmit Cambria, CA, Receive and Control Pt. Reyes)

NMQ Transmitters

Frequency            Transmitter                  Antenna

448.0                    Nautel ND2500TT/6    Inverted L
500.0                    Nautel ND2500TT/6    Inverted L

> NMW (Transmit Astoria, OR, Receive and Control Pt. Reyes)

Capacitive top hat transmitting antenna at NMW

Frequency            Transmitter                   Antenna

448.0                    Nautel ND2500TT/6    Capacitive top hat
500.0                    Nautel ND2500TT/6    Capacitive top hat

> Reception Reports

Reception reports and verification requests for the USCG stations listed above may be sent to:

Attn: OSCS Phil Marsh
USCG CAMSPAC Point Reyes
17000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
USA

> WLO 

2055.5
4343.0
8658.0
12992.0
16968.5

> KLB

488.0
500.0
8582.5

> Reception Reports

Via email (for both stations) to: wloradio@wloradio.com

> W4WLO

Here's great information just received from Rene Steigler of WLO:

We will activate W4WLO ON 40 and 20 meter CW for Night of Nights. We are thinking 7055/14055 so as not to interfere with K6KPH.

Be sure to listen for W4WLO and give them a buzz.
 
> Calling Channels

All commercial and USCG stations listed above will listen for calls from ships on 500kc and on ITU Channel 3 HF:

4184.0
6276.0
8368.0
12552.0
16736.0
22280.5

Listen on these frequencies if you want to copy both sides of ship to shore contacts.

> Commemorative Messages

Was your father, uncle or grand dad a commercial op or amateur operator?  Would you like to send a commemorative message in their honor over KPH, KFS and KSM?  We have sent several of these messages in past events and they were all very moving.  If you would like us to send such a message this year please send it to us no later than Wednesday 9 July pdt so we can be sure to include it.  Sent it to info@radiomarine.org

The Novato, CA library has kindly invited Chief Operator Dillman to present his famous lecture and slide show on the history of wireless in West Marin at 6:00pm on 29 July.  The presentation will cover in detail the span of this dramatic story from the establishment of the first Marconi stations at Bolinas and Marshall in 1914 including both trans-oceanic operations and the history of KPH.  

Many photograph that have never before been seen in public will be shown.  If the history of maritime communications is an interest of yours, this presentation is not to be missed.  The Novato library can accommodate 60 people.  There are still a few good seats left.  So mark your calendar and join us at this event.

Date: 29 July 2015

Time: 6:00 pm 

Location: Novato library, 1720 Novato Blvd, Novato CA 94947 

Phone: +1 415-473-2050

Google Maps: Click  HERE

When we started the KPH restoration project back in 1999 one of the first things we did was to gather up all the historic photographs of the station and go over them carefully and repeatedly to extract and absorb all the important details they contained.  One of our favorite photos is of the KPH receive position taken in 1920.  The station had just moved to the original Marconi trans-oceanic receive site at Marshall.  As always, the KPH operation had secondary status and the ops were relegated to a corner of the building, huddled over their receivers, their Western Electric 509 headphones clamped to their heads, their Underwood mills at the ready.

KPH ops on duty at Marshall

 

There are lots of details in the photo including the land line telegraph sounder to the left, chattering out messages from Bolinas and San Francisco in American Morse.  Yep, the operators had to be bilingual in Morse.  But if course it's the IP-501 receivers that draw the eye of the True Believer.

 

The IP-501, made primarily by Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co., was the standard commercial receiver of the day, used aboard ship and at coast stations like KPH and WUP of the US Army at Ft. Mills in the Philippine Islands (below) .  

 

 

 

 

It used a single tube as the detector although provision was made for the use of an external crystal detector.  Note the external two step audio amplifier connected to the right of each receiver in the KPH photo.  This allowed excellent headphone volume as well as the ability to use a horn speaker.

 

For years we mooned over these receivers, hoping to add one to our collection.  We wanted one for two reasons: for display to visitors and so we could experience what it was like to operate one of these receivers, so different from a modern receiver or even a 70 year old receiver from WWII.

 

We suppose there's something to the saying that all things come to those who wait because an IP-501-A receiver recently became available.  The A model incorporates the two step audio amplifier in the receiver cabinet.  The receiver on offer was expensive but in superb condition.  Plus it was made by Radiomarine, thus providing direct lineage to RCA and KPH.  So, after much discussion, we decided to make the purchase.

 

 

 

When the receiver arrived, MRHS members gathered with great reverence to observe its careful unpacking.  It was everything we hoped it would be.  Luckily, one of our number, Steve Sparks, has an IP-501. He is also a radio historian and a gifted radio diagnostician. He took charge of the slow and careful process of bringing the receiver to operational status.

 

One of the first orders of business, after checking the tubes (all RCA, by the way), was to select the correct grid leak resistor for stable operation.

 

 

 

That's when we discovered that, yes Virginia, there really *is* such a thing as a grid leak drip pan!

 

 

 

 

We don't know why but for some reason we found it astounding to see that a resistor manufacturer of the 1920s had enough of a sense of humor to produce these as promotional items.  They must be rare as chicken lips.  Anyway, we had never seen any before.

 

After the hilarity died down we returned to work.  Life giving voltages were applied to the proper terminals.  The tubes grew warm.  The earphones came alive.  The receiver was in great shape, requiring only a little tweaking (and a bit of a steep learning curve on our part).  Then it came time to attach an antenna to see what we could hear.  The tuning range of the receiver is 300 to 8000 meters (38kc to 1Mc).  Our targets were the non-directional beacons at the local airports.  We used a selective voltmeter to assure that signals could be heard on the hastily strung up wire antenna (the Marconi T antenna overloaded the receiver).  Then we tuned for those signals on the IP-501-A.

 

 

 

 

Bob Dildine tunes the selective voltmeter while Steve Sparks manipulates the controls of the 

IP-501-A.  

 

It was old guys working with old radio gear at an old receive site on a foggy day at Point Reyes.  How much better can it get?  Well, we guess it got maybe even a little better when we placed the IP-501-A on a special table to had made just for it and placed the horn speaker on top.  Not just any horn speaker, mind, but the exact same make and model horn speaker we see in photos of KPH at Marshall.

 

 

The IP-501-A on its custom made table, with horn speaker, in the main hall of the receive site at Point Reyes

 

Now, how about the reception of some signals in the MF marine band?  Our plan is to tune the receiver to the KSM 426kc signal to demonstrate it to visitors.  But alas, as noted above, our MF transmit antenna is on the ground.  But!  MRHS Transmitter Supervisor Steve Hawes is also a member of the radio department (in fact, he *is* the radio department) aboard SS RED OAK VICTORY/KYVM.  The ship, with Steve at the key, was on the air on 6 June (D-Day) on MF and we copied his 500kc signals on the IP-501-A!

 

Here are some notes from Steve Sparks on the work we did on the receiver:

 

Steve

Partial view of the Treasure Room.  Strict rule: no drooling.

 

The next step is for you to join us at the receive site some Saturday.  Identify yourself as a True Believer for admission to our Treasure Room where the IP-501-A and many other items of interest reside.

 

 

> Another Receiver!

 

Another historic Radiomarine receiver has recently arrived.  Actually there are three components involved: receiver CRM-46092, preselector AR-8503-P and power supply CRM-20096, known collectively by the military as RAZ-1.

 

 

This receiver is the direct descendant of the IP-501-A, replacing it in most shipboard installations.  It covers 15kc to 600kc in four ranges.  While it is clearly a more modern and easier to use receiver, it's amazing how many features and similarities it has with the IP-501-A.  At this writing the components have been cleaned and inspected.  Much to our relief all three units appear unmodified and in excellent condition.  Like its IP-501-A older brother, The CRM-46092 will be brought to life for display and use at the MRHS.

 

Flash!

 

 

Just before press time life giving voltages were applied to the RAZ-1.  All components came up and functioned as they should!  It just shows the result careful engineering and quality construction. Non directional beacons and WWVB at 60kc were received without difficulty in daylight. 

 

The receiver, preselector and power supply will be properly mounted and prepared for display to visitors.  Plus we plan to use it to monitor 500kc and the KSM transmissions on 426kc.

 

 

 

> And Yet ANOTHER Receiver!

 

We are very fortunate to have in our collection the descendant of the CRM-46092, the Radiomarine AR-8510.  This is the main ship receiver that was supplied with the Radiomarine 3U and 4U radio consoles.  It was also used at some coast stations, including post war KPH.

 

 

 

This receiver too will be restored to operational status.

 

In combination, these three receivers will permit us to show the history and development of marine receivers from the 1920s through WWII and beyond, since many of the Victory and Liberty ships that were activated for the war in Viet Nam were equipped with 3U and 4U consoles.

 

Once restored, all three receivers will be placed in the Treasure Room at the receive site.  When you come to visit, be sure to whisper the words "True Believer" to a MRHS member for a Treasure Room viewing opportunity.

 

 

 

> Frank Geisel's Report No. 3 June/July 1946

 

 

June and July 1946 as Frank continues to battle interference, ships that won't call KPH to clear traffic and operators who find life in West Marin too rugged and expensive.

 

In June the good news was that the installation of a crystal oscillator in BL2 was completed. However the key clicks from VFN were so broad they were interfering with KPH on 8420kc.  Message levels were fairly good.  A new man hired last month, N.C. Kumler, decided West Marin wasn't for him and departed..

 

  

In July