www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

Welcome!

Maritime Radio
(and other ocean related stuff!)

Soviet intelligence collection ship, Linza, bristling with radio antennas - 1986

Since I now live 1,300 km from the nearest ocean I'm growing especially fond of anything maritime that brings back memories! So, this page is kind of drifting around a bit, so to speak, but will be updated with newer pix anytime I reach the coasts or foreign shores.   As a Coast Guard Radioman I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and "working" many fine ops throughout the world of commercial marine communictions. So, this page, along with my Coast Guard pages, are a kind of rememberence of it all and a tribute to those ops!   Russian trawlers (intelligence collection ships), like the one in this photo, were commonly tracked by us in the Coast Guard and Navy. And, at times, I "communicated" with these trawlers as they attempted to authentic and introduce messages into our systems. (In the military, authentication is a process of verifying the identity of a person or a device and can be used to prevent imitative deception or unauthorized access to information. My experience was with "challenge and reply" authentication although there are other methods...)

Click Here for my tribute to Morse telegraphy!

Click Here for my page about low power amateur radio!

Click Here for my page about antennas!

Radio Station KPH:

KPH Rotating file system. Photo courtesy AEØQ and K6NCG

Old RCA logo at KPH

KPH CW Ship-to-Shore position. Photo courtesy AEØQ and K6NCG

The professional operators at KPH, just north of San Francisco, we're always warm and welcoming to me and my friends from the nearby Coast Guard facilities (Petaluma's Radioman school and Pt. Reye's NMC Communications Station). Unfortunately I was a teenager, at the time, and didn't have too much money for camera equipment or film processing. Luckily, however, I did capture the two photos you see further below...

Here is a PDF list of various commerical shore stations (courtesy N1EA)

Some KPH history by David J. Ring, Jr. and Dick Dillman

Dick Dillman, W6AWO, says KPH began life at the dawn of radio.  "Its first home was the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, from which it derived its first call letters, PH," he says. "When the Palace Hotel was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire the station moved to several different locations, eventually finding a permanent home on the mesa west of the small California town of Bolinas."  With the onset of federal licensing and regulation, the call sign became KPH.

On July 12, 1999, KPH's new owner, Globe Wireless, sent the last commercial messages in Morse code from KFS, their master station near Half Moon Bay. Today the former KPH facilities are part of the Point Reyes National Seashore.  Dillman says the Maritime Radio Historical Society has been working with the Point Reyes National Seashore to preserve and restore KPH with the goal of eventually creating a museum.

Welcome to Commercial Shore Station KPH!

6 GHz dish at 1 kW with MF/HF anntenna farm in background

Marine Station KPH, Point Reyes Station, California - August 1975 KPH used this site to relay data and comericial TV, through a geosynchronous satelite, to Alaska on 6 GHz. At that time they were runing a klystron at about 1kW.

Throughout my five month stay at "Two Rocks" (The unofficial name of the Coast Guard's Petaluma, California Radio School), many of us enjoyed weekend visits to nearby NMC, KPH and other radio facilities of interest. I took this photo of the entrance to KPH, at Pt Reyes, in 1975.

Of course, many of Coast Guard radioman students also enjoyed the movies, beaches and all of the other trappings north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Petaluma's local drive-in theatre was always fun on a Friday night. During intermission a dozen or so different car horns could be heard practicing Morse code for next week's test at Two Rocks...

The end of commercial CW

KPH
(17016Kcs)
July 2000

CQ CQ CQ DE KPH KPH KHP HR NR1 CODH BOLINAS CA CKNC JULY 13 0019Z TO ALL LISTENING AT SEA AND ASHORE THIS MARKS THE 1ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF COMMERCIAL CW OPEATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES WITH TODAYS TEMPORARY RESURRECTION OF KPH CW OPERATIONS ON COMMERCIAL FREQUENCIES AND FROM ITS LONGEST LIVED ORIGIN BOLINAS CA IT IS EVIDENT THAT TODAY A COLLECTIVE SMILE IS ON THE FACES OF ALL WHOEVER DONNED EARPHONES IN THE SERVICE OF MARITIME MOBILE LAND STATION KPH.  THIS COMMEMORATIVE MESSAGE IS DEDICATED TO OUR MENTORS WHO TAUGHT US THAT THE PRIMARY MISSION OF COAST STATION WORK WAS NOT JUST BUSINESS, BUT THE PREVISION OF SAFETY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA FOR OUR SEAFARING COLLEAGUES.  TO EACH OF OUR DEPARTED TEACHERS THE PRE-RCA PROFESSIONALS SUCH AS DICK HOHNSTON AND THE RCA MANAGERS FRANK GIESET, BILL HAYTON AND OPERATORS OF DISTINCTION SUCH AS BILL MALONEY, ARNOLD HANSEN AND WARREN SIMPSON WE SAY THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.  WE DID OUR BEST TO MEET YOUR EXAMPLE AND STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE IN BOTH OUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIVES.  TO OUR CONTEMPORARY FORMER COLLEAGUES AT SEA AND ASHORE AND ALL OTHER LISTENERS, WE WISH YOU FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS AND LEAVE YOU WITH THIS THOUGHT "WE WILL BE BACK."   ZUT ZUT 73/88 JACK MARTINEZ FORMER MANAGER KPH 1986-1997 ARVA

THE MARITIME RADIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXTENDS WARM GREETINGS TO ALL PROFESSIONAL RADIO OPERATORS ASHORE AND AFLOAT BY THIS BROADCAST WE ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR DEDICATION TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONALISM IN THE SERVICE OF THE MARITIME COMMUNITY.  MAY THE MUSIC OF MORSE NEVER LEAVE THE AIR.  ZUT VY 73 (DICK DILLMAN)

In August, 2005 VK6NX wrote me to ask what "CP" meant in a general call. Being of the advanced age of 49, at the time of Geoff's question, I couldn't remember for sure so I asked David Ring (N1EA). David reminded me that CP was a restricted call for specific groups and addressees - as opposed to the CQ general call for all stations. Some examples he gave me were: CP CP CP GTZM GTZM de GOVL GOVL K Calling all English ships CP SPARKS LIST - would be "Calling All those on Sparks List"

In December, 2005 Frank Armstrong (GW3CNM) wrote me from the UK to clarify the meaning of "GTZM" (above). Frank wrote, "If my memory serves me right (and at 75 yrs one is never sure of anything any more!) it was used as a general call to all ships where the radio installation on board was owned and managed by the Marconi International Marine Communications Company, of Chelmsford, UK rather than the company which owned the ship. I was employed by them as Radio Officer from 1947 to 1950. There were other 'group' calls to other company stations, International Marine Radio call was one of them, but I can't recall their call."

CP CP CP SPARKS LIST de DR QTC RM1 FM RD/KPH SFO
BT

HISTORIC COAST RADIO STATION WILL CELEBRATE MARCONI
EVENT [Corrected KPH 436 kHz frequency]

Stations KPH and K6KPH will be on the air on 12 December 2001 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first wireless signal to cross the Atlantic, received by Marconi on 12 December 1901 at St. John's Newfoundland.

Both stations will use the original transmitters, receivers and antennas of famous ex-RCA coast station KPH. The transmitters are located at the transmitting station founded by the American Marconi Co. in 1913 at Bolinas, CA. The receivers and operators will be at the KPH receiving station about 20 miles north at Pt. Reyes, CA.

KPH will be active on commercial frequencies 500 and 426kc with most activity taking place on 500kc (600m). Power output will be 4.3kW. The antenna is a Marconi T. These frequencies have been made available through the generous cooperation of Globe Wireless, current holders of the KPH license.

K6KPH will be active on amateur frequencies 3545, 7050 and 14050kc. Power output will be 1.5kW. Antennas will be double extended Zepps on 3.5 and 7Mc, H over 2 on 14Mc.

K6KPH will begin operations at 1700Z (0900PST).

KPH will begin operations at 0000Z (1700PST) 13 December 2001Z

Commercial practices and procedures will be used on all frequencies to give amateurs the experience of working a real coast station. traffic lists will be sent and messages for stations that have worked us in the past and sent reception reports will be awaiting in the message rack. All operators will be ex-commercial ops from KPH, KFS and other coast stations.

Amateurs and shortwave listeners are invited to contact or monitor KPH and K6KPH. Maritime stations may call KPH on 500kc.

KPH reception reports may be sent to:

Tom Horsfall
1862 Tulare Ave.
Richmond, CA 94805, USA

K6KPH reception reports may be sent to:

Dick Dillman
435 Utah St., No. 4
San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

KPH and K6KPH are operated by the Maritime Radio Historical Society in cooperation with the Point Reyes National Seashore, part of the US National Park Service.

Further information may be found on the Maritime Radio Historical Society Web site at http://www.radiomarine.org or by contacting Dick Dillman +1 415-255-9221 x 317 or Tom Horsfall +1 510-237-9535.

Lighthouses:

On June 24, 2003, Kendall took me to visit Grays Harbor lightouse, Washington State's tallest!
I took these photographs with a simple "first generation" digital camera. Nevertheless, I was
impressed with how well the shots of the bulbs and Fresnel lens* came out - be sure and "click"
on them for a larger view!

* In 1822 French Physicist Augustin Fresnel invented a lens that would become common place along the seacoasts of Europe and North America. The Fresnel lens looked like a giant glass beehive, with a light at the center, that could be as tall as 12 feet high. The Fresnel lens was constrtucted of concentric rings of glass prisms above and below to bend the light into a narrow beam. The center of the lens was shaped like a magnifying glass, making the concentrated beam even more powerful. Due to it's amazing efficiency, the Fresnel lens could easily broadcast light 20 or more miles to the horizon. The Fresnel lens at Grays Harbor was turned off in August 1992 and replaced with a 35 watt electronic type that requires much less maintenance and can be seen almost as far!

Point Reyes National Seashore and Lighthouse - California

For my 52nd birthday I hiked the Point Reyes National Seashore and lighthouse grounds before heading south to the Muir Woods, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city of San Francisco. The light house is accessed by over 300 steps but well worth the trip! (Click Here for a video of the lighthouse beacon in operation) The National seashore is a fantastic area that's kind of framed by the Pacific Ocean and the San Andreas Fault. The countryside is a mixture of woods and rolling farmland inhabited by stock, deer, elk, and a relatively small human population - the place is wonderful!

Seagulls

On the 300+ steps

Point Reyes Lighthouse

Point Reyes Lighthouse Beacon

Looking down

Gray Whale Skull near the lighthouse

Cape Hatteras - North Carolina

U.S. Postal Service Southeastern Lighthouse Stamps

In the Fall of 2000 I stopped by the Cape Hatteras lightouse in North Carolina. It's the nation's tallest and had just been moved 2,900 feet to protect it from the encroaching sea...

National Park Service photo

Roger Wendell photo

Roger Wendell photo

United Kingdom (Dover and Scotland) and Calais, France:

In October 2006 I took a fantastic road trip through the United Kingdom in addition to some side trips through France and Ireland. The first five photos are from the morning we spent on the grounds of St Abb's Head lighthouse along the southeast coast of Scotland. Photos 6 through 9 are from out time at Dover Castle where we got a really good look at the 1,900 year old lighthouse the Romans had left behind. Apparently it was a navigational aid for those coming from what is now France. Just across the water, in present-day Calais (France), is a more modern lighthouse you can see in the last photo # 10.

1. Looking south	2. LightKeepers' cottages	3. No right of way...	4. Looking north	5. Main entrance
6. Roman lighthouse	7. Walking to the lighthouse	8. 1st Century AD	9. Dover Entrance	10. Calais, France

One week aboard the M/V Clelia II enroute Antartica!

Radio Officer (I'm not the officer, I was just visiting!)

In January, 2011 we experienced a delightful adventure sailing to Antarctica aboard the M/V Clelia II!

1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.
7.	8.	9.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.	17.	18.
19.	1.	21.	22.	23.	24.
25.	26.	27.	28.	29.	30.
31.	32.	33.	34.	35.	36.
37.	38.	39.	40.

Ship Salvage:

On March 12, 2005 the radio club I belong to, CQC, held it's annual Morse code Key Day display of all types of keys and paddles. Many of the keys on display, that day, were recovered from the ship salvaging operation in Alang, India. It's at Alang where salvage armies use crowbars, torches, and muscle to chew up 50,000-ton ships until not even a bolt or rivet remains. There's a lot of controversy concerning such operations because of the pollution they create and the poor working conditions and health hazards for the workers. I hope to find out more but have simply posted these pix for the time being:

Our meeting was held on the premises of Morse Express where owner
Marshall Emm (N1FN) has acquired some of the keys from Alang. Here are
some of the photos I took of the mix of keys, many of which are from Alang:

(My Morse code page has a lot more related info)

Coast Guard:

I was an active duty radioman, for the U.S. Coast Guard, from 1975 through 1979 at Communications Station Honolulu (NMO) and Group Station Monterey (NMC6). A year later, I also spent a few weeks as a reservist at Communications Sation San Francisco (NMC). It was through my Coast Guard experience that I gained a deep appreciation for commericial maritime radio operators and the whole shipping industry in general!

Braggin' Rights:

Who holds the Coast Guard's record for receiving Morse code?  - ME!
Coast Guard 40 wpm certificate. Armed Forces Day 25 wpm certificate. ARRL 20 wpm certificate. Ex - WN6CDA, at age 14, 1970 Ex - KH6JDO, Wahiawa, Oahu 1976 Amateur Extra Class license since June 1982 General Radiotelephone license since August 1990 Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit since 1995	WN6CDA circa 1971 (I learned the code at age 14 by memorizing it out of a dictionary!)	WBØJNR circa 2012 40 years later wearing an ORARI (Indonesia) radio club shirt!
Click on this hand key to hear real Morse code! (227k .wav file) Coast Guard Speed Key Certificate Front Coast Guard Speed Key Certificate Back

Click Here to download and hear a 4mb MP3 audio clip about a Coast Guard "iron turnings" rescue mission I was involved in. This clip is from a commercial radio station broadcast on September 1st, 2001. Boulder, Colorado station KVCU (1190 AM) interviewed various members of the Colorado QRP Club and broadcast our stories on their Saturday Morning "Hangover Brunch" program...

Submarines!

On September 8, 2005 I had the good fortune to visit the USS Pampanito, a restored WWII submarine that saw lots of action in the south Pacific. The Pampanito is located at Pier 45 in San Francisco. For a small donation I was able to spend as much time as I wanted, exploring the sub's interior while listening to an audio description that included recordings from former crew members - I highly recommend you take this same tour!

A "mousover" will provide a brief description of each thumbnail

Some Submarine Tidbits:

From what I recall of the tour, there were a total of two toilets serving a crew of over 80! Many of the regular enslisted crew had to "hot rack" - a guy would sleep, get up for his watch, and his bunk would be immediately filled with another guy getting off work. The broom tied to the mast, in the lower right-hand photo, was tied into place whenever the Pampanito returned to port after having made a succesful attack - this was know as a "Clean Sweep." It appears to me that submarine service, at that time, was difficult duty - we can certainly be proud of the men who served our country under such conditions!

Click Here to download and hear a 4mb MP3 audio clip about the USS Enterprise. Author Barrett Tillman was a guest on the Mike Rosen show January 9th, 2013 to talk about his recent Weekly Standard article about the USS Enterprise's final voyage in 2012.I called into the show to mention my own experience as a brief visitor aborad "Big E" and asked the guest to describe how huge a vessel it actually was.

Click Here for QRP and amateur radio!

Click Here for "Q" and "Z" signals

Click Here for the International Morse code alphabet and phonetics

Links:

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