[CW] Never, never, NEVER tell SUH to QRQ!

[K0HB]

> [Original Message]
> From: David J. Ring, Jr. <n1ea@arrl.net>
>
> Then what do you call the "EGYPTIAN BUZZSAW CW OPERATOR", Hans?
>

I called him "Kind Sir"

For the uninitiated, Dave speaks of a humbling experience in my youth
aboard the warship USS Henley DD762.

As some of you know, I supported my bad habits for many years as a Navy
Radioman, and quite frankly considered myself something of a hotshot
operator.  To set that stage...... I spent my early Navy years aboard
destroyers in the 2nd and 6th fleets.  The amount of traffic you handled
was related to the seniority of your skipper, because senior skippers not
only commanded their own ships, but also often had additional duties as
task group commanders, etc.  Our skipper at the time was CDR Grant "Flash"
Gordon, and he was one of these 'senior' skippers.  We made a couple of
cruises to the Mediterranean and Capt Gordon was also CTU-60.2.5 which
required our ship to guard the Sixth Fleet Task Group Commanders Net
(nicknamed "Sixes Alfa").  Sixes Alfa was a high speed net, typical traffic
speeds were 40WPM, and typical procedural speed in excess of 50WPM.  At the
time, I was one of only 23 radiomen in the Sixth Fleet who were fully
qualified Net Control operators for that net.  I go into all of this not to
brag, but only to give you an idea of how big my 21-year-old ego was.  If
you were qualified to NCS "Sixes Alfa" (you got a fancy diploma style
wallet certificate signed by the Fleet Commander) then you were pretty hot
stuff.

Unlike today, in those days the Red Sea and Persian Gulf area was a quiet
backwater without much military attention.  The US Navy presence was
something called "Middle East Force" and COMMIDEASFOR was a Rear Admiral
whose flagship was a distinctly unwar-like AVP (seaplane tender) anchored
at Bahrain. (K0DQ, Admiral Scott Redd (Retired), now an active contester,
once held that post)  The rest of his fleet consisted of a couple of
destroyers loaned to him from the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean for
tours of a couple months at a time to strut around and show the flag. 
Often we used that opportunity to also conduct joint training exercises
with ships from allied navies in the SEATO and CENTO treaty organizations.

Our ship, USS Henley, DD762 drew that temporary assignment while I was
aboard.  To get from the Med over to the Persian Gulf requires transiting
the Suez Canal, which was under Egyptian control.  Ships transiting the
canal were arranged in convoys, on a given day consisting perhaps of 10 or
15 ships, one convoy northbound and one southbound.  These convoys met and
passed each other about midway in the canal at a 'wide spot in the road'
called "Great Bitter Lake".  Each convoy carried an Egyptian civilian pilot
who knew the waters and acted as our 'guide' in navigating the canal. If
there was a warship in the convoy, they would carry the pilot and lead the
group.  These pilots were required to provide the canal "Traffic Control"
with periodic position reports so that canal authorities could track our
progress and coordinate the 'passing' of the two convoys at the wide spot. 
The circuit which handled this traffic was a CW circuit, and the ashore
operator was an Egyptian civilian.  This was not a busy circuit, so
typically it was on 'speaker watch' while you attended to other more busy
circuits, and only actually 'manned' the circuit when you had to send or
receive a report.  

Now picture me, hotshot NCS from "Sixes Alfa", keeping an ear on this
pilots coordination circuit while handling traffic on another circuit. 
Across comes the call:

  "NHXW DE SUH K" --- 

I put my regular military circuit on hold with a 'ZUH' and impatiently
called the 'lowly Egyptian civilian' at about 40WPM with a speed key

  "SUH DE NHXW QRQ K"  .......  (QRQ my friends, is the inverse of QRS)

Bad move......   really bad and embarrassing move!

'Lowly civilian' at SUH came back to me at a blistering speed I'm sure was
60WPM (or faster) of beautiful musical code (there were no electronic
keyers in those days) of which I could copy no better than 50%.  

I humbly sent a break signal, then a crisp and polite "QRS PSE", and the
"Kind Sir" at SUH slowed down to a stately 30WPM.  To this day I have never
sent another QRQ to ANYONE!  (That guy may be still out there waiting for
the impertinent sailor to challenge him again!)

73, de Hans, K0HB