[CW] Interesting

[HSHK]

That was great !

73,

Bill KA8VIT

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/21/2004 at 4:58 AM K0HB wrote:

>> [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
>