[CW] Suez canal

[Radio K0HB]

The document is attached as a .pdf file.  Unfortunately it is on the long 
"european" size paper, so the operators names at the bottom of the front of 
the sheet aren't visible on my scanner.


     The Day I Learned Some Humility
                                  Or
       “Don’t Ever Send QRQ To SUQ”

                                               By Hans Brakob, KØHB

Uncle Sam kept me busy in my youth as a Navy radioman, sending me on many 
expense-paid cruises to all manner of exciting places, including several 
cruises to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the 6th Fleet.

After a few years at sea I fancied myself a pretty hotshot Morse operator.

Some of you out there who sailed in the 6th
Fleet during the late 50’s/early 60’s may remember the famous “Task Group 
Commanders Circuit”, commonly called “SIXES-ALFA”. This was a high speed 
Morse net that routinely clipped along at 40WPM with busy spurts somewhat 
faster. It was a matter of some pride that only holders of an official 
“Speed Key Certificate” were allowed on the circuit, and only the best of 
those were qualified as NCS. (Yes, before you could use a Vibroplex on a 
Navy circuit, you had to pass an examination and obtain a certificate.)

Anyhow, as a qualified NCS on SIXES-ALFA, there was no doubt in my inflated 
ego that I was one of the hottest seagoing ops to ever key up a TBL. (TBL 
was a big black 100W MF/HF CW transmitter fitted in WW-II/Cold War era 
destroyers.) Certainly there was no mere civilian radioman out there to 
challenge my skills.

In those days the US Navy maintained a small presence in the Red Sea/Persian 
Gulf called the “Mid East Force”. The Commander of this force was a 
Commodore who maintained his flag not on a warship, but on a seaplane tender 
(mother ship for seaplanes, which the Navy no longer even flew) docked at 
the Brit base on Bahrain. It was a pretty low-key military backwater. His 
“force” usually consisted of a couple of destroyers on loan from the 6th 
Fleet in the Mediterranean. (Admiral Scott Redd, USN once held that post. 
You may know him better as K0DQ, an awesome CW contester.)

These destroyers rotated to this duty for about 2 months by a transit of the 
Suez Canal. Vessels transited the canal in convoys, northbound and 
southbound, which were coordinated to meet and pass at a “wide spot in the 
road” at the Great Bitter Lake. If there were any warships in the convoy, 
they were the lead ship, and the lead ship carried a UAR Canal Pilot.

Communications between the pilot and the Suez Canal Authority was via an MF 
(420 Kc/s) Morse circuit between the lead ship and the UAR station SUQ at 
Ismailia. In early October of 1961, my ship, USS Henley DD762, drew the 
short straw and was sent off on Red Sea patrol. After a last liberty port at 
Piraeus, Greece (remember “Fix” beer) we transited to Port Said and embarked 
our pilot for the trip through the canal. The pilot had me file a departure 
report to SUQ and promptly at 0700 we started our transit.

Periodically (at passing El Ferdan and Deversoir, if I recall correctly) he 
issued short progress reports which I sent to SUQ.

In due time the convoy entered Great Bitter Lake and anchored to allow 
passage of the north-bound convoy coming up from Port Suez. Prior to 
weighing anchor for the remainder of the passage, the pilot was required to 
obtain updated instructions from the Canal Authority. Turned out this 
happened just as I was due to be relieved on watch for noon chow.

Wanting to turn over a “clean” log to my relief, I was somewhat impatient 
that the operator at SUQ was operating at a rather leisurely pace (perhaps 
“only” 25 WPM).

Surely this lowly civilian operator could send just a bit faster?

So I slid the weights back to the rear stop on my Vibroplex and sent…..

   “SUQ DE NHXW QRV QRQ K”

What happened next still causes me regret every time I contemplate that 
short cocky transmission. An image comes to mind of a swarthy-complexioned 
mustachioed Egyptian with a wicked gleam in his eye, chomping an unlit 
cigar, pulling the weights completely off his key, and muttering “I’ll show 
this gobsome real QRQ”!

The crisp Morse transmission, which came back to me, was utterly off the 
chart in terms of speed. No operator on the vaunted SIXES-ALFA had ever even 
caused me to really concentrate, but I was missing every other character 
this fellow sent.

In embarrassment, I sheepishly unplugged my speed key, broke in, and on the 
pump handle sent….

   “SUQ DE NHXW QRX OPERATOR CHANGE QRS”

….. and turned the circuit over to my relief.

Never again, and I mean NEVER again, has the opsig QRQ ever passed my 
fingertips.
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