[CW] Navy Radiomans Mid Watch

[Rick Dettinger]

I would have thought that would be the Mid and Morning Watch's but I was not a Navy Radioman.
I wanted to be but I couldn't pass the physical.  Too colorblind.
But, the Army didn't care.  I was in danger of getting drafted in 1964, so, having been turned down by the other branches, I joined the National Guard.  
They said I could go to radio school but when I got to Basic, I was told that I was going to cook school.  When I protested, the Sargent told me it was a case of mind over matter.
He said I don't mind and you don't matter.  So,I went to cook school at the late Ft. Ord.
But, I do have a Chelsea "Ships Bell Clock" on my mantel.  Its telling me that it is now three bells in the Forenoon Watch

73,
Rick  K7MW


 
On Oct 25, 2013, at 9:11 AM, Radio K0HB wrote:

> Except Radiomen stood 8 hour watches, so the Mid was from 2345 to 0745 (you always relieved 15 minutes early).
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Rick Dettinger
> Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 3:23 PM
> To: CW Reflector
> Subject: Re: [CW] Navy Radiomans Mid Watch
> 
> And, Mid Watch refers to the Watch that goes from midnight to 4 AM local time.
> 
> 73,
> Rick Dettinger  K7MW
> In Western Washington, where its just past eight bells in the Morning Watch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Oct 25, 2013, at 8:11 AM, Radio K0HB wrote:
> 
>> I could tell you those things, Ken, but then I'd have to kill you.  <grin>
>> 
>> Not really.  I'll treat your points one at a time:
>> 
>> "Broadcast":  This refers to the Fleet Broadcast, a one-way circuit that all ships copied.  It was the means that record traffic ("messages" as opposed to tactical real time communications) was delivered to ships.  You copied this circuit 24/7/365.  Originally this was a CW circuit (the "Fox" broadcast you may have heard of).  In the 1950's it switched to RTTY, and eventually to FDM.
>> 
>> "Beach fivers":  The "beach" is the shore station in a ship-to-shore circuit.  Circuit condition is expressed in QSA/QRK (our equivalent of the ham RST) "Fivers" is short hand for QSA5/QRK5, or "loud and clear".
>> 
>> "COMBAT":  The Combat Information Center, also often called "CIC".  They were a big customer of radio circuits, tactical voice circuits and NTDS data circuits.
>> 
>> "Oboes":  Military messages were assigned a precedence, depending on how urgent they were, and that precedence had a letter designator.  There were 6 levels of precedence; Deferred = "M", Routine = "R", Priority = "P", Operational Immediate = "O", Emergency = "Y", and Flash = "Z".  The term "Oboe" referred to the "O" precedence designator.
>> 
>> 73, de Hans, K0HB
>> 
>> -----Original Message----- From: Ken Brown
>> Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 6:11 AM
>> To: CW Reflector
>> Subject: Re: [CW] Navy Radiomans Mid Watch
>> 
>> I'm not an old time Navy RM, and I still enjoyed it. I have a few
>> questions about some of the terminology. I'd like to understand it
>> better. In this context, what does "broadcast" mean?
>> What are "beach fivers"? Is "COMBAT" an acronym for something? Oboes?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Ken N6KB
>> 
>> 
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