[CW] Bugs on aircraft ?

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

Hello Hans,

I hope I didn't sound like I was saying that all the Navy operators were
slow operators, if so that wasn't what I meant.

I have been lead to believe by the FRO's that their traffic was much more
than what would have been in the Navy, and it made sense to me.  In
wartime, you kept radio silence, both civilian and military.  In peacetime,
I would have thought that the traffic would have been greater for passenger
aircraft.

That's the reason that the guys that I knew told me they used bugs rather
than straight keys, or maybe it's just because their employees wanted them
to send 25 to 35 wpm?

That's the answer I got.

I would have thought a bug would have been as troublesome to send with as
on a small ship in heavy seas on an aircraft, but they assured me that the
speed was necessity.

I apologize for the poor wording of my answer, I have great respect and
admiration for my fellow radiotelegraphers off the military and of those
ancient wire telegraphers, both of whom could often put me to shame with
their superior skills but all of whom treated me and each other with
respect that we all deserved.

Thank you for the fraternal correction.

73
DR

On Jan 6, 2017 10:05 PM, <kzerohb at gmail.com> wrote:

> DR, I’m sure that the civil aviation radiomen were fine operators.  After
> all, a lot of them came out of the Navy.
>
>
>
> But I challenge the notion that “the traffic was higher than military”, or
> had to be “faster” than military.
>
>
>
> Flying in P2V’s on arctic barrier patrol (submarine hunters), the single
> Radioman aboard generally stood “split-phone” watch on two circuits, and
> often had another “guard” circuit up on a speaker.
>
>
>
> Not only did we send routine “administrative” patrol reports back to our
> home base, but we used a separate circuit to coordinate our search and
> target prosecution efforts with other airborne units, and with surface
> assets (generally destroyers and frigates) below.
>
>
>
> And if you want to talk about “get it out fast”, how about FLASH
> precedence “contact report” traffic.  I can assure you that 25wpm was not
> anything special to us, it was “just another day at the office”.
>
>
>
> 73, de Hans, KØHB
> "Just a boy and his radio"™
>
> Master Chief Radioman, US Navy (Retired)
>
>
>
> *From: *D.J.J. Ring, Jr. <n1ea at arrl.net>
> *Sent: *Saturday, January 7, 2017 2:34 AM
> *To: *CW Reflector <cw at mailman.qth.net>
> *Subject: *Re: [CW] Bugs on aircraft ?
>
>
>
> Most of the Flight Radio Officers (FRO) that I knew used bugs on the
>
> aircraft - but these were civilian  and the traffic was higher than
>
> military and when you had to send anything of length you had to get it
>
> out fast.
>
>
>
> All USA Flight Radio Officers had to take the 1st class telegraph
>
> Morse exam of 25 wpm English and 20 groups per minute alphabet cipher
>
> groups, so  they were of the top tier of operators.
>
>
>
> They were all excellent operators - K2LP is one of the only FRO's that
>
> I know who is still with us, if I am wrong, chime  in.
>
>
>
> 73
>
> DR
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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