[CW] A Radiomans Dream

Fri Apr 13 20:28:38 EDT 2018

Lil secret here.  I joined the army, got a choice of groups in advance.  Choise Army Security Agency.  Took that little 3 letter (I think) CW test they gave everyone, and absolutely failed it.  I wasnt interested, so made sure it wasnt my assigment.  Got to Ft Devens Mass, ASA training base, and they stuck me in..........wait for it........
CW intercept school. Five of us, out of some 160 or so, hadn't passed the CW test.  I was the only one of those 5, with a ticket.  First day of class, told we had to pass 5wpm in the next two weeks, or would have a reassignment.  I threw up my hand and asked what type of assignment if we didnt pass 5wpm.  The answer:  pole lineman, security guard, or cook.   I went back in, and passed 5 the next ten minutes. 35 in about 3 months.  That was the fastest tapes they had.  When got to Ethiopia, spent a year copying and then, because I had copied a general search position on and off,  got on straight mids and was copying 50, plus or minus, on a couple circuits, as I ran across them.  

Now the rest of the story.  I was supposed to go to language school right after got to Devens, but THEY, had lost my security clearance paperwork, not once , but twice, and thus the reason for CW school.  Ahhh well.   

N7DC at ARRL.NET
Ex WN5QMX,WA5UKR,ET2US,ET3USA,SV0WPP,VS6DD,N7DC/YV5/G5CTB
QSL Bureau, DIRECT, LOTW Preferred, eQSL used but upload at a courtesy only, as do not use the system for awards.

> On April 13, 2018 at 8:02 PM w9oj at indy.rr.com wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> I was a 20 WPM ham when I joined the Navy in 1971.
> They put me in the engine room.
> 
> 73 de Mike W9OJ
> 
> 
> ---- Radio K0HB <kzerohb at gmail.com> wrote: 
> > Some of you old USN RM’s will enjoy this.  For the rest, imagine what you
> > missed.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > <http://forum.goatlocker.org/post/printadd?id=9712038&pid=1303877556>1
> > <http://forum.goatlocker.org/post/show_single_post?pid=1303877556&postcount=1&forum=108044>
> > 
> > ------------------------------
> > 
> > A Radioman's Dream
> > 
> > By: Anonymous
> > 
> > 
> > You awake with a start to the 3rd Class's shake,
> > Feet hit the deck before you're awake.
> > Out of your rack and into your dungs,
> > Then crawl up the ladder, rung by rung.
> > 
> > Onto the mess deck with lights too bright,
> > Grab a horsecock sandwich to last through the night.
> > 
> > Sip a cup of Joe, drag on a butt or two,
> > Then off to the shack, your duty to do.
> > 
> > You climb to the Oh one deck through salty spray,
> > While dark clouds sweep past in their ugly dress grey.
> > 
> > White water amidships, bow goes under green
> > Water swirls aft, washing weather decks clean.
> > 
> > You enter the hatch, fresh coffee you smill,
> > Along with the slosh in the new man's pail
> > 
> > Transmitters emit a hot bees wax odor,
> > Aging capacitor growl like outboard motors.
> > 
> > Two outgoings are pending, NHY is not there.
> > We lost him on twelve, faded into thin air.
> > 
> > Eight was tried without success,
> > Four's no better, atmospherics a mess.
> > 
> > Five hundred is alive and noisy with code.
> > Dyess tried to relay but lost her M.O.
> > 
> > The Chief will be up at quarter to six
> > To copy press and publish the Daily Mix.
> > 
> > With the watch relieved and gone below,
> > I adjust my key, sending real slow.
> > 
> > Searching for a station to get rid of the traffic,
> > Hearing nothing out there but that damned static.
> > 
> > Fired up the TBL and started transmission,
> > Braced myself, wedged in the position.
> > 
> > Ship rolls to port, then lurches ahead,
> > Banging into a wave, she seems to stop dead.
> > 
> > Shuddering up, shaking her bow,
> > Ridding herself of the water somehow.
> > 
> > Through all of this with coffee cup balanced.
> > I've spilled not a drop to foul the Chief's palace.
> > 
> > On the eight get a call, the signals come throug,
> > I tap out the SITREP, and another message or two.
> > 
> > The silent period over, you type in the log,
> > Quite proud of yourself, you're a lucky dog.
> > 
> > Your watch draws to an end, how long has it been?
> > You think of the wife, and start to grin.
> > 
> > For it's day twenty on station for you,
> > You'll head for port, when it's over and through.
> > 
> > Underway watches leave little to be done,
> > When homeward bound from the Med, "Ol' Son"
> > 
> > But suddenly you wake, to find you've been dreamin'
> > Of Ocean Station days, your youth's past is streamin'.
> > 
> > No more station in the middle of a grid square,
> > Nor a Radioman to be found, not one anywhere.
> > 
> > A key of brass, an Underwood mill,
> > Are all in the past, all over the hill.
> > 
> > The mission's still there, waiting to be done,
> > The challenge has been accepted by the newer ones.
> > -- 
> > 73, de Hans, K0HB
> > --
> > "Just a boy and his radio"™
> 
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> =30=