[CW] KLB in Seattle

[Richard Knoppow]

    There is good history of the radio telegraph service on the 
web. The stations were sometimes known as utility stations. They 
transmitted on several short wave bands and on a band around 
500 Khz (just below the AM broadcast band) and a long wave band 
around  150 Khz (mostly only the oldest stations). They ran 
continuously on a beacon frequency. When sending ship stations 
knew they were available to handle traffic. Typically  a beacon 
would send something like V V V de KPH KPH KPH QRU? QSX 6  8  12 
Mhz.  QRU? means "have you anything for me?" QSX means "I am 
listening on the following frequency". The stations and all ship 
stations were listed in a publication of the International 
Telegraph Union, sometimes called the Bern Bureau. The book 
listed the stations frequencies and other information.
    Stations would also ask for OBS, meaning weather 
observations. These were sent in code to make them shorter and 
were handled free by many stations. They were addressed to the 
weather bureau observer. They provided world wide observations at 
sea long before satellites were invented.
     Coastal stations also announced _traffic lists_ about every 
couple of hours. These were sent on the station's working 
frequency and were lists of ship stations by call letters that 
the coast station had messages for. Usually, things got busy 
after a traffic list was sent.
     Each coast station had one or more "calling frequencies" 
listed in the Bern list. When a ship wanted to contact a coast 
station, either to send or receive messages, it would call the 
station on its calling frequency. The station would then answer 
on the beacon and tell the ship to move its receiver to the 
listed working frequency. So you might hear KDLO KDLO KDLO (ships 
call) de (means from) KPH KPH KPH, UP.  Up was slang for go to my 
working frequency, usually upward in _wavelength_. The two would 
then establish contact on their respective calling and working 
frequencies and exchange what ever message traffic they had. 
Because the two frequencies were different the ship and shore 
station could work duplex and each could interrupt the other if a 
repeat or something else was needed. The beacon signal might be 
continued if the coast station had a second or third operator or 
position or else it might be turned off while the traffic was 
handled. Smaller stations might have only a single operator, the 
big guys, like KPH in San Francisco or WCC in Cape Cod might have 
three or four operators on each band and work the 500Khz band and 
three or four short wave bands simultaneously.
    All this was eventually replaced by satellite communication 
and ships now have what is essentially internet.
    Others on the list will correct me on any mistakes I've made.
    BTW, code groups were used by the Navy, who sent them for 
hours at very high speeds.
    One would occasionally encounter code groups used by 
commercial stations for either weather observations or for coded 
messages where a customer wanted them.
On 2/14/2019 7:43 PM, n7dc at comcast.net wrote:
> I hate this computer, just dropping me out of email while I am still typing.
> 
> Yeah, I apparently missed the first of the conversation. But it may be interesting to some anyway. Wondered why it was on the cw reflector. HI. I had heard some of the costal stations in my early years as a listener, but wasn't much interested in them, as far as reporting etc. Some of the listeners did copy them and try to get confirmations, and we had some books that showed addresses, etc.  The ISWL club is still around, and you might find some old books or even some reprints someplace, from them.  I havent looked, in 20 years.   Do know they have web pages now.  We used to call the non-government/non-ham stations "UTILITIES".  Some of them just appeared to sit around and send either their calls, or some list or the other.  Some were also the 4 or 5 letter/number code groups, and we always figured were spy stations, and even had a few guys specializing in those, trying to ID.  HI.
> 
> 
> 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.
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL