[Hallicrafters] [National] USS North Carolina after action report

Sun Jan 16 15:16:07 EST 2011

It was either 62-63 or just 63; Adm Zumwalt became CNO and was always for 
the /MM as a morale booster as written up in QST and Navy Times. Ship 
captains were given final say. Dont know about 69 if another CNO resinded 
it.

Carl
KM1H

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <springertool at wyoming.com>
To: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
Cc: <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 12:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] [National] USS North Carolina after action 
report

> Carl, what years were you allowed to operate /mm in the Navy?  I was for a 
> brief period in 1969 with my SR-160 and a Webster Bandspanner
> on the after-mast.  Turns out that it had been banned, but, the captain 
> didn't know ....
>
> Jon, K0FOP
>
> --- km1h at jeremy.mv.com wrote:
>
> From: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
> To: "National Radio Equipment" <national at mailman.qth.net>, 
> <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>, <rca at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] [National] USS North Carolina after action 
> report
> Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:58:41 -0500
>
> I dont remember ever having to change a 860 or 861 in those rigs Mike, and
> they got daily use, mostly on CW. The note was almost T9 on 20M with just
> enough warble to give it some non objectionable character. A HB project 
> here
> has been looking for a 861 for years.
>
> When the Navy finally approved /MM operation I was permitted on the TBM 
> and
> later the URC-32 during silent traffic times. There was a SRT-14 on 
> another
> ship but the radio room was too cramped for comfortable operating, I 
> pretty
> much limited operation to phone patches.
>
> Is the NC using the RBx series? I have a set here, great radios even 
> today.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Everette" <radiocompass at yahoo.com>
> To: <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>; <rca at mailman.qth.net>;
> <national at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 10:40 PM
> Subject: [National] USS North Carolina after action report
>
>
>> The Battleship North Carolina was indeed on the air Saturday afternoon
>> (1-15) from about 1:37 pm until 4 pm EST.  We stayed on 40 meters the
>> whole time.  The TBM-4 transmitter was used; it seems that tuning this 
>> rig
>> (a big, BIG black monolith!) on 20 meters is a bit touchy, plus it takes
>> the transmitter's master oscillator a long time to "settle down" and the
>> effect gets more pronounced with increasing frequency due to frequency
>> multiplication.  Those issues figured into the choice of bands.
>>
>> We were running the transmitter at "low power" or around 100 watts out;
>> it's capable of 400 to 500 watts, but the 861 final tubes are very scarce
>> and they don't want to push it.  Plus, there may be a risk of
>> overstressing the old motor-generator set;  "spitzensparken" are not a
>> desired phenomenon.
>>
>> The number of contacts was rather low, about 8 complete to be exact and
>> several more that didn't complete due to QRM -- mostly from digital
>> stations that (dare I say it) seemed to gang up to run us off the first
>> choice of frequency, 7035 KHz.  We moved up to about 7044 and things went
>> a bit better.  Since there was not an abundance of people calling us, we
>> did a lot of rag chewing, which was great fun.
>>
>> We got consistent T7 and T8 reports, which could be caused by one or more
>> issues.  Could be SWR...?  Could be a funky tube...?  Could be a mistuned
>> multiplier stage...?  Could be a bad bypass cap somewhere...?  Could be
>> that something needs better grounding...?  Who knows?  The ship's radio
>> crew tells me that the TBM-4 works perfectly on 80 meters but the "growl"
>> modulation gets worse as the frequency goes up.
>>
>> This isn't a quick-shift transmitter.  If it's moved even 2 or 3 KHz from
>> where it has been tuned up, a great deal of retuning needs to be done on
>> all the stages.
>>
>> We had to therefore pick a frequency that seemed clear, then hope "if we
>> call them, they will come."  Well, a few did; and we heard some excellent
>> signals but not very far away.  The best DX was Boston.
>>
>> If we missed you, some of the problems were due to local QRM of an audio
>> nature.  The RBC receiver was on a speaker, and tour groups came through
>> the area several times.  Lots of people talking in the radio area while 
>> we
>> were on the air made copying difficult.  Also, the operators (me 
>> included)
>> didn't really have time enough to become familiar with the receiver 
>> before
>> actually going on the air.
>>
>> The original plan was to operate until maybe 4:30 or 5 pm, but the fact
>> that it was getting real cold down there -- big firebottles
>> notwithstanding --  sort of prompted us to shut down a bit early.
>>
>> Sorry we didn't get on 20; it seems that a number of folks were listening
>> for us there.  I don't have a clue what transpired with the SSB station;
>> they were set up in a different radio room a deck below where the CW
>> station was located.  Obviously they weren't using vintage gear....
>>
>> I hope to be allowed another opportunity to operate from the USS NC in 
>> the
>> future.  It definitely was a fun way to spend a Saturday.
>>
>> 73
>>
>> Mike
>> W4DSE
>>
>>
>>
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