[HCRA] USS North Carolina Contact!

[Larry Krainson]

My friend Bob, KG4IZA in North Carolina sent this up to me. I thought you 
all might be interested too. 73, Larry, WB1DBY

> PRESS RELEASE:
>
> HISTORIC RADIO EXCHANGE BETWEEN BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA AND SUBMARINE
> TODAY!
>
> The Navy removed almost all of the original radio equipment aboard the
> Battleship North Carolina when it was decommissioned.  What little
> equipment was left no longer worked.  Starting in 1997, volunteer ham
> radio operators began to restore the remaining equipment and adapt it
> from Dept. of Defense frequencies to amateur radio bands.  Today, two
> of the ship's original radio rooms are restored, and this week as part
> of the celebration leading up the commissioning of the submarine, the
> Capts. of the two vessels will exchange greetings via amateur, or
> "Ham", radio.  This is the first known conveyance of radio
> greetings between two namesake military vessels since the Cold War
> era.
>
> Capt. David Scheu of the Battleship North Carolina will be using a
> modern radio, but the antenna and the feedline he will use for his
> transmission are original equipment installed prior to World War II.
> Receiving his greetings at the other end at the State Port about a mile
> away will be the submarine's skipper, Capt. Mark Davis.  Capt. Scheu's
> message will be transcribed onto a Radiogram, a wireless version of a
> telegram.  The Azalea Coast Amateur Radio Club of Wilmington will frame
> two copies of the historic Radiograms and present one each to the
> commanders of the Battleship and the submarine as a memento.
>
> Much of the original radio gear aboard the Battleship was designed for
> Morse Code, the predominant form of radio communications through WWII.
> By contrast, the submarine contains state-of-the art communications
> equipment that is light years ahead in capability from the now
> primitive equipment aboard the Battleship.  The Navy phased out Morse
> Code in the 1990s, so the only way for the two ships to communicate
> electronically is through amateur radio voice communications.
>
> "We felt this was an appropriate way for the Battleship to send
> best wishes to its namesake successor", said Ed Redington,
> president of the Azalea Coast club, which operates the equipment aboard
> the Battleship so that many of the world's two million licensed ham
> radio operators can have a chance to contact the retired dreadnought.
> "There are roughly 70 retired military and merchant marine vessels
> with restored radio rooms across the U.S.,", said Redington,
> "and it's fun when the old ships get on the air."  Returning
> to Wilmington this weekend for a reunion of the crew of the Battleship
> will be Richard "Mac" McCullough, a radio operator who served
> aboard the Battleship from 1941 to 1945.  Now 84, McCullough is a ham
> radio operator who uses Morse Code exclusively, and has communicated
> from his home in Massachusetts with the Battleship via Morse Code.
>
> Because of the number of hurricanes in our area, the public associates
> ham radio most often with emergency communications after cell phones,
> landlines and the internet go down.  About 20 of the area's 1,500
> licensed ham radio operators volunteer aboard the Battleship giving
> tours of the radio room and letting visitors get on the air.  This
> weekend the ham radio station aboard the Battleship will be activated
> Saturday and Sunday sending commemorative greetings about the
> commissioning to hams around the globe.
>
> Bill Morine, N2COP
> ARRL Public Information Coordinator
> North Carolina Section
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> ARRL North Carolina Section
> Section Manager: Timothy B. Slay, N4IB
> n4ib at arrl.org
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