[Milsurplus] Bugs on Ships

[Robert Flory]

I think Sparks was pretty much forbidden to use the straight key, too, as
radio silence was the most important element of communications security.  I
agree with the comment that the straight key is as likely or more to have a
characteristic "fist" as the bug.

I'm still looking for the WWII vet that tells me had/used a bug(officially
called a speed key) on a ship.  Think they were mostly limited to
high-speed point-to-point circuits.  

Rob Flory
robandpj at earthlink.net
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of
giants"-Isaac Newton
www.home.earthlink.net/~navyradio  WWII Navy Radio
www.home.earthlink.net/~robandpj    Les Flory Television and Electronics


> [Original Message]
> From: Richard Arland, W3OSS <richard.arland at verizon.net>
> To: <robandpj at earthlink.net>; milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
> Date: 5/16/2007 10:45:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Higgins PT Boats
>
> Bob Neilson, the owner of WNAK, where I engineered for a time, was a
sparks 
> on WWII fleet boats in the PTO. He went on 5 war patrols.
>
> I picked his brain a bit and regarding CW in the war zone, he said that
all 
> Sparks were forbidden to use semi-automatic keys (Bugs), and used only
the 
> old J-38 straight keys. The reason was that with a Bug, a definite "fist" 
> could be detected and, over a period of time, CW intercepts could
actually 
> identify the boat that the Sparks was on.
>
> Anybody ever hear of this theory?
>
> 73 Rich W3OSS
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Robert Flory" <robandpj at earthlink.net>
>
> | My contact said the radio was HF, and also talked about the need to
> | maintain radio silence. 
>