[Milsurplus] "Marine Operator" years ?

[Hubert Miller]

My question is, when was the last VHF "marine ( telephone ) operator"
station closed? 

I mean the old channel 28 VHF.

I found a bunch of paper docs for the local operation, "Newport Marine
Operator" that indicate the local station

was installed in 1976. The last test spec doc i could find was for 1996.
There's no one in this town who actually

worked on this gear, so i can't refer to them. 
Do you know when VHF marine operator services started and ended?

For the HF high-seas Marine Operator, wiki says AT&T closed 1999, and
Mari-Tel 2003.

 

I think after "Bell System divestiture" maintenance kind of fell down. I
recall complaining about Olympia

( WA ) Marine not working, this around 1983.  After MONTHS i was notified
it was back up, and working for

the company, i could ask what the failure was. I was told a cabinet door
hadn't been properly shut. Interlock

switch had prevented radio powering up. 

 

I have some station licenses and such. I know no one is interested in that
stuff, but i can't just throw it away.

Probably i'll have to eventually scan it and offer a page of history online.

I went up to the ruin of the old station once, when i was still working and
had a gate key. Fortunately for me,

another fellow went along in his truck, because i went off the cleared area
and got stuck and needed a push 

out. The old VHF marine transmitter had been sold off long ago, maybe to
Mari-Tel - i have the papers somewhere -

but there was a 450 MHz truck dispatch transmitter still in place. I am a
dedicated scrounger so i just had to haul it

away. I took out the decks and ended up giving away the sections, power
supply, radio, diplexers, SWR measuring.
So i got nothing cash-wise for it, but i do believe for my trouble i get
rewarded otherwise. People have been generous

to me.  I should have gotten some photos of the place when i was there. The
antenna, which still stands, was pretty

basic, a VHF antenna on top a telephone pole. 

 

Not "antique" at this point but someday this too will be "antique wireless".

-Hue Miller 

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