[Milsurplus] U.S. Coast Guard Traditions

[MICHAEL ST ANGELO]

I got the First Class Radiotelephone with the Radar Endorsement in 1975. I recall the Marine questions but do not recall a separate endorsement. I was in college and had a part-time job repairing MF AM Marine radios aboard boats. The job basically consisted of matching the transmitter output network to the whip antennas. I suggested that boat owners upgrade to VHF FM Marine radios but they were tight with cash.

I seriously considered getting my Radio Telegraph license and operating as a Radio Officer but was dissuaded by operators who said the jobs were disappearing. I lived on Long Island at this time. Some of those operators worked at the RCA Radio Central and ITT Worldcom coastal stations.

I eventually worked for ITT Worldcom. I got a tour of the ITT WSL Southamption receiving station before it shut down. WSL had a diplomatic HF RTTY point-to-point circuit from the U.N. to Cuba. The Cubans did not want to move the circuit to cable or satellite so ITT had to keep the station open to support the circuit. They finally closed the station once the circuit was taken over from Mobile Radio.

The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) eliminated the need for the radio officer.

Mike N2MS




> On 02/14/2022 11:17 AM Ray Fantini <rafantini at salisbury.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> Anyone else like me remember getting there Marine Endorsement on their commercial license? Would assume it’s completely useless today but in 1977 had to memorize 2182 as the international distress frequency and that you had to monitor it at least once an hour while under way. That along with other useless information like the fully charged gravity of a wet cell and how to clean a dynamotor.
> I also got the broadcast endorsement and got a lot more use out of that, was never smart enough for the radar endorsement.
> 
> Ray F/KA3EKH