[Milsurplus] 'Codetalkers' ham radio special event

[Hubert Miller]

Time is running out on this...i just heard on our Newport Oregon, noon 2 meter amateur radio net, that there is a "special event station ham station" operating from Arizona, commemorating the Native American "code talkers" from WW2 Pacific War. These special communicators used their own native languages as an unbreakable code to communicate combat radio messages, secure in the knowledge no enemy would be able to decipher them. I think i read that only one white American had ever  managed to learn the complex Navajo language.
According to one person on our noon group, there is a special QSL card for contacts. I believe you can also earn the QSL card even if you are a listener only and correctly report details to the net control station. ( I am embarassed to admit, i have no HF receive capability at this time. )
I do not know the frequencies. I would check 20 meters ( 14 MHz band ) first.
There was a movie about the Codetalkers i saw. I was not overly impressed with the movie. I can tell you the Japanese command post scene, though, portrayed a Type 94-5 radio, a 2 watt portable, except - you do not crank the generator to receive, that's only for transmit. But of course, it's a movie, cut them some slack.
There are 2 staged photos of Codetalkers "in action". One shows a Navy TBY vhf voice radio in use without its essential power supply. The other photo shows them using the Navy HF radio TBX. On the TBX, both voltmeters on the set are "white face", so the photo is correct in that it didn't show the too - late war model TBX-8.
-Hue Miller



Sent from my Galaxy

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