[R-390] R-1247 Nasa Receiver info

[Jerry K]

How true, Ed. Few folks today can appreciate the investment in multiple 
high power transmitters and receivers, directional antennas, and the 
multitude of warm bodies required to support a life-or-death reliable 
24/7 ISB HF ship-to-shore link over a 2500-mile North-South path for 
even a few days,let alone for weeks at at time. We kept at least two and 
sometimes three freqs on the air at all times, and used leap-frog QSYing 
during the frantic dawn and dusk long-path transition periods. There 
were times the MUF would dive from 14 MHz to 2.5 MHz over a 30 minute 
period in the evenings, and you couldn't wait it out, you had to have 
the circuit up and working during those periods. There were no reliable 
computer Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) forecasts available most of the 
time, just pencil and paper seat of the pants prognostication based on 
experience. However, I'm proud to say my crew of a dozen or so, with 
great support from the Hawaii NAVCAMS folks, ran those links with a 
documented 99%+ reliability factor for three weeks straight every 
mission. Nobody got any sleep!  :)

Today's long-path communicators have it made, they just dial up a couple 
of satellite channels and let 'er rip.

Jerry W5KP




DJED1 at aol.com wrote:
> I recall back in the early '60s listening to Gemini capsule communications  
> on HF SSB.  I assume that NASA was linking comms back from one of their  
> remote sites like the Azores or Australia.  Maybe they didn't want to  
> maintain the staff that the military used to supervise the operation of RTTY and  
> SSB reception, hence a setup which would be frequency stable to a few  cycles.
> Ed  W2EMN
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