[SMCARA] NSS Annapolis

[Fletch]

I need to correct the WWV location. WWV was located on the current site 
of NASA Goddard. I visited the site several times as a pre-novice and 
the engineers were great about showing me around.

I also remember that NSS used to get into any audio amplifier if there 
was the slightest fault in shielding.

73

Fletch K3JYD

On 4/21/2020 10:55 PM, Tom Clarke wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> Interesting Story.  NSS was a famous Navy Radio Station and was often 
> used for code practice by hams, since all comms were encrypted into 5 
> letter groups and transmitted on CW. (NRK NRK NRK DE NSS NSS NSS - 
> that's for you Sam!) I listened to it as a kid growing up in CT 
> (K1AST), struggling to get my CW speed up for General.  We also set 
> our clocks using the WWV, Time Signal which was in Arlington Va before 
> moving to Colorado!
>
> After I joined the Navy, as a ham. I used to hang out in the radio 
> shack on the ship.  The Radioman (RM) would copy the Fleet Broadcast 
> from NSS at Annapolis on CW and they would give me, as the junior 
> Ensign on the ship, the encrypted traffic to decode. The old KW-7 
> mechanical crypto machine was loud, cranky, needed lots of oil, and 
> TLC, but such was the life of a "Blackshoe" Ensign (O-1) in the 60s!
>
> The RMs were amazing as they could copy 30-35 WPM on a typewriter and 
> have a conversation at  the same time! I would come up to his 
> receiving position and wait for his nod. Then I would ask the question 
> or let him know what he needed to know and he would not miss a single 
> group on the typewriter (mill). This was all on HF and LF. Our ship 
> was later equipped with Radio Teletype for comms, but the RMs still 
> copied the Fleet Bcst for practice.  Eventually SatCom took over the 
> traffic handling and Morse became a dying art.
>
> Being on a ship was fun (at times! ), but I got tired of going 
> everywhere at 12 Knots, so off  I went to Pensacola and got my wings. 
> All our our long range communications were on HF. Primarily RATT or 
> RTTY (Radio Teletype, but with voice and CW as backup. When we started 
> getting the new P-3C Orions, the CW keys were gone! The little cubby 
> hole at the comm station was still there, but no key! The new P-8 
> replacement for the P-3 only has one HF and all comms are via 
> satellite, except for local and some overwater long range air traffic 
> control. They don't even carry an RM, as the Comm duties are done by 
> the Navigator. The Nav duties are handled by the computer now!
>
> After I retired here, I got into Packet (before internet!) and we had 
> quite a network, all at 1200 Baud! Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, the developer 
> of APRS,  had a magnificent  digipeater on one of those 300 foot 
> historical towers.  Through a foul-up the tower with the digi on it 
> was demolished instead of one with no antennas! No more wide coverage 
> digi! There was another tall digi (called a Node) up at Andrews AFB 
> that had 6 or 8 different frequencies and if you came in on 145.01 for 
> instance, it would repeat the packet on 2 meters, 6 meters, 220, 440, 
> etc. We had a digi here at Pax that allowed us to access any of the 
> bulletin boards up in DC or Balto.  Along came the internet at 19,500 
> baud or so and "so long" packet. There were also DX Clusters on packet 
> that moved quickly to the internet.  About the only packet anymore is 
> APRS on 144.39.
>
> That big antenna array with the 1200foot  center tower was for the VLF 
> transmitter, which also served as station in Omega Navigation System. 
> There are several larger and higher power VLF stations around the 
> world and Annapolis became redundant. We used to use it for TACAMO 
> testing here at Pax, but when it was decommissioned, we had to go to 
> Hawaii or Spain for our VLF testing. Darn the bad luck!
>
> Time marches on!
>
> 73 Tom W4OKW, ex K1AST, WA4DGM,(TN), W4OKW (FL), EA7BXP (Spain) Used 
> change callsigns when you moved, but no longer.
>
>> A sailing friend who runs tours out of Annapolis is often asked about 
>> the 3 remaining radio towers near the Naval Academy.  Here is a great 
>> video she found on the history of the installation and some detail on 
>> naval communication and VLF submarine communication (21.4 kHz).  At 
>> the end is the way to get rid of a tower if you no longer need it!
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=jWuJ6DB9drw&feature=youtu.be
>>   Hope you enjoy it!
>>
>>
>> Christopher Olson
>> Sent from my iPhone
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