Just had to write and tell you what a pleasure it was to find your site. It brought back a lot of old memories and was surprised to learn there are loads of former Coastie Rm's that get together.

I guess I was older that you or Bob since I was in from '57-'61. I went to radio school in the class of 4/58 in Groton (rotten Groton as we used to call it) When I graduated RM3 I was a little over 17 yrs old and thrilled with all the radio stuff and that I would be communicating with the outside world on a ship or land station.

I came from Houston, Tx and I managed to swap with someone and got assigned to cgdist 8 and subsequently the Cutter Sebago out of Mobile. This was quite an assignment for me and I really enjoyed it. It was now Jan or Feb of '59 and Castro was just starting his thing and we intercepted a couple of stranded boats down in the lower gulf running guns and ammo from Mexico.

Anyway, after 7 months I got a swap to Galveston, Tx to NOY, where I spent the remaining time of my enlistment. Although I really enjoyed the radio work, I realized the need for an education and started college at the end of my 4 years. I was discharged from Galveston on a Friday before hurricane Carla hit on Monday in Sept of '61. Lucky huh??

Anyway, you have my permission to post this with my name and Email on your web site and would love to hear from anyone old enough to be there then and still be alive. haha

By the way, I do website design and have space on a server and if you even need help or space for any of this, I will be glad to help out in any way I can, of course, at no charge.

Best Regards,

Lynn C Smith
shadow1@broadbad.com Houston, Texas

[Ed note: Some of the pix Lynn later sent me can be viewed on my Coast Guard Photos from Friends page]

"Zut" I ve visited your website and enjoy reading info about CG Radiomen. Ive been a member of the CG Radio Club and listed in the Call Book "N3GN". I attended CG RMA School from Sept/75 to Feb/76. My first Assignment was the CGC Boutwell/NYCQ.

During my Second Alaska Patrol "AlPAT" I visited CG Radsta Adak, Ak/NOX, and put in for a transfer. Everyone on the Ship thought I was nuts but my goal was to work CW and I didnt get much aboard Ship, except to copy 500 khz. Adak was the best Tour in the CG.

I finished off my enlistment at Commsta Portsmouth/NMN. I like the work and equipment but hated the area and the Command was quit "Anal" there. After the Guard I worked for 3 years at Chathamradio/WCC, and that was the most fun job I ever had. I left in 1984 at age 29 and figured it would be easier to start a new career than to hang on till possibly age 40 when I figured CW would end and so would a radio career.

As it turned out WCC Closed except for being a remote for KPH in 1994. I joined the Maryland State Police in 1985 in their telecommunications division am and still there. I have always credited my training and experience in the Guard for my good skills in radio work or now they call it "multi-tasking" We were doing it before the term was invented.

I see you also do mountaineering. Im very active with an outdoor club in Delaware which we Hike, Cycle, Cross Country Ski, as well Im a serious Sea Kayaker. Anyway just wanted to say hello and glad to see there are a few of us that are members of the CG Radio Club and CW Operators Assoc. from the 70's. Most of the members are much older and Hope that more from the 70's will Join in the future. I tell people I work with about the sign over the front door in RM School "Through these doors pass the best trained Military Radioman" During "Net Phase" it was quite a perk to enter and leave the school thru those doors.

Anyway let me say 73 and ZUT.

I started out in 58 at Cape May, too stupid they said to make RM school even with a General Class Ham ticket, to the 17th on board striker for RM, made it on the Citrus, a wonderful day to sew on the 3rd class crow! Alaska was not a state then. RMIC Clarke Harwood was a fine role model.

Next a rocky ride in the 9th, NMD, wow what chow, Battles was the best cook in the Guard, NODZ, NMP (chief Vic Hansen wore Hawaiian shirts) and finally a good home at NOG, the Soo. Good group of ops and good folks in charge. They caught up to me, (No one ever got good duty for long) a messy gray Navy boat, in Boston, the USS Edisto, McNamara said, CG it's yours! 65 to 66 and out after 8 years. All of us breathed the dirt from Boston Ship Yards.

A good positive thing happened in the 70s, Higher Up's began to ask questions, why were members leaving? If you ascertain what pisses folks off, you then retain more of them.

Lost my speed key ticket over the years and yours brought back so many memories. Thanks for the nice postings. I have never lost my pride in sending and receiving, several weekly skeds on CW and the XYL has the order to throw in the speed key in the casket. ZUT OM w8su first ticket WN2RIE/Trenton NY 1957.

Bob Ballantine

From: Willy Carter (March, 2005):

I remember hearing someplace that 50 wpm with a standard key was about as fast as one could send code. And to get any faster you had to use a speed key. I can’t remember if they used a speed key or not. I worked as a radio operator on the coast guard cutter clover out of adak Alaska. I am probably the only marine in history to be sent tad as a radio operator on a coast guard cutter. Long story. They used speed keys on the coast guard cutter. I had been trained on a regular key and had a hard time changing over to a speed key. I still this it was between 55 and 65 wpm. Guess we will never know.

As to my duty as an radio operator on the cutter clover. They had a tad one week trip form adak to atoo island. It was a resupply run for the coastys on atoo's loran station. They took marines along to load and unload the cargo. While on the cutter they found out that I had been a radio operator and took me into the radio shack as they were a man short while on this trip they had another radio operator get emergency orders and were two short. There were only four operators on the boat. They were about to go on their yearly run to check buoys and light houses on the northern coast of Alaska and needed at least one more radioman in order to maintain a watch.

I had not gotten my final clearance yet and was just doing labor around the base. They requested permission from marine hq for me to go along on the cutter as a radio operator. And that’s how I got to spend four months on the coast guard cutter clover. I had a ball. The old man on the cutter used me as his boarding party when we caught people fishing in our waters. Russians and Japanese mostly.

Dear Roger;

I am glad I stumbled on your site when searching for Q and Z signals. I spent a lot of time checking your whole site very nice and concise, and informative. I loved your call tape, WOW the memories de CNL on frequencies...., and ...ZBO, QSY ZBZ QRK QRL all used for many years.

My first duty station in Oearias, Portugal 1974-1976 we used call tapes, and transmitted in code the XMT and RCVing of traffic on teletypes using code as a go between. The next time I used my code briefly in Morocco and then not again until about 1982 when Subpac Pearl Harbor was scrambling to find qualified code operators for a exercise. I loved code too, and I totally agree with your 1983 letter, they should keep code current for many reasons, satellite comms for one, if it gets squashed they will be wishing for qualified code operators.

I lived code when I learned it, it was just like a language and I was recently reminiscing with another female retiree communicator about how when people spoke, or I read a sign it translated to code then to English and vice a versa, when people spoke we heard the dits and dahs. This was long ago

I am a retired Navy Radioman Chief 2319/2304 even though they officially did away with 2304 before I retired. I went to RM A school and Code school in Bainbridge, MD in 1973-1974, and was about the last class for both the A and Code schools they all went to California and downsized the code billets.

Thanks for the great site, info, and memories

Respectfully

Denise

I was one of the Coast Guard's original and unknown merry pranksters. Fortunately, I was never caught in any of the several grand hoaxes I perpetrated. Now that I'm safely beyond the reaches of the service, the truth can finally be told.

Between 1982 and 1983 I was serving in the Public Affairs Office 5th District Office in Portsmouth, Virginia. It was a tough place to work with a lot of personal pressures nobody should have to go through in the service (which I won't go into), and a "harmless" little hoax looked like a way to blow off some steam.

At that time USCGC EAGLE was scheduled to pay a port call in Norfolk. As you probably know, the EAGLE was once the German Navy training ship HORST VESSEL during the Nazi era. What better hoax than to start a legend that might live on for years.

I concocted a wonderful story about a teenage boy named Karl Schmitt in the German equivalent of the Sea Cadets who served aboard this ship during the last year of the war. A German Air Force officer was a passenger on one cruise, and Schmitt noticed with some interest that the officer had a satchel handcuffed to his wrist. Schmitt assumed they contained important military papers.

During his duties as cabin boy, Schmitt accidentally opened the door to the officer's room without knocking. He saw man seated on his bunk with the satchel open. Spread before them was a fortune in diamonds. Later a storm arose, and the officer was lost overboard. When fishermen found his body a few days later, the satchel was missing. I left Schmitt speculating that there might still be a fortune in diamonds hidden in some void space on the ship. [The ship has been gutted at least once, but most people wouldn't know that.]

Now this story was too good to pass up, and I worked the tale up in a letter and sent it to what I regarded as the most unreliable local newspaper in the area. I concluded the letter by having Schmitt say, "It amuses me to think that when American visitors came aboard the ship next week, they may be stepping over a fortune in diamonds." Sure enough the newspaper published the letter, and without ever checking its authenticity.

I was laughing up my uniform jacket sleeve until someone clipped the story from the paper and handed it to the admiral. He showed it to my boss and said, "Find that man. I want to make him my guest of honor at the EAGLE open house." Minutes later our office went into high gear to track down a nonexistent ex-German sea cadet. My poor third class was assigned to the task of contacting the man. She tried every Karl Schmitt in the area, even riding her bicycle over to the house of one prospect. I felt terrible for her, but could do nothing except sweat unless I was willing to sacrifice a stripe or two.

A few days later as I was talking with public affairs officer, the third class stumbled in and threw herself dejectedly into a chair. She poured out her frustration to the lieutenant and myself, explaining how many blind leads she had followed up.

The lieutenant looked at me and asked, "Do you think this could be some kind of hoax."

I responded, "I don't know sir, but it looks to me like we have wasted an awful lot of time on it."

"You're right," he agreed. "I'll tell the admiral the letter was a fake." I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

A year later both the third class and I were waiting out the last days before our discharges. I really felt guilty over all the trouble I had caused her, so I confessed the whole story with an apology.

The third class looked me in the eye and said, "That's a pretty good story, but if I had found out then, I would have belted you in the mouth." And she probably would have.

Kind regards,

Garth G. Groff