Maritime Radio Historical Society

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THE KPH PROJECT

The KPH Project

In cooperation with the Point Reyes National Seashore, part of the National Park Service, the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS) has taken on the job of preserving the historic ex-RCA coast station KPH and returning it to the air.

Bob Schrader W6BNB writes:

To all of you nice MRHS people:

I hope you know how much your bringing back the sound of old KPH to those few of us who are still around from the 1930s Sparks ship days and how much it means to us. I worked KPH almost every day on six trips around the world and for a dozen or so trips over to Manila and back to SF, plus a few others trips... I even had the pleasure of seeing old Marshall and Bolinas in operation in 1932 when only a ham (althouh already with a Radiotelegraph Second license) at Central Trade School with old Fred Mangelsdorf and most of his class. While KTK was my home station for four of my six years. I almost daily received passenger messages from KPH and KFS and would also send them our TR reports.. KPH was one of the first and last stations I worked from shipboard. That was from 1933 to 1939. Real fond memories!

Thanks.

Bob Shrader "RS" W6BNB

COAST STATION KSM

Coast Station KSM

KSM is the coast station of the MRHS. Our goal is to honor and commemorate the men and women who made the profession of radiotelegrapher one honor and skill. We feel that the best way to do this is to preserve their skills and traditions through actual use at a real coast station. Somewhat to our surprise, the FCC granted our application for a full, commercial, common carrier public coast station.

Coast Station KSM

AMATEUR STATION K6KPH

K6KPH

K6KPH is the amateur station of the MRHS. Here's full information about operating times, frequencies, equipment and purpose.

Amateur Station K6KPH

MRHS PROJECTS

MRHS Projects

MRHS members are involved in other radio projects around the San Francisco Bay area as well as projects directly connected with the MRHS program. Here's information about some of these.

MRHS EVENTS

Radiotelegraph Exams

RADIO ARCHAEOLOGY

Radio Archaeology

The sites of historic radio stations surround us, especially along the coasts. As part of our project to record and preserve our maritime radio heritage, MRHS members try to locate these sites and document what is there now. Armed with maps, GPS navigators, historic records and, at least in one case, the plank from a shipping crate, we've had some remarkable success.

INCREDIBLE RADIO TALES

Incredible Radio Tales

When radio officers hit the beach in San Francisco they went immediately to "the Dog House", a rooming house in Powell Street that, for reasons lost to time, was the home away from home for seafaring brass pounders. There were probably similar places in every port around the country if not the world. And what must these Sparkies have talked about at table? Why radiomen, radio conditions, and radio equipment of course!

Ah! What one would give to sit in on one of those bull sessions. These were men who could coax a sweet note from a decrepit quenched gap transmitter, copy through static and interference (using their own personal Audion detector smuggled on board) and look the Radio Inspector straignt in the eye when he strode self importantly into the shack.

Our time machine is out of service at the moment due to a shorted power transformer. So we won't be able to join the boys at the Dog House tonight. But we can preserve and present some of our own radio tales, all of them true, for your enjoyment.

As you read, let the sounds of static on 600m at midnight and the dim light of glowing tubes in a dark room become real. Imagine the silence and smell the dust in the abondoned transmitter gallery of a once great station. And above all remember the men and women who came before us and made the profession of radiotelegrapher one of honor and skill.

REPORTS FROM NMO

Reports From NMO

Jeffrey Herman was a radioman at Coast Guard station NMO Hawaii during the glory days when Morse was king and 500kc was alive 24 hours a day. For the benefit of those of us who were not so fortunate as he, Jeffrey has written this account of what it was like to stand watch on 500kc, what the proper procedures were and what it was like to receive his first SOS. He has kindly agreed to allow us to post his reports here.

HISTORIC COAST STATIONS

"I'd like to get a job sending Vs"

Historic Coast Stations

During the golden age of maritime communications the globe was populated with hundreds of coast stations, each with its own area of coverage, call sign and personality. Many of us remember tuning across the marine bands and hearing these stations, standing shoulder to shoulder with hardly any space between them, calling out for traffic or working ships. Recordings of some of these stations were preserved and are posted in the Coast Station Recordings section of this Web site. But what did these stations actually look like? We here at the MRHS have collected as many photos of these historic stations as we could find and posted them here for your enjoyment. They range from many photos showing the big, well documented to a single photo for a small station that was in operation for only a few years.

Do you have photos like these you'd like to share? Please let us know. We'd be honored to post them.

POINT TO POINT

Point to Point

It was Marconi's dream to bridge the oceans and provide intercontinental communications as a rate that undercut the cost of the undersea cables. His signals first bridged the Atlantic in 1901. Only a little more than a decade later his international system was in place and functinging - and earning money. Soon competitors followed, creating the point-to-point industry - first using giant spark and arc transmitters, then magnificent Alexanderson alternators and finally short wave tube transmitters. Often the elite point-to-point service was co-located with the marine service which often had to make do with a corner of the operating building and antennas that the point-to-point service no longer needed. Here is the story of some of these point-to-point stations.

MISCELLANEOUS AND UNKNOWN

Miscellaneous and Unknown

We at the MRHS spend a lot of time trolling flea markets and eBay for historic radio photographs. When we get extra lucky, the photos show new views of historic stations we know about. These we post in the Historic Coast Stations section of this Web site. But often the photos exist on their own, without explanation or provenance. We present a collection of these photos here - with a request. If you can provide any details about these photos please let us know. Your information will add to the the growing collection of knowledge about our maritime radio heritage.

Miscellaneous and Unknown

PERSONAL COLLECTIONS

Personal Collections

Many of us at the MRHS maintain personal collections of vintage radio gear connected with maritime radio communications. Here's a look at some of those collections.

Radiomarine CRM-R6A

COAST STATION RECORDINGS

Coast Station Recordings

Maybe you're one of those who remember. Late on a winer night night... tubes glowing in the darkened radio shack... earphones on... And one after another they rolled in, the great coast stations of the world. Maybe you listened to improve your code speed. Or maybe you listened for the thrill of it. Once the marine bands were filled end to end with the signals of coast stations from around the world. Twenty four hours a day the skilled operators at these stations carried the messages of maritime commerce. And they were there to lend immediate assistance to mariners in peril at sea. We thought it would never end. But the golden age of Morse code marine communications has passed and now the marine bands are either silent or occupied by digital transmissions. Luckily, recordings of many of that golden age exist. Listen to them here and travel back in time, a time not so long ago, when Morse was king.

Listen

Help the MHRS keep these historic treasures on the air! Your generous donations are greatly appreciated.

Night of Nights

See the MRHS Evnts section for information about Night of Nights 2010

The last commercial Morse message in North America was transmitted from the Globe Wireless master station in Half Moon Bay, California on 12 July 1999.

[Check the Incredible Radio Tales section for Richard Dillman's moving account of what it was like to be there on that historic day.]

Once again Morse was declared dead on that day, as had happened so many times before. But with the restoration of KPH it became possible tp acknowledge and honor the history of Morse communications and the men and women who were part of that profession with a special on the air event.

On 12 July 2000, the first anniversary of that alleged last message, the Maritime Radio Historical Society brought KPH back to life on its original commercial frequencies, using the original transmitters and antennas at Bolinas. We gratefully acknowledge the help and support of Globe Wireless and the Point Reyes National Seashore. Without the assistance of the fine folks at those two organizations the event could never have taken place.

It was an emotional moment as the station returned to the air and many of the original KPH operators returned to the station they thought they would never see again. It was an event we came to call the "Night of Nights". Photos of that original Night of Nights appear below.

Night of Nights has since become a tradition. Every year since, at 0001GMT, KPH has returned to the air to pick up the thread, keep the faith and carry on with the traditon of maritime Morse in honor of the men and women who came before us.

Night of Nights has grown. Now we originate the signals of KFS using one of the 1940s vintage Press Wireless PW15 transmitters recovered from the KFS transmitter site (see the MRHS Projects section for photos of the recovery of two PW15s) and of our own coast station KSM.

Other stations have joined us on the air for this event including WLO in Mobile, AL and KLB near Seattle, WA. In the past USCG stations NMC, NOJ and NMN have joined in too.

Listeners around the world wait with their earphones on to hear the marine bands once again poulated with Morse signals. We receive many letters after these events, many of them quite emotional. These are usually from ex-seagoing ROs who heard the KPH signal in every ocean of the world but never expected to hear it again. Yet on the Night of Nights there it is again, rising up out of the static to be heard once again.

It means a lot to us to know our project means as much to others as it does to us.

Night of Nights is a public event. The receiving station is open to visitors and it's usually packed with old timers and new comers alike. Why not join is on the next 12 July?

View all images as a slideshow

BL control room BL control room This is the control room at the Bolinas transmitting station, known as "BL". At the left end of the table can be seen the Boehme keying head we used to send the KPH marker or "wheel". Above the Boehme are the two receivers	Boehme key head Boehme key head This is a closer view of the Boehme keying head and its associated 120VDC power supply. The dial atop the keyer indicates indicates the sending speed with a top speed of 300WPM! It was throttled back to its slowest speed for sending the KPH marker	Denice at the key Denice at the key Denice Stoops, "DA" takes her place at the key. Denice came to KPH after service as a Morse operator at NMC. She was the first female operator hired at KPH. It has since bcome traditional for Denice to send the "benediction" at midnight (local time) on each Night of Nights.	Ray Smith Ray Smith Ray Smith "RC" was the senior Morse operator at KPH and sent the last message when the station shut down in 1997.
DM DM Jack Martini "DM" sends a commemorative message. Jack was the last in a long line of KPH managers and had the sad duty of of closing the station on its final day. But in a gesture to the history of the station and the radio operators afloat Jack left the receivers on when he departed, keeping a symbolic warch on the airwaves. See the Incredible Radio Tales section for Richard Dillman's account (Spooky... Very Spooky) of what it was like to walk into the CW operating room almost two years after the operators had left for the last time.	TR TR Warren Reese "TR" was a Morse operator at Point Reyes and the last transmitter technician at Bolinas. It was TR who turned the Bolinas transmitters off one by one as the circuits were taken over by the Globe Wireless master station KFS.	RD RD As the night progressed the control room took on a typical mid-watch atmosphere. Here Rod Deakin "RD" of Globe Wireless (SK) keys KPH with a vintage Vibroplex bug. Rod was instrumental in obtaining the cooperation of Globe Wireless for the Night of Nights. His photo hangs on permanent display in the Bolinas control room.	RD RD Richard Dillman cends a commemorative message on the first Night of Nights.
DM signs endorsement DM signs endorsement Jack Martini endorses Richard Dillman's radiotelegraph license showing him as an operator at KPH on the Night of Nights. The previous endorsement on the license shows Richard as an operator at KFS one year before on the "last day" of North American commercial Morse operation.	Die Hards Die Hards The die-hards who stayed at KPH until sign off on the Night of Nights standing in front of one of the K sets. Left to right: Steve Hawes "SH",Tom Horsfall "TH", Rod Deakin "RD", Denice Stoops "DA" and Richard Dillman "RD".