Night of Nights

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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. Click HERE for a report on what it was like to be there on that 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 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". Here are some photos of that night.

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 we used, a Kenwood R-5000 and a RCA CR-88B. Receiving conditions at BL were poor with six multi-kilowatt transmitters in the next room and the transmitters of Coast Guard station NMC just down the road.

The lowest panel directly behind the microphone contains the transmitter keying control switches. Much of the other items of equipment are remnants of the point-to-point service. The "mill", or radio typewriter, may be seen just past the right end of the table. The device at the right side of the picture is the Kleinschmidt tape perforator, used to make the paper tapes read by the Boehme keying 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 at 18-20WPM.

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