HAM Radio Operations

[W5HOY]

I know that many of the boats have HAM radio operations - I would like to get some dialouge about your experiences on the boat.

Do we (as HAMs) feel we offer the musuem(s), boats etc., value. Normally we are not bringing in large dollars for the restoration process, but many of us do have other interest on the boat. How does it work at your site?

What experiences do you have that help in public awarness of the boat?

Waht about an article in ARRL about HAM support for these great pcs of history - has there ever been one?

Charlie - W5HOY
USS Batfish - SS310

[Viejo]

Charlie, anything that adds to history is valuable and of course radio equipment is one of the more unknown things about the museum boats. Plus even many who are hams now have no real understanding of tube sets, etc. I have gone through HNSA pubs and other things on line and have a pretty good idea of what might have been on the USS Marlin, but can't find from any drawings or instruction books what actual equipment was carried on the ship. I know what is there, but don't know the couple of pieces that are missing. Any of you guys who might remember what was on the Marlin, would love to know so I can try and find those pieces.
Thanks,
Viejo

[W5HOY]

Hello Sir

Your "hat" is something from my heart

I will do some checking and see what I can find  out. Do you have any local HAMS working on the  boat at this time?

Charlie

[Viejo]

Charlie, I'll have to check. we have a couple of people who are into working on old tube sets and think one may still have his ham license. If so, I'll post his info here. Thanks for the reply. Yep I like the hat and also my Roy Rogers one. Won't be buying many anymore though. They have gone up worse than gas.
Viejo

[W5HOY]

yea, I shop around for them when I am out and about - I use to shoot Cowboy Action, but got too expensive.

I have few my self - Yea let me know if you can find out on the HAM call signs..will do some checking myself.

thanks
charlie

[W5HOY]

Hello All

Here is an example of some additional resources that can be available from HAM Commmunity for your boat.  This is a response to my giving the group in OMAHA a call to see if there would be some interest for Viejo at the USS Marlin.

"Hello Veijo

I have made a contact for you on the subject of local HAMs in the Omaha area who are excited about having some input with you on the USS Marlin. From past experiences, most recently Warships Weekend, this group of HAMs have worked the bands from the Hazard.  I suggested to them that you were working on bring the USS Marlin back to life and needed some guidance in older style TX/RX’vers.

Mary Joseph (Call Sign N0TRK) is a local operator who is actively involved in the Omaha Club, (AKSARBEN) and past operations at the Hazard.  She has suggested that you give her an email with your phone numbers etc., and she would be happy to bring resources to bear.

I hope that this connection will give you some additional help in your quest. I know from our experiences at the USS Batfish, we have had a lot of interest and we hope with the addition of the new Mast Support from the USS Oklahoma even more support will surface.

Please let me know if I can be of further service, and I will keep you posted as to our progress with HAM radio on the Batfish via the Sub forum.

Best Regards and good hunting!"


If anyone else needs some help just let me know and let go get em!

Charlie - USS Batfish W5HOY

[N4KC]

Charley, I did write up an article about my special event station--N9N--from the USS Nautilus back in 2008, and submitted it to QST.  However, they only ran it on their web site.  It still comes up if you do a search for my call sign but it shows the page is no longer available.  I also wrote up an article for the K9AY newsletter and they ran it last year.  I have no idea how to access their archives.

There is also an article with pictures about the operation on my web site at: http://www.donkeith.com/n4kc/article.php?p=11

I also wrote an article about the museum ships weekend that ran on eham.net.  You can access it here:  http://www.eham.net/articles/21695

You see that I am trying!

Don Keith N4KC
www.n4kc.com
www.donkeith.com
www.n4kc.blogspot.com

[W5HOY]

Thanks Don!

I am going to pull these out and take a look - we have a local contact for one of the HAM rags and I am going to see if we can get something put in. Will keepyou posted!

Best Regards

Charlie -W5HOY

[Darrin]

Charlie,
The Torsk uses the callsign NK3ST, our origional callsign was NKST so it wasn't too far of a streach when we had HAM operators onboard operating through their laptops and one of the radios that worked at the time. Since the last time our HAM operators were onboard (a few years ago) for the museum radio chatter our ELECTRICIANS have restored almost EVERY piece of radio equipment to include the teletype. For our Chiefs who restored these radios and associated systems it has been a labor of love and they get to show off their skills every saturday of the year when they open up Radio and fire up the gear and let the tourist's here Morse Code coming across our vintage equipment.

If you get the chance to come to Baltimore make sure that you show up early on a Saturday morning and cooridnate with the crew so you can ACUTALLY operate the vintage equipment the way that it truly worked back in the 60's when she was still commissioned.

[W5HOY]

HI Darrin

That is really cool - what makes it more special is the fact that you have a good group of CW (code) HAMs!

I find it interesting as well that the HAMs come once a year - I would have thought with your beautiful boat and the opportunity to work they would be beating the doors down to use?

We had a new organizational meeting today at the Batfish. We have established a new "club" call sign for the USS Oklahoma Musuem that was started with the addition of the tower section. Our plans include coordination with Sam Whitley with WW2SUB and to start building a long-term position with Rick and the Musuem.

Plans are underway to support the re-inactment days coming in August and a sizeable gathering of Scouters (cub and BS) in October. I hope that this will begin to expand and create new excitment and carry on the tradition Sam and the WW2SUB call sign.

I plan to keep this thread alive with info for the HAMS who are interested as well.

Our long-range lans are to start refurbishing our equipment as well and use them for demo purposes on the morse code side. Will keep everyone up to date as we move along.

I will do some reserch  on your call sign and be sure to look for it as we broadcast.

Thanks for all your help!

Charlie

[W5HOY]

Hello All -

After our Living History weekend, several of the HAMs went to work reviewing our exisiting installation and made a few modifications - Sam (our lead HAM for the boat) took the new Kenwood TS-440 and re-attached several of the existing items to get us back up to speed. The Boat is now working full steam ahead with 5-600 watts of power. Outside antenna work will continue as we are seeing some changes in the grounds around the boat, and are actively reviewing our options for long-wire as was original.

http://www.qrz.com/db/WW2SUB/1282853605

HTX-212 FM (2 meters) RADIO,KENWOOD TS-440,AMERITRON 811 A AMP, 1.5KW TUNER

SPEEDX BUG (CIRCA 1940'S).

Any question just shoot a reply- Charlie W5HOY

[Mark Sarsfield]

This is the configuration that we should go for...

 

[W5HOY]

HI Mark

That is the plan - along with relocation of the tower to a more secluded spot. 

[Mark Sarsfield]

I am wondering if the above photos are from the end of her 6th war patrol before she went into refit at Mare Island in early 1945.  The reason that I say this is here is a photo of the boat at her decommissioning in 1946, showing a different antenna configuration.  The 7th war patrol log mentions a bunch of changes to the boat during refit and it's possible that the forward antenna mast was changed, but wasn't documented in the patrol log.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0831014.jpg

[MWALLEN]

Mark,

I think you are correct.  Photos I have at a higher resolution show Fyfe on the bridge, not Small.

I would say it's during the refit between the 6th and 7th patrol.

Mark