COAST GUARD RADIO GUAM - NRV

COAST GUARD RADIO GUAM - NRV

1966 - 1967

At 3:30 on a sunny tropical afternoon in December of 1966, my watch partner, David Rex RM2 (Radioman 2nd class) and I walk out of the barracks at NCS (Naval Communication Station) Guam and down to the Coast Guard truck.  Next to the truck  a young boy is standing with his father, a Navy First class Petty Officer.  The boy says to us,  "Are you going to save someone?"  I assume that the boy seeing U.S. Coast Guard on the side of the truck had asked his father what that was.  His father replied, "They save people."  I was overcome with a feeling of pride and humility.  Pride in being a part of the Coast Guard and humility in the realization that there were many in the Coast Guard, the lifeboat and helicopter crews, who put their lives on the line to save people.  I say to the boy, "We are going to try."  At Coast Guard Radio Guam (call sign NRV) we monitor the international distress frequencies that cover  most of the Pacific Ocean, so we have a fair chance of hearing a call from someone in distress.

We drive the truck down to the NCS Receiver Site, a large two story, tilt up concrete building with no windows.  After showing our passes to the Marine guard, we enter the building.  First we walk through the NCS Guam Receiver Deck between rows of huge radio receivers the size of double door refrigerators.  It is eerily quiet since they are all hooked up to some equipment (mostly radio teletype machines) at another site.  We come to a door with a large U.S Coast Guard seal.  Some wag had added a small sticker that said "We are a Coast Guard Family."  Walking through the door  we are met with a cacophony of sound;  C. W. (continuous wave emission, AKA Radiotelegraphy; more commonly known as "Morse Code), mixed with the clatter of six teletype machines.  We are now in the U.S. Coast Guard Radio Station Guam,-call sign NRV.

On the left and right are the two radio operating consoles .  Each has a metal desk backed with two vertical racks of three receivers each to cover different frequency ranges.  The desks have recesses to accommodate a typewriter.  There is a telegraph key on each and above the key is a row of relay switches to activate our transmitters for various frequencies. 

One console is the;

• High Seas Ship to Shore Net,  the other is the

• Loran Net/Military Ship to Shore Net.

High Seas Ship to Shore guards (listens to)  500 kcs (kilocycles), the International Calling and Distress frequency.  This is a worldwide "party line."  If you want to call a ship or shore station, you, call on 500 kcs,. this is a medium frequency and its range is only about 500 miles.  For greater distances there is the High Frequency equivalent of 500 kcs., 8364 kcs.  This has a range of several thousand miles, and with the right atmospheric conditions, can reach half way around the world.  This Net also guards similar channels on 12 mgs,(used at night) and 16 mgs (used during daylight).

Radiotelegraphy, generally known as Morse Code , is technically designated as A1 emission.  This is a non-modulated signal, which means that when you key the transmitter all you get is a single tone.  This was the earliest type of radio transmitted signal.  It is conducive to sending Morse code, since you are sending only a solid tone of dots and dashes.  A3 emission is a modulated signal and therefore can be used for "Voice" communication.  Your AM (Amplitude Modulation) radio uses A3 emission.

Loran Net/Military Ship to Shore handles traffic from the area's LORAN stations: NRV2 Saipan, NRV4 Palou, NRV7 Yap and NRV9 Marcus Island.  (More on LORAN later).  Military Ship to Shore is just that; handling traffic from USCG ships in the area.  Mostly CG buoy tenders.

Our watch supervisor, Charles Lippman, RM1 (Radioman 1st class), is already at the station.  His job is  to handle the teletype machines, the telephones, and keep an eye on us.  He will pitch in whenever we get super busy with radio traffic or needed help with a tough situation.

This watch is my turn to take the High Seas Ship to Shore Net.  I checked in with Frank "Rafto" Raftovitch, RM2.  He says that there was a ship calling us on 500 kcs, call sign JECJ (Japanese) with traffic but apparently he could not hear our reply.  We also have a "comle" (commercial message) for KUTH (U.S.),an ocean freighter that was heading for Guam.  NRV is the only Coast Guard station that handles comle traffic. There is not enough comle traffic coming to Guam to warrant a full time commercial radio station, so RCA entered into a contract with the Coast Guard to handle their radio traffic.  We refile these messages on a dedicated teletype machine with RCA in Agana.  Frank says that he called KUTH every hour or so, but with no response.  Frank completes his sign off entry in the radio log, signs it and turns the Net over to me.

Meanwhile, my watch partner David Rex, is going through the same routine with Joel "Red" Meyers RM2 at the Loran Net/Military Ship to Shore Net.

I sign in on the radio log, noting the date and time  and settle in for an eight hour watch.  I slip on the ear phones, 500 kcs is in the left ear and 8 mgs is in the right and 16 mgs is on speaker.  I make some adjustments to the telegraph key to suit my sending style, flip on the 500 kc transmitter relay and key

CQ CQ CQ DE NRV NRV NRV  QRU KUKC / QRU IMI K

CQ is a general call, the equivalent to the voice call:

ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS THIS IS COAST GUARD RADIO GUAM COAST GUARD RADIO GUAM COAST GUARD RADIO GUAM I HAVE TRAFFIC FOR KUKC / DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY TRAFFIC FOR ME?

The IMI after QRU ("I have traffic for you), makes it a question.  Q signals are a shorthand use by radiotelegraphy operators.

For a complete list of Q signals and Z signals (the military equivalent) see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_and_Z_signals

Then I repeat the same call on 8mgs and then 16mgs.  The frequency we guard on 8 mgs is a spread of, 8354 to 8374 kcs.  To facilitate covering a spread of 20kcs we have a mechanical scanner that attaches to the tuning knob of the receiver.  There is a small electric motor inside that turns the tuning knob.  As it reaches 8354 a cam hits a nub (similar to the nub on an automatic light switch timer), reverses the direction of the scanner and it heads back up to 8374.  When we hear a call for NRV we pull the knob out, disengaging from the motor and fine tune the receiver manually.

On 500kcs I hear a Japanese ship calling a shore station in Japan:

JCS JCS JCS DE JDRV JDRV JDRV K

I type the signal into my radio log; noting the frequency and the time, 0710Z.

The Z stands for Greenwich Mean Time.  The time at the Prime Meridian which runs through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.GMT is the worldwide standard for radio communications.  With ships traveling through several local time zones it would be impossible to keep track of any kind of schedule if every station used local time.

We are required to make an entry into the radio log at least every 5 minutes.  If we don't hear any signals for 5 minutes, we are to enter "NO SIGS."

We are coming up on 0745Z.  At 15 and 45 minutes after the hour a three minute Silent Period is observed on the Distress Frequencies, 500kcs and 8mgs.  During this period all stations are to stop transmitting and to listen for distress calls.  The last 30 seconds of the 3 minute Silent Period is reserved for "Safety" messages. These are normally "Notice to Mariners," which cover navigation hazards; such as buoys out of position or burnt out navigation lights.  A typical Safety message announcement would be;

TTT TTT TTT DE NRV NRV NRV  NOTICE TO MARINERS QSW 466/8734 AR

TTT  is the pro-sign for "Safety," just as SOS is the pro-sign for "Distress."   QSW means, "Shift to frequency ..." In this case ships are to go to 466kcs or 8734mgs, to listen to the Notice to Mariners broadcast.  These broadcasts are sent at 16 words per minute.  This is on the slow side since the standard speed for normal radio traffic is 20 to 30 WPM, depending on the abilities of the operators.

After the Silent Period there is a surge of activity as everyone with traffic is calling to make contact.  I wait a few minutes until everything settles down and make a call to let everyone know that we are here and I do have traffic for KUTH.

CQ CQ CQ DE NRV NRV NRV  QRU KUTH / QSW 468/66  8MGS/8734 16MGS/16734  QRU IMI K

No activity, but we are coming up on 0800Z . That is one of the scheduled times when ships send their OBS (Observer) messages.  Ships send observations of their local weather which are sent to the U.S. Meteorological Observer Bureau, in Washington, D.C.  In anticipation of heavy traffic I plug in my speed key.[1]*

At 0800Z the calls start ON 500KCS:

NRV NRV NRV

(I key) DE.

(in reply I hear) ..ICBZ ICBZ (Italian) OBS K

(I key) QSW 468/66  (followed by 2 dits.  I hear a dit and know he has shifted to our working frequency).

I shift the plugins on my earphones so that I have 500kcs in one ear and 468kcs in the other and 8mgs on speaker.  As I make contact with ICBZ on 468kcs and copy his OBS message.  At the same time I hear other ships call us on 500kcs with their OBS.

Things are getting hot and heavy now, ships are also calling us on 8mgs.  Lippman comes over and starts working the traffic in 8mgs.  I finish with ICBZ by acknowledging receipt of his OBS:

ICBZ DE NRV R QSL(I acknowledge receipt of your message) TU (thank you) AR (end of transmission) VA (end of work)"dit"" dit" (the all important, unofficial end of transmission).  I hear a "dit" in reply. (That means he has heard me and we are done).

Now I go back to 500kcs and handle the other ships calling.

AXAL DE NRV R QSY 1 AXAL (Australian -I tell him he is number 1 in line)

 I respond to 3 more ships on 500kcs and put them in line.  Then I shift back to 468kcs and work AXAL:

AXALDE NRV QRV K (AXAL from NRV, I am ready to receive your traffic).

After giving AXAL a QSL I start working my way down my list of other ships.  At 0813Z  I  QSL the last OBS message, just in time to observe the Silent Period at 0815Z.

I pass 5 OBS message slips to Lippman and enter the traffic in my radio log plus the 3 that Lippman worked on 8MGS.  Lippman takes the 8 message slips and types them onto a teletype machine for routing to Observer, Washington, D.C.

On the 16mgs speaker I hear a call

NRV NRV NRV

I reach up and stop the scanner and fine tune the signal. Then I switch on the relay for the 16mgs transmitter and key..DE.  In reply I hear

NRV DE WEDI WEDI (U.S.) AMVER K

WEDI has an AMVER message for me.  AMVER stands for Automated Merchant VEssel Reporting.  This is a computerize program developed by the Coast Guard to track the position of merchant ships of all nations throughout the world.  In the event of a vessel in distress or needing medical assistance AMVER is used to find the vessels in close proximity to the distressed vessel.

I reply to WEDI;

WEDI DE NRV QRV K

WEDI sends his AMVER and I QSL (acknowledge receipt) his message.

WEDI DE NRV R QSL TU AR K

The R (Roger) is redundant with the QSL, but I throw it in for emphasis and is sent with an elongated dash  (Di daaaa dit).  WEDI replies with:

NRV DE WEDI R FB OM (Roger, Fine Business Old Man). AR VA "DIT" "DIT" 

I reply with a "DIT". (The unofficial, but necessary, end to a transmission).

For more on AMVER see;  http://www.amver.com

Meanwhile, David Rex is working  traffic on the Loran Net/Military Ship to Shore Net.  He is receiving a message from the Coast Guard Cutter Basswood (NODG).  The Basswood is a 180 ft. buoy tender from Honolulu that has sailed to Guam to work buoys in the Marianas and Western Carolines

For more on buoy tenders and the Basswood, see

http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Basswood1943.asp

NRV NRV NRV DE NODG NODG NODG ZBO P K

"ZBO" is a  military prosign for "I have a message for you." the equivalent of QRU.  The military uses "Z" signals as opposed to "Q" signals.  Coast Guard radiomen need to be bilingual, using Q signals and Z signals  in addition to following Commercial Radiotelegraphy procedure and Military procedure.

"P" means the message has a Priority precedence.  All Military messages are assigned a "Precedence."

R - Routine

P - Priority

O - Immediate

Z - Flash  (Initial enemy contact only)

Dave replies to NODG with

NODG DE NRV K

After copying NODG's message he acknowledges receipt with,

NODG DE NRV R AR

Military procedure does not use QSL or VA.

In addition to the Basswood, there is a second buoy tender in the area, the Blackhaw, (buoy tenders of the 180' class are named for trees).  The Blackhaw is also working buoys in the area, but they are on their way to Viet Nam.  The Basswood had returned from a tour in Viet Nam a few weeks earlier.

When the buoy tenders, on their way to Viet Nam, cross a certain line of longitude in the Western Pacific they are in a Combat Zone.  They then have to follow Combat Zone radio procedure.  That is, all traffic must be encrypted, including call signs.  With encrypted traffic there is also a "challenge and reply" protocol.  Suffice to say, the challenging station sends a coded signal and the challenged station  uses their secret "decoder ring" to determine a coded reply.  Much like using a password.

Copying encrypted traffic can be pretty boring and tedious.  Messages are coded into five letter groups. The trick is to copy them with ten groups per line.  When asking for a repeat of a group, the operator can quickly determine the number of the group in question. (ie. the fourth group in line three is 24).

DE NRV INT GRP 24 K

INT is the military equivalent of IMI, but appears in front of the signal. 

INT ZBO, vs. QRU IMI.  (Do you have any traffic for me?)

All radio transmitters have a unique sound and all operators have a unique sending style, aka a "Fist." Experienced operators can recognize the transmitters of different ships and their operators, just as we can recognize a person's handwriting.  When a buoy tender is heading west on its way to Viet Nam, we hear them one day sending their regular call sign.  After they cross the line into the Combat Zone they call with an "indefinite" call sign  (ie. two letters starting with an N).  When NRV sends a message to a ship in the combat zone, we encrypt the call sign.  The encrypted sign is good for one 24 hour period.  The idea of course is so that anyone listening in will not know who the ship is.  But anyone who had been listening the day before would recognize the sound of their transmitter and know who they are.  NRV operators must remember to use the encrypted call sign, even though they know the identity of the ship calling.

The Naval station on Guam has a nuclear submarine facility.  Therefore, it rates the company of a Russian "fishing trawler" to keep track of the submarines' comings and goings.  For some reason, they like to use NRV's military ship to shore frequency.  (Frequencies are assigned to the various countries by the ITU, International Telecommunication Union)  They certainly aren't copying our encrypted traffic to find out what those buoy tenders are up to in Viet Nam.  It is a form of harassment.  However, you can still work traffic with someone else on the frequency.  It is like talking to someone at a cocktail party.  A lot of ambient noise, but you just concentrate on the voice of the person to whom you are talking.  They use our frequency to call a station on the eastern coast of Russia, on the Sea of Japan The stations call sigh is UKJ.  Rex has a message to send to one of our buoy tenders, but the Russian trawler is calling UKJ. 

UKJ UKJ UKJ UKJ

The trawler is waiting for UKJ to hear him and send a "DE" in reply.

Rex "feels sorry for him," making all those calls and no one answering him.  So he accommodates him.  He switches on the transmitter relay and keys

DE

The operator on the trawler hears us and you almost hear the excitement in his key as he sends back his call sign.

UNDL

Rex obliges him with a

R UP

UP means shift to a working frequency .  UP is used whether the frequency is higher or lower.

With UNDL gone Rex can proceeded with his traffic for NODG.  About half way through UNDL comes back on frequency calling UKJ.  Rex tries to shift him up again, but he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.  He knows the sound of NRV's transmitter and Rex's fist.  Rex finishes his traffic with NODG, in spite of UNDL's interference.  Known as "QRM." as opposed to "QRN," which is static.

After clearing with NODG there is a call from 4YV with O traffic.  4YV is the call sign of Ocean Station Victor.  Ocean Stations are 100 by 100 mile grids located in strategic locations throughout the world's oceans.  They are manned by ships of various nations.  For the United States they are manned by Coast Guard cutters. They were started during WWII because merchant ships had to maintain radio silence to avoid detection by German U boats and could not send weather observation messages.  For the United States, the Coast Guard mans six Ocean Stations.  Four in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific.  The Pacific Ocean Stations are November (4YN), which is located half way between San Francisco and Honolulu  and Victor (4YV), which is half way between Honolulu and Tokyo.  They have Aerographer Mates (weathermen) on board to collect detailed weather information. They also serve as radio beacons for aircraft flying across the Pacific, and Search and Rescue.

On October 16, 1956, Pan Am flt. 6 ditched at sea near Ocean Station November.  All 31 on board were rescued by 4YN (USCGC Pontchartrain).

For more info on Pan Am flt. 6 see,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_6

4YV (which we know in this case is the USCGC Taney) normally sends its traffic to NMO (Coast Guard Radio Honolulu).  When they lose QSO (radio contact) with NMO, NRV is the backup station. They have a pretty heavy load of weather traffic, so when they call us it can be pretty hectic.

Rex gives 4YV a QRV (I am ready to receive your traffic) and starts copying the first message.  Weather messages from Ocean Stations are long and boring.  Like encrypted messages, they are composed of five letter/number groups.  Fortunately, after 3 messages, 4YV regains contact with NMO.  Lippman forwards the 3 messages on by teletype.

The primary mission of the Coast Guard on Guam is to provide logistic support to the LORAN stations in its district.  The H.Q. of the Coast Guard on Guam is located at the Naval Air Station (N.A.S.).  They have a fleet of three C123 aircraft.  C123's are twin engine , turbo prop, cargo planes.  They are a smaller version of the C130.  The C123's are used to fly supplies to the LORAN stations.

LORAN stands for Long Range Aid to Navigation.  It is a high tech system (for 1966) that helps ships using LORAN receivers to determine their positions.  For more on LORAN see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loran-C

The LORAN radio net consists of four stations: NRV2, Saipan, NRV4, Palau,  NRV7, Yap and NRV9, Marcus Island.  Saipan is less than 200 miles away, so we work them on voice (A3).  We work Palau and Yap on CW, and for Marcus Island we use radio teletype. Radio teletype uses a combination of a high and low tones.  These combinations create letters, (similarly to the dots and dashes of Morse code)

To initiate sending traffic NRV9 sends a CW call;

NRV NRV NRV DE NRV9 NRV9 NRV9 ZBO P K

Rex reaches over and switches on the radio teletype machine.  By pressing the "Break" key he can send a Morse code signal.

NRV9 DE NRV TEST K

"TEST" is a request to send a test signal so the radio teletype signal can be tuned in.  The TEST signal is a series of RYs.  R and Y are opposite combinations of high and low tones. Once the signal is tuned in, Rex uses the BREAK key to send;

QRV K

NRV9 sends their traffic and Rex acknowledges with;

NRV9 DE NRV R QSL AR

Radio teletype at is faster than CW. (100 WPM vs. 20 - 30 WPM).  Another big advantage is that the receiving machine has a tape printer.  When a message is sent on a teletype machine it is not only typed directly onto the machine,  a tape  can be cut at the same time.  Teletype tape is similar to ticker tape.  A combination of five holes is cut into the tape for each letter.  All five holes shifts to lower case, so if an error is made while typing the tape the tape can be backed up and the error can be "erased" by typing  it out with the lower case key.    After the message is received , Rex just takes the tape from the radio teletype machine and puts it on the outgoing teletype and away it goes at 100 WPM.

It is December and three weeks to Christmas.  Since traffic is slow, I start to address Christmas cards.  It is a tradition among Coast Guard Radiomen to send each other Christmas cards.  They are addressed to the radio stations on our cutters and coastal stations.  We already have some cards on the walls and some Christmas pictures sent by teletype.  We have one teletype picture of Santa and his eight reindeer, and one of the Last Supper.  They are "drawn" with letters and strikeovers for shading.  I don't know how they do it, but if you stand back a few feet, the pictures are very clear.

My card writing is interrupted by a week signal coming through the static on 500kcs.

SOS SOS SOS DE BMGF BMGF BMGF (Chinese) POSIT. 22.___15 N  222. 45 20 W  FIRE ENGINE ROOM NO POWER. DRIFTING IN 20' SEAS. NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE.  SOS SOS SOS   K

The signal faded out as BMGF gave its position!  The signal is weak, so I wait a few seconds before replying.  Then I hear a stronger signal.

SOS BMGF BMGF BMGF DE JCS JCS JCS CFM POSIT 22 25 15 N 222 45 20 W.K SOS

The operator at JCS is a pro. He is making sure he has the all important ship's position correct.  At the same time he is also rebroadcasting the position with his more powerful transmitter so other stations and ships in the area will have the position confirmed for them too.

JCS DE BMGF R CFM POSIT K

SOS BMGF BMGF BMGF DE JCS JCS JCS QSL SOS

JCS DE BMGF R TU

JCS will forward the SOS message to the Search & Rescue center in their region. 

Vessels in the area now start sending their acknowledgements of receipt of the SOS.

SOS BMGF DE SLCA QSL SOS MY POSIT 22.25.1ON 222.42.05 W K SOS

Other ships QSL the SOS and report their positions.  After all QSL's are in from the ships, I send my QSL including BMGF's position so that other ships  in our corner of the Pacific that did not hear the initial SOS will have BMGF's position and will know that an SOS is working on 500 kcs. I pass the SOS message to Lippman who sends it to the Guam SAR center at Anderson AFB  and to the AMVER Center in New York.  Meanwhile, the SAR Center in Japan will  also contact the AMVER Center to request a report showing the ships in AMVER that are closest to BMGF.  After the position reports are in, the SAR Center in Japan will divert the closest and/or the most capable ship to rendezvous with BMGF.

Then a signal comes in over a speaker from the Loran Net/Military Ship to Shore position.

NRV NRV NRV DE NRV7 NRV7 NRV7 O K

An O message from Yap!  They never have Immediate traffic; what is going on?

NRV7 DE NRV QRV K

NRV DE NRV7  RE. JOHNSON, S., ET2  ELECTROCUTED. REQ. IMMEDIATE AIR EVAC.

Johnson and I flew to Guam together.  Rex hands the message to Lippman to send to the CG air station.  It is well after sunset.  A plane cannot leave until first light tomorrow morning.  I hope that is not too late for him.

A few minutes later.

NRV DE NRV7 ZBO O K

NRV7 DE NRV K

NRV DE NRV7          RE. JOHNSON S.  PULS 0, RESPIRATION 0

He is dead!  I only knew the guy for the duration of our flight, about 12 hours, but he is the first person that I knew in my 21 year life time who had died.  I thought about the little boy who asked if we were going to save someone, and by response of "we will try."  little did I realize that it would be one of our own.

Fortunately the rest of the watch was busy and went by quickly.

Our watch is relieved at 1330Z (11:30 PM).  It is the end of our two day watch cycle.  We are off duty for 48 hours and drive back to the barracks.

The next morning I am still thinking about Johnson.  I call the station and they say that the plane left first thing in the morning and was due back about noon.  I get cleaned up and put on my dress whites.  I drive up to the air station and wait for the plane's return.  It lands a little after noon.  They unload the plane.  It isn't an honor guard, but the crew knows what they are carrying and are very respectful.  A small crowd of Coastguardsmen have gathered.  I come to attention and give Johnson ET2 my best salute.  I hold it until they load him into the ambulance and drove away out of sight.  Then I finally feel like my watch is over.

*CW is easy and faster to send using a speed key.  Rather than the up and down motion of a straight key, a speed key is from side to side allowing the operator to send by rolling their wrist from side to side against a paddle.  More importantly, dits  are sent semi-automatically.  While most operators cannot send CW faster than 20 WPM with a straight key, they can easily send faster than 20 WPM with a speed key.  Coast Guard radio operators must have a "speed key ticket" before they can use a speed key.  To obtain a ticket an operator must be able to send and receive CW at 25 WPM.  My speed key ticket is nr.159, issued by the 14th Coast Guard District.  For more on speed keys see,

 http://www.vibroplex.com/contents/en-us/d12_SEMI-AUTOMATIC__BUG__keys.html

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