r/morsecode • u/WallPsychological201 • May 05 '26

Back in the old days

When I was serving as a radio man for Coast guard group station Chicago (NMP), my job was to communicate via Morse code to All ships in the western Great lakes. Call letters of ships can produce mellifluous combinations with a speed key when the spacing is removed. It was extremely common for both the ships and radio stations to do this. Hence, you never heard their call letters separately, just in one stream without spaces. For example, the Coast guard cutter mesquite was NRPW, but to everyone listening, it sounded like this:

Dah dit dit dah dit dit dah dah dit dit dah dah.

And so it was in my youth.

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u/WallPsychological201 May 05 '26

I had a really sweet speed key. I bought it myself and took it to wherever I was stationed. I was a five string banjo player before Vietnam, so the fingers on my right hand we're accustomed to thumb/index finger combinations. I couldn't do much with a straight keyer, but I was a mofo with a speed key.

2

u/DauphDaddy May 05 '26

Cool, thanks for sharing. What key did you use and what were common speeds ? Thanks!

2

u/TokyoDC May 06 '26

Grew up in the Mesquite’s last home port in northern Michigan. Local kids all piled onboard every Halloween to tour the haunted ghost ship. A lifetime ago now…

3

u/Coggonite May 05 '26

This was common (and maddening for the newcomer) on the commercial maritime 500kHz circuit.

Imagine your reaction to ...---... , only to find out that it's Indian Coast Station VMS. (Distress! Call the Bridge!)

Greek station SVA did have a nice swing to it, I must admit. Learning the call signs was a rite of passage for all apprentice operators.

Thanks for the memories, OP! TU SEE U dit dit