OT: CQ WWII naval radio ops

[DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL]

Earlier this week, on our drive back from Nova Scotia, my wife and I
stopped by Battleship Cove in Massachusetts where I was entranced by
Radio Central on the USS Massachusetts.

They had a mock recording of CW going, mostly 5 letter word groups.
It was going around 16 wpm and I wondered if that was a typical speed
or not.  Some guy walked by who had something to do with the ship's
display and said that his "friend from then could go the fastest in
the world...around 35 or even 40 wpm."  Well, some of us do that in
our sleep, so that couldn't be right.

What speed was typical for back then?

If you get the chance, stop by this exhibit (battleship, PT boats,
submarine, etc.). We had planned on an hour or so, but spend nearly 5
on just the USS Massachusetts.  I got some great shots of the rigs too
- can even see the crackle paint finish!

Thanks,
de Doug KR2Q

PS:  http://www.battleshipcove.com/index.html
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[AC7AC]

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[ng3v]

When I first joined the navy in 1961 it was as a radioman (I got a
meritorious promotion out of boot camp because of my amateur license).  

We copied code on old CAP only manual (superfluous) typewriters we called
"mills".  Anything much beyond 20 was a challenge to get right, and the 5
character groups were what we copied.  There was nothing intuitive about
them that we routinely use to copy in our heads.  And, since they were
encoded, they had to be letter perfect.

I think 35 - 40 wpm of 5 letter groups, hand typed, is doable, and I suspect
a lot of operators could do that, but it would wear most radiomen out pretty
quickly.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 3:58 PM
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: [Elecraft] OT: CQ WWII naval radio ops

Earlier this week, on our drive back from Nova Scotia, my wife and I
stopped by Battleship Cove in Massachusetts where I was entranced by
Radio Central on the USS Massachusetts.

They had a mock recording of CW going, mostly 5 letter word groups.
It was going around 16 wpm and I wondered if that was a typical speed
or not.  Some guy walked by who had something to do with the ship's
display and said that his "friend from then could go the fastest in
the world...around 35 or even 40 wpm."  Well, some of us do that in
our sleep, so that couldn't be right.

What speed was typical for back then?

If you get the chance, stop by this exhibit (battleship, PT boats,
submarine, etc.). We had planned on an hour or so, but spend nearly 5
on just the USS Massachusetts.  I got some great shots of the rigs too
- can even see the crackle paint finish!

Thanks,
de Doug KR2Q

PS:  http://www.battleshipcove.com/index.html
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[w7aqk]

Doug and all,

Not sure what it might have been during WWII, but some years later the speed
for radio communications in the Army was based on a required skill of 18
wpm.  That was the "intermediate speed" radio operator.  There was a "high
speed" category (MOS), but that was mostly for intercept work--not traffic
handling.  The 18 wpm requirement was set, in large part, by the fact that
hand keys were used.  Sending tended to get pretty sloppy at speeds higher
than that, particularly from field operators.

Navy operators generally operated at speeds that were higher than that found
in the Army.  Those guys had "bugs" long before the Army finally got wise to
the benefits.

Nonetheless, many Army operators were pretty good at copying much higher
than 18 wpm.  That's because much of their "practice" time was spent copying
much faster code than 18 wpm.  They just couldn't send very well at higher
speeds.

Dave W7AQK


----- Original Message -----
From: "DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL" <[hidden email]>
To: "Elecraft Reflector" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 12:57 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] OT: CQ WWII naval radio ops

> Earlier this week, on our drive back from Nova Scotia, my wife and I
> stopped by Battleship Cove in Massachusetts where I was entranced by
> Radio Central on the USS Massachusetts.
>
> They had a mock recording of CW going, mostly 5 letter word groups.
> It was going around 16 wpm and I wondered if that was a typical speed
> or not.  Some guy walked by who had something to do with the ship's
> display and said that his "friend from then could go the fastest in
> the world...around 35 or even 40 wpm."  Well, some of us do that in
> our sleep, so that couldn't be right.
>
> What speed was typical for back then?
>
> If you get the chance, stop by this exhibit (battleship, PT boats,
> submarine, etc.). We had planned on an hour or so, but spend nearly 5
> on just the USS Massachusetts.  I got some great shots of the rigs too
> - can even see the crackle paint finish!
>
> Thanks,
> de Doug KR2Q
>
> PS:  http://www.battleshipcove.com/index.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 

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