Re: Commercial CW Station KSM on the air

[k6dgw]

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
 > For you CW buffs who miss SWLing commercial CW stations, copying
 > wx reports, etc., the announcement below came from Richard
 > Dillman this afternoon. KSM is QSA5 here in N.W Oregon on 6477.0
 > on my K2 and on 12993.0 on my KX1.

 > Ron AC7AC

For What It's Worth:

<www.radiomarine.org>

The MHRS, with the cooperation of the owner, Global Wireless, and the
Pt. Reyes National Seashore, has restored the site and equipment of the
KPH Coastal Marine Station.  With the demise of HF marine
radiotelegraphy in the latter half of the 20th century, the GW-assigned
frequencies were slowly being converted to "more technological" modes.
The MRHS applied for and, wonder of wonders, received the license for
KSM, to be co-located at the KPH Tx and Rx facilities, but with its own
set of assigned frequencies which will thus be preserved.  I don't know
for sure, but it has to be the first coastal marine telegraph license
issued in 20+ years, and kind of cool that our otherwise hugely
bureaucratic government can recognize the value of some historical
preservation.

KSM Tx and Rx sites are N of the Golden Gate (in Sonoma County, I think)
on the coast at about 38N or so, and a little over 100mi W of me.  426
Kc (all the OT's use Kc since Hertz hadn't been invented in the heyday
of marine radiotelegraphy) is normally a KPH frequency, and they're
quite strong over here in the Sierra foohills on Sat afternoons, usually
running either press or marine weather.  I copied them once after dark
on a "Night of Nights" celebration and they were full-scale on the
S-meter using my flag pole as the Rx antenna [LF is a lot different than
20m :-) ].

KSM will confirm reception reports on authentic marine radiogram forms.
  The stations are usually activated on most Sat afternoons, and you can
sent your report to K6KPH (at op position #2) on 7050 or 14050 Kcs.  The
last report I sent them read: "2255GMT K6DGW QLB KPH 426 QSA 5/KSM 6477
QSA 5"

73,

Fred K6DGW
Auburn CA CM98lw

Footnote:  The KPH/KSM Chief Engineer is Steve Hawes.  As a 17 yr old
college freshman, I worked with Steve (also about my age) at KPFA in
Berkeley, and he led a crew of us that built the first transmitter site
on Mt. Wilson for KPFK in Los Angeles one summer.
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[pa0pje]

<quote>
> For What It's Worth:
>(all the OT's use Kc since Hertz hadn't been invented in the heyday of
>marine radiotelegraphy) etc

Well, be it known then, that Hertz "invented"  these cycles and, as a
courtesy to that, his name was given to them, so kHz is the expression and
let's keep it that way. They were invented long before the heyday of marine
radiotelegraphy even before the heyday of whatever radiotelegraphy.

73,
Peter, PA0PJE
K2 #4766

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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

And "kc" used to frustrate the purists (and college instructors everywhere!)
because without the interval specified it's meaningless. The correct term is
kc/s or kilocycles per second.

For example, someone might offer you a job with a pay of, say, $100. It
would make a significant difference if you were getting the $100 per hour,
per day, or per month!

So 1 Hz = 1 cps or 1 c/s

Actually Hertz demonstrated that electromagnetic waves existed. At the time
he (nor anyone else) had much understanding of what they were dealing with,
especially in terms of how frequency affected their propagation.

At the Hz was adopted there was a lot of grumbling about students having to
memorize an arbitrary name for a unit of measurement rather than use a
self-explanatory name like "kilocycles per second". It was an empty argument
because, the time hertz became a unit of measurement, most techs and
engineers had adopted the shorthand "kc" which meant those coming after had
to learn that they were leaving off a critical bit of information required
for it to make sense.

It's nice that we remember those who make significant contributions to a
field, but it's just something else for later generations to remember. Will
they relate the name to the unit? Who knows? Even if not, future generations
will likely still use "volt", "pascal", "colomb", "watt", "ohm", "siemens",
" Weber", "bel" ... The list of scientific units named for famous scientists
and inventors is very long indeed!  

Ron AC7AC


-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Peter PA0PJE
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:09 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Commercial CW Station KSM on the air


<quote>
> For What It's Worth:
>(all the OT's use Kc since Hertz hadn't been invented in the heyday of
>marine radiotelegraphy) etc

Well, be it known then, that Hertz "invented"  these cycles and, as a
courtesy to that, his name was given to them, so kHz is the expression and
let's keep it that way. They were invented long before the heyday of marine
radiotelegraphy even before the heyday of whatever radiotelegraphy.

73,
Peter, PA0PJE
K2 #4766


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