Maritime Radio Historical Society - "NIGHT-of-NIGHTS XIX"

KPH / KFS / K6KPH will be on-the-air @ 0001 UTC/13July for the annual "Night-of-Nights 2018"




MARITIME RADIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
30 June 2018

BULLETIN

NIGHT OF NIGHTS XIX INFORMATION



NIGHT OF NIGHTS XIX

Yes, of course there will be a Night of Nights this year. And of course, as usual, you are invited to join us on the air or in person for this dramatic and moving event.

What - On 12 July 1999 a ceremony was held at the receive site for coast station KFS at which the last commercial Morse message in the US was sent. Or so it was thought. But that was also the date on which the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS) was founded, with the mission to assure that commercial Morse would not perish from the Earth.

Why - Morse code is clearly obsolete, nobody uses it, it's just beeps in the air. So who cares if it perishes? The people at that ceremony at KFS cared. They cared deeply. Hard bitten grizzled old buzzards who had spent their life at sea as radio officers were weeping. They were seeing their profession, their passion and, in a way, their life passing away before their eyes. So it became the mission of the MRHS to make sure that the skills, the culture and the traditions of these men and women would be remembered and preserved through the restoration and operation of one of the greatest of all coast stations: KPH.



Richard Dillman, later to become MRHS Chief Operator, sends one of the last messages on 12 July 1999

Where - Join us at the RCA receiving station, 17400 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in the Point Reyes National Seashore at the foot of the Cypress tree tunnel.



Cypress tree tunnel

When - 12 July 2018. Each year on the anniversary of that supposed last message, plus one minute, KPH comes roaring back to the air with all the full throated majesty that mariners around the world heard for decades. Station KFS will also be on the air as well as amateur station K6KPH which will be standing by for your comments and signal reports. Doors open at 3:00pm PDT. The opening message will be broadcast at 5:01pm PDT (0001gmt/13July).

Join us for a complete tour of the station. Enjoy complimentary radio sandwiches and all the trimmings. Photograph everything. Whisper the magic words "True Believer" and be granted access to the fabled Treasure Room where the gems of maritime radio history are kept.

For those of you around the world who will be listening for KPH and KFS or calling K6KPH, here are our frequencies along with the transmitters and antennas that will be used. The RCA transmitters are 1950s vintage. The Press Wireless PW15 is from 1942. The Henry transmitters are 1990s vintage.

Key: EDZ = Extended Double Zepp. H/2 = H over 2

KPH (5kW):

426 Henry MF5000D Marconi T
500 Henry MF5000D Marconi T
4247.0 RCA 252K EDZ
6477.5 RCA 251K EDZ
8642.0 RCA 303L EDZ
12808.5 RCA 304L H/2
17016.8 RCA 305L H/2
22477.5 RCA 298H H/2

KFS (5kW):

12695.5 PW-15 H/2
17026.0 Henry HF5000D H/2

KPH and KFS operators will listen for calls from ships on 500kc MF and ITU Ch 3 HF. Listen on these frequencies if you want to hear the ship side of the QSO.

4184.0
6276.0
8368.0
12552.0
16736.0
22280.5

K6KPH (1.5kW):

3550.0 Henry HF5000D End-fed wire
7050.0 Henry HF5000D EDZ
14050.0 Henry HF5000D H/2
21050.0 Henry HF5000D H/2

Reception reports and QSLs may be sent to:

Maritime Radio Historical Society
PO Box 392
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Station phone:

+1 415-663-9646 (answered only when the station is on the air)
RD

NOTE from Mobile, Ala.

W4WLO - Mobile, Ala. -club station- (Coastal station WLO ~ Mobile Marine Radio) ~ In the past, WLO/W4WLO operated during the annual "NIGHT-OF-NIGHTS" in conjunction with the "Maritime Radio Historical Society" event held on July 13th (UTC) of each year. See: http://radiomarine.org. Our final year of participation was 2016. After 71 years of operation, WLO is finally; QRT - SK de WLO... CL dit dit - [The "Wheel" In The Sky Keeps On Turning]

(We're going to try & activate W4WLO on "Night-of-Nights" as a Special-Event commemorative station hopefully beginning in 2019) - Our longtime WLO/ShipCom.com owner/manager & Maritime Mobile Service Net Manager, Rene/K4EDX passed away unexpectedly in February, & he was our long-time "Guiding Light".

K4EDX lives-on as the: "Rene Stiegler Maritime Mobile Service Network Memorial Club"

Steve / W5BIB - (WLO CW operator 1988-95) - Life member of: Veterans Wireless Operators Association :http://www.vwoa.org/

77 (Long Live CW) - 72/73
Dit Dit

 

"Night-of-Nights XIX" is active as of 0001z/13July.

For those of you around the world who will be listening for KPH and KFS or calling K6KPH, here are the frequencies along with the transmitters and antennas that will be used. The RCA transmitters are 1950s vintage. The Press Wireless PW15 is from 1942. The Henry transmitters are 1990s vintage.

Key: EDZ = Extended Double Zepp. H/2 = H over 2

Hear Here:

KPH (5kW):

426 Henry MF5000D Marconi T
500 Henry MF5000D Marconi T
4247.0 RCA 252K EDZ
6477.5 RCA 251K EDZ
8642.0 RCA 303L EDZ
12808.5 RCA 304L H/2
17016.8 RCA 305L H/2
22477.5 RCA 298H H/2

KFS (5kW):

12695.5 PW-15 H/2
17026.0 Henry HF5000D H/2

KPH and KFS operators will listen for calls from ships on 500kc MF and ITU Ch 3 HF. Listen on these frequencies if you want to hear the ship side of the QSO.

4184.0
6276.0
8368.0
12552.0
16736.0
22280.5

K6KPH (1.5kW):

3550.0 Henry HF5000D End-fed wire
7050.0 Henry HF5000D EDZ
14050.0 Henry HF5000D H/2
21050.0 Henry HF5000D H/2

Reception reports and QSLs may be sent to:

Maritime Radio Historical Society
PO Box 392
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Steve / W5BIB

 

Just worked K6KPH on 20 meters. I was looking forward to it all day and in spite of thunder and lightning here I managed to squeeze in a contact! I wanted to try to listen for KPH and KFS but I figured I'd better disconnect my antennas before anything bad happened.

I encourage everyone to check out the MRHS website. These people do a wonderful job keeping this important part of history alive. Truly a Night of Nights

Storms passed, so I listened for the commercial stations. Good copy on KPH on 12.808.5 and 8.642 also copied KFS on 12.695.5