The Best QSO I never had.

The underlying spirit of camaraderie and friendliness that is in Amateur Radio was demonstrated in a superior way by a group of amateurs that operated special event station GB90MGY, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the foundering of the RMS Titanic in April 1912. "MGY" was the Titanic call sign assigned in 1912, when ships were assigned 3 letter calls. The group, the Titanic Wireless Commemorative Group (TWCG), comprising local amateurs form Surrey, England and members of the Godalming Museum, operated a CW only station from April 13th to the 15th. The station was set up in the small town of Godalming, as this was the birthplace of Jack Phillips, the Chief Wireless Telegraphist of the Titanic. Jack lost his life when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912. He stayed at his post sending distress signals in morse saving over 700 lives.

GB90MGY was manned by some of the finest CW operators in the UK, including Sheila Tomlinson G4PSA, an ex-radio operator who served with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War Two, keeping in touch with operatives behind enemy lines. She operated the station for two hours, the only one to use a 'straight' morse key during the event, sending immaculate morse at over 20wpm. David Wood G3YXX, a white stick operator and FOC member, who achieved 658 QSOs overnight dring the event in 410 minutes! And from the The Netherlands, Hans van Hese PA0JLS, ex-Royal Netherlands Navy, who drove over from his country with his wife on the off chance of having some time on the key. He operated for two hours making many contacts.

This interest first began for me when I saw the special event listing for the GB90MGY on the ARRL website. I have always been interested in the stories of the great ships that have been lost over time, since I first read about the sinking of the Bismarck when I was a freshman in High School, and about the Titanic soon thereafter. I enjoyed “the Unsinkable Molly Brown starring Debbie Reynolds and a fascination with the story of the Titanic began then. Yes, I really enjoyed the James Cameron movie too. The discovery of the wreck of Titanic by Robert Ballard held my fascination and I never get tired of seeing the pictures and descriptions of the ship as it lies on the bottom of the Atlantic. I sometimes ask myself, why the fascination? And the answer lies in the stories of the people and technology of the time. And, I have to admit that the beginning era of radio and the way it was used is of great interest. So, that combined with my amateur radio hobby and interest in the subject was definitely something that grabbed my attention.

When I saw the information on the special event, I thought I would email Alex, G3XHK, who was one of the operators and designer of the commemorative QSL for the event. So, I looked up his email address and fired off an email telling him of my interest in the special event and Titanic history. I told him in the email that I would love to let amateurs know about the event via my club (The Rocky Mountain Ham Group) and KE0VH website. Alex not only responded, but we emailed back and forth several times chatting about the event, the QSL design, and who would be operating the station. Alex was not just very friendly, but also sent me the QSL design to display on my website, so that visiting amateurs could see the information and get ready to make the QSO. I was very enthusiastic, telling contacts on air for a couple of month’s prior about the station (even over MFSK16 and PSK31). When I told my wife about the event, she knew that I was excited and since this has been a large interest of mine for a while, knew that I would want to spend some time at the radio to make the QSO. So, she wrote on the family schedule calendar, Titanic weekend. What a great wife! I spent some time making sure that the TS-120s was ready to go, dusted off the old Radio Shack brass key I had since I was a novice back in the late 70’s, made some practice CW QSO’s. I really needed the practice since I had not been on CW for years. Raising a large family, work schedules, and just life in general doesn’t make for a lot of time for CW.

Alex and I continued to keep in contact via email. My work schedule and the time difference between Denver and the UK didn’t allow for a lot of time for on air QSO’s. Alex and I did set up a couple of schedules, which I ended up not being able to make, so we actually had yet to converse, radio or otherwise. He kept me up to date on various aspects of the operations and getting ready for the weekend and the aftermath of the event, which would no doubt result in handling a large volume of QSL requests, including mine! Alex even said that he would make sure that if they heard my call, they would work me and my friend Rich, W9BNO. So Rich and I decided that we would wake up at 2:30 am Denver time at the beginning of the operation on April 13th, and listen for GB90MGY. We would keep in touch locally via 146.52 simplex and the RMHam group 449.225 repeater and let each other know if we heard the signal coming from the UK.

The alarm went off after about 3 hours of sleep, and I stumbled down to the shack in the laundry/radio room where the radio was faithfully listening on 14.015, one of the scheduled frequencies that GB90MGY was to be on or around. Rich would be listening on the WARC bands, which I didn’t have on the TS-120s. Hearing nothing for 10 minutes or so on 20 meters, I tuned 40, which was also quiet, and then, down to 15 and 10 even though I knew those would be quiet that time of the morning. Hearing nothing (including Rich) I thought, “well, I will come back around 7 in the morning before the children wake up and will try again.

I had had some trepidation earlier in the week when I read the spaceweather.com forecast for the solar and geomagnetic activity when those indicated that HF would not be in great shape for the weekend. Now, I had worked 34 countries over the past couple of weekends and was very hopeful for a good path to the UK from Colorado this weekend. I had even worked a couple of Russian stations before I turned in the night before, although signals were weak and watery. Long path maybe? I have always had great results with my dipoles and 100 or so watts out of the TS 120s, so I was confident that I would have no trouble working GB90MGY, if the pileups weren’t too bad for my small station to break through.

7:AM local time. Sleepily, I go down to the radio, faithfully listening to the silence on 20 meters. Switch to 15 meters, nothing. Same for 10 meters. Some signals on 40, but all the Japan QSO party also scheduled for the weekend. All weak. So, in between chores and swimming lessons and other things to do, I checked the bands. Weak signals for the Japan QSO party, but no GB90MGY. I think, ok, lets just keep checking. Throughout the day, I scan the areas around band.015, and hear no GB90MGY. And very few weak Japan QSO party CW signals. The bands seem to be getting worse. By late Saturday Night, I still hear no Titanic commemorative station. Rich heard them a time or 2 on 30 meters, or at least the pileup generated. I was getting pretty discouraged by 11pm local time.

After returning with the family from church, to make a long story short, I listened all afternoon Sunday, never hearing GB90MGY. Rich heard their signal a time or two, and the stations calling them, but never got thru himself. Rich lives in an area that has great propagation characteristics just south of Denver, and high view to the horizon even over the 10,000-foot mountains 10 miles to the west, but propagation to UK was just not to be for those of us in the north central part of Colorado. Rich reported hearing the station on 40 meters in the evening, but could not get through. I live down in a bit of a hole in the NW side of Denver, but getting out is no problem, so I guess the solar and geomagnetic activity got the best of my situation. Turning the radio off earlier in the evening didn’t help, as I had things to do.

The next day I emailed Alex about what had happened here. We were both disappointed, as he had listened for Rich and I as we had planned when his shift had begun, but to no avail. Alex said then that as soon as they recovered and got through the first waves of QSL’s (more than 2000 QSO’s), he had something special to send my wife and I. My wife in honor of the long-suffering XYL’s that put up with us hams. I was really appreciative and although I had not been able to work the station, it was fun getting back on CW and listening again.

What was really great though, was the communication and friendliness of Alex and his willingness to work with Rich and I to give us a QSO with a station that was of high interest to a lot of amateurs. Alex also was very helpful for inclusion of information not only for my interest but also for details in this article. Then, I received the special mailing from Alex that he had promised. Out of all the QSL’s to send out, he took the time to send a special QSL to me for being one of our greatest supporters, a QSL to W9BNO for the weak signal report on 30 meters, and for my wife, a large certificate sized copy of the QSL signed by all the members of the group and the museum officials. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. What a keepsake! What a great example of the friendliness and kindness that so many in the amateur community exhibit. It really made up for the bad conditions and disappointment on not getting a QSO! And, the QSL and certificate will be keepsakes and important memento’s that I will keep for my entire life. Thanks to Alex, G3XHK, the officials at the Goldalming museum, and all the operators for operating the station, the QSL’s and of course, honoring, in a very special way, the memory of Jack Phillips, Chief Wireless Telegraphist of the RMS Titanic.

 

I whish I would have known about the event I would have tried to listen and try and copy some things down. I am a big fan of the R.M.S Titanic {the real one not any movie} I have read just about every book on it seen all the movies been to the shows... I think this is a great thing that was put on and I look forward to trying it next year. Thanks for the article and better luck next year. 73
Alexander KG4OGN

 

Jack, this is an absolutely Great Post!  I, too have a GB90MGY QSL and it is one of the most treasured ham radio items in my collection.  Since April of 1962 when as a youth I heard a broadcast of Titanic survivors; to this very day, I have held a strong facination of the people, things, and technology that is Titanic.  Yes, even my ham radio call is derived from 'MGY'.

The loss of the great ship RMS Titanic stands as one of the world's greatest tragedities.  Amazingly, this also brought into the public eye the use of 'wireless' communications. Indeed, as a result of the Titanic foundering; private experimental (amateur) stations where exiled to the useless wavelength of 200 meters or less.   Nevertheless, amateur radio had finally received 'offcial' recognition.

When April 14-15 comes around each year; each of us should pause and remember the Titanic, and what it's loss did for amateur radio.

73 de,

Steve W4MGY

 

A truly fascinating story. I hope we all remember the legacy of the Titanic.

Sam
AD6XS
Monument, CO

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What a fantastic story, I was a morse operator for the us army & have alway been interested in the story of Jack & the Titanic. It's a great thing that happend between you and Alex. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Dan N9SWA

 

An excellent story, thanks a lot.

If you ever come to Belfast you can stay in Thomas Andrews's house (the guy that designed the Titanic). It's now a bed & breakfast.  

It's filled with creepy stuffed animals and antiques (junk).

Mike GI4XSF.