[600MRG] "New" versus "Old"

[Neil Klagge]

Mike, that was a great story. I think that bit of history needs to be
permanently recorded somewhere. I'm saving it on my computer right now !!!
Thanks for sharing that.
73, Neil


*"I use the original form of social networking: Amateur Radio." *
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On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 8:40 AM, Michael Mussler <mmussler at wispertel.net>wrote:

> Amen Steve... very well said. Far too much faith is placed in high tech
> solutions and the paradox is that the same technology becomes increasingly
> vulnerable to unforeseen events.
>
> I've spent most of my working life in aerospace, supporting high tech comm
> related projects. But in a former work life, I sailed in the Merchant
> Marine. It was an interesting period of time because I witnessed firsthand
> the transition from MF and HF CW based comms and celestial navigation
> techniques to satellite based comms and GPS based navigation. One of my
> favorite sea stories involves a humorous situation when I was third mate on
> the USNS Bowditch (a Victory Ship built in 1944). Due to the nature of our
> work we had two comm systems on the ship. One was a WW2 vintage MF/HF CW
> system manned by our merchant marine radio operator, "Sparks" (who was also
> a ham). The other was a state-of-the-art, HF RTTY crypto system manned by a
> US Navy detachment. A week out of Port Canaveral the US Navy ops had to
> hand off their message traffic to our merchant marine "Sparks" because for
> three days they couldn't get through the summertime QRN and they weren't
> able to copy their fleet broadcasts. That evening at dinner "Sparks" made
> sure he passed by the captain's table where the Navy CO was also seated.
> The skipper asked Sparks if he got his message traffic through. Sparks
> replied, "I sure did, first try using morse code on my "obsolete" World War
> 2 RCA equipment!" The Navy CO's face turned three shades of red and you can
> bet there were fireworks from the Navy's radio shack that night.
>
> By the late 1970s our military had completely abandoned CW in favor of
> more automated, solid state based systems requiring personnel with less
> training and fewer skills to operate them. At the same time our Cold War
> foes (the Soviets) relied on vacuum tube technology and morse code based
> traffic systems. Concerns awakened over EMP and the vulnerability of solid
> state electronics to this threat. Our military was convinced the Russians
> were still using vacuum tube technology specifically to survive such an
> event. In reality it was because their electronics technology was lagging
> ours in that area. Nowadays designing for NEMP and LEMP (nuclear and
> lightning EMP) is a major requirement in DoD contracts. Despite our best
> efforts to the contrary, only time and future disaster events will reveal
> other vulnerabilities embedded in modern technology. The time tested
> techniques and technology from the past will be known and proven
> quantities. We must keep open minds to the reality that there is a place
> for "new" and "old" things alike...
>
> 73
> Mike
> AI8Z
> WD2XSH/12
>
>
>
>
>
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