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 Previous: QRP Community: Build a Construction Station |  Next: In Brief |
Story by E. Art Galbraith, K7GV (SK)
August 27, 2003
Hams are preserving history on one of the most famous and longest-serving battleships in US history.
 The KH6BB operating position is located on the port side of Radio Central. To the right of the operating table is a rack of electronics with several HF receivers (including a mint-condition R-390) donated to the ship by Mike Taylor, AL1N. The URT-23 2.5 KW HF power amplifier on the bottom is an exact replacement for the amplifiers removed from the ship when she was decomissioned, and the club is in the process of refurbishing it and putting it on the air. |
 The starboard side of Radio Central shows components of the Missouri's automated message handling system, as restored by KH6BB club members. When the ship was delivered to BMARC, all of the racks were empty. |
 Seven racks of Teletype Model 40 equipment are in Radio Central, along the forward bulkhead. This was a secondary messaging system, used primarily for ship-to-ship traffic. [Bruce Murray, KG6JIJ, Photo] |
 A close-up view of the Model 40. The system used cassette tapes for message storage. [Bruce Murray, KG6JIJ, Photo] |
 A rack of R-1051G HF receivers stands in Facilities Control No. 1, just aft of Radio Central. The ship has 16 of these rigs, plus three Watkins-Johnson URR-74 HF receivers. All were rendered inoperable when the ship was decommissioned. [Bruce Murray, KG6JIJ, Photo] |
 The 19 HF receivers all had independent sidebands. These three racks of switches in Facilities Control 1 were used to route the 38 audio outputs to various destinations. A similar bank of switches was used to route inputs to the 11 HF transmitters. [Bruce Murray, KG6JIJ, Photo] |
 There was a secure, encrypted telephone system on board, and this rack in Facilities Control 1 is the main switchboard, also known as the "Coke machine." In general, red colors on equipment indicate use for secure communications. [Bruce Murray, KG6JIJ, Photo] |
During the summer of 2002, I returned for a fourth visit to the USS Missouri, now open as a museum in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Having never served on the battleship during her years of active service, my visits to the Missouri were "volunteer tours." I do, however, identify with her in as much as our seagoing careers began and ended around the same time.
I initially boarded the vessel at her final berth, approximately 400 yards off and bow-to-bow with the hulk of the USS Arizona. The ships are like bookends framing the World War II Memorials in Pearl Harbor, depicting the beginning and ending of that conflict.
On my first visit, I met Ned Conklin, KH7JJ, president of the Battleship Missouri Amateur Radio Club. Ned introduced me to Radio Central, the ship's administrative and message processing center, and to a couple of members of the USS Missouri Memorial Association, Director of Volunteers Sam Lowe and Director of Collections Mike Wiedenbach. Their expertise and assistance proved invaluable in the ongoing restoration of Radio Central.
During World War II and the Korean Conflict, the universal language of Morse code was the dominant mode of radio communication aboard ship. A few black and white photos from those times still exist, showing a radio watch wearing "cans" while operating a "mill" and "bug." On September 2, 1945, a Missouri radioman sent the surrender message from Tokyo Bay, announcing to the world the end of the war. Interestingly, Ned believes he has located the actual Vibroplex key used to send this message in a museum in California.
After the Korean Conflict, "Mighty Mo" was decommissioned
and Radio Central fell silent and dark for 30 years. But during a 1986
refitting, Radio Central entered the world of satellite communication,
radioteletype and infrared waves. Mechanical Teletype, with its noisy clickity-clack
and odors of oil and hot circuitry, went the way of signal flags and lamps, as
did the prolific use in the 1940s and 1950s of Morse code. Although items from
her earlier voyages and engagements are scarce, the Battleship Missouri Amateur
Radio Club is slowly restoring Radio Central to the equipment and
configurations of the 1980s.
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Thanks to some generous donations by local hams, including the late Norman (Tommie) Thompson, AH6E, and expert restoration by club member Pete Wokoun, KH6GRT, the amateur station has an operating Collins S-line (32S3/75S3), as well as other ham radio equipment, donated by the Nay League, formerly used for MARS phone patches in the days before the Internet.
In keeping with the Missouri's museum status, KH6BB uses the original US Navy antennas installed during the 1986 refit. The best performer for 30 through 10 meters is the big discone antenna on the bow. Two 35-foot whips over the bridge serve 40 through 10 meters, and the club has future plans for 80 meter operation using the wire fan antennas strung fore and aft between the stacks.
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The club uses frequencies ending in 63 to commemorate the vessel's naval designation, BB-63. I have had the opportunity to engage in many worldwide contacts and ragchews with hams who served on the ship, students hungry for information about "Mighty Mo's" history and "sparks" from seagoing vessels. Making contacts using the same antennas employed during the ship's active service have been some of my most memorable moments in ham radio.
On my second visit to the Missouri, I contacted the Pearl Harbor Survivors Net, a group that has been meeting on the air for the past 50 years. We set up a schedule and swapped war stories many times. Upon returning to the mainland, I could not get the ham station on "Mighty Mo" out of my mind and only looked forward to my next tour.
In addition to working the station during my third visit to Pearl Harbor, I volunteered to help set up for the September 2, 2002 ceremony commemorating the signing of the surrender documents ending World War II. This ceremony, on the Missouri's fantail, began at 7:45 AM with an invocation from a navy chaplain. Following this were speeches and comments by military and diplomatic dignitaries. After an informative recital of the history of the Missouri and her special role at the surrender, a moment of silence honoring the dead was observed, setting a mood of reverence and remembrance. Buglers aboard performed Echo Taps, lending a reflective mood to the conclusion of the ceremony. For a moment, as the last notes faded, I experienced exhilaration like I felt back in August 1945, on a troop ship headed for Manila, when I first heard that hostilities had ceased between the US and the Japanese Empire.
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On my fourth visit, I found many more improvements at Radio Central. During my absence, club members had been busy acquiring and restoring equipment. New to the station was a rack of HF receivers. Mike Taylor, AL1N, donated a Collins 651S1, a Rockwell-Collins HF-8054A and a Motorola R-390, all in perfect condition.
The plank owners--the first crew of a ship's maiden voyage--will have a reunion aboard September 2, 2003. Perhaps those operating KH6BB will be able to help some old sailors rekindle friendships from the past through third party traffic. Perhaps other hams will join us in helping to make the continuation of this monument possible so future generations can experience this very significant piece of history.
Editor's Note: E. Art Galbraith, K7GV, spent a
half a century in the maritime industry, working as an electrician, assistant
engineer and radio electronics officer. He first became interested in Amateur
Radio in 1940, but failed his first attempt at the code test at the FCC office
in Salt Lake City in June 1941. He didn't get to take the exam in December of
that year, but the acquired knowledge of Morse allowed him to earn two
commercial telegraphy licenses. Galbraith became a ham in 1975 with the call
WB0OGV and fondly recalled the phone patches he was able to run for shipmates
in the 1970s and '80s. He retired to Gresham, Oregon and became a silent key at
the age of 75 in July 2003 after a sudden collapse while training for a scuba
diving certification.
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