WEST VIRGINIA NAVY-MARINE CORPS
MILITARY AFFILIATE RADIO SYSTEM
"You've come a long way, baby" but where are you going?
The other day when, as is the case so often nowadays, there
were no messages on the board, I got to thinking about MARS and how it might be
nice if I would write up a little article on the subject.
I remember well that bright sunny day on the 10th of July of 1963 at Jackson's Mill when I decided to join NAVY MARS. Don Maxwell, N0ADN was the Area Coordinator and a NAVAL Reservist. He looked very spiffy in his dress white uniform. He filled out the papers for me. I remember I was a little apprehensive because this was a new organization and I wasn't exactly sure of just what I was getting into. NAVY MARS had just been authorized in January of that year. It wasn't long before I received my NAVY MARS call sign of N0TNS. Our area net was at 5:00 o'clock then just as it is now, only it was on 4015 Kc instead of 4040 Kc. In those days it was mainly CW, but you check in on sideband if you had to. Not many of the guys had sideband yet and AM was not allowed. I was using a Johnson Viking transmitter and a Hallicrafters S-53 receiver. It wasn't very long until I acquired a used Collins KWM-2A which was a sideband transceiver. Single sideband was becoming more popular. The only problem was getting it exactly on frequency. I was used to the ham bands, but on this NAVY frequency tolerances were more strict, just as they are today. I soon acquired an old LM-18 crystal controlled frequency meter. This enabled me to put the KWM-2A exactly on frequency and soon I graduated to net control station. Still, our nets were usually about half CW and half sideband. Net discipline was pretty strict on those days. I remember the first message I received and Rogered for caused a big flap. I believe the messege was from a station out of the area. It's all very fuzzy now but the gist of the thing is that the station accused me, on the air, of using improper procedure - of saying "Roger, over" instead of "Roger, out". The training officer got on me, too. I wrote a letter to the Area Coordinator stating I was sure I had not said "Over" because I knew there was only one message coming to me and there was no reason to use anything over than "Out". Then the Area Coordinator and the training officer got into it. It was a tense situation for a week or so, but it all turned out okay. We lost several good members during the years that disciple was very strict and you were corrected on the air. That particular training officer finally resigned and we have not have any on-the-aire corrections since.
In those early the check-ins were done in alphabetical order. N0ADN of course, would be the first or so to go. One had to know what call preced your own call so you would listen for that station. If that station didn't check in, you waited a couple of seconds that checked in, but if you missed your turn, you were expected to wait for the NECOS to make another call. Believe it or not, once you got used to the procedure, it went very well and very orderly.
I remember that every Saturday the headquarters
station, NAV, would hold a training net hosted by Captain Paul Lee, a real NAVAL
Captain. He would spend most of the hour describing some piece of NAVAL
radio equipment, explaining what it was and how it worked, or some new research
program that the NAVY was involved with. It was all very
interesting and I am sure most of the members sat glued to there receivers
so not to miss a single word. I knew that was my case, anyhow. At
the end he would answer a few question if there was time. Propagation was
good and NAV covered most of the Eastern part of the country. I don't
remember but they may have been broadcasting on 7 meg frequency, too. Anyhow, it
was quite a trill to listen to our headquarters station and a real live Captain
talking about NAVY equipment.
In 1966, I landed a job with the NAVY Department as an Electronics Technician. That, in itself, is a story, but too long to go into here. I was thrilling to be working for the very organization I had become a member of three years earlier. Their call sign at that time was N0FTT (NNN0NHB). Through the courtesy of my boss, I acquired a Model 19 teletype. In those days there two models of teletype machines. There was a Model 15 that had a page printer with a keyboard attached that would sit on a table. Then there was the Model 19 that was like a desk of its own. It was not only and keyboard, but had a tape reader (TD) and a tape punch, all in one standard size desk. It was the deluxe model. Both of these machines were capable of 60 WPM which was more or less the current standard. The NAVY was beginning to shift over to Model 28 teletype machines which were capable of 100 WPM, which is which I was able to get the old Model 19. Several of the MARS Members had Model 15s, which could be had from various sources for use on the amateur band. We established the West Virginia NAVY MARS Teletype Net which was very popular, We had fellows checking in from over states. We used 850 cycle shift in those days. I spent many enjoyable hours at the keyboard of the old 19.
Along about 1969, the NAVY scrapped the AN/UGC-41 teletypewriters. These were also known as tehe "Mighty Mites" and we were able to supply almost every member that wanted one with one of these. It would be interesting to know what happened to all those machines. They were government property of not to be sold, but I know some of them turned up in flea markets.
In the early 1970s I acquired a Model 28 teletype and MARS moved to 170 cycle shift. We were receiving our traffic by means of the Broadcast method. Each evening at 5:30 the Marine Corps station at Quantico, VA would broadcast all the traffic for the region. The traffic rep for that evening would ROGER for the traffic, and get any fills at the conclusion of the broadcast.
In the years of 1971 through 1974 much effort of put into an experimental traffic system called CATC (Cat-See) which stood for Computer Automated Teletype Control. Not many members were aware of the the experiments conducted and I mention it here because I think its interesting. It was really on the "cutting edge", as they say. It was dependent on the use on the Model 28 Teletype which could be set mechanically for SelCal. By adding certain levels on could make the machine turn on when the your call was received and the (4) Zs would shut it down. It was also dependent on a certain teletype converter known as the DT600 which was a revised version of the popular converter, the ST-6. One also had to have separate receive and transmit capability, so you can see it was limited to a few major stations. This was duplex operation. That is one transmitted on 13975.5 kc and listened on 13926.1 kc. It works like this: Suppose I wished to send a message to N0MQU in Quantico, VA. I would simple transmit (by teletype) his call sign several times on 13975.5 kc. The main cross-over station was in Miami, FL. If my signal was received in Miami it would be sent by VHF link (a distance of about ten miles as I recall). This would activate another station on 13926.1 kc which would send out my call. In Quantico, N0MQU station would be listening on that frequency. If the signal was received, his SelCal would be activated turned on his machine. When his machine turned, it activated an answer-back tape which transmitted "DE N0MQU K." The cycle would then repeat. When I receive the answer-back, I knew the path was good and would proceed to transmit the message with the four N's and Four Z's. It was an interesting experiment, but technology progressed at a rapid pace and teletype machines went the way of CW.
In the late 1970's NAVY MARS Districts were reorganized. Originally, West Virginia was in the Fourth NAVY MARS District, which was a combination of the Fourth and Fifth NAVAL Districts and included Southern New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia. In the reorganization into regions West Virginia and Virginia which were part of the fifth NAVAL District, were joined to the Sixth NAVAL District giving us the present Region Two.
About this time the FCC asked the NAVY Department if they had any call sign blocks available and the NAVY answered yes. They had just shut down the NAVAL Reserve System so that blocks of calls were available. What they had not thought about was that the NAVY call signs were derived from the NAVAL Reserve N0 (EnZero) block. They realized their mistake too late. The FCC already assigned N0 (EnZero) ham calls. The NN block was already allocated. So, the only thing left to do was go to NNN0. MARS members were outraged when they got the word that there call signs were now to be NNN0. What a mouth-full! November November November Zero. A person would be tongue-tied. There was such a ruckus that permission was quickly granted to just use EN EN EN Zero.
The 1980's saw the coming of packet, and I thought that would really be the way to go. With packet, several stations could be connected to the BBS at the same time. Since frequencies were so scarce, I felt this was more efficient. We used packet for a while, but someone decided that AMTOR was better. Then along came PACTOR and they couldn't decide between the two, so they embraced both modes.
Looking back one could see that we "have come a long way, baby" and now the question is "Whither do we go?" I have no magic crystal ball, but plain old common sense tells me that change is the name of the game. The so called "brass" have been talking for years of combining the three MARS services and I think that we are on the verge of that happening. What with E-mail already eating into our message count, I believe that source of messages will completely dry-up. Perhaps the day will come when a sailor on a ship who wants to talk to his wife or mother will simply dial-up his picture phone and talk to her direct. There will be no need for MARS GRAMS. This is not say there will will be no need for MARS. There is always a need for volunteers and I see MARS continuing in the role of a volunteer support organization. There is this about it: When there is a big emergency situation and the satellites are broken and the power is out hams will find a way to communicate even if means resorting to that nasty, old antiquated mode of CW. The bigger question is how to keep hams interested in supporting the military services. Frequencies will continue to be scarce, so joining MARS will be attractive because it opens up a whole new set of frequencies and opportunities. More exploration of the Arctic and Antarctic will provide additional opportunities of us to hone our communication skills. I am sure something will evolve. Technology is changing at a rapid pace. Perhaps some sort of computer-automated station will evolve similar to CATC, but using digital technologies far faster that AMTOR, PACTOR or packet. I kind of think the answer to keeping hams interested in the support of the military services lies in the phase we are now using - SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE.
73,
NNN0TNS