Nice video George. Luckily i got my ro ticket in 1970 when there was a shortage of r/o’s . Spent 18 months with Marconi then went freelance for next 12 years. Was a great career and worked solely on ships. Like you i had an interest in flying so got my pilots license in ireland. I then moved to USA where i got a commercial helicopters license with plans to work on oil rigs. However marriage put a damper on that so i guess it was not meant to-be. I did get my ham radio licence but when kids came along there was no time for that. I am back on air now and i teach a cw course on Zoom with Long Island CW club. Still love cw and i am encouraged by number of people who want to learn it despite the fact its no longer a requirement.
Thanks for the comment. Twas a great life and best job at sea. CW is in a real Renaissance here in Oz. The QRS net is growing weekly and lots of interest in code! 73 de VK2AOE
You followed your dreams. I was at sea in the Irish Navy and on the base station from 1975 to 1979 it was cw communications most of the time. I am a Ham operator these days EI3EA. It is like a dream now the way communications moved on. 73
Yes ….. it is dream like, but after so many years away, I’m happy to still hear CW and see people still learning it. As a ham it is a great mode for building simple effective rigs. 73 de VK2AOE thanks 🙏 for the comment.
It was in Sydney near the Lane Cove river for Scitec...The test engineer's name was Mark (I think??...surname ....off the stack!). All that data comms stuff was over my head!! Loving the kits Leon....had a 40m chat Sydney to Melbourne with Peter P just the other day on the DCT. Thanks for all your hard work. 73 de VK2AOE
I followed your video with great interest. I was an active R/Off from 1975 to 1995. A career that spanned many a varied ship and a spell at GKA. Like you I experienced the transition from full WT operation through to the initiation of the GMDSS. I even went and got that cert towards the end of my sea time. From about 1974 shipping companies along with the main Radio outfits like Marconi insisted on a radar maintenance cert. This required a further 4 - 6 months study at college before being allowed to set food on board a ship. When TOR came in, my touch typing from my days in the UK Royal navy radioman came in handy. When Inmarsat was introduced, it was the slippery slope for Sparks as fewer and fewer shore stations maintained a CW facility. When the work started to dry as more shipping companies flagged out I found myself working on mainly FOC ships, a good many of whom could rightly be called "cowboy" outfits. Having gone from being served in the officers mess by uniformed stewards to bowls of rice and chicken wings (hungry ships were back), I finally called it quits in Bangkok in 1995 after an 8 month trip on a Panamanian tramper appropriately name "Great Nancy"
Wow…. You did it for REAL! I only got a taster of the life on the Australian coast. I do remember the Australian Maritime College running the Radar Maintenance Certificate when I was there (never did it). Thanks for sharing your experiences…. I bet you have plenty of stories from those FOC ships! 73 de VK2AOE!
@@TheArtofEngineering My proudest exhibit is my Liberian first class cert, which far from being as some would regard it as being a bit Micky mouse, required the same standard as the Uk general cert, plus a full medical from Harley street!! I now reside in NZ due to a sailing urge that propelled me to undertake an elongated pub crawl that lasted 3 years on board a 27ft sloop from Ireland which ended in Whangarei in 1998. I only had a VHF radio for communication. I'm 74 years young now and rarely touch the grog. A funny story about Kiwi red tape and adherence to the rules. I had a ham license from the early 1970's from when I lived in the Uk - G4DKJ. So in my semi retirement here I applied for a NZ ham license, adding that I was also a very well qualified ex Marine Radio Officer. The lady at the other end told me that it was not possible to issue a license until I had taken a morse test at 5 WPM and sat the regulations exam. When I pointed out the firstly I couldn't read morse that slow and secondly during my career I was the enforcer of the regulations....She wouldn't budge. In the end I had to contact the UK to get them to unearth my old callsign, make a copy and sent it to me. Which they did for ten quid. I sent it to Wellington and was duly issued a vanity callsign with my initials (I didn't request it) ZL4CFT
@@sklenars here in OZ the RO ticket ROGCP usurps the ham ticket and gives exempt status for a ham license. I guess we are lucky that it lasts a lifetime…. In the US if the ticket lapses you end up having to resit the test!!! Thanks 🙏 for sharing …. You are a living adventure 😜
Extremely interesting, George, thanks a lot for this video. Man, you certainly have lived an interesting life! I for one would like to hear more sea stories from you. BTW I believe the radio gear aboard the Byford Dolphin is Sailor, made in Denmark. 73 OM
Yes it was Sailor made…. Nice gear ….I was medivacuted off that rig with nasty medical episode …. 6 weeks later spent 6 weeks back onboard on the tow from Bass Strait to Bali… fun times! Thanks for the comment and your videos…. Gonna dust off the key and get my ham radio thing happening now73!
I 'liberated' a russian KDM sideswiper morse key from one of my ships, as no one else was likely to want it. Far better than the up-and-down key. A lot less tiring.
Very interesting story. Could have been my story as I went to college to become a ships radio officer but got lured to the corporate world instead. Kinda wished I had gone to sea. Anyway, get to play CW nowday's with my amateur radio license, just dont get paid!!.
Great video! I completed my 2nd Class COP in India and was employed as a Radio Officer in the oil industry and Merchant Marine, before I moved to Australia in the late ‘80s. I worked at Sydney Radio/VIS and also did a stint as a Marine Radio surveyor for AMSA through the early to mid 90s! 73s!
Yes it was sad to see it all fade away but we were lucky to catch the tail end! I remember the old sparks on the rig telling me about their trips through the Suez Canal and the circus like antics of performers who would board the vessel to do impromptu magic performances. One of these RO’s worked on an Israeli vessel that was a front for Mossad, he said the radio room was like Fort Knox with security that was over the top! I remember VIS as the Ormiston (CSR) routinely docked in Sydney harbour 73 de VK2AOE.
Great story. I was a Radio Operator in the RAN. In the early 80s I decided I wanted to be a merchant Navy RO so enrolled in the Marconi course through AWA. Got most of the way through when told of redundancy in the trade. Sadly i never got my wish and therefore hung around the RAN for 43 years!!!! On another note, your story about your CSL experience brought back memories of when I posted to an Attack class patrol boat. I'd never worked the ancient British transceiver before and we had to crash sail from Darwin to rescue some Indonesian fishermen. As the only Sparker onboard I had to get that thing up and running pronto. Through sheer luck and perseverance I got the thing tuned to the correct freq and no one was the wiser. Loved my time as a sea going Sparker in the 70/80s but really wished I'd had the merchant experience to reflect on.
Seems like you had plenty of your own adventures Paul! It was a great job …. Alas I only got a precious sliver of time doing it. I recently reactivated my ham (amateur radio) ticket…. There are still folk sending Morse CW out there. Thanks for sharing your radio life.😜
Nice video George.
Luckily i got my ro ticket in 1970 when there was a shortage of r/o’s .
Spent 18 months with Marconi then went freelance for next 12 years.
Was a great career and worked solely on ships.
Like you i had an interest in flying so got my pilots license in ireland. I then
moved to USA where i got a commercial helicopters license with plans to work on
oil rigs. However marriage put a damper on that so i guess it was not meant to-be.
I did get my ham radio licence but when kids came along there was no time for that.
I am back on air now and i teach a cw course on Zoom with Long Island CW club.
Still love cw and i am encouraged by number of people who want to learn it despite
the fact its no longer a requirement.
Thanks for the comment. Twas a great life and best job at sea. CW is in a real Renaissance here in Oz. The QRS net is growing weekly and lots of interest in code! 73 de VK2AOE
You followed your dreams. I was at sea in the Irish Navy and on the base station from 1975 to 1979 it was cw communications most of the time. I am a Ham operator these days EI3EA. It is like a dream now the way communications moved on. 73
Yes ….. it is dream like, but after so many years away, I’m happy to still hear CW and see people still learning it. As a ham it is a great mode for building simple effective rigs. 73 de VK2AOE thanks 🙏 for the comment.
George,
I loved the story. I worked with Scitec BSP multiplexors fro a many years.
Cheers
Leon VK2DOB
It was in Sydney near the Lane Cove river for Scitec...The test engineer's name was Mark (I think??...surname ....off the stack!). All that data comms stuff was over my head!! Loving the kits Leon....had a 40m chat Sydney to Melbourne with Peter P just the other day on the DCT. Thanks for all your hard work. 73 de VK2AOE
I followed your video with great interest. I was an active R/Off from 1975 to 1995. A career that spanned many a varied ship and a spell at GKA. Like you I experienced the transition from full WT operation through to the initiation of the GMDSS. I even went and got that cert towards the end of my sea time. From about 1974 shipping companies along with the main Radio outfits like Marconi insisted on a radar maintenance cert. This required a further 4 - 6 months study at college before being allowed to set food on board a ship. When TOR came in, my touch typing from my days in the UK Royal navy radioman came in handy. When Inmarsat was introduced, it was the slippery slope for Sparks as fewer and fewer shore stations maintained a CW facility. When the work started to dry as more shipping companies flagged out I found myself working on mainly FOC ships, a good many of whom could rightly be called "cowboy" outfits. Having gone from being served in the officers mess by uniformed stewards to bowls of rice and chicken wings (hungry ships were back), I finally called it quits in Bangkok in 1995 after an 8 month trip on a Panamanian tramper appropriately name "Great Nancy"
Wow…. You did it for REAL! I only got a taster of the life on the Australian coast. I do remember the Australian Maritime College running the Radar Maintenance Certificate when I was there (never did it). Thanks for sharing your experiences…. I bet you have plenty of stories from those FOC ships! 73 de VK2AOE!
@@TheArtofEngineering My proudest exhibit is my Liberian first class cert, which far from being as some would regard it as being a bit Micky mouse, required the same standard as the Uk general cert, plus a full medical from Harley street!! I now reside in NZ due to a sailing urge that propelled me to undertake an elongated pub crawl that lasted 3 years on board a 27ft sloop from Ireland which ended in Whangarei in 1998. I only had a VHF radio for communication. I'm 74 years young now and rarely touch the grog. A funny story about Kiwi red tape and adherence to the rules. I had a ham license from the early 1970's from when I lived in the Uk - G4DKJ. So in my semi retirement here I applied for a NZ ham license, adding that I was also a very well qualified ex Marine Radio Officer. The lady at the other end told me that it was not possible to issue a license until I had taken a morse test at 5 WPM and sat the regulations exam. When I pointed out the firstly I couldn't read morse that slow and secondly during my career I was the enforcer of the regulations....She wouldn't budge. In the end I had to contact the UK to get them to unearth my old callsign, make a copy and sent it to me. Which they did for ten quid. I sent it to Wellington and was duly issued a vanity callsign with my initials (I didn't request it) ZL4CFT
@@sklenars here in OZ the RO ticket ROGCP usurps the ham ticket and gives exempt status for a ham license. I guess we are lucky that it lasts a lifetime…. In the US if the ticket lapses you end up having to resit the test!!! Thanks 🙏 for sharing …. You are a living adventure 😜
Extremely interesting, George, thanks a lot for this video. Man, you certainly have lived an interesting life! I for one would like to hear more sea stories from you. BTW I believe the radio gear aboard the Byford Dolphin is Sailor, made in Denmark. 73 OM
Yes it was Sailor made…. Nice gear ….I was medivacuted off that rig with nasty medical episode …. 6 weeks later spent 6 weeks back onboard on the tow from Bass Strait to Bali… fun times! Thanks for the comment and your videos…. Gonna dust off the key and get my ham radio thing happening now73!
Left a lengthy comment earlier George but looks like it didn’t post. Really enjoyed your video
Thanks ….. I appreciate the encouragement…. Radio is magic! Enjoyed making my walk down memory lane … 73 de VK2AOE.
I 'liberated' a russian KDM sideswiper morse key from one of my ships, as no one else was likely to want it. Far better than the up-and-down key. A lot less tiring.
Oh how I wish I had done this when exiting ships after my he GMDSS refit!! 73 de VK2AOE
Very interesting story. Could have been my story as I went to college to become a ships radio officer but got lured to the corporate world instead. Kinda wished I had gone to sea. Anyway, get to play CW nowday's with my amateur radio license, just dont get paid!!.
It was fun while it lasted! Thanks 🙏 for the comment…. CW WILL NEVER DIE!!! 😜
Great video! I completed my 2nd Class COP in India and was employed as a Radio Officer in the oil industry and Merchant Marine, before I moved to Australia in the late ‘80s. I worked at Sydney Radio/VIS and also did a stint as a Marine Radio surveyor for AMSA through the early to mid 90s! 73s!
Yes it was sad to see it all fade away but we were lucky to catch the tail end! I remember the old sparks on the rig telling me about their trips through the Suez Canal and the circus like antics of performers who would board the vessel to do impromptu magic performances. One of these RO’s worked on an Israeli vessel that was a front for Mossad, he said the radio room was like Fort Knox with security that was over the top! I remember VIS as the Ormiston (CSR) routinely docked in Sydney harbour 73 de VK2AOE.
Great story. I was a Radio Operator in the RAN. In the early 80s I decided I wanted to be a merchant Navy RO so enrolled in the Marconi course through AWA. Got most of the way through when told of redundancy in the trade. Sadly i never got my wish and therefore hung around the RAN for 43 years!!!!
On another note, your story about your CSL experience brought back memories of when I posted to an Attack class patrol boat. I'd never worked the ancient British transceiver before and we had to crash sail from Darwin to rescue some Indonesian fishermen. As the only Sparker onboard I had to get that thing up and running pronto. Through sheer luck and perseverance I got the thing tuned to the correct freq and no one was the wiser. Loved my time as a sea going Sparker in the 70/80s but really wished I'd had the merchant experience to reflect on.
Seems like you had plenty of your own adventures Paul! It was a great job …. Alas I only got a precious sliver of time doing it. I recently reactivated my ham (amateur radio) ticket…. There are still folk sending Morse CW out there. Thanks for sharing your radio life.😜