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MEMORABILIA

Mem·o·ra·bil·i·a:
- Objects valued for their connection with
historical events, culture, or entertainment: posters, photographs, and other memorabilia.
- Events or experiences worthy of remembrance:
a book containing the memorabilia of a life..
This page is an ongoing
"Work in Progress." We will post pictures solicited
from and submitted by former Coast Guard Radiomen --
pictures that capture their memories of what it was
like to practice their craft both ashore and afloat.
It is an interactive research project -- akin to
oral history. Some of the content will seem
disjointed -- or even spurious at times -- as
research and data collection is added in a "live"
environment. Please bear with us, and if you find
anything inaccurate, please let the
Webmaster know. |
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DEVELOPMENT OF COAST GUARD SHORE RADIO STATIONS
Incident to the anti-smuggling operation
in 1924, the Coast Guard underwent a major expansion in communications
capabilities. Prior to this time its vessels were equipped with Navy
type radio apparatus and used Navy frequencies for handling ship-shore
traffic -- there was no need for Coast Guard shore radio stations. The
great 1924 expansion in coping with the law enforcement duties resulting
from the suppression of smuggling developed the need for vaster and more
far-reaching radio communication services than the Navy or commercial
facilities could furnish. Not the least of such service was the great
amount of traffic to and from the large number of small craft,
particularly the 75-footers, over 300 of which were pressed into
operation. To take care of this traffic, a shore radio station was
established at the Rockaway Point Life Saving Station at Fort Tilden,
NY. This station proved so highly successful that additional units were
shortly established at Nahant, MA; New London, CT; Cape May, NJ; Cape
Henry, VA; Fernandina, FL; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Mobile, AL; San
Francisco CA; San Pedro, CA; Port Angeles, WA; and Anacortes, WA.
Over the years, operational priorities
changed, Coast Guard Districts were combined, and communications
technology improved. Radio stations were relocated and merged based on
various factors, and by the 1950s a rather stable system or network of
"Primary" and "Secondary" shore radio stations was in place in each
Coast Guard District, all of which had CW and voice capabilities and
which handled Coast Guard, commercial/maritime and recreational boating
radio communications. But technological advances continued with the
development of radio teletype, computerization and satellite
communications, and this led to further mergers of radio stations and an
inevitable decrease in their total number. By the 1990s most Coast Guard
major communications facilities were concentrated into two
Communications Stations: "CAMSPAC" and "CAMSLANT" (located,
respectively, at the old Primary Radio Stations of San Francisco [NMC]
and Norfolk [NMN]).
The following information about the old
CW Coast Guard Radio Stations of the 50s, 60s and 70s is meant to
provide some historical perspective, as well as bring back some memories
for those of us who lived that history
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COAST GUARD RADIO NAPLES, ITALY (NCI)
Air station and LORAN Net -- and COMMEDSEC in the Mediterranean and
Atlantic
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.
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COAST GUARD RADIO ARGENTIA
(NJN/NIK)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.

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Sam Leach (ATN2/USN) sends: "Chris
Abernathy RM2, sent me this great picture of himself operating at NJN.
As a Navy Airborne Radio Operator flying out of Argentia, I often sent
my position reports to NJN on 4050 (the Navy ops at NWP got totally
steamed when we sent our traffic via NJN, but, hey, we knew the real
thing when we heard It, and there were quite a few of us who preferred
to talk to you guys)".
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Sam Leach sends: What
things looked like on our end: The operator is Alan West from
Greenwood, SC, aboard Navy 141312. The picture was taken off the
southern tip of Greenland. You’ll note the two straight keys (one comes
bolted to the aircraft; the other was carried aboard by the radio op).
The voice traffic he is handling was probably a position report
(transmitted via HF AM to either Gander, Iceland, or Prestwick (5626 or
8913 KHz in those days) |
COAST GUARD RADIO MIAMI (NMA)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.

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COAST GUARD RADIO SAN FRANCISCO (NMC)
The original radio station (RADSTA)
San Francisco "NMC" was commissioned February 1, 1937. It was
established at Fort Funston in a former lifeboat station on the beach
about one mile south of the present location of the San Francisco Zoo in
Golden Gate Park. In addition to the converted lifeboat station, the
original NMC is believed to have had a completely equipped communication
truck that could act as an emergency radio station. These trucks
typically had crews of our to six people and provided communications
during natural disaster emergencies throughout the San Francisco
Division of the U.S. Coast Guard. The RADSTA quickly became a pivotal
part of the Coast Guard's communications resources -- July 1937 found
NMC involved in listening for any communications from the lost place of
Amelia Earhart, while the CGC Itasca was tasked with search for the
famous flyer.
In June 1943, RADSTA San Francisco relocated
to a brand new communications facility atop Mt. San Bruno on Sweeney
Ridge, just west of the San Francisco County Jail. The new
communications facility consisted of one 10kw Western Electric HF
transmitter and one 1kw MF transmitter.
On October 12, 1972 the Coast Guard moved
its communications from Mt. San Bruno to north of the Golden Gate and
San Francisco in what is now the beautiful Pt. Reyes National Seashore.
The COMMSTA was designated the Pacific Area Master Station and renamed
CAMSPAC in 1986. Recently, the geographical title of "Pt. Reyes"
replaced the old "San Francisco" title to more accurately portray its
location. Today the station
exercies overall control of the Pacific Area Communications System (PACCOMMSYS).
CAMSPAC and PACCOMMSYS are curretly undergoing major changes in
conjunction with the Coast Guard's COMMSYS 2000 Master Plan -- a plan
designed to upgrade, automate and consolidate Coast Guard communications
in the Pacific Basin. In 1993,
COMMSTA Guam (NRV) was closed and its communications services remoted to
CAMSPAC. NRV's transmitters and receivers are now remotely controlled
and operated by CAMSPAC operators. COMMSTA Honolulu (NMO) was scheduled
to be closed and operations remoted to CAMSPAC in July of 1997. In
support of these consolidation efforts, CAMPAC's billet strength was
scheduled to increase from 86 to 102 personnel to support operations.
Through all these progressive evolutions,
CAMSPAC remains dedicated to serving the mariner and providing support
to the many Coast Guard operations throughout the immense Pacific Basin. |
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NMC 500 Position 1972
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RM2 Jim Sliker at NMC AMVER Console A
(circa 1972) |
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RM3 Rick McCusker at NMC
-- February 1975
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| THE ORIGINAL NMC AT FORT
FUNSTON (SAN FRANCISCO) |
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NMC at Fort Funston, Before . . . |

. . . and After |
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Coast Guard Life Boat Station at Fort Funston
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| THE OLD NMC AT SAN BRUNO:
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Aerial view of NMC (San Bruno) 10/26/1948.
The barracks building is to the left, and the radio station is just off
center to the right (up the hill from the barracks. (The large building
toward the top, down the hill, is the County Jail.)
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NMC, San Bruno, Barracks (1958) |
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NMC San Bruno - Operations
(circa early 1960s) |

NMC San Bruno -- New style
console (circa 1960) -- OBS Position, then RATT
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"Old RADSTAs never die;
they just fade away."
(NMC San Bruno grounds
after demolition 197?) |

RM1 Boughton retires from San Bruno NMC
Khakies (left): Gaida/XO, E7s Scott, Ellia, Clancy
Khakies (right): McBride/CO, E7s Zukowski, Gibbs
Back row (L/R): Phillips, Mortimer, Boughton, then ?
Front Row (next to Gibbs): RM1 Wade, then ??? |
IN SEARCH OF A SITE for a new NMC, three
Radiomen, RM1 A. Keith Tennier (in the auxiliary comms truck with
microphone), RM2 Avery (standing next to truck), and then RM3 Dick Levesque
(standing next to Fort Ross marker) traveled up and down the 12th Coast
Guard District checking out possibilities. The Coast Guard finally chose a
site near Point Reyes. |
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NMC's Current-Day Version of the Comm-Truck
or, Rather, "Transportable Command
Center (TCC)" |
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| CAMSPAC (NMC) Pt. Reyes:
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CHRISTMAS CARDS FROM NMC
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NMC (San Bruno) Christmas
Card insert -- 1962
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NMC (San Bruno) Christmas
Card insert -- 1963 or 1964 |

NMC (San Bruno) Christmas
Card insert -- 1965 |

NMC (Combined San Bruno, Pt. Reyes)
Christmas Card insert -- 1972 |
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COAST GUARD RADIO CLEVELAND
(NMD)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.
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COAST GUARD RADIO BOSTON (NMF)
The first district Primary Radio Station
(or "Main Radio Traffic Station," as this class of station was at first
known) to be established in Coast Guard District 1 (at that time
"Eastern Division") was placed in commission at the Nahant Coast Guard
Station, Nahant Massachusetts at 8:00 P.M. on 6 October, 1926, using the
call sign "NCP." (Also in
CGD1, a radio station had been established at Base 4, State Pier, New
London, CT in November of 1924. Its purpose was the handling of
communications for the large number of destroyers, cutters, patrol boats
and section bases operating in the New London area. This station first
operated with the call sign NLO.)
Following negotiations with the War
Department in 1930, the Coast Guard was granted permission to erect a
radio station at Fort Heath, Winthrop, Mass. This station was placed in
commission at 10:00 a.m. on 12 November 1931, replacing Nahant. This
marked the first use of the world-famous call letters "NMF." The
location was remarkably well suited for transmission and reception. On
the initial test, stations along the coast were worked with ease, and
traffic was relayed from Point Bonita, California.
In April 1943 the station moved to its
final location on Ferry Street in Marshfield, Mass. It was known as
Boston Radio and also Radio Boston. Situated on sixty-five acres
on what was once known as the Hunt Estate, The property was purchased by
the Coast Guard in 1942. The 1911 home, known as "The Mansion" located
on South River Street was converted to office, barracks and messing
facilities and the Coast Guard built an operations building, vehicle
garage, several small detached transmitter buildings and a complex
antenna array system. In time, NMF outgrew it's original Marshfield
quarters. In 1975, a new Operations building to house the Receiver Site
was built on the Marshfield grounds and all of the transmitters were
moved to a 542 acre former Air Force site on Otis Air National Guard
Base on Cape Cod. This major upgrading program was completed and the new
Communications Station Boston/NMF was dedicated on 2 June 1975.
In 1972-74 Communication Station
Boston took over the duties of the old Radio Station New York (NMY),
which was then discontinued. A major upgrading program was undertaken at
Marshfield, including moving the transmitters to Cape Cod. The
modernized station was dedicated at 10:00 a.m. on 2 June 1975.
Before being decommissioned, NMF
processed over 30,000 radio messages each month. When serving as the
International Ice Patrol radio station, the international call sign "NIK"
was also used by Communication Station Boston. The station provided long
range ship-shore and air-ground communications for Coast Guard cutters
and aircraft in the Arctic, North Atlantic and Caribbean areas, using
radioteletype, voice and Morse Code transmissions. In addition to
maintaining a continuous watch for radio distress calls, NMF broadcast
marine weather forecasts, notice to mariners, storm warnings, iceberg
locations, and received position reports from merchant ships
participating in the Coast Guard's AMVER system. Mariners of all kinds
depended upon Coast Guard communications and relied with confidence on
the services provided by NMF with its longstanding motto, "No Call
Unanswered".
(At the time the above was written, NMF had a compliment of 2 Officers
and 39 Enlisted personnel. Also, according to info that was picked up
from other sources, "NCP" was manned by four radiomen with a Chief Petty
Officer in Charge. It was equipped with a T-1A transmitter and a CGR-1A
receiver. When NMF was decommissioned in early 1998 however, the Otis
transmitter site was retained and is run remote from the CG Area Master
(CAMS) located at Chesapeake, Va. The call sign of NMF is still used; to
my knowledge, even though it is controlled from NMN/Chesapeake.)
In early 1998 NMF was decommissioned, and
the ops building was turned over to the Town of Marshfield. The old
mansion where many USCG personnel used to live was sold in the early
1970s.
Source: A Brief
History of NMF and also
Society of Wireless Pioneers
Additional information and pictures
provided by Phil Ellia, USCG LCDR (Ret), who served as CO of NMF during
the 1970s.
And even more information and photos related to NMF can be found at this
Web Site
established by ex-RM3 Jay Schmidt (ZUT1427).
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RM1 Bill Gulledge (ZUT1)
Working 500
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A candid shot of the
"Mansion" (Barracks and Administration).
After closing the building
was bought by a person who rehabilitated it into a private home.

New "Ops" Building
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The original Ops Bldg
that was made into the new Admin & ET repair spaces. The building
stayed within its original footprint. New Ops was next to it with
enclosed adjoining passageway connecting both. Slightly elevated
main floor with lower floor housing heads, locker and conference
room.
Not a single window -
guess they were worried about the "bad" guys.
CWO Phil Ellia, who
supplied some of these pictures and information was the CO to
vacate the Mansion and occupy the new Administration Bldg.
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Aerial View - NMF |

NMF Comm Truck at Mansion
Garage |
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The "Radio
Gangs" on Coast Guard cutters and stations routinely sent out Christmas
Cards to all other units having RM billets.
It was their
way of informally keeping track of where their fellow RMs were stationed
and, generally, to "keep in touch" with one another.
The example to
the left is the Christmas Card insert mailed out by the RMs at NMF in
1976. Like this one, some of the cards included the names of other staff
at the unit.

Here are the remnants of the wire antenna
support utility poles out in the marsh where the receiving array grabbed
signals from across the Atlantic to northern Europe. |
COAST GUARD RADIO NEW ORLEANS
(NMG
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.

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| CHRISTMAS CARDS
FROM NMG

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1967

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COAST GUARD RADIO WASHINGTON
(NMH)

Radio Washington was established late in
1933 at Fort Hunt, Virginia, as a radio monitoring station, and was
moved to Fairfax County (on Telegraph Road, just outside of Alexandria)
in 1939, assuming the call sign NMH.
The radio monitoring function was
designed to monitor frequencies with specially prepared equipment. It
was instrumental in keeping all Coast Guard transmitters on assigned
frequencies through regular and random checking. It measured frequencies
of the transmitters of other Services which often got off their assigned
frequencies and drifted onto those of the Coast Guard, and it sometimes
also determined the frequencies of clandestine and enemy stations.
During World War II, NMH performed many
important services. Among these was the handling of the constant flow of
traffic to and from the Commander, North Atlantic Patrol. It maintained
constant communication with Coast Guard vessels of the Atlantic Weather
Observation Service (cutters operating within a square sector of ocean
defined on four sides by latitude and longitude coordinates, serving
also as radio beacons, check points—and a place for aircraft to ditch if
necessary) which later became the peacetime Ocean Weather
Station Program. The scheduled collection and transmission of data by up
to 13 weather patrol ships in the Atlantic from the equator to Greenland
kept its three circuits fully loaded. The wartime "Radioman" staffing of NMH was largely comprised of SPARs, who had separate berthing quarters
on the second deck of the Operations Building.
After the War, and well into the 1960s,
it maintained communications with the Coast Guard's Ocean Station
Vessels on stations named "Bravo," Charlie," "Delta" and "Echo" (call
signs: 4YB, 4YC, 4YD, 4YE) via two dedicated radio circuits (designated
"Anita" and "Bertha"). NMH also manned an "Aviation" position (CW and
A3), and later (circa 1961) added a Commercial operating position to
handle AMVER and OBS traffic from merchant vessels.
NMH was known as the "Voice of the Commandant"
until its closure in 1976. At that time it was renamed "Station
Alexandria," and later redesignated as TISCOM (Telecommunication and
Information Systems Command).
The first
officer in charge of NMH
was Warrant Radioman William B. Dawson, who continued as CO until the
mid-1960s when he retired with the rank of Commander. He was succeeded
by LCDR Frank Barnett.
ZUT, the Fraternal Order of Coast Guard
CW Operators (later the CGCWOA), began here in October, 1962. |
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NMH Radiomen -- World War
II
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SPAR "Radiomen" -- NMH
World War II
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NMH Administration
Building/Radio Laboratory |
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Operations Building circa 1960
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Aerial View of NMH Grounds |
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Radio Operating Positions 1955 |

Radio Supervisor's Position 1960 |

NMH Entry Sign -- 1960s |

MARS K4CG -- 1960s |
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COAST GUARD RADIO KETCHIKAN
(NMJ)
Coast Guard Radio Station Ketchikan (NMJ)
was a primary radio station of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District. Its
responsibilities included radio communications in support of the
protection of life and property at sea in the waters of the southern
portion of the Gulf of Alaska and Alaska's Inside Passage from Skagway
to the United States/Canada border line (Dixon Entrance). Included were
several Coast Guard Buoy Tenders, home ported out of Juneau, Sitka, and
Ketchikan; USCG 95 foot Patrol Boats which were based at Auke Bay
(Juneau), Petersburg, and Ketchikan; and a chain of manned lighthouses
which included Cape Decision, Eldred Rock, Point Retreat, Cape Spencer,
and Five Finger Islands.
Radio Station Ketchikan also received
weather observations and AMVER messages plus worked any distress traffic
originating in its operating area of the Gulf of Alaska and Inside
Passage.
In 1972-73 Radio Station Ketchikan had
three operator positions, one for CW, one for Voice Frequencies, and a
Supervisor's position. There was very little radio teletype. The buoy
tenders guarded all used CW as their primary radio modes. The patrol
boats and lighthouses all utilized single sideband (voice).
The station was located about 15 miles
north of the town of Ketchikan on Point Higgins. The site consisted of
three major buildings - Operations, where the radio watches were stood,
Barracks, which housed about 15 bachelor personnel and contained a small
galley, recreation deck and radio ham shack; and the Commanding
Officer's house. The CO was a Chief Warrant Officer (COMM). The galley
had a Commissaryman First Class as the station cook who usually cooked
breakfast, and lunch during the weekdays. During the evening meal and on
weekends, staff enjoyed open galley where they were their own cooks.
RADSTA Ketchikan Historic District:
Several World War II era buildings and structures now constitute a
historic district eligible for listing on the National Register of
Historic Places. (Source)
Much of this
information is courtesy Mark
Wood's Coast Guard Page.
If you have any more photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.
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NMJ Operations (circa
1960s) |

NMJ Commanding Officer
Residence
(Circa 2002 - Post-decommissioning)
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NMJ Administration and
Galley
(2002 - Post-decommission - Prior to Demolition) |

NMJ Administration, Galley
and Garage
(2002 - Post-decommission - Prior to Demolition) |
COAST GUARD RADIO CAPE MAY (NMK)
In order to handle communications for the
vessels and aircraft operation from Base Nine, Cape May, NJ, radio
facilities were established at that unit during 1925. The station first
used the call letters NOV, and in August, 1940 this station was moved
from the Navy Air Station site to the Cape May Point Lifeboat Station.
With the Coast Guard taking over part of the Naval Air Station in 1946
for use as an operating base, facilities were established in conjunction
with Navy activities at that location, whereby Primary Radio Station
facilities for the then CCD4 were provided, using the call sign NMK.
(Later, when CGD4 was merged into CGD3, NMK became a Secondary Radio
Station of District 3.)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
COAST GUARD RADIO ST. LOUIS
(NML)
Established:
Closed:
NML was the Primary Radio Station of the
Second Coast Guard District, the boundaries of which encompassed what is
generally known as the Midwestern United States. The Second Coast Guard
District, merged with the Eighth Coast Guard District in May 1996,
creating the present expansive Eighth Coast Guard District boundaries.
(Awaiting more historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
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NML30 Comm Truck in front
of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas circa 1961, while
deployed from St. Louis on a PIO trip to a trade show in Denver. ET2
Orris W. Wharf in foreground.
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COAST GUARD RADIO NORFOLK (NMN)
The first radio station to serve the
Norfolk area was established at Cape Henry, Va., in February 1926. The
original compliment consisted of a Chief Radioman, three RM1's and one
RM3.
The first of several moves for NMN
occurred on 6 December 1929 when the station was relocated to Virginia
Beach and received several upgrades. The station remained there until
the next move to Princess Anne where it operated until 16 July 1943 when
it was moved to London Bridge, Oceana, VA. This location was near the
Naval Air Station Runway, and as missions grew and equipment expanded,
so did the antennas. This caused some concern from pilots who had to
land at night, NMN's antennas were un-lighted.
The station again packed up and moved in
the mid-1950's, this time to Pungo Field.
The station operated there
until 17 June 1976 when the current operations facility was commissioned
at Naval Security Group Activity Northwest, Chesapeake, Va. Not only did
this new station assume the call sign and duties of its predecessor at Pungo, but Radio Station Washington, D.C., NMH was closed and NMN
assumed those duties as well.
As a coastal radio station NMN has a long
and proud history of service to the maritime community. That tradition
lives on, and CAMSLANT operates today with a motto of “No Call
Unanswered”.
The story of the last CW msg sent from
NMN can be found at
The
Ceremony at NMN: This is a full tale of the close of the Morse Code Watch at
Coast Guard station NMN. "These were my words on April 3, 1995. . ."
(Awaiting more historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
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NMN/CAMSLANT - Chesapeake,
Va. |

NMN/CAMSLANT |
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COAST GUARD RADIO HONOLULU (NMO)
(Awaiting historical content)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.
 |
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NMO (circa 1955)
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NMO (circa 1958) |
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NMO (circa 1965)
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NMO (circa 1965) |
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NMO (circa 1958)
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NMO (circa 1958) |
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COAST GUARD RADIO CHICAGO (NMP)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
COAST GUARD RADIO LONG BEACH
(NMQ)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
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NMQ - RM3 Harper 1958
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NMQ Phone Room 1959 |
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NMQ Supervisors Position
1951
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NMQ Operations Room 1950s |
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COAST GUARD RADIO SAN JUAN (NMR)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history.
 |
COAST GUARD RADIO POINT BARROW
(NMT)
Coast Guard Radio Station Point Barrow (NMT), a secondary
radio station of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District, was tasked with
providing radio communications support for U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard
icebreakers working in the Western Arctic waters.
It also provided radio support
for National Science Foundation researchers based on Fletcher's Ice
Island T3. From time to time, we provided flight following services for
a Navy R4D (military version of a DC-3), used to fly logistics missions
for the national DEW Line network of air defense radar sites strung
between Alaska and Greenland.
USCG Radio Station Barrow was
located within the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, a few miles from
the town of Barrow. The radio station utilized radio teletype and single
sideband (voice) communications. Since radio communications at extreme
northern latitudes can become extremely unreliable, we had the ability
to use CW (International Morse Code) as our primary back-up mode.
RADSTA Point Barrow closed in December 1977. It was operated
remotely from Kodiak until April 1986.
Much of
this information is courtesy
Mark Wood's Coast Guard Page.
If you have any
additional photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
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Naval Arctic
Research Lab, Barrow, located on the northern tip of Alaska, was the
parent command for the Coast Guard Radio Station |

An operator
position at NMT. |
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Another
operator position showing NMT radio teletype terminal equipment |
COAST GUARD RADIO JACKSONVILLE
BEACH (NMV)
Situated on a plot of land the use of
which was obtained by the Coast Guard at no cost from the City of
Jacksonville, this station was completed on 18 June 1940. The station
ceased to function as a District Secondary Radio Station upon the
combining of CGD6 and CGD7 as the 7th District in 1946, whereupon the
Primary Station was established at Richmond, FL on 1 May 1946.
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
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know about its history. |
COAST GUARD RADIO WESTPORT (NMW)
(Awaiting historical content)
If you have any historical information
about this radio
station please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
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The bldg indicated as the
New Barracks was built to house the RM SPARS during WW-II.
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We had the Grays Harbor
Lighthouse on the property and CO was responsible for its
operations. Taken in 51-52 from the top of the light.
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This is the voice and s/s
position. RM2 Pete Arkin (short timer with 1 hitch) (Date unknown)
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Main Barracks -- NMW 1952
or there abouts. |

CO Quarters -- NMW 1952 or
there abouts. |
COAST GUARD RADIO BALTIMORE
(NMX)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
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COAST GUARD RADIO NEW YORK (NMY)
The first Coast Guard radio station was established at the Rockaway
Point Coast Guard Station at Fort Tilden, NY on July 15, 1924. (This station proved so
successful that additional units were soon established at Nahant, MA;
New London, CT; Cape May, NJ; Cape Henry, VA; Fernandina, FL; Ft.
Lauderdale, FL; Mobile, AL; San Francisco; San Pedro, CA; Port Angeles,
WA;, and Anacortes, WA.) The radio station's building had previously
served as a barn and carpenter shop. In September, 1926 it was moved to
a two story frame building formerly a structure of the old Navy Air
Station which had been extensively renovated by the Coast Guard. This
building housed the New York Radio Station until a modern station was
commissioned on 30 April 1943 at East Moriches. The original complement
at Rockaway was Gunner (R) (T) R. W. Finley, Officer in Charge; Chief
Radioman L. D. Bohner; and RM1C R. S. Smith.
(July 25, 1956:
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The Andrea Doria's distress
signal over 500 kilohertz, a medium low-range frequency,
traveled on a ground wave for 300 to 400 miles and on an air
wave 2,000 miles. If the ship had been in the middle of the
Atlantic, her call for help would have been heard by shore
stations in the United States and Europe and presumably all
points in between. Her radio signals were in fact picked up by
Coast Guard stations in Argentia in Newfoundland, and Bermuda.
But it was Radioman First Class
RobRoy A. Todd, monitoring messages on 500 khz at the New York
Coast Guard's radio listening station in East Moriches, on the
southern shore of Long Island, who triggered the Coast Guard's
Sea and Air Rescue Co-ordination Center into action. Yelling for
the other two men on his watch, he handed over the two messages
that had come in almost simultaneously from ships with the call
signs ICEH and SEJT. The call signs were quickly translated into
the names of the two ships and at 11:25pm word was sent by a
direct teletype circuit to the Rescue Center in New York City: )
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(Awaiting historical content and photos)
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know about its history. |
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The First CG RADSTA --
Rockaway NY
Later moved to Moriches -
NMY |
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COAST GUARD RADIO BERMUDA (NOC)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
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know about its history. |
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COAST GUARD RADIO
SAULT STE. MARIE (NOG)
Established as a Secondary RADSTA (along with NMP, Chicago) for CCD9.
NOG was the guard for CGC Mackinaw (NRKP), the CGC Woodrush out of
Detroit, and any vessel with Northern Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
The station normally guarded 4337 Khz A1, plus 2182 and 2670 A3.
The other half of the building pictured
below was "Soo Control," working VHF and handling shipping for the
Canal, and manned by an SO, QM or RD. The VHF equipment was remoted ut
to a site south of twon on M129 -- old ComCo gear that required a lot of
attention.
During the early 60s, the RMIC was RMC
Timothy Ponton, relieved by RMC Ira Pollock in the mid 60s.
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In the 1960s, NOG occupied
half of this building, sharing it with "Soo Control." The 90 foot pole
was support for the end fed wire for HF CW. |
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COAST GUARD RADIO KODIAK (NOJ)
NOJ was commissioned as a Radio
Station in 1957 to provide communication support for the Air Detachment,
Kodiak, and the Kodiak SAR Coordinator.
NOJ maintained
communication responsibilities for the northern Gulf of Alaska and
eastern Bering Sea and was a primary radio station of the Seventeenth
Coast Guard District. In May 1972 the Navy
disestablished their Kodiak operations and RADSTA Kodiak assumed much of
their responsibility.
Radio Station Kodiak had the
military responsibility for a 210' Medium Endurance Cutter (CGC
Confidence), buoy tenders working out of Adak, Kodiak, Homer, and
Cordova plus light houses located at Cape Hinchenbrook, and Cape St.
Elias.
Recommissioned as Communication Station Kodiak in
August 1973, NOJ assumed a prominent position in the Coast Guard's
Pacific Area communication system.
Upon the closing of RADSTA Point Barrow (NMT)
in December 1977, it was remotely operated by NOJ until April 1986. When
RADSTA Adak (NOX) closed in October 1979, COMMSTA Kodiak remotely
operated Adad until December 1996.
The location of tech control was on
the second floor of building 576 atop Aviation Hill.
The lower floor was
given over to Electronics Support Unit Kodiak back in the mid to late
80's. Prior to that time, Commsta admin was located on that floor.
Tech Control (the electronics shop,
network control facility and administrative spaces) was destroyed by fire
in September
1985. This was the central hub for all communications circuits for the
Coast Guard (and Navy prior to that time). All cables and microwave
circuits terminated in this facility. Tech control was built in 1952 as
part of the Navy's HF communications upgrade after WW2.
After the fire, tech control was moved to
the garage complex next to building 576. The location was refered to as
building 603. In 1990, plans were laid to remotely control all functions
of tech control from a central location at the Buskin Lake transmitter
site. By December 1992 this was completed and building 603 was
abandoned and turned over to Coast Guard Support Center Kodiak. Alaska
Communications Systems DMS telephone switching equipment and a small
microwave repeater station (that the Commsta owns) is now located in
what was the tech control center of the Commsta.
Since being commissioned in 1973, NOJ has
been awarded 5 Unit Commendations, four Meritorious Commendations and
two Secial Operations Service Ribbons.
More information about NOJ as both a
Navy and Coast Guard facility can be found at the
Kodiak Alaska
Military History web site.
Much of this
information is courtesy Mark
Wood's Coast Guard Page.
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Collins microwave transmitters at NOJ -- Early 1980s

NOJ Antenna Field |
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COAST GUARD RADIO ADAK ISLAND
(NOX)
Radio Station Adak (NOX) was
attached to the Naval Communication Station on Clam Lagoon of Adak
Island, located in the middle of the Aleutian Chain, Middle of
Nowhere. The RADSTA's primary responsibility was to provide radio
communications support for U.S. Military Sealift Command ships plying
the Great Circle route from U.S. Pacific Coast ports to Southeast Asia
(Vietnam for instance). It also received marine weather observations
and movement reports (AMVER) messages from other ships at sea including
foreign fishing vessels operating in U.S. territorial waters. Radio
Station Adak also provided the ears of the Coast Guard for distresses at
sea, listening for that infamous SOS no matter how minute the signal.
Coast Guard Radio Station Adak's only mode of radio communication was CW
- International Morse Code.
RADSTA Adak closed in October 1979. (COMMSTA Kodiak
operated Adak remotely until December 1996.)
Much of this
information is courtesy Mark
Wood's Coast Guard Page.
(Awaiting more historical content and photos)
If you have any photos of this radio
station, its staff, or pictures of any patch or logo, please email them
to the
webmaster. Include dates and names of people pictured and, if
possible, a brief description of your time at the station and what you
know about its history. |
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Coast Guard
Radio Station Adak was a tenant command of Naval Communication
Adak, as seen from across Clam Lagoon. The mountain behind the station
is
Mt. Adagdak, an extinct volcano. |
COAST GUARD RADIO CORPUS CHRISTI/GALVESTON
(NOY)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
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know about its history.
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NOY (circa 1960)
Then RM2 David L. DeGeorge
(Now RMCM-RET -- ZUT 1282)
LT Ken Hood was CO, Chrele Calimer was XO,
along with fellow RM's - RMC Byrd (RMIC), RM1 Callies, RM1 Bauer, RM1
Hank Roesing, RM2 Smith, RM2 Cal Lanford, and RM2 Jim Kinner were among
the watchstande |
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COAST GUARD RADIO GUAM (NRV)
(Awaiting historical content and photos)
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know about its history. |
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Aerial View USCG RADSTA
Guam
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Unidentified RMs at NRV
(August 1972) |
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General View of Operating
Position at NRV (1972) |
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