All loggings are CW
7/12/07 2243 UTC:
12992.0: WLO test wheel with "VVV VVV VVV DE WLO WLO WLO QSX 2055R5 KHZ ES 4/8/12/16 MHZ C3 K" in the International Morse Code. //16968.5
0000 Hand sent CW on 16968.5 only. Might have been working somebody, not heard.
7/13/07
0001: KPH right on time for Night of Nights VIII with "CQ CQ CQ DE KPH KPH KPH SPECIAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS AT OOO1, followed by the yearly announcement from the Maritime Radio Historical Society. Signal reports into Southern CA follow:
4247.0 S9
6447.5 S9+10
8642.0 S9+30
12808.5 S9+30
17016.8 S9+20
22477.5 S9
MF did not come up until after sunset. At 0322, KPH was S3 on 500 kHz with "CQ CQ CQ DE KPH KPH KPH PLSE QRX FOR A SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE MESSAGE, followed on 426.0 by the annual roll call of closed coastal CW stations at 0330 and a 3-minute silent period at 0331.
All KPH freqs were still audible, with decreased strength above 12 MHz, and more on 4/6, with 8 about the same, at 0407.
At 0430, KPH announced on all frequencies that the receivers were closed, and to stand by for press messages on MF and HF. These were copied with good strength on 426 kHz. With real optimized MF equipment here, they would have blasted in.
KPH was still going strong with MMP FREE PRESS at 0615, when I packed it in.
----- other loggings -----
0016: KPH on 12808.5 working vessel AMERICAN VICTORY (a restored WWII victory ship out of FL) on 12552.0. Vessel good copy here.
0020: KSM with wheel, QSX 500 6/12, S9 on 6474.0, S9+20 on 12993.0.
0021: KFS with wheel, CQ DE KFS/A QSX 12/17 CH 3, S9+30 on 12695.5, S9 on 17026.0.
0023: WLO on 8658.0 with weird keying, seemed to be sending a QSX wheel but kept breaking up and keying the same or another transmitter with a different input. Some uncopyable stuff, cutting in and out, then definitely an operator sending "UP 3." Nothing heard on channel 3.
0026: KLB with QSX wheel on 6411.0. Nothing heard on 12917, at this or any other time.
0028: NMN on 8471.0, with distinctive sound of someone leaning on the dit side of a bug, going dididididit, then hand sent (on dah side?) identifier "NMN." Then into hand sent "CQ DE NMN NMN QRU? K."
0034: WLO, same marker as in the test, now with good keying on 8558, 12992, and 16968.5. WLO also faded in on 4343.0, at 0143.
0037: Unknown vessel with callsign KMI- (missed last letter), calling KPH on 8368.0. Op successfully broke KPH on 8642 out of the message being sent at the time. There was what sounded like a short QSO, then back to the message.
0100: KPH with traffic list. The keying on 8 and 12 MHz would seem to shift audio pitch very slightly, maybe tens of Hz. When a wheel was sent, it would shift at the same characters every time around. I thought I had a weird receiver problem but WWV was dead stable for several minutes. It was kind of dizzying when you were trying to copy Morse.
0119: K6KPH, amateur station at the Pt. Reyes receive site, working amateur W5TVW on 14050 CW. Two stations calling on-frequency after K6KPH signed with him.
0134: KKUI on 12552.0, calling KFS, couldn't break them. KKUI called KSM at 0242, and WLO at 0244, similarly no joy. He wasn't having the best night. KKUI doesn't show up in the ITU database online, not that this is the best place to look ships up. The op's procedure wasn't like I remembered commercial maritime. He sent his callsign too much when as I recall the procedure was just to send the station you were calling until an op broke in and said "DE."
0311: K6KPH pulling W2DES out of a small pileup on 7049.9, continuing to run amateurs on 40.
0409: WLO with special message and QSL info, copied on 4/8/12, then appeared to sign for the night.
0430: KPH dropping its QSX watch. Announced special msgs on 426.0 //HF at 0435. Eulogy and silence for Rod Deakin at 0453, MEBA FREE PRESS at 0500, MMP FREE PRESS at 0615.