Receiving Messages

Heroes Remember

Receiving Messages

Transcript

When I went to Halifax, I wound up in the Shore Wireless Station in the dockyard. It was something that wasn’t too, I wasn’t much in favour of it, but you couldn’t stand up and said, “Hey man, I don’t like this job. Find me a better one.” It was the night times were the hardest, I ... listening, constantly turning the dial, checking the frequency I was on ‘cause sometimes the message coming in would be, would not be bang right on the frequency. It would be above or below it so we used to scan it, above and below, and then that was the time when you had to be on the ball, on the key, you had to ... Soon as you heard the message, there would be a call from the ship at sea. They’d give you your call sign and then you’d radio back to him that you’d received him at strength so and so, and sign off. And then he’d start his message. And if it was a good night, it would come in nice and clear. But sometimes it came in with thunder and lightning in the background, earphones hissing, and banging, and snapping. We got so we never wore the earphone right over our ear, we always wore it on the bone, just ahead of the ear, and you could pick up the messages through the bone that was right there in your head. Saved your ears if the thunder suddenly made a ... The lightning had a stroke right there beside the antenna. Message addressed to the ship at sea would be on the routine which would be, was on, I think, 425 kilocycles. And the messages we filed by number, by time rather, time and date. And if it was addressed to your ship it would say so in the heading of the message, to what ships or to all ships at sea, or something like that. You never had to acknowledge them. The only time you broke radio silence was entering harbour. You had to give them your ETA when you were going to enter harbour. And then the wireless station ashore would receive the message and give you an R, indicating they’d received it. But other than that, the messages over the routine didn’t have to be acknowledged. They weren’t expected to be acknowledged ‘cause it was advice more or less. We had a coder and he coded and decoded messages. He’d do the heading and if it was for the captain then, or for our ship, then he would continue on and decode the new, the numbered groups that were there … write out the message, and then take it to the signals officer, who took it to the captain.

Description

Mr. Irwin compares wireless operation on land to that aboard ship.

Robert Irwin

Mr. Irwin was born in Toronto, Ontario on April 9, 1921. He lost his father in a car accident while a boy. Because his mother had to work, he and his brother were taken under the wing of the local YMCA, where they both became excellent competitive swimmers. Once old enough, Mr. Irwin worked on the lake boats on Lake Superior. Shortly before enlisting, he also worked for General Electric, where he was promised a job upon his return from active service. Mr. Irwin trained as a wireless operator and, after doing shore duty in the Halifax communications centre, joined the frigate HMCS Prince Rupert, which was assigned to convoy duty. Mr. Irwin spent his entire time at sea aboard this vessel. Notable events during his duty include a possible sub kill off Ireland and the rescue of survivors from a torpedoed British warship in the same action. After leaving the service, General Electric made good on its promise, and Mr. Irwin pursued a 40 year career with them. He now resides in London, Ontario.

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