The last Morse code maritime radio station in North America -- Bartell's Backroads

[mahatmakanejeeves]

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Video: ABC10/KXTV
The last Morse code maritime radio station in North America | Bartell's Backroads

1999 marked the last time a commercial Morse code message was supposedly transmitted to ships at sea, but if you head to Point Reyes, Morse code is alive and well.

Author: John Bartell
Published: 11:05 PM PST December 2, 2019
Updated: 11:05 PM PST December 2, 2019

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. — Video killed the radio star and satellites killed commercial Morse code messaging. The year 1999 marked the end of an era, it was the last time a commercial morse code message was supposedly transmitted to ships at sea.

However, if you travel to Point Reyes, Morse code signal is alive and well at KPH Maritime Radio Station. It is the last Morse code maritime radio station in the world.

Richard Dillman is President of the Maritime Radio Historical Society and he runs the KPH Radio station which is located inside Point Reyes National Park.

There are almost no ships that send out Morse code signals, but for the ones that do, Dillman and the volunteers at KPH can receive them. “This was a critical link in the maritime communication. It was through this station and stations like it that ships got their messages ashore or sent from the ocean,” Dillman explained.
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Today, KPH is a maritime radio museum and functioning radio station staffed with volunteers. A place where relics of radio's past are preserved and this station's last commercial Morse code message lives on.

It's a message that Dillman reads to all the visitors. “From all of the staff at Bolinas radio station KPH to our colleagues ashore and at sea. This is announcement marks our last transmission after 85 years of service. To the maritime community. We wish you fair winds and following sea,” says Dillman.

Continue the conversation with John on Facebook.

[mitch96]

1. I loved sending and receiving Morse messages...

Being a amateur radio operator it was the last thing that smacked of "real" radio. I would run low power/morse code messages with glee.. It was a lot of fun.. My nite lite had more power than my little transmitter!!
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dit dit

[Zorro]

4. Went to Morse Code school in the Navy

Couldn't graduate unless we could send/receive at least 21WPM. It was so immersive we would converse in dits and dahs outside the classroom, and debate the merits of a standard key and a "bug".

[mitch96]

5. "It was so immersive we would converse in dits and dahs outside the classroom"

So did you start hearing morse when there was none? I would start hearing dits and dahs all over the place... weird.. My breakthru was when I stopped listening to letters and started hearing words.. Then you fly...
My buddy use to build custom key's. Made out of solid brass chrome plated. I was never that good but I "got me one" A thing of beauty.. He's a perfectionist..
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[Major Nikon]

2. Aviation radio navigational aids still transmit their morse code identifier

There's literally tens of thousands of them all over the world.

[pansypoo53219]

3. love this.