Copyright \u00a9 2006 Robert Alexander Wallace W1MQV \/ W1HH<\/p>\n
Oh, I’m winning the war with a telegraph key,
\nThought I as I finished a \u201cstack\u201d.
\nI hope this is not all the action I see
\nJust wearing my pants out in back.
\nI idly shuffle the blanks in my hand
\nAnd glance at the five letter groups.
\nI think of my brother in far foreign land
\nFighting up front with the troops.
\nI check with my watch – where the heck’s my R.J.?
\nI’m getting as hungry as sin.
\nAn eight hour trick is enough for the day,
\nAnd I’m practically deaf from the din.
\nThe \u201ctrick chief\u201d gets up from the teletype chair
\nAnd says that he has one for me.
\n\u201cGet your key oiled up, get that rig on the air,
\nHere’s a honey – a long one O.P.\u201d
\nMy relief gets a curse on his unknowing head
\nFor his tardiness costs me my chow.
\nAnd this is a hell of a time for a sked,
\nThe net’s QJZ about now.
\nBut I slip on the cans and I rattle the key
\nAnd the rig is again on the air.
\nI give with the dits and the dahs just to see
\nIf the station I’m calling is there.
\nA couple of calls and he sends \u201cQRU?\u201d
\nSo I tell him I have an \u201cO.P.\u201d
\nHe sends me a \u201cK\u201d and I start a tattoo –
\nPounding brass on my telegraph key!
\nI pass the first fifty, then wait for an sec,
\nWhile he starts the next block on the sheet.
\nI’ve found if you don’t make an op break his neck
\nYou get fewer requests to repeat.
\nA hundred, and fifty, and then fifty more.
\nShe’s long, I’ve a thousand to go.
\nMy head’s getting tired, my wrist’s getting sore.
\nCan’t use \u201cbug\u201d for this guy is too slow.
\nI’m passing a thousand, my fist is near beat,
\nDo I want an R.J. from T.C.?
\nNot a chance, Chief, you know once my sign’s on the sheet
\nNo one’s sending that message but me.
\nWe finally clear and I send him \u201cAR\u201d
\nAnd get one from him with his \u201cack\u201d.
\nThe look that I give my relief leaves a scar
\nAs I grab for my hat on the rack.<\/p>\n
Later:<\/p>\n
I read how a shipment of arms saved a corps
\nBecause it arrived there in time.
\nThe corps that it saved was my brother’s. What’s more,
\nThe message that sent it was mine!
\nOh, I’m fighting the war with a telegraph key
\nBut as long as they want me I’ll stay.
\nIt may not be combat but now I can see
\nHow a message can help save the day.
\n_______________________________________________<\/p>\n
The above was written just after the \u201cBattle of the Bulge\u201d in 1944.<\/p>\n
Glossary: Ack = acknowledgement
\nAR = End of transmission
\nBug = semiautomatic telegraph key
\nO.P. = Operational Priority
\nK = Invitation to transmit
\nR.J. = relief operator
\nQJZ = on stand by
\nQRU = Have you traffic for me?
\nT.C. = trick chief <\/p>\n
[From eHam: http:\/\/www.eham.net\/articles\/15064]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright \u00a9 2006 Robert Alexander Wallace W1MQV \/ W1HH Oh, I’m winning the war with a telegraph key, Thought I as I finished a \u201cstack\u201d. I hope this is not all the action I see Just wearing my pants out in back. I idly shuffle the blanks in my hand And glance at the five … Continue reading “Just A Radio Operator”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9vUOZ-mF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}