HISTORY OF THIS NET
Fellow Pacific Seafarer's Net operators:
Below is a letter I recieved from Ed Breen NH6HT in April 2002.
Ed was a regular participant in the Pacific Seafarer's Net in years
past. It was in hard copy form, I scanned it and it's attachment
below Ed's letter. That letter was a copy from the original typed
copy by Terry ZL1MA. I think you'll find it interesting.
Robert Reed N6HGG
Break Ed Breen letter follows:
===
From Ed Breen NH6HT
April 20, 2002
Aloha Bob,
I was cleaning out some old logs and records and came upon the enclosed
letter I received from an old net control out of New Zealand, ZLlMA,
Terry back in the early 80s. Thought you might be interested in some of
the history of the Pacific Maritime Net. You may have seen it before.
Terry was totally blind and took roll call and gave a read back, usally
without error. He had a machine that he typed into that rolled out a
tape, similar to an old time ticker tape, only in Braille. He was an
amazing guy. He visited me twice over the years in Hawaii with his wife
Mona and stayed here at the house. He entrained us playing the piano
and singing.
Any way thanks for all your doing for the net, especially bringing it
up to date with bitwrangler, the web page and e-mail etc. It is
appreciated greatly.
Hopefully the net will continue for many more years.
Sincerely
Ed Breen NH6HT
Break ZL1MA Letter follows
====
From Terry ZL1MA
Pacific Maritime Net Historical Notes
BACKGROUND TO THE ORIGINS OF THE PACIFIC MARITIME NET
Dated sometime in the late 1980's
In response to your request for information regarding the beginnings of
the Pacific Maritime Net, I contacted Noel Curtis ZL1CU, whom I knew
had had a close association with the net in the past. The
following summarises the information Noel provided willingly and
spontaneously in our telephone conversation.
Noel is obviously well acquainted
with the net since its beginning. He stresses that
this is merely the "bare bones" of the net's history, but he says he
has documentation with which he could provide those "bare
bones" with "flesh and feathers" for anyone who may be interested. I
believe this should be done.
Here is my summary of Noel's comments, and I hope I report him with
reasonable accuracy.
NET NAME
The name of the net is "Pacific Maritime Net". The word mobile did not
appear in the title because the net, in addition to working small
vessels at sea, also handled "health and welfare" and other traffic for
isolated communities or individuals on small islands throughout
the Pacific. Today's satellite communication facilities were not
available in the early to mid-'70s.
BEGINNINGS
ROBBY BEETS, now ZL1BKE, started the net from Apia,
Western Samoa, in early 1975 approximately. It could have been
late 1974. Beets, a New Zealander, Was contracted as
a power station engineer in Apia. From here he was transferred to
Port Vila, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), where he continued the net until
his contract expired and he returned to New Zealand about
mid 1976.
TED HULHOLLAND. From that time an Australian, Ted Mulholland
assumed control of the net. He was working in Port Moresby, Papua
New Guinea with the callsign P29EM.
Later, ill health necessitated Ted to return to Queensland where he
continued to run the net until December 1977 when an accident with a
motor mower hospitalised him and prevented further net activity by Ted.
NOEL CURTIS. On the day of Ted's accident Noel Curtis, ZLlCU was
asked to take the net at ten minutes notice because of Ted's accident.
Noel agreed and thus began an incredible period of
commitment to the Pacific Maritime Net. For more than 900
consecutive days between December 1977 and June 1980 ZL1CU was
net control, never missing a single day.
It was during the early '80's, Noel recalls, that the 20-meter
net became affiliated with the newly established 15 meter (21 Mhz)
Pacific Maritime Net based in Los Angeles. It came into
being following the success of the 20-meter net in the '7Os. The two
nets worked closely together with specified stations
designated as "liaison stations" stations" between
the 20 and 15 meter nets. Similar cooperation continues today.
Noel Curtis also recalls the number of yachts on
world cruises checking into the 20 meter net during his
time as net controller. Then, as now, New Zealand was a favourite hide
away to sit out the November through April hurricane
season. In each of the years 1977, '78 and '79 more than
1500 yachts officially checked in
with New Zealand Customs authorities.
The net covered the whole of the Pacific as
well as the Arctic Ocean, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. At peak
times the daily check-ins totalled more than 60
vessels! Assistance was given by regular relay stations in Mexico, the
Canal Zone, West Coast USA, British Columbia,
Hawaii, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, Tokyo, Marshall Islands,
Guam and Papua-New Guinea.
LARRY MACPHERSON. At the end of June, 1980, net
control changed hands between two old friends. Noel
relinquished control to Larry MacPherson, KH6HEO, affectionately known
and respected as "Mac" by hundreds of MMs and shore
stations throughout the Pacific Basin. Mac's
discipline and sensitivity, combined with excellent
relay stations such as Roland, N7GMP in Oregon, and Bruce,
VK2DFH, in Sydney, Australia, characterised what must have been
perhaps the high point in the history of
the net. In Honolulu Mac was ably supported by Karl, WH6ANH ("Always
Near Hawaii").
In December 1983 Mac, KH6HEO, became ill and had to
retire from the net. Sadly, his illness was terminal and
the net suffered one of its saddest losses when, about twelve
months later, Mac went "QSY" to the
perpetual net of "silent keys". Regrettably, at about this time Karl,
WH6ANH, was transferred to Guam which is too far west to operate
as a permanent and effective net control.
Despite these difficulties the net has continued to operate daily
with a variety of net controllers. Since early 1986 Fred,
KH6UY, "home from the sea" after sailing extensively in French
Polynesia, has become the primary net controller assisted
by various relay stations from the US west
coast, Alaska, Moorea, New Zealand and Hawaii itself, who also act as
net control on a rostered basis. Fred's practical
knowledge of the Pacific and things maritime is invaluable.
TODAY (late 1980's)
It's not the same," the old-timers say with justification, it's
nothing like what it used to be." That's
true because nothing is like what it used to be 20, 10 or even 5 years
ago. For an infinite variety of reasons people are just not around
today in a position to commit themselves to years of
continuous net controlling (although Ody, KH6CO, must be
close to the exception as controller of the 15-meter Pacific Maritime
Net). Most nets now have a "Net Manager", a species
unknown just a few years ago. His prime task is to ensure net
continuity by gathering a team of net controllers and
monitoring their performance and the general
standard of net operation. He even gets complaints from time to
time!
At sea satnavs, radar and other electronic marvels almost persuade..
END
...Last page is lost...
Break
======
Final note by Robert Reed N6HGG
I'm not exactly sure of the details of the evolution of the net
following the above. The way I understand it, a net formed that
was called "The Seafarer's Net" that operated on 20 meters. They
decided to join with the "Pacific Maritime Net" to avoid duplication of
services and so forth, and the new name became "The Pacific Seafarer's
Net" which operated as it does now.
Robert Reed N6HGG
Pacific Seafarer's Net
Humboldt Bay, California