I began my working life as a Marconi Radio Officer in 1962 and I find this very nostalgic. Maritime radio operating was a relatively short-lived profession, running from roughly 1900-2000 and the 1960's-1970's represented the heyday, I suppose, before the satellites took over.....I still find myself reading the Morse in war movies.....

I was a radiotelephone operator for WFE radio station in Houston in '75, keeping in contact with oil ships around the world for Western Geophysical Oil Company. Quite a fun job. I also took a distress call from Gulf of Mexico and patched in coast guard. Quite exciting for an 18 year olds first job.

I visited GLD in 95 Great place

"This is the Portishead terminal of the ships radio telephone service operated by the British post office. No acknowledgement of this transmission is required, unless......"

Took my Morse Test at Portishead Radio. Am surprised to see that they were still using the CR100 receivers, I had one around that time also.

Man, everyone in this video smokes like a chimney!

A memorable video. Love from ex Indonesian Radio Officer...

Happy memories of my short wave listening days when I started at about 8 yrs of age.That was 53 yrs ago. 73.G7HFS/PA3IKH.

I sat the CW test for my ham licence at Wick Radio, in 1965.

My dad went on to be in charge of British radio stations. My brother robin became a wireless op before emigrating to Australia. I was a mechanic before retiring

Jimmy Kay was my dad we lived on 22seaforth ave .jim

Enjoyed watching this little film '.What are the wild waves saying ? ' 73 de GI4GID

What a fantastic piece of film

all gone now :(

Bringing back good memories. Thanks for sharing these fantastic images from the past . 73's to all OM fm an ex sparks nw PA5ABW

QRM from a cow fence!

Interesting stuff. Good fast CW from straight keys.

thanks for posting wonderful i worked them many times on 500 khz they werent very strong but had the best tone sounded more like a2 i had the chance to visit gld before +- 1995 before she closed

beats an indian call centre

Çok güzel günlerdi dostum. Telsizin hışırtısı, denizin çoşkusu, pipolar vesaire bitti be.

Thanks for putting this up !. I found it via a website dedicated to Lands Ends Radio. I was born in Pendeen 9 or so miles away from the station. As a kid I used to watch the ships pass by up the Bristol Channels using a set of binoculars . Then at the age of 12 ( 40 years ago) I was bought a short wave radio ( which I still have) and spent too many hours listening to GLD. You had a great sense of being nosey.Not all of the ship to shore calls were transmitted as private !

i used to listen to Wick radio and many other in the late 80s and early 90s,big signals,certain i recolonise some of the voices on the vid,remember when wick went remote,think it was to Portishead and the conversation between the radio op there trying to explain to a skipper why he had got through to Portishead via Wick,very funny...sadly there all gone,,,heard Iceland radio not long ago doing R/T work with an aircraft,,huge signal !!!!!!!!

These jobs had high risk of lung cancer from all the cigs smoked !!!!! KD8EKX

I used to use GKR on HF from far outside the North Sea - out in the Atlantic etc - it was sometimes quicker than waiting for a turn at Portishead! Good video - thanks.

This is so neat.

you still using a kenwood ts-450 p.o.s. ?

obviously, lets obviously state the obvious, obviously, because it it obvious.

What is this taken from? This is obviously a snippet from a larger video.

What video is this taken from? This is obviously from some video or film from the 1960s.

This appears to be a part of a larger film/video. Could you cite the actual film that you've taken this footage from?

Wonderful video - particularly for a newcomer to CW who lives in easy sight of the sea.....

Thanks very very much for this document, I wish I can see many more of these on the net to come back with immaignation to those beautiful years...!

I used to be a telegraphist for Inland Telegrams in London back in the 70s. I remember having to send many telegrams to Portishead Radio station back then, plus several others (North Foreland, Niton, Land's End, to name just a few.) Seeing those old black Imperial typewriters really does bring back memories of painful mishaps like getting one's fingers stuck occasionally between the banks of keys!! Thanks for the posting, radiocaledonia!

I used to listen to all these stations from home in Central England many years ago as a short wave listener. Shame that technonogy has to move on, I spent many happy hours, especially on 2182 , I could here whole of the UK and it certainly became interesting when the WX became stormy. Many thanke for posting this video guys :)

@blunklaura i got interested in it, too. Landsend accent almost sounds like Irish or the eastcoast American, doesn't it?! it's totally different from the one spoken in the south east provinces of the isle.

Wonderful video. Pleased that film exists of these and other Brit coastal stations. Wish there was one of WCC out on Cape Cod USA..

Anymore movies available from coastal radio stations?

Dear Charlie, Thank you very much for the extra links from Wick radio.

If you want a couple of other angles on Wick Radio, follow the links, givvup then poet-on-a-hill then Fated. Theres a scene written there that takes place inside Wick Radio. All the characters and conversations are for real. Then, for another angle, follow the link to The Travellers Tales. There, under the heading, Sailing with Hunters, you will see real life Wick Radio as viewed by fishermen.

When I was a little boy I use to listen to the sounds of coastal radio stations. After that I still listened to those stations when I was sailing as an ships engineer I am 49 years old now and just recently I realized that the coastal radio years are gone. I can still remembers the phrase "this is Wick Radio", the sound of morse and passing the manned lightships. For some nostalgic reason I became interested in the history of coastal radio. Thanks for your contribution.

The cast, in order of appearance; John MacAskill, cigarette and glasses; Charlie Mearns, on the Morse key; Sandy Mowat the officer in charge, moustache and suit; Ernie Sargent, sorry about the spelling; Neil Leitch, hes the big boy doing the MAYDAY RELAY; Jimmy Kay, the overseer, receiving messages; Haydn Arnold in the yellow jumper; a glimpse of Dick Gregg, then me Charlie Gregory

I have a special interest in this video cos Im in it. Im the guy who reads the gale warning and speaks French in a Breton dialect. I worked in GKR from 1958 to 1974, just a dogwatch in the scheme of things. I dont know who posted this but thanks for doing it. Wick Radio is a part of maritime history and worth remembering Charlie Gregory

Very good video. I remember qso´s with most of British Coast Stations in special GLD, GKA, GIL, GKR, GPK,etc. now all are in silence, it was the end of an era but still alive in our memories and these valuable videos that you have posted are preserving an unforgettable chapter of the history of radiocommunications. Thank you to share Best regards Jose

Very nice video. Bregards Jose

My father worked at Wick Radio but he's not in this film. It's completely closed down now so thanks for posting this.

Whilst not in common usage I hardly think it fair to say never heard before. I've certainly heard it several times, though never at GKR where I spent 26 years :)

Do the telephone wires trail in the sea or are they attached to the funnel?....oh my lol and she was blonde. No one would get away with that portrait now. Anyway great clip, I worked GLD quite a few times in the 90's. 73's.

blast from the past, like it

This is the first time I have, after 30 years at sea as an R/O, heard a professional radioman use the expression "over and out" (At 3 min 10 secs )