After so many years it is difficult to properly describe the atmosphere of NRUF's radio shack. There was, without doubt, a pecking order that often didn't follow the number of stripes on the rating badge, and most of us will never forget how some ops were so much better than others. We all answered to "Sparks" with the pride of men that knew their job to be difficult under the best of conditions and nearly impossible when rolling through the heavy seas of a gale force wind or hurricane.

Each of us has a story to share about some stiff-fisted lid on the other end of the freq. More than once we all heard a well earned "Dah Dah Ditty Dah Dah" float through the ether to our end too! There were nights we prayed something would happen just to keep us awake and still others that we hoped like hell we were up to the task because somebody might die if we weren't.

Deputy Conner This section of the Sebago Sailors website is just for us...The Communicators of NRUF. It is dedicated to the memory of one particular watch supervisor, RM1 Thaddeus A. Conner, USCG. "TAC" came to us as a prior service RM from the US Navy. He was a very talented radioman, a really good fist. His patience with new SNRM's and young RM3's was limitless and we all learned a great deal from him. The most important lesson was never to lose sight of the goal, to move traffic - even if it was at a slow pace.

When "TAC" retired he chose to continue serving the community and attended the police academy in Indiana, a rookie at the ripe age of 46. Upon graduation he was hired as a Deputy Sheriff in Spencer County, Indiana. Just three weeks after his first patrol he died on duty, killed by a drunken driver as he conducted a routine traffic stop. That he died on watch is bittersweet. Those of us that served with him know he was enjoying the work, and wearing a big smile that showed everyone he was happy where he was. Even as a rookie officer, his friends on the job called him "Dad" because he was always helping out the youngers troops. 73's OM CUL AR VA

Come on, you can be a GOFER or a PAYFER, but the Geedunk is open and we all want to know how you are getting along. Most of us are retired now, or trying to figure out how we can slow down and enjoy life. So I KNOW you have the time to sit down and send us a message. QRS 21 OM QRV - send your information to RM2 Wonnacott and it will be posted here.

I snatched these photos and descriptions from Roger Wendells Coast Guard site ... a couple of vintage Radio Shack photos of NRUF 'back in the day' of RM3 Lynn Smith, circa 1958. Thanks to Roger for permission to reprint here.
Operator Position Two - NRUF (1958)

  Smith describes;

"This was the standard radio position on the Sebago of which there were three. There were usually two RM's on duty except the midnight-4 AM and 4 AM - 8 AM watches. We had a lot of RM's just out of radschool (like me) so we would stand watch with an experienced (3 months) RM till we got our bearings. I can't remember the names of the receivers shown there, but the "bug" in the pic belonged to me me. I got my ticket a couple of months out of school. You can see the plug sockets were we put the headfones for various frequencies to monitor. We also monitored around 8 and 12 mg ranges for commercial traffic. The little black box to the right of the typewritter was a remote control panel to switch transmitters if needed.

At this time we had absolutly no gear to monitor aircraft tfc at all. When we went out on patrol to Campeche we took a civilian Wx man with us to take obs info and then we sent it in to NMG."
AN/FRT23 - NRUF (1958)

Smith also explained about the AN-FRT23 transmitter and the freqencies they guarded and worked. Nothing much changed after he left the ship in 1959. Most of you older Sebago ditchasers will remember that transmitter. When I came aboard in the 1970 I watched the AnFart being cut from the deck and replaced by a much newer unit - can't even remember the designation of it, but I do remember that it wasn't a tube unit and didn't need the 'dip and peak' procedure to get it up and running. It also allowed us to 'tune' the long wire antenna to ham frequencies and then connect the ham unit in after steering to the long wire and get a nearly perfect 5x5 quality patch back home to Pensacola. The ops back on the Gulf Coast used to tell us they always knew when 'The Seabag' was coming up for patches because the tuning process just knocked EVERYBODY off freq and then our CQ blew them away, even from the middle of the North Atlantic!

If you have photos of the radio shack from your time aboard NRUF - send them along. All of us would really enjoy your stories too!