[spaarks]

Many of you who were at sea in the 1960's will remember CTV, a Portuguese coast station at Cape Saint Vincent, which broadcast WX forecasts..

We nicknamed it "Gentle Jesus" on account of it's tendency of using phrases like "gentle breezes", and "partly cloudy with increasing nebulosity".

It was hard to miss, as the transmitter had a serious chirp.
Listen to the attached sound file (I think its working frequency was 480 though, not 418).

 

[howardang]

Many of you who were at sea in the 1960's will remember CTV, a Portuguese coast station at Cape Saint Vincent, which broadcast WX forecasts..

We nicknamed it "Gentle Jesus" on account of it's tendency of using phrases like "gentle breezes", and "partly cloudy with increasing nebulosity".

It was hard to miss, as the transmitter had a serious chirp.
Listen to the attached sound file (I think its working frequency was 480 though, not 418).

If that is Monsanto Radio, I also remember the phrase "Wind - gentle zephyrs". It never seemed to vary!

Howard

 

[Ron Stringer]

Phrases I recall are "gentle breezes" (hence the nickname of the station, "Gentle Jesus"), "mild zephyrs" and "smooth wavelets". And all the time it was blowing an absolute hooley on deck and we were rolling on our beam ends. But in the radio room - according to Monsanto - everything was peaceful.

 

[R651400]

Think Monsanto/CTV has had as big an airing as any coast station on the SN Radio Room forum and my recollection of copying his wx forecast in the 50's the word wasn't "breezes" but "zephyrs."

 

[Troppo2]

That is a CHIRP, for sure!

(Jester)

 

[spaarks]

If that is Monsanto Radio, I also remember the phrase "Wind - gentle zephyrs". It never seemed to vary!

Howard

Yes indeed, it was called Monsanto Radio, and gentle zephyrs was the term.

 

[spaarks]

That is a CHIRP, for sure!

(Jester)

Sadly the sound file is not a real recording, but made using Audacity.

I use such files as notifications on my phone - eg QTC, QRJ, SMS, and even the names of contacts in Whatsapp. It sure turns heads, and the chirped version drives people crazy (MAD)!

Earlier Nokias used SMS in morse code.

 

[beedeesea]

Did anybody ever discover WHY they actually used such quaint English? Was it perhaps just a case of standard formats being repeated over the years?

Brian

 

[david.hopcroft]

The thing is though, we all took it down and trundled it through to the bridge !!

David
+

 

[Ron Stringer]

The thing is though, we all listened to him !!

David
+

Guilty, but I don't know why I did - they were useless as weather reports and even worse as forecasts. Only needed a few references to sea monsters and unicorns to complete the picture.

 

[Harry Nicholson]

Phrases I recall are "gentle breezes" (hence the nickname of the station, "Gentle Jesus"), "mild zephyrs" and "smooth wavelets". And all the time it was blowing an absolute hooley on deck and we were rolling on our beam ends. But in the radio room - according to Monsanto - everything was peaceful.

What a delightful chirrup! The nostalgia brings me close to damp eyes.
Was the origin of the chirp due to an overly simple design, so that the keying load detuned the oscillator?
Port Sudan had a wobbly note too, as I recall.

 

[sparks69]

I guess the " gentle zephyrs " was what an old translation book would have come up with ?
If English was not your first language it would not be obvious.
I liked receiving them, it made a change from the usual.
The chirp was nice too.

Remember TAH they sounded rough, the Spanish stations has strange tones too.
Any others with weird tones ?

 

[spacetracker]

The thing is though, we all took it down and trundled it through to the bridge !!

David
+

Some Clan Line captains were obsessed with the wx report and didn't settle until they had a copy in their grubby mitts. Pretty weird when considering the total inaccuracy of the contents.

 

[Troppo2]

Sadly the sound file is not a real recording, but made using Audacity.

I use such files as notifications on my phone - eg QTC, QRJ, SMS, and even the names of contacts in Whatsapp. It sure turns heads, and the chirped version drives people crazy (MAD)!

Earlier Nokias used SMS in morse code.

Ha! I use a ringtone that says:

VLLB DE VIS QRJ K

 

[beedeesea]

I guess the " gentle zephyrs " was what an old translation book would have come up with ?
If English was not your first language it would not be obvious.
I liked receiving them, it made a change from the usual.
The chirp was nice too.

Remember TAH they sounded rough, the Spanish stations has strange tones too.
Any others with weird tones ?

Makes sense, Sparky. Sounded like Shakespeare's wx forecast for "The Tempest"!

Brian

 

[Worldspan]

I think there was another Portuguese station with the call CTH. These were the initials of CT Holmes, one of the old-timer lecturers at Norwood Tech in the 1950s.
W

 

[Paul Braxton]

Re #16 :

And GLD was G. L. Danielson from the same venerable institute, the co-author of the renowned "Marine Radio Manual", the blue and white tome you had to purchase on joining or get chucked off the course. (I still have my pristine edition, hardly ever looked at, then or now).

 

[G4UMW]

The station near Cape St. Vincent is Sagres Radio, callsign CTS. Monsanto Radio is located near Lisbon.

On the subject of stations with distinctive tones, Dakar/6VA had a very distinctive rasping tone on HF.

 

[sparkie2182]

6VA........once heard never forgotten

 

[sparks69]

6VA - good for getting rid of OBS if in a hurry. (Filum night etc)
The real reason was I loved sending that call sign on my side swiper keyer.
Pure poetry !