Richard (Dick) Singer (USA)
In 1939 I was born at Pana, IL. U.S. In my early teenage years I was interested in Amateur Radio. During 1957 I learned the Morse code and in early 1958 I received my ham license with the call K6KSG. In 1958 I joined the U.S. Navy as radioman and later served on the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Midway/NIIW until 1961. I worked ashore as a civilian in various jobs until I decided to get my commercial radiotelegraph license to ship out on merchant ships. While waiting for a ship, I was breaking in to be an operator at the ITT coastal station KOK in Los Angeles, CA. Meanwhile the U.S. Government hired me to work as R/O on their ship the Hughes Glomar Explorer/WCHG. When that project was laid up, I then shipped out on a tramp tanker for six months on board the SS Mount Explorer/KTSY. My next employment was with the Exxon Oil Company working on their tankers as Radio Electronics Officer. Exxon sent me to the following schools, the Fort Schuyler Maritime Academy at Bronx, N.Y. for instrumentation and automation, Sperry Marine for the Collision Avoidance systems. Later I attended the Communications Associates Inc. single sideband school, Raytheon radar school, Limitourqe electrical valve systems, and Tano engine room console. The SS Exxon New Orleans was my favorite ship. All in all, I served on 19 ships in my 22 year career as a seagoing Radio Electronics Officer. I retired from Exxon Oil Company in 1994. It is sad to hear the demise of CW on the marine frequencies. 73 to all the R/O’s that I have passed on ships in the middle of the night on the high seas.
In the picture Dick is receiving traffic from KPH.