Transcript Slide 1

Brian Jeffrey – VE3UU
With special thanks to…
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Doug Leach – VE3XK
Bill Barrie – VE3AAS
Brian Martin – VE3IX
Marg & Don Heaslip – VE3EQE & VE3NJH
Lorraine Jeffrey – XYL
Notice:
The following program deals with mature
subject matter and contains scenes of nudity
and coarse language.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Tonight’s program…
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Why we’re here this evening
Non-technical
A series of short vignettes or stories
One person’s experiences on the DEWLine
What is (was) the DEWLine?
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DEW = Distant Early Warning Line
Chain of 54 manned early warning radar stations
Built between 1955 and 1957
Operational in August 1957
Morphed into the Northern Warning System
in 1983
Decommissioned by 1994
Personal info…
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Graduated from Ottawa Technical HS
Licensed as VE3EBF in 1957
1957-8: Electronic Materiels International
Hired by Harry Hayes (callsign forgotten)
Supervised by Bob Knapp VE3CDG (SK)
Earned $1.00/hour
Moved to NRC in late 1958
National Research Council…
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Earned $2750/Annum ($1.37/hour)
Maintained the first digital computer sold in NA
FERUT (Ferranti + University of Toronto)
Changing Jobs…
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My Mother found the advertisement
Federal Electric Corp wanted technicians
Went to Montreal to write their test
Failed!
Read two books on Radar and rewrote the exam
Passed (Either that or they were desperate!)
Had to resign from NRC
Counter offer
Salary increased from $2750/A to $12,000/A
The adventure begins…
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Streator Ill for 12 weeks of training
Non-descript town 90 miles south of Chicago
Billeted at the Columbia Hotel
AKA Tiltin Hilton
In the Middle of a Cornfield…
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12 miles outside of town
Hidden away and out of sight
Was the secret training facility
Decommissioned in 1982
Now a derelict
Northward bound…
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Issued with my Arctic gear in Montreal
Departed Dorval July 1960 for Hall Beach, NWT
12 hour flight in a DC-4
Hall Beach, Fox-Main…
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Celebrated my 20th birthday awaiting transport
to my first assignment.
Lateral Flights
Arctic Air Travel…
1st Home: Pelly Bay…
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Code name: Cam-4
2 Hours west of Hall Beach (FOX Main)
Typical Auxiliary (Aux) Site
Typical Auxiliary (Aux) Site…
Station layout
Made up of 25,
25’ X 16’ modules
placed side by side.
The Fishing Expedition…
Starring:
 Tom
Billowich
 Brian Jeffrey
The Scene:
 Pleasant
Saturday morning
Other Fishing Expeditions…
Shaving Your Teeth…
Starring:
 Brian
Webb
 Brian Jeffrey
The Scene:
 Saturday
night in the Arctic
Brian Webb (sober)
Brian Jeffrey (also sober)
Typical bedrooms
Movie Time…
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Starring
 Brian
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Jeffrey (alone… very alone!)
The Scene
 1:30
AM, Sunday morning
 Recreation module
 Watching a movie… alone
 A movie called “Psycho”
Recreation Module
Christmas at the Real Pelly Bay
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Starring
 Father
Vandeveld, RC priest
 120 Eskimos (extras)
 5 strangers (From CAM-4)
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The Scene
 Pelly
Bay Mission
 World’s largest igloo
Building the world’s largest igloo - 1
35-40 ft
Building the world’s largest igloo - 2
Building the world’s largest igloo - 3
35-40 feet in diameter,
holding about 120 people
Truly a Christmas to remember.
Christmas at CAM-4…
Missed Bogie (Target)…
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Starring:
 Tom
Billowich
 Brian Jeffrey
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The Scene:
 4:15
- 4:30 AM
 The public address system came alive
 All Hell broke loose
CQ Santa Klause…
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Starring:
 Brian
Jeffrey - VE8SK
 A load of happy children
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The Scene:
 December
1960
 CAM-4’s Emergency Radio Room
Emergency Radio Room
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Located away from the Electronic Modules
Contained:
 Collins
431-B1, one kilowatt transmitter
 Collins 51J4 receiver
 3-Element beam
 Rotor frozen in winter- antenna aimed south
Escape from the North…
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Waited 12 months
Had gained 30 pounds
Bought some “going home” clothes
 3-piece
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suit for $29.95 from Sears (mail order)
Somewhat “bushy”
Don’t use the “F” word with your Mother!
Returning North via Winnipeg
12 Hour flight… 10 Hours of Hell
New Assignment
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Sucked in to going to an Intermediate Site (I-Site)
Off to Simpson Lake, CAM-D
Moving the Radio Beacon
Typical Intermediate Site (I-Site)…
Station layout
Staff:
1- Station Chief
1- Radician
1- Mechanic
1- Cook
1- Eskimo
CAM-D Motley Crew…
Working Around the Clock…
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Spring time is airlift time (POL supplies)
Flights operated 24 hours a day for weeks
Happy Landings (Not!)…
Replacing a Klystron
Doctor Brian…
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Starring:
A
very pregnant Eskimo woman
 Brian Jeffrey
 Saint John’s Ambulance first aid book
 Absentee medical doctor at FOX-Main
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The Scene:
 Middle
of nowhere with a moaning pregnant lady
 Tense radio traffic
 Lots of shouting (by me)
Doctor Brian, part two…
Time to Move Along Again…
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Another trip South and a chance to…
Offended my Mother… again
And again!
Returned to the Line and got my wish
Became a member of the Sector Crew
Air/Ground equipment
 Collins
242F3, AN/GRT-3, AN/FRT-3 LF beacon,
 I-Site communications system – GE VO-38 VHF
God’s Will…
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Starring:
 Inspector
from FEC head office (Paramus NJ)
 Brian Jeffrey
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The Scene:
 Receiver
room at Rowley Island (FOX-1)
The BOPSR Club…
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Starring:
 Brian
Jeffrey
 Newbies Radicians (names long forgotten)
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The Scene:
 BJ
in transit
 Too much time on my hands
 Too much booze (supplied by the Newbies)
 Small bladder
 Cold toilet
BOPSR Club
Sector crew “home” and
transient sleeping quarters
The Ghost at the Airfield…
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Starring:
 Brian
Jeffrey
 Console Radician
 “It”
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The Scene:
 Summer
time, 3-4 AM
 Off-hook condition in the 740 PBX telephone switch
The Great Polar Bear Hunt…
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Starring:
A
polar bear
 Eskimo hunter
 Various pretend hunters
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The Scene:
 Late
summer at Rowley Island (FOX-1)
 A polar bear is sighted too close to
the module train (very dangerous!)
Foxes, Foxes Everywhere…
Idle Hands (& Minds) at Work…
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Starring:
 Don
Kerr, Radician
 Brian Jeffrey (star of stage & screen!)
 Helicopter CF-HNG
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The Scene:
 Two
bored Radicians
 Early summer morning
 Bad combination
One Last Contract…
Returned from my last R&R leave
 Wanted off the Sector Crew
 Became the “Lateral Radician” at Fox Main
 AN/FRC-45 tropo scatter system
 24 channel Lenkurt multiplex equipment
 Required monthly alignment
 Orchestrated from the Main Station
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“Failsafe” Device…
Henry Fonda starred in the movie Failsafe
 Device in a SAC bomber goes bad
 No such device!
 There was Us!
 Transmitting the “Go” – “No go” message
 Emergency Action Message (EAM)
 “Skyking, Skyking…”
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EAM Format…
Two letter message (go/no-go code)
 Time (2-digits, minutes after the hour)
 Two letter authenticator (tied to the time)
 Usually transmitted blind
“Skyking, Skyking, this is Staghound Radio.
Do not answer. Do not answer. Charlie
November. Time 24. Authentication,
Oscar Papa. Staghound Radio out.”
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Talking to SAC B-52’s…
Tactical call signs
 “Hall Beach Radio” to commercial flights
 Would became “Staghound Radio” to SAC
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Cuban Crisis…
At FOX-Main
 Monitored both upper and lower beams
 Noticeable increase in B-52 traffic
 We took it very seriously!
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Last Trip South…
Left the Line in March 1963
 36 months in the Arctic.
 Returned to school (U of O)
 Joined Instronics Ltd
 Was foisted upon Doug Leach VE3XK
 Still dabble in ham radio as VE3UU
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For those of you still awake…
What questions might you have?
Thanks for allowing me to share these memories