HF Comms
Coff, the washing line was indeed effective both on the ground and in the air. I think we had the most effective HF amongst the AT Force because of its crudity. I well remember one dark and stormy night trying to get hold of Architect as we departed Gander. No answer was the stern reply but after 2 or 3 attempts Gan offered help - as clear as if he was sitting in the other pilot's seat. What I was after was some UK forecasts and within moments Gan provided them as if such requests were his normal traffic.
More Imoor tangly: you may recall that telephones at Mount Pleasant were in short supply for calls home. We on 1312 used to call Portishead Radio from the parking stand. Transfer charge call and communication with SWMBO was clear and simple - even with out Architects annoying "over" at the end of each bit of conversation.
My other memory comes from one of the Belize reinforcement ops. I had operated the route re-activation flight (spare crews for the slip) after Christmas and should have been back for New Year. However, my Eng went sick in Nassau and, instead, we drew the short straw to operate the one that departed for LYE late afternoon on 31 Dec. Shortly after passing overhead Bermuda and once safely back in the Oceanic, by now past midnight UK, I called Architect to see if the spirit of the season prevailed. "Any chance of a transfer charge call to 06........ As its New Year" no problem and seconds later there she was on the line, again clear as a bell.
Mind you, even with the washing lines, night Comms were a bit of a black art rather than the scientific process implied by the En-route Supplements. The other game that could be quite fun was to join in the trucker CB conversations over in the States. A trucker's CB has a power output of diddly squat whereas ours was some 30 watts (if I remember correctly). Our transmissions just about bounced them out of their cabs.