I have researched the literature in order to find an answer to this question, but have found nothing. I tend to think that this particular wavelength, 600 meters, became the standard by accident rather than some body of policy-makers deciding that it was to become the worldwide calling and distress frequency. Maybe the nature of early equipment might be the reason this wavelength became the standard; the length of the antenna on some early transmitters dictated the center frequency of their very broadband signal - given that the antenna would run the length of the ship might have a bearing on 600 meters became the international CW wavelength.

Regardless of whether it was by accident or choice, what was handed down to us was a wavelength with excellent evening propagation. Starting at about 2100 local time, 500 kc would come alive. Any ship or shore station within 3000 to 4000 mile range could be heard by an excellent combination of ground wave and sky wave - nothing was missed within this radius! Shore stations of more than 5000 miles were easily copied. Australia and New Zealand boomed in nightly. Daytime propagation consisted of only ground wave so 300 to 500 miles was the maximum range possible. Most daytime traffic was passed on the HF channels.

The idea of combining a distress frequency and a calling frequency was an excellent one. It insured no distress calls would be missed, and at the same time everyone knew where everyone else was at. No need to search various frequencies looking for a particular ship or shore based station. The result was a worldwide partyline. If you sent so much as a single dit everyone would hear it.

Ships operated on either a one-op or two-op schedule so our broadcasts coincided with these schedules. Shore stations had to remain on the air 24 hours a day. Late nights could become a bit of a bore for some shore ops - heavy eyelids and such. So out of boredom, or maybe by accident, a single dit would ring across the Pacific only to be answered by another dit possibly several thousands of miles away. Then all hell would break loose. Every shore station and any ships with an on-duty op would be sending dits. For several seconds, 500 kc sounded as if one hundred or more carriers were 'ditting' away! As quickly as it started, it would fade away.

A variation of this was someone sending a single GE (good evening). It would of course, be impolite not to respond in kind, so someone else would answer with GE. Within a half second at least one hundred GE's would flood the frequency! My log entry would look like this:

GE / GE / GE / GE / GE / (OPNOTE: AT LEAST 100 GE'S SENT)......500 .........1123Z

Some 'Coasties' were unhappy with their duty assignment locations. Examples of these were Alaska, or some LORAN station in the middle of the Pacific, or on board a patrol ship. They made their sentiments known to the world. One op would send an F, a second disgruntled Coast Guardsman would follow with a T, only to be followed by by a third CG op sending G - three Coasties seperated by hundreds of thousands of miles of water expressing their thoughts as one. The acronym FTG stood for a very common expression in the Guard: F___ The Guard. In the log it was recorded as:

FTG................. 500....1305Z

Needless to say, the Commanding officer ('The Old Man') of NMO, upon reviewing the log the following day, would attach a nasty note expressing his displeasure at seeing such entry in an Official U.S. Government Legal Document. The Chiefs on the other hand, would give out a hardy laugh and express their delight that this acronym was still travelling the airwaves.

After 2100 local time, there would be a steady stream of CW on 500 kc. Ships calling shore stations or other ships:
 

KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK KOK (making a pest of himself)
DE (in other words: 'who the heck is calling me?')
DE KNLS TR K
KNLS DE KOK R UP 485 K
OK 485/480 UP
EE
EE

Translation: The ship KNLS, ignoring the usual 3X3 callsign format, was going to endlessly call the shore station KOK until he got some attention. KOK interupted him with a simple DE after which KNLS told him he had a travel report (TR). KOK's answer was 'Roger'. I'll transmit on 485 kc to which the ship answered: 'Okay, you transmit on 485 and I'll transmit on 480 - let's go up. (up in wavelength that is, not in frequency). Traditions are hard to break. By the way, KOK was a shore station located on a beach on Oahu.

Another example:

TTT TTT TTT CQ DE ZLD ZLD CYCLONE WARNING NR 15 QSW 428 AR

(These types of broadcasts, prefaced with TTT or XXX, will be discussed in Part 4.)

Yet another example:

CQ CQ CQ DE WNOP WNOP ANY ONE HV 2100Z SOUTH PACIFIC WX? K
WNOP DE XSU GE WILL GIVE 2100 WX ON OUR 2200 BCST K
OK TKS OM SU
SEEU
EE
EE

This went on and on throughout the night, but it was very orderly. One can see that each series of transmissions ended with a 'dit dit'. This is recorded as EE. Some amateur radio operators thought they actually invented this 'prosign'.

Part 6 will describe a distress in which a ship broke up in heavy seas and all hands were lost. It will describe my QSO with the ship's operator up to the last second of his life. Part 7 will contain an actual transcription of one of my evening logs.

End of Part 3.