Collecting, preserving and presenting the history of radio's use on the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system
One of the last Sternwheelers, the Jason's 1947 FCC call letters were ATRE (or perhaps KTRE?) - Union Barge Line Photo
Introduction
The Inland Marine Radio History Archive documents and places in the Public Domain some of the 1930s to 1990s history of marine radio - the AM and SSB shortwave radiotelephone used for ship-to-shore communications with towboats on the Mississippi, Ohio and other inland rivers and with the bulk-carriers and freighters on the Great Lakes. The emphasis is on the ten most significant Public Coast stations that provided this service. Some attention has also been given to earlier CW operation, these stations' later VHF-FM systems, and to government and Canadian stations. This project was undertaken because this era should not be allowed pass into almost complete oblivion without some better recognition of these fine stations and the dedicated people who manned them. Much of the information about this use of radio has been lost, but with the help of veterans of the era and knowledgeable visitors to the site some of it has been preserved here. Many thanks to all the contributors.
The site is as much about the people ("The Crew") involved in the era and their recollections of it as it is about buildings, radio gear and antennas.
Note that clicking/tapping on many of the site's images will bring up a larger version.
Update - 6/28/2023
This 18 year old site has now had a major overhaul to bring it into the cellphone era. There's a new dropdown menu which defaults to a hamburger menu for cellphones, and all of the html pages have been revised for cellphone viewing. A big pile of work! New information is still desired and appreciated. Please contact me if you have something to contribute. New content will be noted at the bottom of this page.
My othr websites are: The GE Mobile Radio History Archive and K4ZAD's Radio Information Site.