[GreenKeys] Tape Relay backlogs

[Nick England]

Interesting info from a post on the Commcenters list.
note:
OO = operational immediate
ZVA = relay is responsible for forwarding to multiple destinations,
requiring a separate tape for each outgoing TD - the text of the tapes were
identical, but included only that particular outgoing line's addressees.
Duplicate tapes were created in a Multiple Address Processing Unit (MAPU,
"tape factory") which used a single tape reader driving multiple reperfs.
Here's my small one with 3 LPRs
https://youtu.be/WXWpx36RF04
Here's a Big One with 20 BRPEs
http://www.navy-radio.com/tty/relay/fgc73-spec-01.JPG

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from Dave -
We were then told to tell message drafters to either upgrade their
Deferred messages to Routine, or mail them, or send them to wherever
they had to go by courier, carrier pigeon, mule, Pony Express, smoke
signals, heliograph, mail or distribution, but not by electrical message
via the CommCenter or RATT.

This was likely due to the massive build-up in the US CommCenter
system of message traffic with regard to the Vietnam War. Most
tape relays at the time were choked and heavily backlogged with
message traffic, and a lot of it was probably Deferred and Routine stuff.
Most of the tape relay systems we had dated from the mid to late 1950s,
and were great for peace-time levels of military message traffic, but
by the time Vietnam came along, we were swamped and the
old relays had a hard time moving this stuff and could not keep up
with either the demand or the volume of traffic (especially at 60 wpm).
Add to that circuit outages and equipment problems at times.

To give an idea, we had OO messages sitting in the tape relays
sometimes for 3 or 4 days in brown paper bags waiting to be run
thru the ZVA (Multiple Call Processing Units), of which most tape
relays only had one or two of those positions. Priority messages
might be stuck in the relay (ZVA) for a week and Routines 2 or even
3 weeks until we got around to them. On top of that, there were
extreme personnel shortages (in Germany where I was, all our
tape apes got "levied" for Vietnam 6 weeks after we got them from
Signal School). Frankfurt Relay (my assignment), was supposed to have
50 people on the tape relay floor per shift; we were lucky if we had
10, and we were working 12 and sometimes 18 hour shifts with
about a hundred full duplex circuits, all busy. These places were
very hot and always smelled like hot oil (from the tapes). Ah, the
good old days!

Dave
Greenville, SC
DE RUMLNHA
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