ROYAL MALAYSIAN NAVY - NAVAL COMMUNICATOR

A Navy members who establish and manage communications systems for the Navy. They ensure that the Navy has reliable communcations for mission success. The Systems unclude HF, UHF, VHF transceiver, HF data modems etc.. Radiotelephony, radiotelegraphy, flag semaphore, flag hoist, and signal lamp or blinkers are used for sending signals.

Like human communications on land, the Naval communicators was initially oral, often through relays in small boats.

Effective communication is crucial to success in any field. The Maritime English is the lingua franca at sea so to speak, and is vitally important for a multitude of reasons, such as safety of the ship crews, the efficiency of daily tasks and the integrity of the ship.

A Naval Communicators assigned at Navy ships while sailing, will be standing watches in the Communication Room (COMCEN) sending and receiving incoming & outgoing messages, and also employed on the bridge of the ship with communications by radio, signal flags, semaphore or flashing lights (morse code).

A Naval communicator are relied upon for all matters of ceremony.

From the time of Flag Semaphores used as the primary means of communication for ship, Naval communication has gone through a long and winding evolution through the years.

The use of Signal Flag (Semaphore), dates back to ancient times. The Semaphore uses a series of flags to spell out a particular message, with every flag representing a specific letter.

Same as the use of Morse Code, allowed ship-to-shore communication via radio during the early 19th century. The Morse code is the method where text characters are encoded as standardized sequences of two signal durations, dahs and dits.

The International Morse code encodes 26 basic letters in Latin from A to Z, the Arabic numerals, a small set of procedural signals and punctuation or prosigns, and a single accented Latin letter, É. But the fact that there is a need to individually transmit each letter soon made the technology obsolete as it only added to the expenses for vessel communication.

While assigned to the Naval Base or when ship alongside harbour, a Communicator will be busy with sending and receiving messages which will involve typing and computer skills.... as a Naval Communicator you must be proficient in typing and using computers.

A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations.

A Telexz is a telecommunications system that allows text-based messages to be sent and received by teleprinter over telephone lines

The word "telex" is a contraction of "teleprinting" and "exchange". Telex includes a switched routing network, originally based on pulse-telephone dialing, which in the United States was provided by Western Union.

Reference:

1. Wikipedia - Teleprinter

2. Wikipedia - Telex

Radio wireless communication is the transfer of information (telecommunication) between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer, it use radio waves.

The successful carrying out of modern naval warfare is, in the main, entirely dependent upon the art of radio communication.

For me, what is the best of being a Naval Communicator, It's fun because you always learn something, its fun to work with modern equipment and trouble shoot... eventhough thoday communication at sea relies more on satellites than flags signalling, the fundamental role of the naval communicator remain crucial to the ship's operational effectiveness.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

Lembah Keramat, K.L

16/1/2025: 4.53 p.m