David KB7GFL visits the USS Missouri KH6BB 2023, 2021
David KB7GFL visited Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the USS Missouri in 2021 and again in 2023. With a sponsor from the Battleship Missouri Amateur Radio Club, David was able to make some contacts using both SSB and FT8 from the ship’s amateur radio station, KH6BB. Enjoy some photos from his trips below.
![Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri as American General Richard K. Sutherland watches, 2 September, 1945. Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri as American General Richard K. Sutherland watches, 2 September, 1945.](https://www.w7sky.org/wp-content/uploads/cache/2023/12/Screenshot_20231114_063521_Wikipedia-Beta/3915368981.jpg)
Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri as American General Richard K. Sutherland watches, 2 September, 1945.
![USS Missouri's current HF radio antenna USS Missouri's current HF radio antenna](https://www.w7sky.org/wp-content/uploads/cache/2023/12/20231107_111346_resized-scaled/264644744.jpg)
USS Missouri's current HF radio antenna
The principal HF transmitting antenna was and is this "discage" antenna located on the bow. It has two 1-5/8 inch heliax feedlines. When fed at the top, between the apex of the wire cone and the skeleton disk, it functions as a wide-band discone antenna in the 10-30 MHz range. When fed at the base of the cone against ground, it becomes a wide-band monopole in the 6-10 MHz. Range. The discone is the principal KH6BB antenna today.