Yes, I had a similar experience with Russian RTTY. I was able
translate enough of the cyrillic to know these were health and welfare
messages from some guys on very lonely remote duty sent to the family
back home. Made me realize we were a whole lot more alike than
different.

I was using a Kenwood R-5000 and AEA PK232MBX fed to an extensively
modified TRS Color Computer and 40 column monitor.