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B.O.T. Radar Maintenance Certificate.

27K views 114 replies 52 participants last post by  Varley 
#1 ·
Around the time I left the sea I began to hear rumours that a Radar Mtce Cert would be made compulsory on all single R/O ships. Can anyone tell me if this actually happened ?
 
#69 ·
Did my MOT Radar at Watt Memorial, Greenock from mid-January to end March, 1958. Haad previously failed the second part of my 2nd class, so filled in the time waiting to re-sit by doing my Radar. Passed OK so I had my radar ticket before my PMG, which I did get in April. It was a BTH at the Jimmy Watt. Never saw another one after that.
Bob
 
#73 ·
Mine is an MoT ticket 2571 Jul '64 at Riversdale on their Marconi. Like Bob, I never saw it again, but certainly did the BTH. As the comments show - not very reliable !! ( edit - just remembered my thread of last year on this theme !)

The weirdest thing was when I joined the ship in Dublin, I peered into the radar room to see about a dozen or so huge deck lights wired in series/parallel to produce the wattage and resistance of the big green resistors in the psu. My predecessor was certainly very inventive !

David
+
 
#75 ·
Did my MOT radar in Soton on the RadioLocator Mk4 in 1962 cert nr. 2164.
Had to threaten resigning from Marconi to get leave to do the course I had already booked in for, so they were not that interested in me doing it. Also had to go on the dole for the period of the course and then they paid me the difference when I rejoined . No wonder I only stayed with them for another two years.
 
#76 ·
Also had to go on the dole for the period of the course and then they paid me the difference when I rejoined.
That was the norm, something to do with the employment law and training. When I did my radar ticket at South Shields I shared a flat with a guy from Blue Star line who was doing his Master's ticket. He was employed by BS and they operated the same arrangement, and so did many other shipping companies. At the employment exchange where we signed on each week, there were so many of us that the queue ran alongside the building down the street every morning. Others on my course had different signing-on days; I had to sign-on on a Wednesday, my room mate was a Friday man.

Guys who had been free-lance (whether deck, engine room or radio room) just got the dole, whereas we got it raised to the level of our normal pay by our employers.
 
#79 · (Edited)
We also had a Kelvin Hughs Situation Display with its little TV camera and glass screens.

We, of course, were not allowed to touch it; as it was there purely for the Navs to play with. It was so big it didn't fit on the "bridge" so it was in our radar room; and, by all accounts of those who sailed with it; a pain in the "ass" to work with.

Peter
The KH SDR was a delight compared to the Photoplot radar. Mind you both are the works of the devil:D

Mike
 
#82 ·
The Kelvin Hughes Situation Display Radar has been mentioned before somewhere. It was a laugh to take the camera out, point it at your head and show your mug on the screen (just came to me ...I mean the PPI). If the radar was working when going through Dover Straits the picture looked like a sperm sample under a microscope. Maybe it was glowing green because of the nuclear power station at Dunganess.

John T.
 
#85 ·
Got my BOT radar ticket in 1976, ten years after my PMG. Marconi offered the option of doing the course as a correspondence course for the theory, followed by a month in East Ham for the practical stuff, and final exams. At the end of the course, Marconis paid, as far as I can remember, a five month cash bonus, which was what you'd have been paid in study leave for doing the theory part of the course ashore.
This is my first posting on this site by the way. So hello! And does anyone remember the Marconi Predictor?
 
#86 · (Edited)
Welcome to SN Criffh,

Yes I remember the Marconi Predictor, not too bad once the tape cassette memory were sorted out. I sailed with an early one and electrostatic problems was forever causing the loop tape to chew - lining with silver foil was one answer - think they went from polycarbonate cassette casing to metal. Sailed with a later model and it was reliable. Recall the tape had a sync tone pre-recorded on to it to ensure system sync lock as the tape drive motor speed wasn't electronically controlled (if my memory serves..)
Talking about radars, this evening I've been leafing through an old Iotron Digiplot Manual (Vol.1) courtesy of Radio Holland - brings back memories
 
#89 ·
Consider what was essentially a CCTV monitor in the OM's cabin relaying what a CCTV camera sees from a minature PPI within the bridge radar unit. When the R/O unbolts the camera from the radar unit he can then point the camera at anything e.g. pulling a funny face or something entirely inappropriate (as one legend doth go..)
 
#90 ·
Tnx for the welcome Mikeg. As far as I can remember, I only came across metal tape cassettes on the two T&J Harrison ships I sailed on which had Predictors. 30 feet of tape moving past a stationary head at 30 inches/sec wasn't it? They certainly wore out quickly! Also, two large pcbs mounted on the inside of the doors, which I think contained 256 7470 JK flip-flops, configured as a 256 bit shift register. Cutting edge back then.
Your mention of Holland reminded me of a one-week course a shipowner sent me on, in Rotterdam in the 70s, prior to joing a new-build in Japan. It was for a Sperry radar, which was fitted with a collision avoidance system. It turned out that the collision avoidance hardware was in a sealed module, which was not intended to be accessed by the R/O. The rest of the radar was pretty standard. The course itself was a basic maintenance course for masters/mates. So I spent a couple of days familiarising myself with the manual, and learning a bit about gyros, and then with the agreement of the trainers, got a ferry back to Harwich some time earlier than was originally intended. The ship itself was Liberian flag, British officers. I got off that one as soon as I could!
 
#91 ·
Hi Criffh,

30 ips sounds about right, running virtually continously whilst at sea (on Shell ships anyway) I remember seeing a professional Studer tape recorder running at that speed - the heads wear out sooner.
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=qcVsfdty7sg
It's good to get a heads up (no pun intended) getting a course on new radars, I remember joining a Chandris ship with the OM, we neither had seen the radar type before (but I didn't tell him that :)
 
#92 ·
Hiya Mikeg

I joined the Newcastle Star in L'pool back in 1969. 8400 grt and no radar fitted. We dropped the pick once we got clear of the Mersey, and waited >24 hours for the fog to lift before we could proceed to Cape Town. Now everything larger than a lilo is equipped with radar. It was a pretty good trip - on a charter running between Aus and S.Africa.
Seeing a reel-reel tape recorder running at 30ips is an awesome sight. I suppose that sort of gear is still used for the production of specialist high-end vinyl, where the manufacturer is honest about not employing digital processing in the audio chain.
 
#94 ·
#92 . "I joined the Newcastle Star in L'pool back in 1969. 8400 grt and no radar fitted. "

Who remembers being on a ship where the Old Man wouldn't let them use the radar ("It won't work when we get to the fog!")? Remember also hearing the whine of the Raymarc 7 starting up, followed a few moments later by the phone ringing and thinking "Jesus christ, here we go again!"

John T

A hip without radar? Sounds like heaven to me.

John T
 
#100 · (Edited)
Having worked on those monsters Hermes/Argus to obtain a Radar Cert
I did my Radar Cert, at Fleetwood Nautical College in early 1967, there was one of those monsters as well as a Decca Radar, Ray Pilgrim the lecturer said have a look at it but don't touch we use the Decca for the training and the exam.

I was the only actual sea going R/O on the course the others were college students who had just finished their PMG, so I spent most of my time in the various public houses of Fleetwood with a crowd of deck officers doing their mates tickets, still managed somehow to pass the radar exam much to Ray's surprise.

While at the college I had met my future wife and consequently when I joined Decca as a marine electronics engineer I was based initially at Fleetwood, I returned to the nautical college in the early seventies and had the job of installing a new Decca Transar radar to replace the old Decca valve radar.
 
#107 ·
Wasn't the main tx made by Mullard, and half the size of an Oceanspan? No idea what the main rx was.

When I was in digs in Southampton, doing my PMG, the landlord was adamant that a recent collision between two ships in the Solent had been due to radar not being able to see in the dark. I let him wallow in his ignorance.
 
#99 ·
For right or wrong I chose to do AMEC/C&G when the opportunity to do more school came along and then the time and need for RMC never presented itself again *. I am sure RMC would have been good to have but must have had a lot in it that was for the purposes of being examined. Much like AMEC. It was, however, a single application studied in depth. The variety of applications encountered in AMEC was its advantage.

* Not quite true. As super I was on a run job on Merchant Prince to Marseille DD from Italy. By then RMC was a requirement for British ships. My young lady ETO was fully qualified with MRGC and RMC but did not have her 6 months trainee time 'in' so we sailed with an exemption relying on my MRGC and her RMC.
 
#101 ·
Regarding asking the Captain if they the navigators, could switch the Radar on, first trip on British Hussar 1966, with a KH 14/16P which had a key switch on the display unit to fire the system up, needless to say the Captain kept said key in his pocket.

Been clearing some cupboards out today and found all the old exam papers, PMG 2nd class 1965, PMG 1st 1976, C&G Telecoms 1965, Marine electronics, must have been clever back in those days as reading the questions now, can barely understand anything.

Also my BoT Radar Maintenance ticket No.3193 issued 29th July 66, sat the exam on a Decca but can't remember which one.
 
#102 · (Edited)
I remember the "Handbook for Wireless Operators" has specimen papers for both classes at the back..
The Class 1 always seemed soooo far tougher than the 2.

If I recall correctly.... the radar ticket paper had 3?... Questions of which 2 had to be tackled.
One of the questions was on the dreaded "radar range equation".... Leaving the options a lot narrower.
I think a collective complaint was raised by the colleges..... Dunno the outcome.
 
#104 ·
I did a Mk4 course in the East Ham depot somewhere around 1966 - about the most memorable part was where I had to bury the landlady's old dog in her back garden. The poor old lady was lost without her dog and her husband had passed away some time before - a dockie down at KG5. I mentioned it back at he depot and they found her a young pup to keep her company - very sad really.
 
#105 ·
Ah, the East Ham Landladies. If one was not in-the-know it may have sounded better to take the offered hotel accommodation instead of the diggings. Perhaps not a catastrophic error of navigation but certainly an error the digs were better even if there was no bar.
 
#108 ·
Its funny, in the US the FCC radar maintenance certification (element 8 exam) only warranted an endorsement on the radiotelegraph or radiotelephone license. Under the section: “Special conditions and endorsements” labeled “Ship radar endorsement.”
 
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