I seem to remember the Salvita during my time with Blue Flu,57 to 60. It was the practice, once a trip, to go away with it in a lifeboat and when a distance off contact the ship and get the "come back signal",it always seemed to do the job.The guys cranking were happy if you didn't take too long over it.

 

I am sure one of the ex Mimco experts on here will have some details on how far you should be able to transmit with a lifeboat transmitter. Rather like Paul I would have thought you could have managed 30 miles with a well set up system on the monkey island as opposed to the less than ideal conditions in a boat. Similar to R651400 when I was a 2R/O I was despatched in the motor boat during a lengthy spell at anchor outside Colombo in 1964. I don't think we went as far as over the horizon but we went some distance and with all the ships there would not have been a clear line of sight. I managed to raise the 'mother ship' (ss Matra/GZYJ) first call and we returned in high spirits having only broken down once. For the life of me I cannot remember what the equipment was. That ship had a complete Redifon installation from not long after the war so it seems reasonable to assume it was a Redifon lifeboat transceiver but the grey cells can't recall ever having sailed, or even seen, one of them. I am more inclined to believe it was a Marconi cylindrical one but am open to correction there. Another Brock's R/O from the same vintage may remember.

 

Hi Tony

The Manaar and I believe the Mahseer had the rectangular Marconi Salvita lifeboat equipment. I cannot swear about the Mahseer but the Manaar certainly had MCW (A3) for 8364 KHz because I have a photograph of myself and the Chota Marconi Sahib (manfully turning the handles) testing the equipment on the hatch of the number three hold with me holding a microphone. I doubt we were transmitting into an antenna so must have been using the dummy load that I believe had some sort of visual indicator that allowed you to confirm the TX was being modulated.

The Marine Radio Manual by Danielson and Mayoh states that the Marconi Salvita 3 had A2 (800Hz) modulation only (presumably for 500 kHz). That being the case the equipment fitted to the Manaar must have been a Mk4 or later. I presume that Matra/Mahseer and Manaar had similar equipments.

I never tested the equipment in a lifeboat but it was common to work 4PB (Colombo) during the time we were unloading/loading in the port.

Thanks to Paul for what is for me a very interesting thread.

Regards to all
John

 

When I was 3rd on the SA Oranje in 1968, when we were in Durban, the chief would make sure there was a cloudless sky, blazing sunshine and intense heat and send the 4th and myself onto the deck outside the radio room window with the lifeboat TX. We were not allowed to come back in until we had contacted ZSC on 8mHz. We couldn't cheat, as he was listening inside radio room! We always managed to QSO in the end and I was quite impressed by this, but I always found ZSC to be a very good station to contact anyway.
Bob

 

Thanks John. I think you are right in that it was a Salvita, I certainly sailed with that several times and also with the R/T version of same. It seems highly likely Matra had the same kit as other members of the class.
As a variation on the theme mentioned by Bob above when I was on Oronsay/GCNB we were doing a RTW trip in 1971 called Around the World in 80 Days, which as it happens it was. P&O passenger vessels at that time had a covered lifeboat fitted with a permanent radio station which was obviously a much grander affair than the ubiquitous yellow handled jobs as described above. We were on passage from Durban to Perth and a couple of days out from Durban for BOT sports 1R/O Jack Gawley despatched me to the boat and told me not to come back until I had contacted Perth/VIP. I went off muttering thinking I had not got a hope in hell of contacting Perth which was still some good distance away on 8Mhz having just recently worked him on the normal radio equipment on 16 Mhz. To my complete amazement after about 3 attempts VIP came back to GCNB1 with a QSA3. Just goes to show that 1R/O's know more than we gave them credit for!

 

The Marconi cylindrical lifeboat transceiver with two very sharp and protrusive handles was the "Salvita". As stated above, this only had W/T transmitting capability - 500kHz and 8364kHz and was fitted with a clockwork automatic keying device for sending the Alarm Signal and the Distress Signal.

The long rectangular set sold by Marconi which additionally carried 2182kHz R/T facilities was the "Survivor" but it was in fact designed and manufactured by Clifford & Snell - I believe their identity for the original was Type 640. I think the later version (Marconi "Survivor 3" was C&C Type 740 but I stand to be corrected on the C&S identities.

My views on all of those portable lifeboat sets (having only used them in fair weather tests, never under real emergency conditions) was that they were provided mainly for morale purposes, since the overall installation configurations that were achievable in a lifeboat were so inefficient as to be almost useless. We used to joke that the DoT were just being humane in that if you were selected to turn the handles, it could be guaranteed that you would quickly suc***b to exhaustion and so avoid the lingering death from sunburn, exposure and dehydration that would be the lot of your fellow survivors. In wartime, under conditions of general radio silence, it might have been possible to alert another vessel on 5000kHz but in peacetime that was most improbable.

Now the fixed lifeboat installations that had to be provided on large passenger ships were quite a different kettle of fish. They ran off lead-acid batteries and contained a transmitter equivalent to the reserve transmitter fitted in the ship's radio room. Because they had a decent power supply and the boat had sufficient space and stability to allow the rigging of a decent wire antennas, you were able to achieve reasonable ranges on MF.

The last version that Marconi produced was the "Salvare 3"included the "Salvor 4" solid-state reserve transmitter (410-525kHz W/T, 2182kHz R/T) and the "Sentinel" receiver (150-535kHz, 1.6-30MHz) as well as the electronic "Autokey 2" and battery-charging facilities.

The COSPAS/SARSAT 406MHz EPIRB is a far more reliable means of alerting others in emergency that costs little or no more than "the dustbin with handles" and does not need any skill or effort to set in action but will contact help from anywhere in the world. I would have total confidence in trusting my life to one of those - none at all to the "Salvita".

 

Now the fixed lifeboat installations that had to be provided on large passenger ships were quite a different kettle of fish. They ran off lead-acid batteries and contained a transmitter equivalent to the reserve transmitter fitted in the ship's radio room. Because they had a decent power supply and the boat had sufficient space and stability to allow the rigging of a decent wire antennas, you were able to achieve reasonable ranges on MF.

They were installed in two lifeboats on the Empress of Canada, whenever we had a lifeboat drill we had to run them up and do a test with the ships main radio station, we also tried a CQ for test with any other vessels and nearly always got a reply.

 

I only had experience of the 'yellow cube' IMR version. I never had any problems running it up on deck. On a cargo ship on the bridge wing to be precise I wound the earth round something handy I think. The crew thought it was a piece of cake till I pressed the key !! I called CQ for a test, got an instant QSL, then went back inside to find out that my QSO was 50 miles away.

On a tanker whilst waiting at anchor off Port Stanvac, the mate put a boat down so I gave it a test for real - a first for me. I raised VIA easily, but don't know how far it was from Port Stanvac to Adelaide.

David
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I just looked on Google Earth and found that Port Stanvac to McLaren Vale is only about 15-20 kms
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I recall a circular coming round castigating ROs for using the Lifeboat Transmitters as a foot rest under the desk - apparently it weakened the lid.

I also recall doing a demonstration of the lifeboat transmitter for the crew on an Australian ship. I showed them how to fire it up and send a distress call, then jokingly said: "..... and every ship within about 50 yards will be able to hear you."

The looks on some of their faces made me quickly realise that they didn't find it funny. Don't forget, these were the blokes who would refuse to sail if there was a loose tile in the galley - I had to do a lot of quick back-pedaling over that! A valuable lesson for me

John T

 

The looks on some of their faces made me quickly realise that they didn't find it funny. Don't forget, these were the blokes who would refuse to sail if there was a loose tile in the galley - I had to do a lot of quick back-pedaling over that! A valuable lesson for me

John T

WE ARE GUNNA JACK HER UP, SKIPPER!

 

Ron's post is spot on.

Useless bloody things. Trying to rig the antenna in any kind of seaway would have been a nightmare.

ERP would have been about 10 mW....

 

From some dim recess of memory I seem to recall one of them had about 3W O/P but I could be wrong. I had completely forgotten they (or some of them) had 8Mhz. The original Salvita was a heavy beast; at least the Survivor was a lot lighter to lug about.

Having read some of these posts I can only assume I either did something wrong with the rig that day or there was a fault on the tx side. I can't remember what happened about it. I guess it would have been included on a Mimco schedule at the next depot, maybe even by AWA in NZ.

The things were always a nightmare to restow after using, especially in bitter cold or wet conditions. 'Orrible things, all up, but I bet they've come in very useful occasionally, and even saved lives. My wife asked me last night why they weren't kept nearer to the boats instead of in the radio room. Good question.

Reckon a good bet would've been to have taken an Aldis lamp into the boat, with a requisite battery of course. They were very clever things and very good at establishing communication with other ships at night, even when the other was just a faint light on the horizon. There was always something quite magical (at least to me, if not the majority of mates) about getting the gear out and calling up a distant light... .- .- .- I always found deck cadets quite keen to use them.

 

Recollect that the regulations stated that the lifeboat radio must be on the same deck as the lifeboats. Mobil tankers carried two, one aft one amidships due to the fact that tankers had a habit of breaking in two...They were stowed in a box by the lifeboat. Cadets were the best for turning the handles. Never made a contact with one myself and like I others I understood they were useful for introducing items back to the UK, as you could inform customs that the equipment was "sealed" and had to remain so..

 

Stowage of lifeboat transceivers in RFA vessels was never in the radio office. I had the occasional experience of going afloat in a lifeboat during Board of Trade with Salvor/Salvita and flashing it up. No probs rigging aerial when sea was as flat as a Jap's face. Fortunately never needed to use one "in anger".

 

Salvita

I remember being at anchor off either Puerto Barrios or Puerto Cortez. Glorious day so the OM decided to lower the two lifeboats, one had an engine and get in a bit of practice so the two were hitched up and they motored away from the ship. I'd volunteered the 2nd RO for one of the boats while I sat in the Radio Room. All appeared to be going well when suddenly they found one of the lifeboats was leaking like a sieve! They almost had to use the old Salvita for real!

Someone mentioned earlier just how inefficient these things were. It was a combination of low power and horrendously enefficient antenna of course and I'm glad I never had to use one in anger.

The Salvita's aerial bag was very handy for storing tins of Capstan which I used to send home to my dad - everything has it's uses...

 

On joining a ship I asked the R/O where the lifeboat radio was stowed (it was a midships tanker) to which the reply was "Dunno". The person in question had been on the ship for about 6 months. I eventually found it under the desk in the Engineers aft office, being used as a foot rest.
Happy daze !

 

Good job you weren't up for a survey, Chris!

Just remembered a trick in case you got a surveyor who had nothing better to do and he wanted to dunk the transceiver into water to test its waterproofing. A smear of Vaseline round the rubber seal of the lid kept it nice and dry.

John T

PS Have heard back from Mr Mills. Will be in touch.

 

All the old Blue Funnel hands here, and also onboard when I was a junior, mention the 2nd R/O having to go out in the boat for testing the l/b transceiver. It seems to have gone out of fashion by the time I joined in 1970. I never did - maybe conditions weren't good enough for the drill when I was 2nd on Protesilaus, and for the next several years I was alone with no junior. Did try to test it with nearby ships. Also remember the radio surveyors with their stopwatch out on the clockwork AKD.

 

Last trip on the "Heythrop/GRYJ"I decided to test the Survivor lifeboat Tx. There was a handy 24vDC output on the radio room desk and a 24vDC input on the Survivor, great I thought, none of that pesky handle cranking. Do you know there is no reverse voltage protection on that unit....I do!!
Bill

 

Getting back to the IMR 'Yellow Cube', there was also a cylindrical bag stowed next to the cube which contained a self assembly pole to support the aerial wire stowed next to the cube. It was usually the Stewards assignment at boat stations.

David
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The GMDSS is by NO means perfect, but lifeboat comms have certainly moved on from hand cranked 500 kHz radios, that's for sure...

 

Surely the lifeboat set was nothing to do with communications. It kept three people's hands busy instead of going off their heads contemplating their fates with nothing to take their minds off it.

 

I think we had a 'Salvor' on my first ship, the 'Naess Sovereign', in 1965/66. Realising that this yellow box might one day represent our last resort, I took a special interest in it and made sure it was stored in an extremely orderly way - in particular, no tangles in the aerial's support cords.

We did test it once or twice in my time but I can't recall the details. What does stick in my mind, however, is the occasion when I naively asked a passing 'jack the lad' navigation apprentice to please turn the handle whilst I operated the little Morse key. Showing off to his mates, the idiot wound it madly fast and straightaway broke the set! He went off laughing. Later inspection showed that what he had done was break several teeth on the drive sprocket made from a special tough plastic material.

Rather than place a sprocket on order and have no lifeboat radio in the meantime, Captain Mayne decided to revive his old engineering skills and make one himself! His result, though a creditable effort, was far below the quality of the original, so thereafter I never had the same faith in our lifeboat set that I used to have.

 

Creature from the deep...

Someone mentioned throwing a Salvita (or something similar) over the side whereupon it promptly disappeared - wonder if this could be the one...

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?219450-The-world-s-toughest-radio

 

It looks like an old military set similar to what were installed in tanks.

 

The old Tank radios were I believe either type 18 or 20 which were very popular with Radio Hams after the War, a small modification and they T&R worldwide. I use to go down to 'Johns Radio' in Leeds who had new ones painted Grey still in their cardboard boxes. Judging by the seal recess the model shown looks though it is built to be watertight.
RBDG.

 

Aha - the jpg wouldn't open for me - kept telling me I needed to register first, so I never saw the picture.

R651400 - as you say it's obviously not a Salvita, think I had one of those on every ship I sailed on! I read somewhere earlier today that one of the requirements was that an emergency lifeboat set should be portable - makes sense. Thinking back, it was always kept in the Radio Room - well on the ships I sailed on. Dragging it out of the Radio Room and accross the boat deck would be have been a bit of a handful for one person. Maybe with Davy Jones lapping around one's ankles a sudden spurt of energy might suddenly appear! :sweat:

Wouldn't it have made more sense to have it in one of the lifeboats. With lots of the ships then having two lifeboats (or more) having two sets would have made sense - but maybe the tight ****d shipowner might not have been willing to cough up...

Chadburn - I never came across the 18 or 20 set. The 19 set was very popular with hams. I seem to remember it had limited hf coverage and it could be readilly cobbled to cover a couple of the ham bands. It had vhf as well but that was quite a big set.

Maybe someone on here will recognise this one.

 

John, I respect your knowledge on the subject and you are most probably correct with the type 19 set, it sounds like the one and readily available in the 1950's at Surplus Shops. My interest at the time and my visits to Johns radio was more to do with a pair of the Walkie Talkie type sets.
RBDG.

 

John, I respect your knowledge on the subject and you are most probably correct with the type 19 set, it sounds like the one and readily available in the 1950's at Surplus Shops..RBDG.

My knowledge on these things is pretty limited but a few of my mates had these beasts...

Ah - John's Radio, that brings back memories. I used to get the train up from Anglesey and spend an afternoon there, mooching through boxes. I remember buying an old Class D wavemeter there amongst other things. All the old shops have gone I suspect.

 

Ref my #10 earlier, I have found this from the 'trip around the bay'. The Mate is in charge with a couple of engineers. The Mobil Astral can be seen behind. No sign of any aerial stays, but I do remember rigging the aerial as it should be. It was a 'first' for me where the boat set was meant for. There was a 'plumb bob' earthing wire that you threw over the side as I remember.

David
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We had called at Jurong the trip before for some repairs. Looks like one of the engineers got himself a decent camera !!

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