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Radio Rooms GTZM

12K views 38 replies 15 participants last post by  pippin 
#1 ·
Two Mimco radio rooms from different eras. Call signs anyone?
 
#9 ·
The early station has an Oceanspan MkI (L/C tuned VFO with knob and counter), Reliance Emergency TX, along with Electra and Mercury receivers. T
The ship is the "Aureol" and the R/O is George Cockburn. The "Aureol" is gone but George is still with us and can be seen, on the last Friday of every month, on display in the "Ivory Peg" in Chelmsford town centre.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Malcolm,

the first one is the Aureol as used on Youtube. She had been refitted when I sailed on her and my mind seems to think we had a Commander. Possibly to early for a Conqueror.
There was also a Reliant with RT. Also think there was an Oceanspan but that maybe memory problems. It is 44 years ago.
Callsign GMGJ.
I am sure Ron will tell us.

Neville/Hawkey01
 
#12 · (Edited)
Sorry can't help but Stan McNally or one of the other members of his Liverpool reunion group might be able to come up with the answer.

Don't believe that there ever was a version of the Reliance that had R/T but the Oceanspan VIIE was a reserve transmitter that provided MF/HF W/T and R/T on the MF 1.6-3.8 MHz (IF we called it then) band. Not a lot of difference in the appearance to a casual onlooker (or one peering through the murky windows of memory).

Probably "Commander" or "Commandant" would have been used for a refit - the run that she was on would not have justified the extra expense of a "Conqueror". But the refit would have been done on the Mersey so Stan is your man.
 
#13 ·
Neville/Ron yr postings read like the years have taking their toll. The transmitter in question was the Mimco Reliance.
I took the first practical PMG ever on this innocuous but high performing emergency transmitter which I preferred on MF to the Oceanspan MKVI.
Completely 807 valved I can see it in a radio-telephony role but only with a fair bit of re-engineering on the R/T band coverage side.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Not the memory failing this time, just the association of ideas. I was writing Reliance but thinking Commandant and finished up with a hybrid. I too took my PMG with the "Reliance" as the emergency transmitter and sailed with it on several ships, never ever having a problem with it. As you say, it was better than the "Oceanspan" on MF and it didn't need all those silly vibrator power supplies.
 
#15 ·
The Oceanspan VI and Reliance on Adrastus if my memory hasn't failed were powered by rotary transformers.
Not sure if this was uniquely Blue Funnel as they also powered their Redifon installations exactly the same way including the R50M receiver which meant you had a constant 600-1000 rpm motor whine in the radio room throughout the entire watch period.
 
#16 ·
Did my PMG at Leith on Reliance and Oceanspan VI. Then BoT Radar on Radiolocator Mk IV. Joined my first ship and it was equipped with this gear. Made for an easy life and kept in the boss's good books as he had no radar ticket. The Reliance (Emergency TX ) was powered by a rotary converter. Oceanspan was used to drive a PA and the combination was known as Worldspan.
 
#17 ·
Did my PMG at Leith on Reliance and Oceanspan VI.
I was at LNC in 1955 when they were installed just shortly before the exam but that's another story!!
Pre MKVI Oceanspans and Reliance were powered by dc to dc rotary transformers.
Oceanspan 24/110/220 Vdc input to 600Vdc output and Reliance 24Vdc to 600Vdc.
The Oceanspan MKVI at LNC I recall was a table top model powered by an AC PSU.
There was also a MKVII Oceanspan which I understand included the R/T band..
 
#19 ·
Malcolm,

yes I did make a mistake and I changed it after I reread the post. However Ron had not picked me up on it so thought I was right the first time so changed it back. I also took my PMG on said Tx's.
Sorry Ron - I have to blame someone, its a Government trick its always someone else's fault!

Neville/Hawkey01
 
#20 · (Edited)
With regard to Oceanspan and power supplies, the vibrator power packs that sat in the bottom of early marks of Oceanspan were used to supply the associated receivers. In my time at sea that was CR300 and (I believe) Mercury/Electra. The plug-in vibrators in the power packs had a habit of welding their contacts together and failing, usually at some critical moment when copying a traffic list or handling traffic.

Some time in the 1960's an a.c. power unit was created for use with the Oceanspan VII on refit jobs, where the Oceanspan I or II was being replaced. Since the O'span VII was designed for desk mounting, there was not enough room inside it to take the vibrator power packs. So a steel box, about 30-inch cube, was supplied on which the O'span was mounted to bring it to the correct height for use. Then the vibrator power packs were transferred from the old transmitter and into the box. Loads of space in there.

Regrettably this box was not constructed like an O'span with demountable side and rear panels, instead the sides, back, top and bottom were all welded to form something that resembled a safe, with a front-opening door. Trying to get this through the accommodation doors and into the radio room was a nightmare on any ship, let alone older designs (the ones that were getting the refits) where 21-inch wide doors were the norm. I think that is the worst cock-up that I remember from my time working ashore.

I once spent over a week in a Tyneside shipyard, trying to get all the various tradesmen (deemed necessary by the yard to remove doors and door-frames, cut out steelwork to widen the doorways enough to pass the box through, carry in the box, install a wooden mounting pad, mount the box, weld in plates to close the holes again, paint those plates and then to replace the doors and door-frames) to attend the ship in the correct sequence and allow me (eventually) to install and connect up all the equipment.

I needed only a couple of hours to complete my work of fitting the O'span VII but the entire thing was a marathon. I think that it involved over 20 different men, from 5 or 6 trades. Can't think why shipbuilding moved to Japan and Korea.
 
#21 ·
Did they manage to stiff you with staging as well, Ron?

Got arrested in DD at TDE for (amongst other things) wrong frequency of hooter. Mast just destaged after painting - had to be restaged again just for the new typhon a similar job I was expected to do alone off the foremast ladder (not quite alone - Chief Eng John Benn shouting encouragement from the deck).
 
#22 ·
The Leith Nautical College installation on my joining was the Oceanspan MkI with two rotary transfomers for the ht one for the dc ships mains input (DC courtesy Edinburgh Tram Corp) and the other for the 24v battery emergency supply.
The CR300 receiver, Type M auto alarm and Lodestone DF receiver supplies were vibrator packs built into the Oceanspan cabinet.
In my limited experience and for it's time I rate this as one of the finest MF/HF marine transmitters ever made.
 
#24 ·
The Reliance had the 600 volt line fed via simple plug and socket. One RO was killed by the 600 volt as he bent over to clean the motor commutater. When I joined the sister ship in late 59 was given a talk regarding cleaning commutators on the 600 volt Reliance motor, and that it was totally verboten so to do.
Obviously did not attempt to do this.
 
#25 ·
The Reliance had the 600 volt line fed via simple plug and socket.
The line had to be disconnected to withdraw the transmitter for maintenance (the unit was hinged at the bottom and swung forwards and down to withdraw). Clearly this was not something to be done whilst the unit was powered up.

At Brooks Bar, we were being given instruction during preparation for 2nd Class PMG (in what we called "the gear room") on the Reliance transmitter by the owner of the college, Mr Woods. Woody was a somewhat thespian character, fond of bow ties and suits with silk handkerchiefs flowing from the breast pocket. He was also fond of theatrical gestures to emphasise points during lectures - well during any conversation, actually.

He had run up the Reliance with the front cover removed and was standing in front of it, slightly to one side. While stressing the danger of the HT supply, without looking he waved his arm to the side to point to the hazard. Unfortunately for him, he was closer to it than he thought and his hand came into contact with it.

The results were spectacular and just like a Tom and Jerry cartoon as he was propelled backwards across the room, still in an upright position, until he hit the wall with a thud. He stayed there for a fraction of a second and then his feet slid forwards and his body slid slowly down the wall until his buttocks reached the floor.

The whole class was overtaken by fits of laughter and I confess that nobody moved to help him for several seconds. He came round after a minute or so and took the rest of the day off. We went to the pub as it was after 11 o'clock and they were open!

It certainly demonstrated the dangers of carelessness when working on the Reliance but after all this time I believe he went over the top to get his message across.
 
#27 ·
I think the ship the RO was electrocuted on was the Border Regiment. I think he was cleaning the commutators with a commutator cleaning rod. It was hot wx and as far as I was told as he reached into the unit his chest came into contact with with the plug/ socket 600v line. The mates tried the resusitation procedure but after a while had to give up. Was warned about this by GTZM techs and the superintendent of Commons.
Very sad story, I understand that he was not very old.
 
#30 ·
I had a 600v shock via the isolating transformer of an O'span being open circuit, the 600v was on the aerial, and as the tx kept tripping went onto the monkey island, grabbed the wire and was flung across the island. Not a good experience.
Since that time, was very wary of touching aerials with the ac on.
The Regiment was the only loss of life I was aware of, it just shows how lucky we all were sorting out eht problems etc!
 
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