# Radio Telephone Services.



## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

I have come across this photo of the first RT service on the UK coast. It was a Marconi XMC1 self contained TX/RX 300w set complete with stick microphone and horn speaker It was installed in the new Humber Radio station which opened 12th December 1927.

A long way from a computer controlling things in 1995.

David
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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

WOW they knew how to build things in those days. Great big hand cranked knobs, wires with proper plugs, no fiddly BNC connectors, and the case, what would that be made of, bakelite ? A morse key that looks like it could stop an 88mm shell !
That's proper radio equipment that is.

:sweat:


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## GBXZ (Nov 4, 2008)

Where’s the ashtray ?


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Callsign GBS - "BS" meaning "Brick Sh1thouse".

John T


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

trotterdotpom said:


> Callsign GBS - "BS" meaning "Brick Sh1thouse".
> 
> John T


That's the same 'B' as in Class B equipment I think. But why the agricultural handrail? Are there wheels that we cannot see in the photograph?


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Why is there a morse key at all, if this is an R/T set-up? Where is the PTT switch?

Trying to decypher the front panel knobs, I can't find a tuning scale, so it must have been fixed paired frequency. I suppose MIMCo could never learn, they were still making that mistake with the Crusader/Pennant!


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## GBXZ (Nov 4, 2008)

Would this, or could this set connect to the PO landline at the coast station ?


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Firstly, on the original photograph, Mr R G Smith the Officer in Charge has handwritten that Humber Radio opened 7th December 1927, not 12th as I said earlier. 

There was space to walk behind the RT transceiver, through the door into the transmitter room, so the agricultural rails are to stop you using the aerial lead outs as handrails. They can be seen coming out of the side and going down into the cable chases.

On the bench to the right of the morse key was the original Operating position with the main receiver, a Marconi Type 12A, DF receiver. There was also a PO 'non-directional' receiver. 

To the right of the main Rx can be seen the wheels for cranking the 'Bowden Wires' to change Main Transmitter frequencies. 

The very first Link Call was made 25th October 1937. I don't know if it was the same transceiver.

David
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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

#10. Nice to see an old windmill near the radio station, David. Is it still there?

John T


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

No, sadly not John. Just a stump converted to a house.

David
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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Does anyone go back as far as Charlie Anderson at GKZ ?

David

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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I was rooting about on Google Earth trying find the site when I came across this link:
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/mai...station-humber-radio-2016-a.html#.V_y79egrKUk


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

david.hopcroft said:


> No, sadly not John. Just a stump converted to a house.
> 
> David
> +


That's a shame, David, but thanks for the photo. I thought windmills were preserved but maybe that's only in Holland.

The photos of GKZ in its wrecked state are very sad - I think of the many times I breathed a sigh of relief after sending a closing down TR to them.

Dread to think what it will be like when they open a caravan park and the gypsies move in!

John T


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

It's a crying shame that the current history of this country is being peed down the drain as if it meant nothing. Considering this is where ship/shore radio communication was pioneered, and that is history, it would seem none of it is considered important. I fear for future historians, beyond a few fading photographs, the evidence of mighty things will have long gone.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

John - That is closer than you think !! Have a look at the estate agents blurb. https://www.williamhbrown.co.uk/hou...ographyName=ln12+2ph&radius=0.0&includeSSTC=0

The 1927 Main TX was in what became the Kitchen. That part of the building had a copper screen around it in the brickwork - even a removeable screen at the windows. Long before my time though. It is sad to see the spooky pictures.

David
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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Thanks for that David, after driving all around Mablethorpe in Google Earth Streetview I've finally found it.

(Gleam)


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Isn't that a sad sight: 

https://www.instantstreetview.com/@53.328375,0.273794,50.38h,-1.34p,0.58z


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Yes Bob it certainly is. The owner is currently doing some groundwork to make it more saleable, but that it is.

At least it was put to a good use this summer.................


David
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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Are there any pictures of GND in it's hayday as that looks as if it was an impressive building during its working life ?


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

One of the saddest pictures in my collection. The GKA main building entrance, taken just before demolition. Absolutely nothing remains of the site apart from some concrete blocks in the surrounding field which held the aerial masts and guys.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I shall forever condemn BT to the very bowels of hell for not making even some small effort at preservation.


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

R651400 said:


> What's left of GKA (Highbridge Somerset) is in the name of the private housing development that arose from the bulldozers ie Mulholland Park after the last BT GKA OiC the late Don Mullholland.
> There's still a chance for Stonehaven and it's beautiful surroundings with the right kind of push..
> 
> ps What may not be recognisable in my favourite view and more discernible from the GND operating position is between the two tractors ie the tips of the ruins of Dunnottar Castle (where legends come from) and has hundreds of visitors per year..
> ...


Indeed Mulholland Park is the name of the estate. I actually lived there for a few years, along the unimaginatively-named Marconi Drive. Other names chosen for roads on the estate were Tesla Place, Stockley Road and Maritime Walk. The suggestion put forward by ex-GKA staff to commemorate the UK Maritime Radio Station history (such as North Foreland Close, Niton Way, Cullercoats Place etc..) was totally ignored. 

Sadly the sounds of high-quality cw conversation, traffic lists and weather broadcasts have been replaced by the screeching tyres of boy racers, so-called "grime" music and the squeals of countless screaming children running aimlessly around the estate.

Progress. Apparently.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

No idea when this is Larry, but think it is shortly after WW1.

David
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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

BobClay said:


> I shall forever condemn BT to the very bowels of hell for not making even some small effort at preservation.


Another sad remnant of the service, the GKR building in a very untidy state. The station house is now in private ownership and has had an extension added. A second new house has been built in the grounds.

The station buildings are understood to have been bought by a contractor some time ago - not sure if that means the whole site or just the boarded up part - with a view to development in some sort of way. But at the moment it's a sorry sight.

The site always had Wick High School to the north of it with a newer extent ion to the east but now a new High School is under construction on the south side of the site and it looks like the former transmitting antenna field will be its car park.

Only upside is that some equipment was rescued and is on display at Wick Heritage Museum.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Ref my #28. 
I have managed to get a slightly better copy of the GKA building. The photograph is amongs the bequest to Mablethorpe Library by Brian Roffey , a former PO engineer from Grimsby. They were from his Fathers' collection, so this may well have been around 1927.

The other is GKZ ops room and is dated 13th May 1945. It is from the CD put together by Rugby engineers. The window is the same one as shown behind the 'Kitchen Door' in the 'wreck state' link. The Bowden wires can still be seen overhead, in to the next room and the 'caged' 1927 transmitter. Abolve the inner window is an aerial lead out box from the transmitter on the left side. I presume this is an RT transmitter. The is a CR100, and the RO is sat at the DF receiver, which I think was the main WT point. 

David
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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I do remember when the area scheme finished the Pacific could be a problem trying to work the UK on HF. GKA had a sector scheme for a while, but one night hacking across the North Pacific I remember pulling in a booming signal from GKR, I think on 8 Mhz. I didn't have any traffic for him at the time though ... :-/


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## GBXZ (Nov 4, 2008)

Interesting picture of the ops room David, but why are the clocks not marked with silence periods ?

Reds


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## Jonathan H. (Jul 3, 2015)

*Devizes - GKT*

I had a walk today around Morgan's Hill near Devizes in Wiltshire, not far from where I live.
It may not be Coastal, but back in the 1920s it had a maritime station in the form of Devizes - GKT. 
It opened as a Marconi Imperial Wireless Chain in 1913 and had a military use in 1916 as an intelligence station for locating German Zeppelins.
The GPO & Marconi re-purposed it in 1919 and it opened again in 1920 as GKT. 
An expansion in 1924 saw it also use the call GKU.
It housed the 1st UK Maritime SW transmitter up until closure in 1929 when it was replaced by Portishead Radio.

Sadly ironic that Portishead has gone completely, but parts of it's predecessor are still visible on the hills of Wiltshire. 

Below are some photos of the remaining hut, antenna bases and a set of steps leading to another hut of which only the foundation stones remain.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Excellent pix


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Jonathan H.;2243058The GPO & Marconi re-purposed it in 1919 and it opened again in 1920 as GKT. An expansion in 1924 saw it also use the call GKU.[/QUOTE said:


> Those callsigns were used by Burnham for the radiotelex channels in the 1970s/80s if my memory is correct.


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## MikeGDH (May 10, 2014)

GKU was used on LF (120kc/s or so) by Portishead until the late 60s or thereabouts.
Mike.


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## MikeGDH (May 10, 2014)

Yeah - that sounds about right.....your memory is more exact than mine! GKU was a good reliable, wide-coverage signal. Quite a few of the larger pax ships were still on LF into the '50s, too I believe!
Cheers....
Mike.


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## Jonathan H. (Jul 3, 2015)

It is strange that they didn't build the station on the summit of the hill, some 40m higher. But it may have been a case of ease of access for equipment etc., as there is a decent trackway which comes off the main road and continues a quarter of a mile or so below the hut.
The summit of Morgan's Hill, beyond the clump of trees (Furze Knoll) in the first picture, now houses several transmitter masts. I think they were originally built there 30 odd years ago for Police / emergency communications, but are probably used for mobile phone coverage these days.

I guess as Portishead was built to replace Devizes and provide better coverage for shipping, it seems sensible that they retain the callsigns.


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## Moulder (Aug 19, 2006)

The GKU series were used for HF R/T in the late 70s and early 80s.

(Thumb)


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Moulder said:


> The GKU series were used for HF R/T in the late 70s and early 80s. (Thumb)


Thank you for that.

I was always pleased to use the long-wave GKU transmitter when discharging/loading around the UK back in the early '60s but by the time it moved to HF, I was long ashore. But you are right about GKU being the HF R/T series (GKT was for telex) and my confusion came about (apart from my fading memory) because both services were handled by the Somerton outpost of Portisheadradio in the 1970s/80s when I was visiting ships in connection with their new telex installations and had to make test calls back to the UK.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

I have an earworm of GK E brreeeep ....... GK E brreeep for telex.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Varley said:


> I have an earworm of GK E brreeeep ....... GK E brreeep for telex.




In its strange way a death rattle for HF communication, certainly at sea. I remember sailing with this on several ships during my last seagoing years (not sure if I remember it right, the Marconi Spectre or something like that.) It was marvellous compared to the slow deliberations of a Morse key, but you couldn't help but wonder what chance it had against the ever advancing wonders of satellite communication, very obvious at that time.
We've done 'advancing technology' on another thread. Interestingly, the one sea going job directly involved with telecommunication (which inevitably leads to computerization) which you would think was safe !!! ... was the first 'essential' job to disappear. (Essential I'm only stating in terms of safety at sea.)

Irony or what ? [=P]


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

BobClay said:


> I remember sailing with this on several ships during my last seagoing years (not sure if I remember it right, the Marconi Spectre or something like that.)


The Marconi equipment was called SPECTOR (Single Path Error-Correcting Telex Over Radio) and was the second one to market. It was preceded by Philips' SITOR (Simplex Telex Over Radio). 

My appreciation of the system was not with the speed (up to 66 wpm which was not so special) but the relative ease of sending 1,000+ word messages on a teleprinter rather than a Morse key and the ability to prepare messages in advance on tape, ready for transmission when the ionospheric conditions were favourable. I also like the flexibility of being able to contact the office directly and so get an immediate response. That was also much appreciated by Chiefs on ships that were having engine problems, even if they were not always too happy with the replies they got, or the subsequent demands for ever-more information about the job.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Thanks to Jonathan H for the pictures and story. I wondered what those remains were.......!

(My mother lives not far away).


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Autospec before Spector. HF TOR retained some purchase in the satellite world until with Globewireless's hybrid system. Now absorbed by Inmarsat it may even still offer HF 'paging' when EMAIL traffic awaits. Maritex was another variant.

I have read that a provider is rolling out HF web communications for the Internet of Things (presumably the lower bandwidth would not suit us gas bagging humans).


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I still wander about on the HF spectrum now and again using various SDR websites. Makes shortwave radios a bit of an ornament these days. (Smoke)

I even find a bit of Morse here and there, usually radio hams, and have a few minutes of nostalgic foolishness jotting it down.

Then I get better and move on. [=P]


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Can someone remind me what frequency GRL was on ?? I used it all the time on an MF only 1900 ton phosphate carrier.

Autospec ?? see thumbnail - Automatic Single Path Error Correction - 

David
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## jimg0nxx (Sep 1, 2005)

Think GRL was on 1612 Kc/s.


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## Paul Braxton (Jul 21, 2005)

Totally agree with you, Ron, (post 47). The advent of Spector and the associated Hi Stab Tx/Rx was wonderful. I used to call the Spector a 'spam machine', after a Monty Python sketch which some may remember, the one where one of the guys would start chanting "spam, spam, spam..." and the whole chorus would be taken up by the others, much like the way the telex used to work if you can remember the characteristic musical sounds it made.

And being able to preprepare msgs of considerable length, then sit back and watch it all go through. The Old Man and Chief were often sitting right alongside, making real-time comments through to Head Office. I thought it was the coolest piece of kit, that.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Ok I do remember working the Spector (forgive me for naming it earlier after an evil crime organization bent on dominating the world (Gleam) ) but the teleprinter CP Ships supplied had a cathode ray screen and a bunch of memory so you could literally type in your message as you would a computer and then fire it off via the Spector when ready.

The primary drawback as I remember it was that you could only use the main transmitter at low power, as the RF in the shack made the teleprinter very unhappy.

To a large extent this problem went away when CP Ships put in a Sailor HF rack as an auxiliary in the Radio Room and the teleprinter took less umbrage to the transmitter on that.

I've attached a photo of the radio room on the class of ship which I first encountered the Spector, although this is pre-telex fitting. The Spector went into the rack where you can see the callsign plate. The Sailor installation you can see on the left, and the teleprinter was fitted where you can see the typewriter. The main transmitter is on the right.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Varley said:


> Autospec before Spector. ..... Maritex was another variant.


The Marconi 'Autospec' was a forward error-correcting system (albeit a 10-bit one rather than the 7-bit FEC system on SITOR and SPECTOR) and was not deemed good enough to be adopted as the international standard radiotelex system. It lost out (correctly in my opinion) to the ARQ system that was exemplified by SITOR/SPECTOR - and others.

Maritex was the Swedish PTT's automated radiotelex service, offered from Gothenburgradio/SAG which commenced using Philips SITOR equipment but, as demand grew, switched to using their own software running on DEC10 computers. It offered fully automated store-and-forward radiotelex connections from telex subscribers ashore to ships and vice versa. The ships were listed in the Swedish telex directory and the shore user just dialled the number as they would any other telex subscriber. Thereafter the call was routed to SAG where a computer accepted the message and closed the telex circuit. 

Then, using occasional TR information provided by the ship, computers kept a log of the ship's route and position, calculated the optimum calling frequency and set up a transmitter accordingly. It also selected a directional antenna to aim at the target ship and called, using the ARQ on the computers. The ship had a dedicated receiver which was connected to the ship's SITOR telex facility and which scanned the SAG telex frequencies. On receipt of a call the ARQ fired up the ship's ST1600 transmitter and established contact. The stored message was passed and everything was shut down - all without any manual intervention. 

Calls from the ship went much the same way. The operator dialled the number of the shore subscriber but without the computer, it was necessary to consult a guide to find the likely optimum calling frequency and choose that channel on the radio station controller. At the receiving coast station the call was recognised, a steerable log-periodic antenna was directed to improve the signal and the transmitter responded. The call was established and the message was passed to the computer at SAG and the circuit was shut down.

The SAG computer then accessed the telex network and passed the message to the shore subscriber as with any normal land-line telex message.

It was also possible to make end-to-end telex calls but some manual intervention was involved.

The guy running the SAG system was called Alf Persson and he later worked in the USA on various connected projects.

All this some 10 years before INMARSAT came into being.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

VIS/VIP offered the automated service. It worked really well at the ship end using a Thrane and Thrane telex system combined with a dedicated Skanti TRP8250 transceiver. This package was sold to quite a few Aussie ships.

I was fortunate to sail with this arrangement on two ships. It made the Apollo/Conqueror/Spector system look antiquated.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Troppo said:


> I was fortunate to sail with this arrangement on two ships. It made the Apollo/Conqueror/Spector system look antiquated.


Well it was designed 2 decades and two generations of kit later! We thought the T&T equipment was such an excellent piece of kit that, rather than develop a replacement for the Spector 2, we re-badged it in the MIMCo name and sold it as Spector 3. 

Very innovative don't you think? Maybe not.


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## Paul Braxton (Jul 21, 2005)

Come to think back on it, I made a Dymo label "SPAM MACHINE", which was prominently displayed next to the Mimco badge on the Spector. Great days, those.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Ron Stringer said:


> Well it was designed 2 decades and two generations of kit later! We thought the T&T equipment was such an excellent piece of kit that, rather than develop a replacement for the Spector 2, we re-badged it in the MIMCo name and sold it as Spector 3.
> 
> Very innovative don't you think? Maybe not.


It was so good, that was the only sensible thing to do..!

They did a bells and whistles version with 500, inbuilt AKD, et al. Wonderful.

Sait packaged two of them into a last generation W/T console...it was superb...

I never sailed with one, but I was fortunate to survey one on my last ever W/T survey on Australia's last W/T ship - the Ice breaker _Aurora Australis_.


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

BobClay said:


> I shall forever condemn BT to the very bowels of hell for not making even some small effort at preservation.


The GPO radio stations should never have been sold to BT.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

There was an attempt to save GKZ as a museum. I attended a meeting there with the ROA, a Radio Historian and two from English Heritage not long after closure.

At this point in time, and if there was to be any developments in the plans, in their favour, BT were willing to leave all the equipment at GKZ 'as is'. A substantial offer, but sadly, as with most issues of this kind, English Heritage had no money. De Dah De Dah Dit as we say.

David
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