# Redifon Equipment Query



## Tony Selman (Mar 8, 2006)

I am in the process of composing an article for the ROA's quarterly journal about my first two voyages on Brocklebank Line's Matra/GZYJ.  Other than the infamous Redifon R50M main receivers I cannot remember any of the model numbers of the Redifon fitted station. Attached is a photo of part of the kit from sister ship Manaar/GFRG which is a replica of Matra's. Can anyone out there who sailed with this generation of Redifon equipment help me with model numbers please.
Thanks
Tony


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

A pointless post Tony because other than the R50M I can't identify anything. I just wanted to say that aerial switching assembly above the Tx is very impressive 

Looks like something out of a Frankenstein picture … :sweat:


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## Tony Selman (Mar 8, 2006)

Some good vintage stuff there Bob. A throbbing 80w of power from the Main Tx if memory serves. I wonder if the R50M won the annual receiver of the year award with the greatest drift? If there was a worse one then I am glad I did not sail with it.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Tony this is a bog standard 50's and early 60's Redifon installation that Blue Funnel fitted to their pre-WW2 builds when the old installation was past it's Solas sell by date. 
Type numbers to follow if I can find. 
Left the emergency transmitter, centre HF/MF transmitter, top section MF and lower section HF. 
Right the ubiquitous and I think much maligned R50M.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

ps.. You have to hand it to Redifon whose equipment was beautifully constructed and at this time purely a marine radio manufacturer without RO appendage though I do believe they went down this route later.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Tony this is a bog standard 50's and early 60's Redifon installation that Blue Funnel fitted to their pre-WW2 builds when the old installation was past it's Solas sell by date. Type numbers to follow if I can find. 
Left emergency transmitter, centre HF/MF transmitter, top section MF and lower section HF. Top an aerial changeover I could trust!
Right the ubiquitous R50M imho far more frequency stability rock solid than any of its contemporaries I sailed with.


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## Riccarton (Mar 23, 2009)

Sailed on both Manaar and Matra but looking at your picture Tony, have no memory whatsoever of the Radio Room layout or equipment.

Do remember a Redifon R50M was also on the Martand and never had any issues.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Tony,

Another useless post but I had the misfortune to sail with this gear as well on my last ship - Sarpedon/Denbigshire in 1969 but for the life of me cannot remember the Tx type. Flat out at 80w if you were lucky. However still used to work direct back to UK from the far east - not all the time! Only thing that had been updated was the auto alarm which was a brand new state of the art - for the time. R50M receivers - made receiving traffic an art form with one hand on the dial trying to keep the signal!

Neville


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Approx ten years after me Neville so not surprised with component ageing there would be issues and interested to hear more.
Have to hand it to Redifon whose equipment was beautifully constructed and at this time purely a marine radio manufacturer/supplier without RO admin appendage though I do believe they went down this route later.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Tony Selman said:


> .... Can anyone out there who sailed with this generation of Redifon equipment help me with model numbers please....


Redifon MF/HF transmitter G80.. Redifon MF emergency transmitter G47B.. Redifon LF/MF/HF double superhet receiver R50M.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

ps... Sure you're not referring to the biscuit-tin-home-brew receiver fitted to 50's Brocks radio rooms for that Great Drift?


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## duncs (Sep 8, 2008)

hawkey01 said:


> Tony,
> 
> Only thing that had been updated was the auto alarm which was a brand new state of the art - for the time.
> 
> Neville


Don't tell me this was the useless AL7?


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## Tony Selman (Mar 8, 2006)

Thank you gentlemen, particularly Malcolm for the model numbers. Much better memory than me. I did not ever sail with the biscuit tin Rx so cannot comment on that but without doubt by the mid 60's the R50M's I sailed had the ability to drift nicely. It had a coarse tuning knob with a fine tuning knob in the centre and to be fair that worked quite well but as Neville said you always had your left hand on the fine tuning knob to follow the signal.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Again of no help, but in defence of the R50M.

I sailed with two. This one on a big tanker with AEI gear gave no problems at all. No drift, nothing. The other replaced a disastrous new AEI G4. I decided the only way to find anything was to start at the bottom of each band, and list each station heard with its listed frequency, then tune 'up a bit, down a bit' sort of thing. The replacement R50M I was able to tune in the area broadcast at the end of a watch, put it on standby and find it there next watch.

David+

I used this on another thread a few days back.


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## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

I graduated from a CR300 to the R50M and thought it was the bees knees. It was brand new, and probably had not picked up the bad habits that others have complained about.


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

#7 Have to hand it to Redifon whose equipment was beautifully constructed and at this time purely a marine radio manufacturer/supplier without RO admin appendage though I do believe they went down this route later.

In 1955, Dick Molland was a test engineer in their factory when they advertised for a sea-going radio officer. This was the beginning of them hiring out R/Os, Dick became their first one, and was appointed to Buries Markes' La Ensenada. But the experience was so awful that he resigned after one voyage, to Canada.

From 1951 until the 1960s, Dick worked for Brocklebank, Marconi, Redifon (ashore and afloat), the Crown Agents, Clan Line, the RFA (Royal Fleet Auxiliary), Ferranti (in Edinburgh), and Marconi again before settling for a shore job in London. See my book, LETTERS FROM A RADIO OFFICER, available on Amazon.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Tony Selman said:


> ... I did not ever sail with the biscuit tin Rx so cannot comment on that...


It must have been reasonably up to scratch to pass Inspector of W/T muster.
Ref same (and R50M) though not highly regarded in Peter McGinty's Brocklebank Memoirs on RO Ian Coomb's excellent MN Nostalgia website *here.* 
I'm sure Ian's (SN member and VE2DOH when we last QSO'd) website is generally well known but if not defo worth a nostalgic shufti.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Tony Selman said:


> ... I did not ever sail with the biscuit tin Rx so cannot comment on that...


It must have been reasonably up to scratch to pass Inspector of W/T muster.
Though not highly regarded, ref same (and R50M) in John McGinty's Brocklebank Memoirs on RO Ian Coomb's excellent MN Nostalgia website *here.* 
I'm sure Ian's (SN member and VE2DOH when we last QSO'd) website is generally well known but if not defo worth a nostalgic shufti.


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## Willum (Feb 20, 2012)

*Redifon*

Think I would have preferred the CR300 to the R50M. Interesting thread if slightly before my time on Mahsud and the like where the main Rx was the R408, and yes the springs on the main dial winder did break on my watch! Was the famous 'biscuit tin' rx a product of Ken Fawcett and co. forerunners of Radio & Electronic Services?. I don't suppose a photo of one exists.


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## gwzm (Nov 7, 2005)

Hi Willum,
"Was the famous 'biscuit tin' rx a product of Ken Fawcett and co. forerunners of Radio & Electronic Services?"

I'm not sure who was responsible for the 'biscuit tin'. I believe they were a TRF receiver built inside a Huntley and Palmers biscuit and assembled in a dockside shed/workshop in Liverpool. I visited the shed once with Ben Lonsdale, the Radio Superintendent, and it was veritable Alladin's cave full of assorted radio equipment which had probablybeen removed from Brocklebank ships when they were upgraded. 
I did sail with a home-made guard receiver on the SS Mahronda which was reasonably substantially built. Unfortunately, I had to use it in anger when the main receiver (Redifon R50) broke down, and got a telling of from GNF because he'd been trying to break in whilst I was sending a closing TR and couldn't hear him.
Happy days,
John


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## Roger Bentley (Nov 15, 2005)

W H Bailey became radio superintendent of Brocklebanks in 1922, in 1939 he was recommended by Colonel Bates in regard to convoy radio regulations development.. George Kellam who was the brains of the radio department at the time initially made the AC1940 and then the AC1944. Nothing to do with Ken Fawcett who I think was serving in the RN at the time. Other members of the radio department in my time in Brocks 1953-61 were Ben Lonsdale, Arthur Oram and Gordon Caddy. George Kellam died shortly after I joined. Salaams Roger


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## Harry Nicholson (Oct 11, 2005)

Roger Bentley said:


> W H Bailey became radio superintendent of Brocklebanks in 1922, in 1939 he was recommended by Colonel Bates in regard to convoy radio regulations development.. George Kellam who was the brains of the radio department at the time initially made the AC1940 and then the AC1944. Nothing to do with Ken Fawcett who I think was serving in the RN at the time. Other members of the radio department in my time in Brocks 1953-61 were Ben Lonsdale, Arthur Oram and Gordon Caddy. George Kellam died shortly after I joined. Salaams Roger


My last ship, 'Marwarri', had the 1940 - it was referred to as the Brocklebank 1940. Arthur Orum told me they were built in the dockside shed by R/Os from lost vessels whilst waiting their next ship. They used whatever they had. The stages were linked by chunky coupling capacitors, on the theory that the more microfarads the better.
After listening to me complain that i could not get much joy out of it, Arthur responded with: Well - we could work the Panama Canal from the Gulf of Aden with it. I suggested that the general radio silence during the war might have helped.


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

Now's your chance. Have a look for Redifon R50M on the auction site.
73, Andrew


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

GW3OQK said:


> Now's your chance. Have a look for Redifon R50M on the auction site.
> 73, Andrew


AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh !!! :sweat:


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## Dave McGouldrick (Jan 1, 2007)

got to be worth a grand of anyone's money


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Since the gallery is discomnobulated and I can't link, I'll post the pix again.
*The Radio Station from Hell.*


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

For info https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REDIFON-...554136?hash=item21428e7918:g:U5oAAOSwjiFbOO5c and the dealer from feedback looks a very sound Ebayer....


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Its for collection only. He wants to see the whites of your eyes!


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Varley said:


> Its for collection only. He wants to see the whites of your eyes!



Also stating 'For parts' but you do get the original trimming tools 


What would they be ..... a set of lump hammers ? ... (Jester)


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

I don't know the beast Bob, but from what you guys that do post about it suggest you would have to grind off the tack welds first before striking.

(I'm getting hooked on this welding lark).


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

If you don't know the beast in question then why talk bollox..


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Redifon R50M? Unquestionably the finest Maritime LF/MF/HF receiver of it's time before PLL.


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

R651400 said:


> Redifon R50M? Unquestionably the finest Maritime LF/MF/HF receiver of it's time before PLL.


Life is to short to argue with that......................


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Much better in the days ( lucky me) when our metier was not phase lock looped.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

I don't think one can select that setting on my AVO.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Minor?


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

See #12 above. Also available to add to the Gallery !

In my experience, it was 100% better than the AEI G4 it replaced !!

David
+


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Well it was better than my old crystal set of the 1950's, which was basically a piece of quartz in a clamp with a cat's whisker on a movable arm that you jammed in and out of the shiny bit. 

But only just ... :sweat:


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## tim729 (Aug 3, 2018)

*Redifon R50M Available*

Hi,

I am in the process of clearing my late father’s house on the Isle of Wight and stumbled across this post. I have a vintage Redifon R50M radio and power supply that is looking for a new home.

It was working the last time it was switched on (probably in the 1990s) and I remember seeing it working myself. It hasn’t been used for many years but has been safely stored in my father’s house since.

If anyone has a genuine interest in acquiring one of these please get in touch with me via [email protected] 

Best regards,

Tim


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

No offence Tim but …. (aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh !!) … (see above.)

I have been trying to come by a Redifon R408 for a year or two now but it would seem they're pretty rare beasts these days. I trained on it at Leith and sailed with it and think as analogue receivers go it was one of the best.

I'll keep trying. (Smoke)


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

Tim, why not put it on ebay. The last one there failed to sell for £50. If we were closer I would be tempted. (aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh !! from Bob)
I liked the R408 too, it was so sensitive, quiet, and repairable. The Redifon R551 was noisy on MF and a sod when it went wrong, but beat all for frequency setting and narrow band filters.
Andrew


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