# Fil & Anten ?



## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

What does it mean please ?
Memory gone.
(Eat)


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## Paul Braxton (Jul 21, 2005)

Could be fil: filament (valve) current/volts, and ant/anten: aerial tuning?

What's it on? A transmitter?


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Found what it means during a clearout of my college notes.
The sender of a telegram can request that the message can be transmitted by wire "fil" or by radio "anten".
That explains what that long wire hanging over the stern was used for.


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

The "long wire" hanging over the stern was the patent log. Though log wasn't a wire but "log line". Unless it was a cable ship in which case it was the "taut wire" system.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

sparks69 said:


> Found what it means during a clearout of my college notes.
> The sender of a telegram can request that the message can be transmitted by wire "fil" or by radio "anten".
> That explains what that long wire hanging over the stern was used for.


Don't be an ass. They would have to unplug the mains before you could use it for telegraphy and then the lights would go out!


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I don't recall that, Chris. Why not test Mr Palethorpe with it next time you bump into him?

John T


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

I'm pretty sure it is mentioned in the "Hand Book for Radio Operators". That's what my notes indicated.
Anybody out there can confirm this ?


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I thought Anten was done for drink driving and Fil had to do the show on his own … 

Or is that something else …. ? [=P]


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## 5036 (Jan 23, 2006)

BobClay said:


> I thought Anten was done for drink driving and Fil had to do the show on his own …
> 
> Or is that something else …. ? [=P]


A new meaning for "being decked."


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## P.Arnold (Apr 11, 2013)

sparks69 said:


> Found what it means during a clearout of my college notes.
> The sender of a telegram can request that the message can be transmitted by wire "fil" or by radio "anten".
> That explains what that long wire hanging over the stern was used for.


On a 1609grt v/l, we carried 6 passengers. (Booth line)
Before the 2000-2200Z watch, I was given a msg to send.
The old man was one for having BBQ,s on the poop deck, for the passengers.
After my watch, I was met by a somewhat agitated passenger.
Having been at the BBQ, he wanted to know when I would be sending his msg. Saying I had, he seemed even more confused, “we haven’t stopped!” he said. After a short dialogue; he had assumed we ‘grabbed’ an undersea telegraph cable.
So you see, somebody else was looking for that wire over the stern!!

Peter A


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Those of us who have had to work on mickey mouse telephone exchanges on any number of ships (and *I AM SO* not talking about passenger ships here … that is a nightmare I don't want) will understand why _Tommy Flowers_ was such an under-rated genius of his time.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

If in doubt, busy it out.

And go no where near it with WD40!

I have collection of uniselectors. Just trying to find something interesting to do with them.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

My last ship had a real telephone exchange. Can't remember the manufacturer, either German or Scandinavian; it used masses of relays instead of uniselectors.

The Chief Engineer had a habit of not placing his bedroom telephone properly on it's rest; the exchange relays would start ticking frantically after half a minute and then the whole thing would just give up and not respond to any extension.
I eventually disconnected the wire to the offending phone inside the cabinet and told the Chief he had burnt out his relay.

Having nothing better to do I ordered a load of similar relays, got the Chief to construct a small steel cabinet and created an extra circuit in order to install a telephone in the emergency generator room.
How did DNV approve there not previously being a phone in that space I never understood.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Stonehaven must have had one of the few cross bar exchanges at sea (electronics virtually extinguished the technology before it took off. Plenty of relays too.

More strange is that I never twigged to being able to count with relays until I encountered a Russian design telephone exchange. The only time I have so far used this is in software with a PLC which did not have enough counters for what I wanted to do. Till then counting for me was done done with uniselectors or multivibrators.


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