# Equipment fault that surprised you most?



## Robert Wheeler

I know for many of us the equipment faults we found at sea were a long time ago but do you have a fault that sticks in your memory?

Apart from the hardest or the most uncomfortable to repair there always seems to be the least expected one.

I was on the bulker King Richard in the late 70's. We'd loaded loaded iron ore in Puerto Ordaz, many twisting miles up the Orinico. This ship was big for this river and, if memory serves me right, we bumped and shuddered all the way from Ordaz to the sea.

So, just when the Old Man brings his sheath of messages to go to the charterer and sub-charterer, sub-sub-charterer, owners etc the main transmitter doesn't fire up. Typical.

My first reaction was always to switch off again and convince myself I'd not switched it on. Then I'd switch on again hoping for the best, but still nothing so this time I had to face it and figure out what wasn't working - or why that bit wasn't working.

I don't know now what section of the Tx I opened up for the first pass on this fault. I do remember there was a row of valves. They were all the type with the strings across the top with springs to hold them down in place. 

What a relief - they'd all fallen over! Just a matter of pushing them all back into their holders and all was well.

It always amazed me that the vibration and shaking was able to have lifted them all out against the tension of the fittings. The transmitter was, I think, an ITT ST1400.


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## hawkey01

Ah! two that stick in my mind were on the Blanchland. The ship did not have VHF so Stevies decided that she would be fitted in drydock. So they came along with this giant VHF - if my memory serves me correctly a - PYE PTC 803 - supposedly used by the RN. Anyhow it was duly fitted and off we eventually sailed for the US Gulf to load. We had not been out for more than a couple of days when it decided to stop working. (Cloud)Great I thought - no proper equipment to check anything and no spares etc etc.(MAD) We arrived at the Mississippi pilots who were not too happy that it did not work, sorry says I but I cannot fix it.(MAD) RCA or whoever arrived onboard when we docked and spent hours going through the VHF. He eventually turned to me and said there is nothing wrong with it - but says I it does not work. Yes he says but I cannot find a reason. A very unhappy RO and Capt. So we sail again without our very fancy new VHF working. As we approach Suez the Capt puts the VHF on and lo there are signals and voices. He calls the pilots etc and they reply. Imagine the very surprised faces of the Capt and myself. The finale to this is that it never ever stopped working again throughout the next year or more I was on the ship. A gremlin!
The other was the autoalarm - the upright MIMCO one - was it the Seaspan. Anyhow that decided to stop working. Nice and quiet without it at night too! I did everything with it testing what I could and to no avail. Msgs to MIMCO etc etc but nothing worked. I eventually decided it was the - I think it was a CR circuit - big grey box which was the culprit. I told them they should have one available in Singapore for replacement. MIMCO men aboard in Singapore again with the poor old RO doesn't know what he is talking about attitude. After nearly two days of trying everything but they changed the unit I had been telling everyone was at fault. Lo and behold it worked first time. I have never been so elated to be proved right.(Thumb)
I was certainly doubting myself by then.

Hawkey01


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## Santos

An automatic steering gear fitted to the magnetic compass ( yes the magnetic compass not the gyro ) which suddenly decided to go hard a port all on its own. Much running around flicking switches and opening and closing hydralic valves to get us back into manual again. Nobody had any idea how to fix it, ( Lecky & Sparks suggested we turn the printed circuit board over, then it would go hard a starboard instead - Old Man nearly logged them for cheek ) so it was back to 3 man watches again for the crew who were not best pleased. Wonderful thing technology when it works (POP)

Chris


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## david.hopcroft

On the Mobil Astral I had a real odd one on the HF section of an AEI T50MH main Tx. The fault was actually a mechanical one when the tuning wheel jammed up. It was an open wire-wound 2-inch diameter cylinder with a small grooved wheel that ran along the top of the coil frame bearing on the wire and so varying the inductance as you turned the wheel on the front of the transmitter. One side of the framework had cracked, distorted, allowed the wheel to run off the coil, mangle itself up and jam up tight. I dismantled the whole thing, thistle bonded the cracked side assembly, but it still wouldn't work. Kept running off the wire. The 3rd Engineer was a good fitter and turner and made me a new wheel. Things were much simpler in those days.

David
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## surfaceblow

While I was sitting at my desk doing paperwork the sun seemed to be moving too fast across my desk so when I looked up I saw that we were making what looked like a 360 turn. When I got to the bridge no one was looking out, both were at the chart table just then the Captain entered the bridge while I was looking at the course recorder. I left to take a look at the steering gear. While I was in the steer gear room I found that the port limit switch got stuck in preventing any more port signals to the steering gear. So when the ship needed to come port the auto pilot made a round turn to stbd to get back on the course line. After flicking the limit switch arm with my finger the port solenoid started to respond to the rudder commands. A little adjustment on the steering gear stops and resetting the limit switch return spring prevented a recurrence to unattended 360 turns. When I got back to the bridge the Captain was still dressing down the watch while the RO was looking into the Auto Pilot book. So I went to the RO and explained to him what the fault was with the limit switch and passing rudder limits. While I was still on the bridge the RO removed the compressed ashes that made its way into the Steering Stand alarm.


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## Graham P Powell

I was always having problems with gear. Every trip I went on. Worst one was Marconi Seaspan . Useless main HF tx with o/p of 80 watts. I kept getting rf burns off the knobs
and no power. Tried everything. Eventually ended up in Aden. There the only technician was International Air Radio. Ex army signal corps turned up with a van load of equipment.
Spent hours working on it and found open circuit capacitor in HF power o/p stage. On the same ship I had a brand new Kelvin Hughes radar with no manual and no drawings and I was expected to keep it going. By a miracle I did find one fault.


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## NoMoss

My most mysterious fault happened when the transmitters would not tune up in the mornings, sometimes. It was an intermittent fault. Neither of transmitters would tune up until the temperature had risen later in the day. I checked everything to earth from the transmitters to the aerial changeover board and everything was OK.
In desperation I borrowed a megga from the electrician and put it across the brown insulation board that the switches and contacts were mounted on in the aerial control board and was surprised to find there was a leakage across the board. When the board was damp first thing in the morning the transmitter could not tune up to the aerial because of the leakage.
I thought this a bit unusual and expected scorn when I told the Marconi TA when I got back to the UK. Luckily the TA who came aboard on arrival had come across the fault before and believed me and would change the board. I felt very relieved.


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## M29

On "Coventry City" we used to pick up a couple of TV's from a hire company to use around our tour of the Great Lakes.
One night in port, after a few beers, a couple of the AB's had a dispute about the choice of the evenings viewing, that resulted in their TV being pulled of its shelf, which for the convience of viewing, was about 5 foot above the deck. The power cord was only about 3 foot long, so on the way to the deck, the tv's weight ripped the power socket out of the bulkhead, which pleased our electrician no end!

Next day, the shamefaced culprits were escorted into the radio room by the bosun, a hard BCL man who took no prisoners. 
"Can you do anything with this sparks?" he says to me, as the TV in question was put on my work bench.
The motion of the TV was accompanied by a number of onimous jingling and rattling sounds; the tube was, remarkably intact although it had been driven a couple of inches backwards, splitting the plastic case at the back.

"They have agreed to buy any parts you need" says the Bosun, with a glance at the AB's that brooked no argument.

"Right" I said "leave it with me but I don't hold out much hope"

I took the back off and all the valves were loose inside, some clearly gone to Davy Jones. I replaced the tube into its mountings and reassembled as much as possible. A junior seaman was dispatched ashore to purchase the necessary replacements.

With all installed, switched on and was amazed when it worked! I fixed many a complex fault at sea in my career, but that one always sticks in the mind, not least because next day, I found a case of Tennents on my bunk![=P]

Best Wishes

Alan


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## Rhodri Mawr

On King Alfred (whilst in the southern Indian Ocean and miles from anywhere), the mate decided to switch on the radar (goodness knows why - the nearest ship must have been thousands of miles away). There was a squeaking noise coming from the vicinity of the rotating deflection coil around the neck of the tube. It was noticed that the coil was slightly misaligned (no idea how long it had been like that). Fortunately I had a spare deflection coil and decided to attempt to replace it while the radar was not really needed. To do this, the tube had to be removed firstly. Imagine my surprise when, on lifting the tube out of its retaining bracket, the white coating of the screen suddenly splintered and turned black. Furthermore, the lower section on the tube neck fell away. Inspections of the parted tube revealed an almost perfect severing of the two parts of the tube neck. It them became immediately obvious what the problem had been. The rotating deflection coil had been rubbing against the tube for goodness knows how long and eventually caused a hairline fracture in the neck of the tube - hence the parting of the tube neck. Fortunately, I also had a spare CRT on board so replaced both coil and tube and all was well. Just as well as that radar was needed as visibility on the Cape of Good Hope was very poor while we inched our way into Table Bay to load bunkers.

Cheers
RM


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## Graham P Powell

At GKA once we had a fault that came on at the same time everyday. The engineers eventually traced it to a cable behind a pipe that was being pinched when the heating came on. It was a maze of old cables and one guy discovered by selecting two certain transmitters at the same time he could ring the alarm in the VF room. Had supervisors running in and out for hours....


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## Naytikos

This is a hard thread to contribute to. I really enjoyed fault-finding, (still do) and the longer it took, the better! I still have my notes about most of the difficult ones and a suprising number were due to manufacturing defects or poor design.

The worst has to be the Crusader Tx.
Not because of the ridiculous ledex switch;
Not because of the erratic 5MHz crystal oven;
Not because of the stupid tuning system;
But because of the QY4-400 output valves which developed uncontrollable parasitic oscillations when tuned to full power on 22MHz.

The cabinet became too hot to touch, the insulation melted on much of the wiring, leading to multiple short circuits and the only way to stop the show was to hit the main circuit breaker just inside the radio-room door.

On the first occasion I managed to hit the HT switch before too much damage occured, but on the run from Yokohama to Goa I needed 22 and eventually learnt the hard way exactly how much power I could run before the parasitics began. By the time we arrived, however, I had one of the racks permanently withdrawn from the cabinet so I could keep separating the wiring bundles as the insulation turned to sticky goo.
Loading from lighters over a 3 - 4 week period gave me enought time to tear the whole Tx apart and find the problem.
In the course of the exercise I discovered one whole section of the manual was completely erroneous in it's explanation of the circuit. 
The report I subsequently sent to 'head office', and copied to Marconi's, contributed to the company's decision to revert to IMR for all subsequent transmitters. MIMCo never even bothered to comment!


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## david.hopcroft

Another memorable fault was the BTH RMS2 radar on the Shell Tanker Partula. Wallowing along in the middle of the Atlantic bound for PJC with fog swirling around, there was much twitching coming from the direction of the bridge. Of course this was when the RMS2 decided to drift off tune. Some of you will remember the RMS2 had double doors that needed to be dogged down before you could check the monitoring on the front and reach round the back to twiddle. After a long time of working/not working, replacing this and that with only temporary success, I forgot to secure the door and while I was going back to check the display in the Bridge the door slammed to with a crash. 'That's it' shouted the 2nd Mate. 'Fixed it'. 'Well done Sparks' said the Old Man................I kept very quiet !!

During this trip without sight of the sun for a few days, I became quite adept at counting consol blips from Bushmills the US side station whose name has escaped me. Anyone remember those ??

David

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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

I never really had too many faults on the radio gear, but one stands out for me, I was on a banana boat and there was very heavy H/F W/T traffic every day. On this occasion, the indicating light on the Main Tx Debeg 1600W, never went to ready just remained on standby. Checked it out and eventually found a loose wire which needed soldering. I isolated the transmitter and proceeded to solder, as soon as the soldering iron touched the wire there was a big flash and a bang, it was then I discovered the tip of the soldering was live. Used another iron to complete the job. Tried the transmitter again and after what seemed like a lifetime (3 minutes actually) the ready light came on and all was right with the transmitter.
Later on joining a tanker as an electrician I was told that the main engine rpm indicators (bridge and engine room) were erratic and that the ship would be reported by the pilots unless this was sorted out.A new tacho generator was being ordered to fix this problem. I asked to delay this order until I checked out the problem. Over the next few days I checked everything and it seemed completely normal. Then it happened again and I was called, I rushed up to the bridge and on the port wing a member of the crew was happily hosing down the wing repeater along with everything else. There was a very slight crack on the face of the repeater allowing water under pressure to fill up and short out the output from the generator but eventually it would drain out and work correctly. It was easily sorted out and avoided the embarrassment of fitting an expensive new part that does not solve the problem. 

Cheers


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## Graham P Powell

Dave, I sailed with a BTH radar on a Houlders ship. I was going down the passage on the way to the bridge when I slipped on something and it was the oil filled delay lines leaking.
No Spares. Went down to the generator room for the radio equipment and there was a line of old delay lines. All useless, all had leaked oil. You may remember they were mounted upside down. Eventually a spare caught up with us in Fiji. Useless thing....


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## Troppo

One of my most memorable faults was a failure of the main tx on the Cape Hawke/GOXV.

It was a simple fault, but it had very interesting ramifications. No HT on the tx - problem was a shorted cap in the HT power supply. No spares. I was in the middle of the Great Australian Bight, about 5 days out from port. 

Being a relatively modern bulkie, the main antenna was the usual short wire arrangement on the accommodation block - so, it was hopeless at MF. Combined with 50 or so measly watts from the em tx, and QRN4, my comms were effectively zero.

I was late for my AUSREP report....despite calling and calling various coast stations, I had no joy....time was ticking away....any more delays and the rescue centre in Canberra would start sending aeroplanes to look for us...(AUSREP was a compulsory report scheme).

After much trying, I managed to get a QSP via another ship.

I really felt for all the poor bastards sailing about the world with MF only....I suppose at least they had decent sized antennas....

But, what really made me think was what would have happened if I had to send an SOS....


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

Radar faults are always interesting for me, recently a 3rd mate casually remarked that the Kelvin Hughes radar "X" display was giving the targets at about 60 degrees from the correct bearing. I went to the bridge and found the dsiplay was operating as a slave to an "S" band because of this defect.
I changed it over to normal operation and it seems totally ok. I must admit I put it down to "operator error" running in head up mode instead of gyro. Later on with the ship entering port I was called up to have a look at the screen and sure enough all the targets and the land was showing up at about 60 degrees offset. The course line and ranges were correct as was the head up display. Reading the modern radar manuals is somewhat frustrating because it's mostly concerned with commissioning the radars. So information is sketchy. Anyway when I had a chance to go up the mast and check out the scanner. The motor for the X band is a 24volt D/C with brushes and although the internals of the unit appeared to be reasonably clean there was some carbon dust. The bearing of the scanner is transmitter by a disc and optocoupling arrangement. So I washed out the optocoupling array with contact cleaner and let it dry out. Later when the ship sailed it worked perfectly.

Years ago on a transpacific voyage, the bridge complained that the heading line on an old ratheon display was changing a 3 or 4 degrees either side but the targets were correct. I figured it was a defective or loose heading line micro switch. Anyway I went up to have a look at the scanner, the microswitch was secure and seemed to be normal. I did notice some metal fillings, I found out these came from the housing of the bearing for the scanner.
What was happening was the scanner was moving in a vertical plane with the roll of the ship, in other words the scanner was loose. A bit more of a fix than contact cleaner was required this time.

Cheers


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## 5TT

I think for me the most interesting was an intermittent JRC radar fault which I've reported elsewhere on this forum. I'd been called a couple of weeks before to attend to a "dead" radar, which was actually pretty much alive except that there was nothing on the display, and while I was finding my way around the thing started working solidly again. I boxed it up knowing I'd be back there again sometime soon and forgot about it until it failed again, and this time I was under some pressure as we'd just picked up the Mississippi pilot, it was foggy, night time and there was a two radar rule for navigating after dark on the river. 

So, armed with the manual and a torch I set about finding the problem a 2nd time. Fortunately this time the set stayed malfunctioning long enough for me to spot, assisted by the darkness, that the tube filament wasn't burning, measured the voltage right at the base and it was present, resistance check on the filament, open circuit. Ooops, no spare tube but then this was intermittent, so by torch light I took the top off, carried the tube to the radio room and ran some solder down inside the base pins, filament continuity restored ... 

After having re-assembled it and assured all concerned that the set was properly serviceable the pilot then determined that the fog was too severe so we'll only be sailing in the morning anyway ...
I clearly recall the moment I spotted the filament out, because my hands were clutching meter probes deep inside the set and it dawned on me that there's a flipping lot of HT around here with nowhere to go, so I withdrew very slowly and deliberately and reached for the on/off switch in a cold sweat. Also, being a Japanese set the manual contained some oddities too, like branching off the fault finding tree at "Please check the brown fuse" .. Well the electrician was assisting me with the torch at this time and was very helpful indeed when we read this .. "There's a green one sparks, and an orange one .." of course they meant BLOWN fuse 

= Adrian +


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## Ron Stringer

*Surprising Radar Fault!*

The Regent Pembroke had Marconi Argus/Hermes radars and one afternoon the 2nd Mate called me up to the Bridge because ‘’one of the boxes on the bulkhead is making a funny noise’’. Having had a similar call on that ship from an earlier 2nd Mate about a radar scanner that ‘’is making a funny noise’’ (and which resulted in us watching a 12-foot scanner fly over the bridge wing into the Red Sea), I hurried up to the Bridge.

The 2nd Mate pointed me to one of the bulkhead-mounted radar transceivers. Sure enough it was making a ‘sizzling’ noise, very like a high-voltage discharge. Similar to the noise made when aerial insulators arc over in damp conditions. Being only a short-ar*e, the bottom of the transceiver was at about my head height and I opened the door rather cautiously. Nothing to be seen but the bridge had all-round windows (more like a conservatory than a ship’s bridge) and it was very bright in there. So I borrowed a couple of charts and held them up to create a shade in the transceiver. Judging by the noise it was making, the breakdown discharge was pretty substantial so it ought to have been obvious. But there was nothing to be seen.

So I handed the charts back to the 2nd Mate and stood on tiptoe to get my ear closer to the transceiver to try and locate the precise area where the arcing was taking place. It appeared to be coming from a high voltage capacitor which was the size and shape of a large cocoa tin. As I peered at it closely, without seeing anything, I started to say, ‘’I think the problem is in ….’’. At that moment there was a large bang and I felt something hot hit my face and run down my chest and the bottom of the ‘’cocoa tin’’ blew off and fell to the bottom of the cabinet. Was I surprised!

Once I realised I wasn’t hurt I recognised the cartoon-like nature of the incident – hints of exploding cigar jokes. Starting to laugh, I turned round to face the 2nd Mate only to see him turn white as a sheet and steady himself against the bridge console. I said, ‘’Seems like I was right, it was that capacitor,’’ but he was already rushing to the phone to call the Old Man to the Bridge. We were in whites at the time but when I looked down to see what was running down my chest, I was a mass of red. I then realised why the poor 2nd Mate was calling for help, since he had heard a bang and I had turned to face him covered in ‘’blood’’. Clearly a serious situation.

The capacitor had been filled with a red-coloured insulating oil and clearly some part of its internal insulation had broken down and the resultant arcing had upped the temperature, heating the oil and building pressure beyond the strength of the casing. So it blew. And the contents caught me in the face. 

Unfortunately when the Master came onto the Bridge, I was doubled up on the deck completely helpless with laughter at the funny side of the incident, causing more panic for a moment or two. Once he realised that nobody was hurt in any way and I explained what had happened, the Old Man shared my mirth. The 2nd Mate didn’t quite see it that way.


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## david.hopcroft

When I joined the PARTULA in Dublin, I looked into the Radar Room to see the BTH RMS2's doors wide open and several large deck light bulbs hanging out. My predecessor had come up with the brilliant idea of calculating equivalent resistance/wattage by wiring up a series/parallel arrangement of light bulbs in place of one of those big green cylinder wire wound heat disipators in the base of the cabinet that had burned itself out. 

David
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## surfaceblow

Right after the R/O's left the ships that I sailed on we were having radar problems. The Captain had replaced most of the big pieces that we had for spares but the radar was not working correctly. After a few days the Captain asked me to take a look at the malfunctioning radar. When I went up to the bridge and turned on the radar to see what was going on the cadet was leaning against the radar stand and the display worked fine for about an hour then the cadet moved his position I hear a click and the radar went out. When I opened the panel I found that the access panel screws were loose. I got a large screw driver from the Radio Shack and tightened up all of the access panels about a quarter to one half turn apiece. The next time in port the Captain changed back all of the parts that he used and gave me a new inventory of the radio spares. When we were getting ready to leave the radar display was out I went back up to the bridge with ratchet screw driver adjusted the door limit one turn out and re-tightened all of the access panels again. I gave the Captain the ratchet screw driver so he could keep the panels tight.


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## gwzm

I had a similar experience to Ron's with an exploding capacitor on Brocklebank's SS Mahseer. The BTH RMS 1 radar wasn't working and all the indications were that it was dicky high voltage capacitor in the modulator. These capacitors were bakelite-cased and rated at 15 Kv, if I remember rightly, so a 500V Megger wasn't even going to give them a tickle.
For those familiar with this radar: the works were in a radar hut mounted on the monkey island with the scanner sticking out of the top. The radar works were suspended inside the hut with a gap of about a foot or so between the modulator panel and side of the hut so plan B was put into operation. The modulator cover was removed and the safety interlocks were tied down so that the radar could be powered up. I was squeezed into the space between the modulator and the side of the hut with the lights switched off, the door closed, and the 2 R/O standing by the main breaker. I could smell the HT and hear the modulator note starting to break up. It was becoming obvious that something was breaking down and it sounded terminal. As I yelled to the 2 R/O to hit the main breaker there was a flash and a loud bang. One of the high voltage caps had exploded leaving the two halves of the bakelite case hanging by their connecting wires and the charred remains of the capacitor itself lying on the deck. I was covered in charred tinsel but fortunately not injured. After laughing like lunatics for 10 minutes and having a restorative beer, it was only 10 minutes work to replace the capacitor and we were back in business.
Happy days indeed.


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

One ship I was on had a problem with the gyro. It was in confined water with
two canadian pilots, master, watchkeeping officer, cadet and a man steering on the bridge approaching Kitimat B.C.
The sailor on the wheel was following the gyro heading when the gyro started slowly turning. The helmsman tried to follow the heading until the master and pilots realized what was going on. The gyro continued to turn but by the time I came up it was back on the correct heading and behaving totally normally. I stayed on the bridge but apart from the pilots being upset everything was as usual.
When the vessel came alongside in Kitimat I was given instuctions to find out what was the problem and to fix it. I could find nothing wrong with it. 
While I was going through everything when the cadet said to me not to worry about the gyro that it was ok, what really happened was the officer was in the chart room, and on the bulkhead was a control for the gyro repeaters and there was a switch for aligning the repeaters. When this switch was flicked the repeaters when through 360 degrees and aligned with the master compass. The oow noticed a small error and decided to adjust the repeaters. So all the repeaters rotated in sync until the correct alignment was acheived. I think they call that a "learning moment". I can imagine it had been a major shock for him since he never said anything at the time.
I don't know if there was a near miss report but it would have made for an interesting read.

Cheers


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## Klaatu83

This subject puts me in mind of an incident that happened to me one memorable Friday the 13th aboard the S.S. Allison Lykes. I was on the 12-4 watch and, while I am not particularly superstitious, it did occur to me that I had gotten through the entire day without anything out of the ordinary happening. I had only one last duty to perform: relieving the 2nd Mate, who stood the 4-8 watch, for supper. We were steaming south through the Windward Passage at the time, in a calm sea and clear visibility, and I had just stepped into the chartroom to plot the ship's position. I suddenly became aware of a rapid clicking sound (coming from the gyro repeater) and, looking up, saw the sun passing rapidly across our bow. For no apparent reason the gyro pilot had suddenly taken it upon itself to kick out while holding ten degrees of right rudder. I immediately ordered the AB (who, needless to say, hadn't noticed a thing) to switch over to hand steering and resume the prescribed course, and then I notified the Old Man. Afterwards they went over that gyro pilot without finding a thing wrong with it.


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## Ron Stringer

Not saying that this was the case, but I found that many so-called 'mysterious' equipment incidents coincided with changing over generators or some large pump being switched on or off. Ships' electrical supplies were far more subject to surges than the shore mains in countries where electrical ancillaries were developed and manufactured. Not all manufacturers of those products were aware of that fact or took proper account of them, so that their equipment was often sensitive to transients on the supply.

When solid-state electronics arrived on the scene there were massive problems with all sorts of equipment that couldn't cope with the marine environment. No problem in the development lab or on the test bench ashore but all hell was let loose when they went to sea.

A similar but less serious situation applied in earlier times, when ships were alongside for repair and operating from 'shore mains' - which were generally a degraded dockyard supply, rather than the high quality supply that the general public enjoyed. Supply voltage and frequency varied widely and many an hour has been spent trying to find elusive equipment faults that disappeared as soon as the ship's supply was restored.


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## mikeg

I was leaving Shell's SS Mysia by launch at Ras Al Khaimah having completed an extremely short R/O handover. All radars had been performing well for the whole trip. The launch then got a VHF call from the Master saying there was a radar fault and could I come back? The launch altered course back to the ship, shortly after we received another call saying the relief R/O had fixed the fault. I can't now recall who my relief was but it was really unfortunate that happened at that particular time - what an initiation for my relief - the hand of fate I suppose.

Mike


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## mikeg

Now not sure if it was the SS Mysia or the SS Limopsis (as both were R/O reliefs at RAK)
If the R/O concerned is posting on SN please let me know.

Mike


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## Klaatu83

Ron Stringer said:


> Not saying that this was the case, but I found that many so-called 'mysterious' equipment incidents coincided with changing over generators or some large pump being switched on or off. Ships' electrical supplies were far more subject to surges than the shore mains in countries where electrical ancillaries were developed and manufactured. Not all manufacturers of those products were aware of that fact or took proper account of them, so that their equipment was often sensitive to transients on the supply.
> 
> When solid-state electronics arrived on the scene there were massive problems with all sorts of equipment that couldn't cope with the marine environment. No problem in the development lab or on the test bench ashore but all hell was let loose when they went to sea.
> 
> A similar but less serious situation applied in earlier times, when ships were alongside for repair and operating from 'shore mains' - which were generally a degraded dockyard supply, rather than the high quality supply that the general public enjoyed. Supply voltage and frequency varied widely and many an hour has been spent trying to find elusive equipment faults that disappeared as soon as the ship's supply was restored.


You're absolutely correct about the detrimental effect switching over generators has on electronic equipment. I don't know what the routine was on British Merchant Navy ships, but in the U.S. Merchant Marine our engineers were required to switch the ship's power over to the emergency diesel generator at least once a month. I'm not trying to imply for one moment that it wasn't a good idea for the engineers to have practical experience performing that vital function, but the resulting power surge did play havoc with electronic devices such as radars and gyro compasses. The proliferation of additional electronic devices over the years simply made the problem more pronounced.

Usually, however, the engineers were decent enough to let us know before they switched over power. For our part, we always found it prudent to switch off as many of the vulnerable electronic gadgets as possible beforehand, which undoubtedly saved a lot of repair bills and headaches.


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## Ron Stringer

Klaatu83 said:


> Usually, however, the engineers were decent enough to let us know before they switched over power. For our part, we always found it prudent to switch off as many of the vulnerable electronic gadgets as possible beforehand, which undoubtedly saved a lot of repair bills and headaches.


Why didn't we have such enlightened folk around? (A)


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## surfaceblow

I can not remember a time that the Engineers did not call before a planned switch over to the Emergency Generator. Sailing on a Coast-wise tankers we lost the R/O before most of the US ships. Just before the monthly two hour testing the Emergency Diesel under load most of the electronics were turned off. Since the voyage was a short five day trip across the Gulf there were more than a few messages from the office each day. Most of the out going messages was sent by SITOR but the office sent by COMSAT. After not hearing from the office for four days I remarked to the Captain / R/O that it was strange about no nasty grams from the office. With out a word the Captain left the breakfast table and went to the Radio Shack were he promptly turned back on the COMSAT equipment. When I saw the Captain at Coffee Time I got a pile of nasty grams from the office. When we got to the dock the Port Engineer told me to check the radio equipment each day to make sure it is turn on. Another ship that the company operated forgot to turn the battery charger back on after checking the Radio Batteries and the Second Mate logged zero volts on the log for five weeks before some one noticed the problem.


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## Ron Stringer

I was thinking more of those ships where, on passage, less than the full complement of generators were on load. To even out wear, periodically one or more were taken off-line and replaced by idle units. Brown-outs, over-voltage surges and lord knows what else took place, normally without any prior warning to those of us outside the engine room.


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## david.hopcroft

Though a little after my time at sea, RF and solid state stuff are not good companions. At GKZ we used to play tricks with visitors showing off laptops and electronic wizardry by keying the old - very old - WT transmitter and watching their faces. At an Offshore exhibition in Aberdeen, we had a Skanti on the BT Comms stand to demo Sitor. A couple of whizz kids opposite were trying to impress with some new control software they had devised. When the 'burp, burp, burp' started up they hadn't the first idea what was happening. At the end of the exhibition, we said 'sorry' to them with a hospitality bottle !!!

David
+


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## Naytikos

The various comments about generators etc are interesting.
I recall one of my few British ships having a 110V DC supply which went off-balance for no reason that anyone could explain which meant that the ancient Marconi auto-alarm motor would not run.
All my Greek ships were AC and I don't recall any problems. Generators could be run up, synchronised, loaded and unloaded without causing fluctuations. I have never seen an emergency generator without a synchronising panel, so that it could be brought on line and loaded up to maximum while leaving the remaining load to another machine. Otherwise how would you test it without shutting down most of the on-board systems and stopping the ship?
There was one instance where a company ship left the yard after repairs with a particular turbo-alternator on load, and returned 18 months later with the same machine still on-load. After that every ship in the fleet had to send a one-word telegram every Sunday.
"COACS"
'Changing Over Auxiliaries Carried-out Successfully'!


----------



## Macphail

*Main Engine Stoppage*

MAN main engine with the air charged buffer on the water cooled pistons via telescopic. Air supplied by the GS air, Work squad on board chipping the deck with windy hammers. No work in port due to loading petrol. Battened down and clearing the berth into the River Hudson, the work squad sprang into action, all six windy hammers going flat out. 
Buffer air to the piston cooling lost. Blown out seals and damaged telescopic.
Engine dead, USCG on board.
That was an unexpected failure of equipment.

John.

(MAD)


----------



## surfaceblow

Most of the American Ships that I sailed on did not have the capability to synchronize the Emergency Switchboard with the Main Switchboard. There was a set of interlocks preventing the Emergency Generator Circuit Breaker from closing with the bus tie breaker closed. You could feed the Main Switchboard with the Emergency but that required moving the key switch from Auto to Feedback mode. The Test mode of the key switch would drop the voltage from the monitoring circuit which would start the Emergency Diesel open the bus tie breaker and close the Emergency Diesel Generator breaker. This was far from a bump-less transfer of power. Most of the time the bus tie breaker was opened in the engine room to see if the generator started and went on-line which took slightly more time but when the load test was finished closing the bus tie breaker on most ships took the Emergency Diesel off line and stopped the engine. The advantage of not using the key switch is you do not to remember to reset the generator to auto after the test. 

Changing over the Auxiliaries proved to be bump less most of the ships the synchronization of the generators were automated. Just a push button affair but I use to have the engineers transfer the load manually at least once a month for the practice. On the newer diesel ships the whole generator power management was automated. Another generator is started and put on line once the load reached 80 per cent capacity on line and would remove the generator from the switchboard if the load dropped below 30 per cent of the on line capacity and would shut down the engine after a cool down period. 
One of the ships I sailed on was a DC ship and a new member of the crew was trying to put another generator on the line failed to have the voltage of the incoming machine above the unit on the line, did not use the full length of the breaker switch handle and did not use enough force to close the switch. The electrical arc forced the handle up and the new Chief Engineer went sailing in the air.


----------



## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

I have not sailed on a ship where the emergency generator could be synchronised with the main generators, sometimes there is a feedback breaker (as mentioned earlier) from the emergency switchboard to the main switchboard this can only be operated when the main switchboard is completely dead and there is an interlock on the breaker to prevent the connection if the msb is live. I have not seen this operate in anger and indeed the power from the emergency generator could only supply a few circuits.
Simulating a blackout (monthly test on circuits supplied from the emergency switch board) meant opening the tie-breaker on the MSB (supply to the esb) and after a delay the emergency generator would come on load supplying one steering motor, possibly an emergency fire pump (sometimes there is a diesel driven pump) emergency lighting circuits and some equipment on the bridge (Nav lights possibly radar, gps, gmdss and various battery chargers and supply to fire alarm systems, co2 systems and on modern ships one main compressor). I have had radars which would not operate (staying on stby, magnetron failure,) after this test and in one case the fire alarm system which was backed up by 24 volts from the emergency batteries would not go back normal powers (defective relay). 


The problems like this are not so common now because of ups systems and auto change over of supply contactors to bridge equipment meaning there is no break in power.


Cheers


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## 5TT

This story relates to an ageing reefer, an ex P.O. Captain out of retirement for a few trips, and a rather unproductive electrician. Just previously to this incident it had been reported that the timer for the fog horn wasn't working, the manual push button was okay though. The Captain summoned the electrician to the bridge and told him to sort it out, and the electrician claimed he had done so. So, to the day of the incident, we were entering port in blazing sunshine wearing blues, the Captain being immaculately turned out with all his gold braid and medals etc and the rest of us struggling to make buttons meet button holes, and a rather bemused pilot who was rather more appropriately dressed for the conditions. At some point the Captain decided he needed to signal with the fog horn, went and pressed the manual button and it didn't work at all. Without skipping a beat he turned and strutted off to the starboard bridge wing door, above which on the outside was a big lever operating on a cable which was the backup fog horn actuator. It looked as if it hadn't been used for many years and was well painted over ... So the Captain gave a couple of tugs and it didn't budge, so then, probably out of frustration he gave one almighty yank, and pulled the whole thing off the bulkhead, showering his immaculate self with white paint flakes and rust in the process... I tried not to make eye contact with anyone for fear of bursting out laughing but caught a glimpse of the pilot, who'd immediately spun around on his heels and headed in the opposite direction with cheeks sucked in, the helmsman had collapsed over the wheel shaking with mirth and the 3rd mate had stuffed his face into the radar hood, similarly afflicted. It was all a bit too much for me too but at least I could escape out port side where I was able to give up the battle unobserved.
I've still got a crew photo from that ship including the Captain and every time I see it I'm reminded of this incident, it was totally unexpected and very funny at the time ..

= Adrian +


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## billyboy

Good one Adrian! ha ha ha


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

I have always enjoyed faultfinding, but if it's takes more than a short time to find the fault, afterwards I try to figure out why it took me so long to find the fault, which, with the benefit of hindsight, appears so obvious.
One ship, I joined which I had sailed on a number of times, had a problem with an earth on 24v DC supply used for generator alarms and trips, main engine alarms trips and slowdowns, as well as engine monitoring system and some on the bridge. The correct way to find an earth is to remove supply and see if it makes any difference to the earth readings.
It's not hard with 440V and 220V to narrow it down to where the problem is by opening breakers and removing fuses. unfortunately with the 24v supply everything is parallel and opening breakers on equipment does not isolate the 24V. The earth readings were not zero but I knew it should be a lot better and it varied a lot, for instance alongside the readings improved a lot but still an earth, but entering and leaving port and sometimes at sea the reading was poor. 
I started disconnecting the 24V on equipment that was not critical, of course every time this caused an alarm on the monitoring system which did not make me very popular with the duty engineers. Over a long time when I had the chance, I continued to disconnect and reconnect cables but nothing seemed to make a difference. I tried to figure out what you cause this problem everything I tried resulted in exactly the same situation.
Then one day I was in the steering flat when I noticed a 44 gallon drum of hydraulic oil secured to a cable support. When I removed the drum I found that with vibration, the rim of the drum had worn the one of the cables so that the outer braiding of the cable (which is earthed) had worn the insulation of some cables. These turned out to be 24 volt for the on and off indications for the port steering system. (previously I had disconnected these cables at the motor starter but it made no difference) 
The earth indication improved in port because the both steering motors were off and 50 percent of the time the port steering was off at sea. but was bad when entering and leaving port because both steering motors were on and 50% of the time the port steering motor was on at sea.
It was all pretty obvious from the beginning, I wonder why it took me so long. 

Cheers


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## Troppo

What a classic fault!


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## forthbridge

While coasting on Benvrackie or maybe Bendoran (memory not too good) in the early 1960s the third mate told me that every time the crane hoist motor no 4 hatch was started a winch at number 2 hatch would also start running. Did not believe him at first until I saw it myself. Problem was caused by earth faults in the control circuits of the crane and the winch.


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## surfaceblow

Below is a USCG report on a ground fault that caused a RO/RO ship to suffer Stern Door Damage. I do not believe the report is still available on line due to its age. At the time of this incident I was working for the same operating company and I remember the grief that the Night Mate got for not noticing the ramp raising on its own. Since it took above twenty minutes to get to the height to hit the open Stern Door and the ship was not working cargo at the time. 

CAPE DECISION 




MCIR MARINE CASUALTY INVESTIGATION REPORT 13FEB96

--- INCIDENT BRIEF ---

Stern ramp was positioned on wharf for cargo ops. The ramp moved on its own
toward the stowed position and severely damaged the stern door. Door is bent,
locking pins are broken and piston on port side broken. Deck lighting and
control circuit appear to be wired in violation of 46 CFR 111.50-3(e).


CASE NUMBER../ MC94000275 INV INIT/ MMM PORT/ CHAMS LAST UPDATE/ 31MAR94
CASUALTY TYPE: VESSEL/ X PERSONNEL/ FACILITY/ POLLUTION/ MARPOL/
INCIDENT DATE/ 19DEC93 TIME/ 0257 KNOWN/ X ESTIMATED/ REF CASE/
NOTIFY DATE../ 20DEC93 TIME/ 0710 REPORTER TYPE/ RESP PARTY
SUBJECT....../ CAPE DECISION/RAMP DOOR LOCAL FILE REFERENCE/
LOCATION...../ NAVAL WEAPONS STA, WHARF A LOCAL CODE/
INCIDENT STATUS: VERIFIED/ X NOT VERIFIED/ VERIFIED, NOT REPORTABLE/

MCNS MARINE CASUALTY NARRATIVE SUPPLEMENT 13FEB96

CASE/ MC94000275 PORT/ CHAMS SUBJECT/ CAPE DECISION/RAMP DOOR DATE/ 19DEC93

--- COMMENTS ---

Date: December 30, 1993
From: Chief, Port Operations

To: Investigation

File Subj: FAILURE OF AUTO-TENSIONING RAMP ABOARD M/V CAPE DECISION

1. On 20 Dec 1993, at approximately 0300, the stern ramp aboard the M/V CAPE
DECISION started rising from its lowered position to its stowed (raised)
position. In the process, the watertight door located just forward of the ramp
was damaged by the rising ramp (Please see diagram). At 0710, I was notified
by the vessel's agent of the problem, and its impact on cargo loading
operations scheduled for later that day. Upon arrival, it was determined that
cargo operations would not proceed due to damage to the stern door and that a
new door would be needed. The field engineer for the ramp control system, Mr.
Ian Whitfield, was present and indicated that an intermittent electrical fault
was to blame for the accident.

2. During the course of the investigation, I interviewed the field engineer
for the ramp control system, the ship's master, the night mate and the 1st
assistant engineer on watch at the time. The following is a brief description
of the ramp control system:

a) The stern ramp and stern door are controlled from one of two remote
stations. The poop deck controller is the main station. The "B" deck
controller is a remote station on a portable chest mounted console. The
main board is fitted with a 90 barrel switch that directs 24V power to
either the main control panel or the remote control station at the base of
the ramp ("B" deck). Each station has controls to manually raise or lower
the stern ramp. A seperate hydraulic system operates the stern door.

b) While the ramp is in the lowered position the ramp may be placed in a
"self-tensioning" mode. The self-tensioning mode works by keeping preset
tension levels on the wires used to raise the ramp. There are two self-
tensioning modes, one for high quay pressure (low wire tension) and one for
low quay pressure (high wire tension). The high quay pressure mode is
normally used when the shoreside dock is sufficiently constructed to
support the weight of the stern ramp (approximately 180 tons). The low
quay pressure mode is used when the dock is not able to support the full
weight of the stern ramp. The self-tensioning feature allows the vessel's
stern ramp to maintain an even pressure on the dock during tidal
fluctuations and avert frequent manual adjustments by the ship's crew
during cargo loading operations.

c) When the ramp is in a self-tensioning mode, the controls direct
electrical power to various solenoids, and one of two hydraulic pumps, via
relays located in auxiliary machinery room spaces on "B" deck. Depending
upon which mode is selected, the solenoids open or close valves to provide
preset hydraulic pressures to the hoisting motors located on the poop deck.
When in the high quay pressure mode, the preset pressure is 80 bar.
in the low quay pressure, the preset hydraulic pressure is 115 bar.
Approximately 180 bar is needed to raise the ramp from its lowered
position. Maximum pressure is about 210 bar.

3. In reviewing the electrical wiring diagrams, I found that the electrical
solenoids are wired in parallel, allowing power to go directly to the "hoist"
controller solenoid while at the same time directing power to the appropriate
quay (low or high) pressure solenoid to reduce the hydraulic system operating
pressure to the preset level. If one of the quay pressure solenoids were to
fail, or lose electrical power, then the solenoid valve returns to its default
or "full-hoist" position directing maximum fluid pressure to the hydraulic
motors. This is apparently what happened on the morning of the 20th.

4. Diagrams of the electrical wiring and hydraulic piping arrangements used to
control ramp movement are in the case file.

5. According to the master, the poop deck (main) controls were in "manual,"
and the main control switch turned to the "B" deck position. Therefore,
movement of the ramp from the poop deck control station could only have been
accomplished if someone physically transferred power back to the main control
panel and operated the control levers to raise the ramp. The "B" deck control
panel was left in the high quay pressure mode. There was no evidence of any
tampering with the controls at the time of the incident.

6. In interviewing the master I discovered that a similar occurrence happened
two weeks earlier in the port of Antwerp, Belgium. However, the ship's crew
was able to secure the ramp's movement and return the ramp to its original
position on the dock without damage. The ship's crew also noted several small
leaks in the ramp hydraulic system. In response to the leaks, MSC requested a
field engineer for the ramp system to visit the ship in Charleston and inspect
the ramp control system. On the 19th, the day before, the field engineer had
operated the system from the "B" deck station and found nothing unusual or
abnormal. He did however readjust the preset settings for the low and high
quay pressure controls to those values described above. According to Mr.
Whitfield, after speaking with another company engineer, this incident was the
only one of its kind in the past 12-14 years.

7. As a result of the incident on the 20th, Mr. Whitfield conducted further
tests on the system, but could find no electrical continuity faults. It was
not until the 22nd of December when the ramp was lowered to the dock, and
controls were re-energized, that led to the discovery of a short in the
electrical system. During the process of exercising the stern ramp, a deck
light adjacent to the poop deck control station shorted out, and affected the
ability of the control station to move the stern ramp. Further investigation
into the ship's lighting circuitry showed that this particular light was wired
into the 220V power supply that feeds the 24V ramp control system. A detailed
wiring diagram is in the case file. When the light short-circuited, one of the fuses
on the 220V circuit blew. This fuse did not blow during, or prior to, the ramp
impacting the stern door.

8. An inspection of both control stations, and interviews with the ship's crew
seemed to indicate there was no person involved in the incident. An
illustration of the poop deck control station is in the case file. The "B"
deck control station is configured in a similar fashion, but without the 90
power control barrel switch.

9. As described in the CG-2692 provided by the master, when the crew was
alerted by the sound of the ramp impacting the watertight door, the master and
the 1st assistant engineer immediately went to the control stations to try and
stop the ramp from causing anymore damage. The master went to the poop deck
control station and turned all of the barrel switches. At the same time, the
1st assistant was at the "B" deck control station attempting to stop the ramp.
As a result, the hydraulic motor was stopped. The ramp remained in place until
later that day when the stern door was safely secured to the vessel with chain
falls.

10. In ships of similar design, the more recent designs (e.g., MAERSK RO/RO
ships) have interlocks fitted into the control system to prevent the accidental
closure of the ramp while in the self-tensioning mode. The CAPE DECISION and
its sister ships, (CAPE DOUGLAS, CAPE DOMINGO, CAPE DIAMOND, CAPE DUCATO), do
not have interlocks on the ramp control system. Similar problems may exist on
the CAPE "E" and "H" class RO/RO ships operated by MSC.

11. After reattachment of a replacement door (from CAPE EDMONT) on the 28th, a
visual examination of the hatch dogs and a chalk test of the watertight gasket
was completed on the 29th and found satisfactory.

12. No tests were performed to replicate the electrical short described above,
however, it appears as though the high humidity (heavy fog) on the morning of
the 20th may have promoted a short in the light fixture's circuitry. A short
in the lighting circuit would cause a drop in voltage to the ramp control
solenoids, thus allowing the high quay pressure solenoid to release and return
to the "full-hoist" position. So long as the "hoist" controller solenoid
remained in place, despite the drop in voltage, the hydraulic valve positions
would cause the ramp to move to the stowed position.

13. If fitted with an interlock, or the wiring circuits were wired to have the
controls default to a "STOP" position, this accident may have been prevented.

14. Although not conclusive, the apparent primary cause of this accident was
an electrical short-circuit in a lighting fixture on the 24V power supply
system to the ramp controllers. High humidity at the time may have prompted
the short-circuit. A secondary cause was a poorly designed hydraulic control
system that allowed the ramp to raise automatically despite the partial loss of
controlling voltage.



M. M. MILLAR
Lieutenant Commander, USCG
Chief, Port Operations




PREVENTION THROUGH PEOPLE

Routine Investigations IndexMain Index 
Coast Guard Home PageNext Report



TFKO/[email protected]
Developed by TFKO
Disclaimer
Created 6/3/96
Updated 8/12/96


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## freddythefrog

One of the most suprising faults that I came across was an AEI radar where the True motion had not worked for a long time.
It was eventually traced to a high resistance piece of printed circuit track
measuring 7 K Ohm where it should have been a dead short. Resoldered the whole
piece of printed track, it then measured correctly and the true motion burst into life!
A bit of a nasty one to find. Regards ftf


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

This fault may not be interesting, but it certainly was peculiar.
Years ago, on a cargo ship, the smoke detection system for the cargo holds was reported as being defective.
There was a very simple system (Kidde Rich) on the bridge consisting of pipes from the hatches and fans sucking air from these spaces. There were windows corresponding to the hatches where the air could be observed and ribbons which indicated air flow in the pipes. Smoke was detected with a light and photocell. If smoke was present it interrupted the light and set off an alarm. The system was tested by placing a lighted cigarette in an aperture and smoke would be sucked up past the light and photocell arrangement and causing an alarm, this was tested weekly. 
In this case this test was not working. Anyway taking the unit apart I found that the pipe leading from the aperture was totally blocked with nicotine. This was easliy fixed. When I explained to the third mate what the problem was, as a smoker he found it hard to credit that a weekly test with a cigarette for about a minute would eventually cause a pipe to block up. I suppose he would now be described as being "in denial".


Cheers


----------



## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

In the 1980's I sailed on a number of ships with a satcom made by Navidyne (which had recently been taken over by Sperry), this equipment gave a whole new meaning to the word unreliable. You could watch the display going from ready to not ready 10 times a minute. There were a number of electronic faults, 4 large pcb which were matched and all had to be replaced at the same time, but of course there were no spares carried. According to the makers manual all the ship could do was to remove the pcb's and clean the connections, it never seemed to make any difference.
But more often the problem were the "gyros" in the above deck unit (Dome). These consisted of 4 motors, with flywheels, two of which ran clockwise and two anticlockwise. These were suspended on gimbals from the dish arrangement. The idea was that the dish remained pointed at the sat no matter if the ship was rolling or yawing or changing course due to the inertia caused by the spinning flywheels.
When all motors were running it worked very well. The problems came because one or more motors would stop or slow down so that the dish became sluggish and easily lost the satellite.
The company procedure was to remove the offending motors complete with flywheel and send it to Sperry USA for overhaul. That meant that the dish array was totally unbalanced and it was back to steam radio.
Once the shippers and company got used to satellite communication and the satcom failed , it meant going back to the key and the traffic was tremendous.
Anyway, one afternoon, I was packing one of these gyros for return to Sperry, myself and one of the engineers decided to take it apart. It was not a very difficult job, screwed covers, a securing bolt and roll pin to keep the flywheel fixed to the shaft.
The motor electrically was ok but the tapered roller bearing for the flywheel end was destroyed. The C/E engineer ordered a complete set of bearings from the ship chandler, they cost less than $10.
Fitted them and ran as good as new. The company asked Sperry why they charged so much just for a change of bearings. Sperry replied that "dire consequences" would ensue if bearings were changed without rebalancing taking place. The company did not accept this so we continued replacing the bearings on the gyro's ourselves.
Sperry eventually came up with a new Satcom, this time with 8 gyros which was an even bigger disaster. Finally all these were replaced with JRC satcom A which was a great piece of gear.

Cheers


----------



## Dutchy62

Had a problem once with an early Oceanspan (3?) which kept blowing the 750mA HT fuse. Couln't find the fault so kept uprating the fuse until it didn't blow - this took me all the way to a 35A fuse! I then got a qso saying that it was illegal to use class B tansmissions so I must have been obliterating a large chunk of the frquency spectrum! Fault turned out to be a leaky paper capacitor in the modulator section which only broke down when the HT was applied.


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## ernhelenbarrett

One of the strangest faults I had concerned an Marconi Autoalarm on the Iron Somersby. Before I joined it turned out she had not heard the distress call from a sheep carrier way
off Kangaroo Island, South Australia and the R/O insisted that the Autoalarm had been tested and was working okay when he went off watch. When I joined the A/A was checked by AWA and I tested it every time going off watch but found out it would run for a few hours then stop, was the old vibrator/motor type, this happed quite afew times and i would take it out of the rack, check it and start it up. Sometimes it would stay ok for a few minutes , sometimes for a few hours, nothing could be found faulty. On one of my checks I had it on its side on the bench and started it up. It worked okay for days but if I put it right side up it would stop. Needless to say it stayed on its side and worked well until I had it replaced in Port Kembla, even the AWA Techs couldnt work that one out.
My other fault also concerned an Marconi A/Alarm, on the B.I "Orna" Calcutta to London 
when the weight at the end of the vibrator fell off and couldnt be found. Experimented using solder for hours to get the correct weight and it worked fine till we arrived in London via Capetown. As for Radar faults did anyone sail with the Marconi Mark 1? About 600 valves, on the Dara if we fixed a fault we told the other Gulf "D's" about it and worked out a fault-finding chart. Imagine our disgust when Marconi sent out a Memo saying THEIR Techs had printed a fault-finding chart for the Mark 1's and Mark 2/s
Ern Barrett


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## Naytikos

Ern, you have my sympathy; it doesn't suprise me in the slightest.


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## Vital Sparks

One evening I left the bar to take the ten O'clock list from GKA. With a minute or so to go I put the main receiver on frequency and settled down to wait. While I was actually looking at the set, the mains power neon went out and the set died, "mains connector vibrated loose" I surmised and quicky deployed the reserve Rx. After the list I checked round the back, connector in place but mains fuse blown, tired fuse? well the replacement blew immediately, an actual fault then.

Resistance check revelaed a short circuit on the +24V rail which went to every sealed module in the set. Every connection was hard soldered and on a different pin in each module and the wire colur changed several times on it's journey round the set. Each had to be disconnected and it was of course the last in which the short was located. Opened up the module but nothing visible so had to continue disconnecting and testing until eventually a shorted decoupling capacitor was located. What are the odds on seeing a capacitor fail in a set which has been running continuously for 18 months.


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## Richard1947

*Echo sounder failure*

Mine was the echo sounder bust.

Just been ordered to take ship upcoast off Nambia for diamond dredging operations and to moor ship 1/2 mile of shore and work outwards along pre-determined lines which had been researched using side scan sonar.

Gently pointed out that besides being very dangerous it made the ship unseaworthy. Told to relax and lower the 2 bow anchors to correct depth and when they snagged then all OK and could moor. Objected a bit more strongly but was told get up there then argue. Thought that was a better position to argue as crew not being stupid would probably cause a technical mutiny once they found out what was proposed (madness as previous year one diamond ship had gone aground on the inhospital coast with some loss of life).

Fortunately the machine was got working again which was fortunate as all chart soundings were wrong, side scan sonar positions were all faulty and sand bottom turned out to be 30 feet high rocks, gulleys and boulders. Lost 3 mooring anchors and dredging gear but as I had called for specific instructions after appraising them of conditions no repercussions.

Made a point of keeping the printouts and shoing it at the subsequent management meeting. They were all suitably overawed. (Applause)


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## Richard1947

The echo sounder previously referred too was fixed by some gentle and not gentle taps to the casing and switching on and off. No idea what electrical corrections that invoked but as it worked..... (Whaaa)


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## Quiney

When on a ferry that left Liverpool at midnight I got a shout that the VHF wasn't working.
I went to the set and to eliminate 'finger-faults' set all the controls to normal and gave a call to the port control - loud and clear.
The following evening I got exactly the same call. Once again a quick check and everything was OK.
On the next night I stayed on the bridge and watched what was going on. As we left the lock the bridge was dimmed including the panel lights on the VHF. It was at this point that a movement report was attempted to port control, resulting in no reply. I then turned up the panel lights and repeated the call, the reply was immediate and signal was reported as loud and clear.
Left the dimmer on full and threw a duster over the lights for the night run.
The next morning I took a look and remembered that I had 'lamped-up' various bits of kit including the VHF, a couple of days earlier.
I had received a fresh supply of the little push-fit bulbs used in the VHF. On checking them, the new supply was a higher wattage. Replacing them with the correct bulb had the set working at any setting of the panel dimmer.
Never bothered trying to find out what was actually happening, just moaned the the local depot who had supplied the wrong bulbs!


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## Gareth Jones

My most surprising fault was on an autopilot - The ship was a FOC cargo ship fitted with a Brown Gyro - The mate found it very difficult to set the repeater contacts and I offered to take over from him - (There was a trick I'd been shown setting the repeater contacts using an Avo).
The old man then pointed out that the autopilot hadnt worked for at least 18 months and shore service technicians had repeatedly failed to find out why. would I have a go ?
Servo signals were being generated by the autopilot on the bridge yet the motor in the steering flat would make moaning noises and turn the rudder one or two degrees and stop there, the ship would then slowly drift off course.
I had no info on the wiring in the steering flat and spent many happy hours over a few days trudging up and down from the steering flat but getting nowhere.
One afternoon for want of something to do I was sat on the floor by the autopilot and I gently tugged the 3 (or was it 4) wires which carried the info to the steering flat. One came away in my hand - it had been cleanly cut with a wire cutters and tucked back under its copper tag which screwed it in place !
After reconnecting it properly the autopilot worked perfectly.
We subsequently found out that at the time the autopilot "failed", there had been crew trouble over having to work on deck and not getting paid overtime (since only one AB used as lookout when the autopilot was steering, as opposed to two when no autopilot!). This would mean that the AB's would get their overtime without having to work on deck.
Further info led us to guess who probably (and unusually) had the skill to do it - but no talking out of school.!


----------



## Dutchy62

Joined a ship in early 60s after a lay up (the ship, not me) during which they had installed one of these new-fangled VHF sets. This was a Redifon where the bridge remote unit connected to the base unit in the radio room by a multiway cable, frequencies being selected by Ledex switches in the base unit. Unfortunately, the "engineer" who had installed it had used a blow lamp to connect the multicore cable and when certain frequencies were selected on the bridge, the frequency ledex switch rotated continuously in the radio room! Some of the cables in the multicore were shorting but luckily there were spares available which were duly brought into use, using a conventional soldering iron!


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,

On the U.S. coast going up the Columbia River, the gyro compass failed, it stopped on a heading and would not move. The U.S. coast guard insisted on stopping the ship to await the arrival of two tugs, which would tow the ship upriver to the port.
Frankly I never took much interest in the gyro before that because, in those days on the ships I sailed on, it was the domain of the 2nd mate. Anyway I had a look at it and there was very little to lose by taking it apart.
It was a Hosukin gyro and the procedure was pretty straight forwardl. Taking it apart I found one phase was supplied to the sphere by a vertical pin. The pin was bent so I stuck it in a vise and straightened it out as best I could. 
I could find nothing else wrong so re-assembeled it and fired it up. It took about 6 hours to settle down but it worked ok. We proceeded upstream to the berth on our own steam. I found out later the damage to the pin was probably caused by some heavy weather which we suffered previously and this was not uncommon with the Hosukin gyro. Two years later I joined the ship again and the new pin I ordered was sitting in its box and the repaired pin was still in the gyro, working normally.
On another ship a very similar fault occured with a Toyko Keiki gyro, shuddering at one heading but this time it was a sealed unit and so I requested a new sphere unit complete (it was called a sensitive part).
I got grief from the office saying did I realise how much this part cost?. 
All I could say was that I recommended that this part that would solve the problem and it was up to them if they agreed to supply it or not. At this stage they were on hand steering off the magnetic compass. The part arrived in the next port and I was a little nervous when I fitted it because it would not look good if it did not work after all.
But in the event all was ok.
Recently I have been sailing on new ships fitted with two gyros, which seems to be a lot wiser in the event of failure.

Cheers


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## roythwa

I first sailed on the Esso Oxford the old Man and the Chief Sparky were puzzled by the Radar nor working when I said there was water in the waveguide the chief stared up the top of the mast (it seemed miles for a little young sparky) I volunteered to hop up there but the old man vetoed that so up went the chief took out the window on the horn and wiped it dry. Away it went good as gold. I remember my grans old saying praise the lord and pass the ammunition!


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## Ron Stringer

Baulkham Hills said:


> Recently I have been sailing on new ships fitted with two gyros, which seems to be a lot wiser in the event of failure.


I always had a lack of sympathy for owners that rang demanding immediate service and repair of a vital piece of equipment, without which the ship would be held in port. No safety connotations there, if the ship was in port it was relatively safe as far as likely demands on the electronic navaids or communications. No, the urgency was to avoid the costs of delay in sailing.

But they did not consider that possibility, nay probability, when fitting their VLCC or bulker with just one radar, one VHF radio, one echosounder or whatever. For that single item to fail at sea could have serious implications for those on board, but that was never considered. The cost involved of duplicating such items compared to the value of ship and cargo, or even one month's insurance premiums, was trivial but they still chose the 'cheap' way out. Until something went wrong of course, at which time the failure became their top priority.

In general, equipment was only duplicated when the statutory carriage requirements so demanded. For example when in order to meet IMO standards, ships of a certain type, or over a certain tonnage, had to have two radars or, somewhat earlier, when emergency radiotelegraph transmitters had to be fitted. Otherwise it was heads in the sand and hope for the best, regardless of potential harm to the safety and careers of those who manned the ships.


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## Dutchy62

Ron Stringer said:


> Otherwise it was heads in the sand and hope for the best, regardless of potential harm to the safety and careers of those who manned the ships.


Same attitude prevails today as in Herald of Free Enterprise type of incidents. Only legislation curtails the "profit above everything else" attitude


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## Dutchy62

An irritating fault I had was on the Paparoa, a wartime built ship with a woodbine chimney. Because the funnel was tall, the radar scanner had been fitted very high up and under normal conditions the main aerial between the two masts was only just above the protection rail above the scanner. This meant that the crew had to really tension the aerial halyards to obtain enough clearance of the aerial above the rail and occasionally it wasn't tight enough. This meant that the main aerial wiped across the rail as the ship rolled from side to side. If I happened to be transmitting, as the ship rolled past the upright position, the aerial shorted to earth and transmissions were lost. Therefore it was necessary to rattle out the morse while leaning to port or starboard but pause as she came upright. Must have seemed quite odd at the reciving station.


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## doric

*Things that Happen*

During 1953/54 I was appointed 2nd Electrical Engineer aboard T.S.S. "Gothic ", which had been chosen as the Royal Yacht for the Royal Commonwealth Tour.

We used to operate a film show for H.M. Queen & party twice a week when at sea, this particular night, myself & Ist Elect. were showing The Malta Story, and during a German air raid on the Island, the projector lamp blew up!, we quickly removed one from the second projector!!, and the film went on. The irony was that during my 10 years at sea this was the only time a projector lamp blew up!!.

Terence Williams. R538301.(Jester)


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## Treborvfr

One ship I joined, the BP Energy, had been bought by BP from a Greek company. I was sent specifically to this ship to fit a new Satcom system which we were going to pick up at the next port.

Arriving on the ship I was pleasantly surprised find some top quality kit on-board. The radio room was fitted out with the best equipment I've ever used, SAIT I think it was. However the teleprinter was rubbish, it was an old electromechanical Teletype machine that was pretty much on it's last legs. Shortly after sailing the auto response to the WRU signal stopped working which was causing problems when working Portishead which, at that time, was semi-automatic if I remember correctly, i.e. you established a call, GKA asked WRU, teleprinter responded, you were then connected to the Operator and your call was set up. Due to the fault I wasn't getting as far a setting the call up.

I traced the fault to a small cam that was badly worn and jamming at a pawl preventing my ID being sent out. I had no spares and no means (or so I thought) of repairing this cam so had to find a way round this. After a bit of trial and error I found that if I lifted the pawl where the cam was jamming it would start spinning again and the ID would be sent out. I attached a length of string to this pawl which hung outside the covers once the teleprinter was reassembled. By listening carefully to the receiver I could tell when the WRU request was sent, which was shortly followed by the change over between Tx and Rx, by pulling the string at precisely the right point the ships ID was sent and I could establish Telex calls.

This worked faultlessly for many weeks. I didn't intend for it to go on this long, I was expecting to pick up the Satcom kit at our next port of call from which I intended borrow the teleprinter until the Satcom was installed. Unfortunately our orders were changed, and kept changing, and the new kit followed us from port to port.

Anyway, as I said, my solution worked well for many weeks so I just lived with it. However, at that time GKA was trialling a new, fully automatic, telex system that required no operator intervention from them. The ship just connected and the R/O set the call up. I'd heard about it but hadn't realised that it was about to be put on trial on the very frequency I was to use one particular morning. I tuned in to a free channel, started the call, waited for the point when the WRU signal was sent, pulled the string, realised the Tx changeover occurred slightly later than normal, after my ID had started to be sent, then the channel went quiet. Unsure of what happened I went to another channel, set up the call successfully on the semi-automatic system, and cleared my traffic.

A few hours later I was on GKA traffic list for an R/T call. I got in touch and it turned out to be a call from GKA's engineers wanting to know what had happened earlier when they were trialling their new Automatic system. Apparently my 'fix' for my problem had screwed up the programming of their Auto system and caused it to crash! (EEK) Needless to say I got a right rollicking and told not to connect again unless I fixed the problem my end. (Typical, programmers blaming others because their programs can't deal with the unexpected. (LOL) )

Anyway, I stripped the Teletype down again, removed the cam and after many hours (and many failures) I managed to rebuild the profile with Thistlebond (I think) and careful filing. Eventually the teletype was working as good as new and it worked every time with GKA's new fully automatic Telex service.

The new Satcom system never did catch the ship up whilst I was on-board, and the Teletype was still going strong when I left.


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## CAPTAIN JEREMY

5TT said:


> This story relates to an ageing reefer, an ex P.O. Captain out of retirement for a few trips, and a rather unproductive electrician.
> = Adrian +


Sounds like "Gentleman Joe" Chapman


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## charles henry

I was a passenger on a "Red Hand" vessel from Canada to UK, their radar had not worked for several months. Various companies had looked at it without success.
Having nothing to do and with the spark's permisssion I spent my time examining the radar.
Evenually I found the problem which was a halfpenny stuck in the waveguide about six feet from the radar unit (a BTH)..... No doubt about it, a vicious fault from someone who hated the company or had a twisted sense of humour. 
For my troubles my bar bill for the voyage was free.....
de Chas


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## 5TT

That's the problem with those slotted waveguide antennas Chas, if you don't keep 'em turning the punters put coins in  
= Adrian +


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## radiotech

Working for ZIM on m v TSEDEK in about 1971 - my second ship. I was looking after and old Decca radar apparently no transmission.
I had been repairing tv's (black and white) during college days for beer money; to test if EHT was working on tv's I would hold a screwdriver by the handle and draw an ark from the tube EHT connection, as trained by a tv engineer ! 
Well I thought I would try this quick test from the top of the modulator valve; well with sweaty hands in the Indian ocean I proved there was plenty of power coming from the modulator - it lifted me off the floor and threw me against a bulkhead - lucky to survive that one, never did it again ! Think I changed the maggy and all was ok ! Another time, no time base on the crt, looked for days, very proud didn't want to call shore tech !! Then the old man insisted, we were in Lobito, a Portugese guy came out, he also looked round the set for hours (made me feel better - and the only shore tech I ever called!)
then late in the evening he happened to knock a resistor and the set came to life - what was it ?? A dry joint on the cathode resistor of TBase output valve.
I did 13 months on that ship and the old man recommended me for a bonus for all the work I'd put in keeping this radar going (there were many regular and varied faults) - guess what ZIM gave me US$500, which I thought was brilliant - would any company do that today ? - I doubt it.


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## Eric Farrelly

*don't open windows*

Thanks for a good laugh....I remember going up Orinoco on British Robin....happy days.

The "fault I remember most" was going up the Persian Gulf on the British Skill...following wind and radio room windows open as best could be.Water running down your back while listening to traffic.

Absolutely blistering rain storm came and went.

Next watch switched on hf transmitter and the blue flashes better than fireworks.I couldn't move quick enough to switch everything off.

Motto never open windows next to transmitter when raining..the amount of water I soaked up would fill a sink.(slight exaggeration!!)...but after drying everything..cautiously powered up....all ok!!!...lesson learnt...only water in radio room from then on was running down my back.

bcnu om

sparks


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## aussiesparks

*Radiolocator Mkiv*

Out in the Pacific on the Trienza a British Phosphate ship sailing out of Australia we had an old Radiolocator Mr 4 with a heavy half cheese scanner. Suddenly instread of its slow scan it started turning at about 30 turns a minute. The motor had a combined parrallel/series motor and one winding had gone. No spare so we were stuck untill we reached Ocean Island and the workshop there took the motor shore and rewound it for us,, how they managed it with the facilities there had there I don't know but it kept working from then till the ship was sold..

Colin


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## pete

You want an Odd Fault ? hows this. Sailed from a Port (don't know where) and the Master gave the RO the usual bumph to send off and no transmission. He had a good poke about and nothing wrong with the main Tx, tried emy Tx same result. After about 5 Hours he took off the cover to the aerial switching box and Lo and Behold there was a Fried Bush Baby. We don't know how it got there and nobody onboard "admitted" to having one ?? ...............pete


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## johnvvc

*Atalanta*

Interesting thread.

I had a few faults, mostly Radiolocator Mk4 radar but another one that comes to mind was on the Atalanta main receiver.

Coming on watch I switched it on, I seem to remember it always took 'ages' to warm up but this time it didn't come on at all. After a quick look found that a thermistor (is that what they were called?) in series with the valve heater chain was o/c.

I found a suitable wire wound pot in the spares cabinet and wired it in instead of the thermistor. Mounted it on a small bracket onto the side of the receiver. Switching the receiver on involved turning up the pot (for maximum resistance) and slowly throttling it back as the old receiver warmed up.

A replacement ordered from Marconi took 'ages' to catch us up...

Happy days.


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## Ron Stringer

johnvvc said:


> I had a few faults, mostly Radiolocator Mk4 radar but another one that comes to mind was on the Atalanta main receiver.
> 
> Coming on watch I switched it on, I seem to remember it always took 'ages' to warm up


Having started life in the radio room with a CR300 receiver, which took ages to reach full operating temperature and during which time the local oscillator drifted steadily, I learned to leave receivers switched on. That way there was a fair chance that when you came on watch and wanted to take the HF Area traffic list, the station could be found somewhere in the vicinity of where it had been last watch! After all, I wasn't paying for the electricity. 

As an aside, I was of the opinion that if left running, things tended not to go faulty as often as the equipment that was switched on and off frequently. No evidence to prove the theory, but I got very few faults when I was at sea.

Made up for it when I came ashore as a depot technician. :sweat:


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## johnvvc

Ron - I'm sure you're right leaving electrical items running permanently could cause less problems - our outside light lasts years - because no one remembers to switch it off!!!

I really can't remember but I probably left the main receiver switched on in between watches during the day and may have turned it off after the last watch.

Having it running permanently might also have been advantageous if the Auto Alarm went off - instant 500 receive without having to use the Auto Alarm's receiver.

John


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## Naytikos

I fully agree with the last couple of posts; I never switched off a receiver, whether transistor or valved. I don't really remember the Atalanta, although I did sail with it, but most other valve types I sailed with had a separate HT switch, so one could simply leave the filaments on without unduly shortening the life of the valves. 
I read an article many years ago, might have been in 'Wireless World' when that was a real professionals' magazine, in which the author propounded the theory that the major stress to transistors occurred when applying and removing power, as the minute internal wire connections were stressed by thermal effects at those times.


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## mikeg

I never switched the main receiver off either. Used to put the main transmitter on standby prior to first traffic, obs etc then leave it so until the end of the last watch of the day. 
Valves (tubes to our American friends) certainly lasted longer run continously, one example was communal aerial amplifier valves which achieved execeptional valve life.

I have valved hifi equipment which I put to standby half hour before listening, at end the HT goes off, 15 minutes later the filaments (heaters) are switched off. I get full hours out of the (rather expensive) 6550 power valves. They didn't used to cost anywhere near todays prices back then...


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## hawkey01

To think of some of the gear we used to have to work with is amazing. My radio gear ranged from equipment made post war by Redifon to excellent SAIT equipment of the mid 60's. I seem to remember that my push button SAIT receiver was made by Debeg. Of course with a large smattering of MIMCO gear. I think the Opalia had a Globespan Tx which had a little bit more umph the a Span 7, from memory about 250w or was it more?
My SAIT tx was 600w.

Hawkey01


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## Vital Sparks

It was BP company policy for receivers always to be left switched on, except when in dry dock.


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## mikeg

R651400 said:


> Neville, Think this is the baby you're referring to.
> Had two of them on my last ship Eurylochus/SWBF which was a radio potpourri put together by same SAIT.
> Transmitters were 400W Swedish Standard Radio, receivers the excellent Siemens E566 attached and other bits and bobs I can't remember down to a clockwork autokey by Redifon. B-r Malcolm


I've not sailed with the E566. Is that 'magic eye' tuning indicator on the RHS of the panel? I'm wondering why they opted for individual band selector buttons instead of a rotary switch. Only Just enough room on the panel for all those band selector buttons.

PS It must have looked good with the tuning scale panel lights on.


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## hawkey01

Malcolm, Mike,

Yes that look like the one. I remember it being a really good rx and extremely easy and accurate to use. 

Sorry Mike I cannot remember what the magic eye did. Malcolm may well be able to jog my memory.

Am I correct in thinking that SAIT re branded a lot of other manufacturers equipment and did not make too much of there own.

As I said previously a 600w tx in 1968 was a big boys toy when so many others were still plodding around with 80w-100w, no idea who made it though. The pleasures of foreign flag.

Neville - Hawkey01


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## Ancient-Mariner

Bowthruster not developing full power toStarboard. No diagrams and nothing obvious on the system control panel. For some ports no problem, then usually when berthing at night same problem again. Ended up myself and ChEng sitting watching the control panel with everything looking ok, only to hear over the walkietalkie of the problem again. Went up to the bridge, total darkness of course, but with a torch found a coffee mug under the central control station control lever which preventing the three synchronised control levers moving their full extent. Simples.............

Cheers!

Clive


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## Billieboy

Ancient-Mariner said:


> Bowthruster not developing full power toStarboard. No diagrams and nothing obvious on the system control panel. For some ports no problem, then usually when berthing at night same problem again. Ended up myself and ChEng sitting watching the control panel with everything looking ok, only to hear over the walkietalkie of the problem again. Went up to the bridge, total darkness of course, but with a torch found a coffee mug under the central control station control lever which preventing the three synchronised control levers moving their full extent. Simples.............
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Clive


I had a similar problem on a smallish tanker, the cause was a twisted hydraulic line in the cofferdam/web to the thruster motor, took bloody ages to find it and a force eight came up half way through for nearly 24 hours! Finished the job though! Driver was very happy!


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## Troppo

LPG Tanker Wiltshire/VJEK (ex GYKD)

Gyro repeaters on the bridge wings not working.

A nut had dropped off the synchro repeater, allowing it to fall out....

The Old Man and the mates bought me beers for a week!

(Thumb)


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## les.edgecumbe

Naytikos said:


> This is a hard thread to contribute to. I really enjoyed fault-finding, (still do) and the longer it took, the better! I still have my notes about most of the difficult ones and a suprising number were due to manufacturing defects or poor design.
> 
> The worst has to be the Crusader Tx.
> Not because of the ridiculous ledex switch;
> Not because of the erratic 5MHz crystal oven;
> Not because of the stupid tuning system;
> But because of the QY4-400 output valves which developed uncontrollable parasitic oscillations when tuned to full power on 22MHz.
> 
> The cabinet became too hot to touch, the insulation melted on much of the wiring, leading to multiple short circuits and the only way to stop the show was to hit the main circuit breaker just inside the radio-room door.
> 
> On the first occasion I managed to hit the HT switch before too much damage occured, but on the run from Yokohama to Goa I needed 22 and eventually learnt the hard way exactly how much power I could run before the parasitics began. By the time we arrived, however, I had one of the racks permanently withdrawn from the cabinet so I could keep separating the wiring bundles as the insulation turned to sticky goo.
> Loading from lighters over a 3 - 4 week period gave me enought time to tear the whole Tx apart and find the problem.
> In the course of the exercise I discovered one whole section of the manual was completely erroneous in it's explanation of the circuit.
> The report I subsequently sent to 'head office', and copied to Marconi's, contributed to the company's decision to revert to IMR for all subsequent transmitters. MIMCo never even bothered to comment!


Could be that Radio Holland had 'repaired' your Tx at some stage. They loved inserting wire wound resistors in the grid of the Tx final stage - which made for toast burning !!!


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## Ron Stringer

Naytikos,
I was not directly involved with Crusader (that was the late Cyril Henshaw’s baby) but when called on to help by visiting a number of ships fitted with Crusaders where everything was ‘live’ with RF, I found that in every case the grounding to the ship’s metal superstructure was inadequate. Installers who were used to grounding transmitters such as Oceanspan with 7/.029” tinned copper wire to a 2BA bolt screwed into the bulkhead or deck, found it hard to accept that it was an insufficient conductor for 15-20 amps of RF at 8-16MHz.

The installation department decided to use 150mm x 0.4mm copper strip for earthing, still to a single bolt in the deck, albeit they specified that it should be brass. Changing to 300mm copper strip and 3 half inch brass bolts screwed or brazed to the deck, tamed the wildest of transmitter installations.

When replacing the bit of wire by a 300mm copper strip made everything work properly, the service engineers that had called you in looked on you as if you were a magician.

Failing to use non-inductive resistors in connections to valve electrodes was a common failing of service engineers, not restricted to Radio Holland (whose engineers I always found to be excellent). Some of the consequences could be most spectacular.

Never a fan of the QY4-400 and convection ventilation, I would have preferred ceramic output tubes and forced-air cooling but had to wait about 10 years before I was in a position to make that happen. By then the days of the traditional radio room and 1.5kw transmitters using tubes were numbered.


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## Naytikos

Les: I know what you mean, but they had never been anywhere near that ship.
Ron: I completely agree about the grounding, sorry:earthing. Niarchos had been using ST1200 Txs and the IHI and Mitsui yards had the right idea in this respect, so when the abberration of 9 ships with Crusaders happened, they got that part right.
The trouble in my case was simply a bad valve, the left one looking at the front panel as it happens. My personal, annotated, Crusader manual got lost on the way home from that ship, so I don't recall if it was 'V1' or 'V2'.


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## mikeg

Ron, It does seem like a very basic error by installers to assume that the grounding utilised for the lower powered Oceanspan would do for a Crusader. What did the manufacturers installation manual state? I would surmise that some foreign yards where English was not their first language would 'do as they always did' but their error should at least be located at the next radio survey. A very good reason to have a MED R/O present during transmitter installation especially on new builds.


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## Ron Stringer

Don't know about the installation manual for the Crusader but when I first went to work in Chelmsford, the section I worked in shared office space with the Installations department. Many owners asked Marconi to plan the installation but lots of others relied on either their own staff, the shipyard or the supplier fom whom they bought the radio equipment. (Marconi supplied in bulk to people like Radio Holland, Debeg, AWA and the like). 

I know that in all cases the installation drawings for each piece of equipment were packed with the equipment supplied to the organisation that purchased it from Marconi. Usually these were in triplicate, but I don't know that they always reached the ship. In the case of installations where MIMCo did the planning, they included the radio room layout, antenna rigging plans, specific wiring instructions for the individual ship, etc., as well as detailed drawings such as earthing arrangements, scanner locations and waveguuide runs, instructions for welding echosounder projectors.

So the information was there but some people thought they knew best and did their own thing.

Mind you I sailed with a Globespan (400W+) transmitter fitted by Marconi in 1958 and that was only earthed by 7/.029'' wire. It too was alive on some HF bands and caused sparks between the metal joints between the deckhead panels in the radio room. It was like transmitting from inside a pinball machine.

The best ''open-feeder'' arrangements were in Norwegian shipyards, where their local radio admin insisted that the entire radio room had to be lined with copper sheet, bonded to the deck. Every piece of equipment was bonded to that sheathing and to deck. 

Better still when transmitters began to be made with the antenna tuning arrangements sited external to the radio rooom, at the base of the antenna. The transmitter then just had to feed a 50-ohm coaxial feeder to the antenna tuner and there was no longer any high RF field in the radio room. Bliss.


----------



## mikeg

I'd heard of the Norwegians lining the entire radio room in copper sheet though I wonder what their rationale was, as it seems a bit over-the-top to me. You're essentially in a Faraday cage, the perfect protection from lightening (Jester). W

Usually I've seen approx 50cm wide sheet horizontally around threequarters of the radio room which worked fine. Talking of stray RF, on the lighter side I do remember one ship some arcing from the headphone band to my head on certain 22MHz frequencies.

Whilst on that subject I once saw the neon on the main tx feeder light up when the transmitter was not in use. Earthing the aerials gave quite a flash, I assumed meterorological phenomena but the reason was simply that we were transitting near the Kalundborg aerials at the time!


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## Troppo

Note the earthing behind the tx and the main console....stray RF was never a problem on VJLL (Lake Eyre) or its 3 sisters.


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## Ron Stringer

Troppo,

That looks very much like the sort of ''afterthought'' earthing that I used to add when I was trouble shooting dodgy installations. Once the need for better earthing/grounding became generally appreciated, on newbuildings the copper strip would be fixed to the metal bulkhead, so that it was hidden from view behind the fibreboard lining and just brought out through 'slits' to connect to the various equipments.


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## mikeg

Most ships I remember had the copper strip visible on the bulkhead. I note on my 'avatar' that the copper strip is vertically run from the deckhead down behind the main transmitter. On newbuilds I've attended the copper strip had already been installed prior to my arrival and always was visible over the lining. Obviously the installation detail wasn't as good as it could be.

I recall discussing with Walter the variability of quality of duplex calls on different frequency bands. We discussed frequency Vs antenna spacing, notch/bandpass filters, stray rf control etc. What really worked well was running the receiving aerials in a grounded conduit up to the receivers concerned, I requested the shipyard to do, there was then absolutely no problem with duplex calls and 99% of calls were now taken in cabins - this led to a vast increase in R/T calls. Experiments pointed to long runs Vs screen impedance prior to grounding partially due I'm sure to inadaquate control of stray RF. One master even wrote to Shell praising this and Walter passed the letter on to me. Nice to feel a little smug once in a while.


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## Troppo

Ron Stringer said:


> Troppo,
> 
> That looks very much like the sort of ''afterthought'' earthing that I used to add when I was trouble shooting dodgy installations. Once the need for better earthing/grounding became generally appreciated, on newbuildings the copper strip would be fixed to the metal bulkhead, so that it was hidden from view behind the fibreboard lining and just brought out through 'slits' to connect to the various equipments.



She was built in Japan. 

99.9% of the Marconi stations I sailed with were identical - lots and lots of BIG copper strips. It sure worked. 

Oh, BTW, you were spot on re GMDSS installs....50 ohm coax out to an external ATU made it all so, so easy.

We did some field strength tests on 2 MHz once - GMDSS conversions of W/T installations with the ATU internal in the old radio room using the feed through insulators were routinely _10 dB down_ on external ATU's...


----------



## Ron Stringer

I am working from memory (and most likely that is fresher for the later Commander/Commandant & Conqueror series of transmitters than for Crusader) but the earthing drawings consisted of a vertical 12-inch/300mm copper strip between metal deckhead and deck, connected at each end by three half-inch brass bolts, tapped into, or brazed onto, the steel plate. Another similar copper strip ran horizontally across that strip, soldered at the junction, at a height that matched the earthing connections on the rear of the transmitter cabinet. This was normally continued across at one end, to connect to the cabinet of the transmitter antenna switching unit.

Some people also connected another horizontal strip from the vertical strip to the radio operating console, claiming that this avoided earth loops that might be created by having separate earthing arrangements for the console, separate from the transmitter earth. Personally I never did that since I favoured keeping as much electrical separation as possible between receivers etc., and the transmitter. I suspected that creating a common earth point caused the console frame to become part of the transmitter antenna circuit between ground and the external antenna. 

Either way, co-locating transmitter antennas (the copper tube feeds from the transmitter to the antenna lead-in/bushing insulator were part of the transmitting antenna) and receivers in the same room was a very unsatisfactory arrangement. Electronic developments permitted the creation of cost-effected remote transmitter antenna tuning units and allowed the traditional radio room to be abandoned. The radio operating room became a much calmer environment, RF-wise.

For many years before I came ashore in the 1960s, MIMCo and other radio companies had been trying to convince shipowners that for acceptable duplex operation it was essential to separate the transmitting and receiving antennas as far as possible and to use double-screened coaxial feeder cables installed in grounded metal conduit. Impedance matching units were produced to help alleviate S/N degradation in the long cable runs between the remote antennas and the receiver. Most owners however were very unreceptive ((Jester)) and the uptake was very limited. 

Perhaps they were justified in that approach, since on most ships the demand for duplex R/T operation was minimal. However even some large passenger and cruise liner owners rejected such recommendations, only to complain later that their stateroom passengers were unable to make calls in any other than ideal radio conditions. Penny-pinchers all.


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## Ron Stringer

My last post about the reluctance of ship owners to make adequate provision for the technical and operational needs of the radio installation brought to mind an installation on a T & J Harrison vessel. 

For maintenance purposes, the units inside the cabinets of MIMCo transmitters either hinged forwards, or slid on runners, clear of the cabinet to provide access to the contents. The vessel concerned had a very small radio room, into which the installation department had to squeeze a full radio operating console and a Commander or Commandant transmitter. The length of the forward bulkhead was exactly the combined width of transmitter and console, which would just fit in the space available. However when the transmitter units were withdrawn, one side would be tight up against a fore/aft bulkhead. 

Putting the transmitter on the right of the console, against the exterior bulkhead (preferred siting to give shorter copper tube runs within the radio room and easier access to external transmitter antennas) would mean that the right-hand side of the transmitter would be completely inaccessible. So the transmitter was placed to the left of the console, so that its left-hand side was up against the inboard bulkhead of the radio room. To solve the access problem, a hatch was built into that bulkhead. 

When fault-finding or carrying out routine maintenance, the R/O had to withdraw the unit under examination and then go out into the alleyway, open the hatch and lean in through the hole to work on the equipment. Of course if he needed to operate any of the controls, he had to go back down the alleyway and re-enter the radio room. All to save a couple of feet on the size of the radio room.

Hope no one ever got electrocuted!


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## mikeg

Shipowners being unaware of course that costs involved could be recouped by additional pax communications. 

I'd heard that most shipowners were pennypinchers however I generally found if close liasion was maintained by the R/O with the shipowner, (in my case generally with Shell) along with Mimco and other equipment providers that did go a long way towards easing the way for other requirements.Certainly Shell listened to their RO/E's requests for additional equipment spares, tools and test equipment. Oscilloscopes and better meters (AVO8) were generally available latterly to the R/O as were electric typewriters. (I always carried my own Fluke as occasionally radio room meters had seen better days).


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## Naytikos

It always seemed to me that no thought was given to communications during the design of a ship. The radio room often seemed to be whatever available enclosed space there was that could not be used as a cabin or store. Tx aerial feeds were then quite convoluted, sometimes involving long runs around the bulkhead to reach the feed-throughs.
The worst I ever had was one VLCC where the feed-throughs were in the deck-head and emerged into a cage behind the wheelhouse. There was then a vertical run of around 10 feet where both antennae were surrounded by steel superstructure before they were in clear space.
On most bands this acted as a large capacitor making tuning interesting, but on 22Mc/s it actually formed a quarter-wave trap. My solution was to reduce the length of the emergency aerial to be close to one 22Mc/s wavelength, including the caged section, and use it alone for that band.


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## Mimcoman

Earthing never seemed to be given the attention it deserved. The problem I encountered most was when Sitor became common. The rack with Spector/Apollo was invariably earthed (by 300mm copper strip) to the main transmitter earth strip, leading - as Ron says - to ground loops, where the Spector would change state in time with the keying and the txr would cut of and off. In each case, I would disconnect the rack's strip and install a new one to a bolt drilled into the bulkhead; worked every time.
But I saw cases of transmissions affecting gyro repeaters due to the repeater cable shielding being cut off well short of the master gyro terminal blocks; same with satnavs, talkbacks, logs etc. 
I also had a problem with the identical Conqueror installations on two panamax bulkers. During a duplex call, when the shore party was talking the transmitter output would gradually rise, radiating rf noise. The cause was 
pickup on the mic cables from the console to the transmitter, cured initially by fitting 0.01uF caps (which reduced the effect but not entirely) and eventually by removing the screen at the transmitter terminal blocks.

I also agree that sometimes it did appear that aerials etc were just put up in any convenient place. I sailed with a MAS-20 tx whip and Conqueror that had a receiver whip mounted about 8 feet away from it. When the MAS-20 was tuned to 500, and the rx whip used for 500, reception was well enhanced. But the receiver blocking when transmitting on 500 was severe, so I mainly used the Salvor (IV?) for MF working or another rx aerial. On one bulker, I moved the whip to the opposite bridge wing - all ok then.

And finally: I have to say that I liked the Crusader. I did experience the usual Ledex fault, but I found it easy to work on and logical for fault finding, and I thought it was easier to tune that the Conqueror, especially on 1.6-3.8MHz (the "IF" band). However, reading some the horrendous problems experienced by Naytikos and GTZM-sahib, I may be in a minority?....


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## mikeg

I can't recall any training about RF grounding/screening techniques. As a hobby I built a few Hi-Fi amplifiers and soon realised the concept of star earthing and only grounding a coaxial (or other screen) at the source end. Also with cables carrying AC to twist cables tightly together and to lay them close to the grounded chassis.

I know that RF is a completely differerent animal but I would have thought some training, especially for installation engineers would have averted many basic RF related problems.

Mike


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## Ron Stringer

mikeg said:


> I can't recall any training about RF grounding/screening techniques.


I suspect that it was because the sort of installation that was represented by the average merchant ship's radio room was an unusual arrangement in the greater world of radio. Where else would you find a 1.5 kW mf/hf transmitter connected by open wire to an inadequate antenna, a sensitive communications receiver and an operator, all co-located within a 1 metre radius? (Jester)


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## mikeg

Never thought of it quite in that way. A completely illogical set of cir***stances that probably wouldn't happen elsewhere, that in hindsight its worth some amusement (Jester)

P.S. I like the way numbers coincide, this is my 999 posting with the 99th in the thread.
(K)


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## Naytikos

Ron, you have said it all!


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## Troppo

All this talk of Spectors is making me shake uncontrollably.......aarrgghhh...



What an awful system!

Any of you sail with the Thrane and Thrane telex system? Magnificent, especially when combined with a Skanti TRP8xxx series transceiver.

Well ahead of its time.


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## Mimcoman

Troppo said:


> All this talk of Spectors is making me shake uncontrollably.......aarrgghhh...
> 
> 
> 
> What an awful system!
> 
> Any of you sail with the Thrane and Thrane telex system? Magnificent, especially when combined with a Skanti TRP8xxx series transceiver.
> 
> Well ahead of its time.


I liked the spector! (so much so that whenGND got rid of the spectors on for dedicated oil rig channels, I took two home and used them on air until they were replaced by pc software). The only gripe I had was their size.

GND also the Thrane and Thrane sitor units, but these were the next generation up - looked a lot sexier and had a buit-in word processor. I also sailed with the Phillips STB75 ( the one with the tape store) which I did not like. 

(Incidentally, in an earlier entry in this thread I said the the Spector units were earthed via 300mm strip. On mature reflection I think my memory's going - it must surely have been 100mm or 150mm strip. )


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## Ron Stringer

*ARQ/FEC Terminals*

There was the original STB75 SITOR (*Si*mplex *T*elex *O*ver *R*adio), designed by Herman da Silva of Philips. This was the first of the marine ARQ/FEC TOR products to come to market. SITOR had been selected by the ITU for adoption as the approved marine HF narrow-band teleprinter system, in competition with Marconi's Autospec, which was widely used in the North Sea oil industry but could not really compete since it only used forward error correction and had no ARQ facility.

Having lost the competition for its own system, Marconi rushed out a STB75 equivalent, which they called Spector (*Si*ngle-*P*ath, *E*rror-*C*orrecting, *T*elex *O*ver *R*adio). That was the 10½-inch high panel one, with the slide-in PCBs and it offered all three modes of operation - ARQ, FEC and Selective FEC.

That was later superceded by Spector 2 (a 5¼-inch high, 19-inch wide device) which was a significantly better performer and far more reliable than the first design. 

However it was made in the Marconi factory that mass-produced a wide range of data equipment, generally for major PTTs and cable companies. Small-quantity production on the scale that applied in the marine world was unsuited to that environment and when the price that they wanted to charge us exceeded the price that shipowners were willing to pay us, something had to be done.

So we did a deal with the Thane brothers to badge their equipment and sold it as Spector 3. Of course all were swiftly overtaken by satcoms of various types.


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## Trevor Clements

The Santona GCDU had a Quo Vadis radar in 1960/61, with the scanner on the forward mast and the transmitter in the for'rd mast house. I had had no radar training but after a year aboard I was getting the hang of it. Or so I thought.

One day out of Londonderry bound for Beirut, the display started missing sweeps, or parts of sweeps. The fault was very intermittent, and I checked everything I could think of. We went on to Famagusta, Haifa, Limassol, Patras, and at every opportunity I involved Marconi agents. All to no avail. The fault was so intermittent that no one got anywhere with it. Eventually we got back to London and I reported it to East Ham depot and went home for a few days. On returning we sailed for our home port of Glasgow, but in thick fog in the Thames estuary it began missing sweeps again and rather than risk continuing we had to anchor until the fog cleared. I had a good relationship with Captain Dougall, but he was beginning ot lose patience, so much so that when we arrived in Glasgow I reported everything to Marconis in St Vincent Street and went home for some leave. 

On return we sailed for Montreal, and were hardly out of the Clyde before it began again. I tried to find the cause for the entire voyage and I have to admit it was starting to get me down. The Capt then informed Marconi's that if they didn't fix the problem he would have the Quo Vadis taken out and a KH radar installed. That spurred some action and Avonmouth depot sent two techs to the ship. We worked all day and found nothing, but then the fault hardly showed itself. The next morning they began without me, but quickly returned to accuse me of sabotaging it overnight. I was very annoyed and they could tell, so we all went to the forward mast house again, in the act of walking through the mast house some hanging threads of polythene brushed against one of their faces, they looked up and could see some exposed cabling with the insulkation hanging out. It was the magslip cables between the scanner and the neck of the CRT which controlled the sweep, they had been damaged by the installation of cooling fans six months earlier, and the fault was caused by the coax shorting during any localised vibration.

We had all been so certain that the magslip cables could not have been the problem, and had the insulation not hung down that day we might have seen the KH radr on board. That would probably have been the best result!! As it was a tech from Avonmouth came up to Glasgow with the ship, the cables were replaced and I awaited the next Quo Vadis fault (The Mod valve failing repeatedly as it happens.) Oh how I loved the Quo Vadis; Not!


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## gwzm

Cunard's Alaunia and Andania had identical Marconi Radiolocator MkIV true motion radars. After all these years I don't recall on which ship it was. Sailing up the Thames on the last leg of the trip from the USA the radar stopped functioning. A visit to the compartment housing the true motion and transmitter/receiver works quickly led to a 100% diagnosis of the problem - the radar receiver I/F strip was burning good style! The I/F strip was a charred mass of burned copper wires with assorted chunks of carbon hanging off so no way that was getting fixed with the on-board spares.
On another occasion, again I don't recall whether it was Alaunia of Andania, the radar started blowing fuses for no obvious reason during pre-sailing checks before leaving New York. After a long investigation, and the one and only time that I ever had a shoreside technician come on board (at the Master's request), the problem was tracked down to an intermittent short to ground in the time-base driver circuit due to a faulty insulation grommet.
I disliked those Marconi radars with a passion. The old-fashioned BTH RMS 1 and 2 radars fitted to most Brocklebank ships of that era may have lacked the bells and whistles of the Radiolocator MkIV but at least they were usually quite straightforward to fix when they went wrong. 
Happy days.


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## NoR

Steering gear failure during a RAS in RFA Black Ranger 1968/9. Luckily it failed somewhere near midships.


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## Naytikos

A couple of comments on Ron and Trevor's posts:

Stavros Niarchos' schooner Creole/VPTG had an FEC system with a 24 hour circuit through PCH on dedicated frequencies. As he rarely took the yacht out of the Mediterranean it worked quite well, although one of the operators in the telex room at the Mayfair HQ told me he had once spent most of the night getting a particularly long message through as the yacht's R/O kept asking for repeats until he had a complete script to present to the owner.
In the mid 70s he built a new yacht, Atlantis, about the size of a small cross-channel ferry, and this was fitted with the STB75, (also an ITT satellite navigator the size of a refrigerator: all cutting-edge in those days)!

There was a Quo Vadis at Plymouth when I did my ticket. The senior lecturer made various disparaging references to it's questionable Australian parentage and told us that under no cir***stances were we to switch it on.
So we did radar on a Marconi MkIV which Noah had discarded when he got a Hermes, (and probably regretted it ever thereafter!)


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## Trevor Clements

The other problem for the Quo Vadis on Santona was the location of the Tx, and the fact that at 1,769 grt and only 270 ft long she pitched quite violently in a head sea on the North atlantic. So the radar Tx received a pounding. I used to retune the TR cell as soon as we got to Montreal, and again on arrival in Avonmouth. As I said above with no radar training I hadn't a clue what I was really doing I just found that it improved the set after a 12 day passage.

One day at lunch the Electrician remarked that there had been an earth on the main board in the engine room for as long as he could remember, and in one of those strange coincidences, the Atalanta failed to start at the beginning of the afternoon watch. I took the traffic list from GRL on the R/T set on the bridge and started to investigate the problem on the Atlanta. I quickly discovered a bit of amateur repair work done on the main on/off switch by a.n. other, which had now come adrift. This was corrected, and hey presto the set was working again. At dinner the 'Lecky' was delighted to inform me that the earth on the board had now disappeared, and my reputation as 'sparks' had improved suddenly. I kept quiet about what I had done and learned the value of the enigmatic smile.


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## Vital Sparks

Since all electronic faults were usually fixed using the radar spares, it was the necessary to come up with a story about why the component in the radar had failed in order to be supplied with a replacement. I wonder if the radar companies were aware their reliability figures were nowhere near as bad as the reported failures would lead them to believe.


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## Vital Sparks

Time: 5 p.m. position: Western Approaches. R/O in the saloon having evening meal when the phone rings, "yes he's here, sparks, both radars have failed, can you go to the bridge."

Arrived on the bridge, "Did they fail together?", "Yes". Both sets completely dead, check the mains supplies, no mains input to either set, but they are independently fed from different distribution panels to prevent just this sort of thing. 

What were you doing at the time?, "Trying to make a cup of tea" but the kettle didn't work". Time to pay a visit to the scene of the crime. 

Explanation, while making a cup of tea the kettle tripped it's breaker.
Navigating officer went to locker behind bridge where distribution panel is located and while resetting the kettle breaker accidentally nudged the breaker for the forrard radar. While doing so he stood on a coil of flag halyard that had been left lying on the deck, a loop of which was wrapped around the lever of the aft radar isolation switch,
causing it to open.

Simultanious mains failure from a single cause on completely isolated systems. Meal still warm when I got back to it.


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## Naytikos

(Jester)(Jester)(Jester)


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## Troppo

Ahhh, if only all faults were so simple!


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## Vital Sparks

Oops I forgot to mention the punch line about the failed radars in the Western Wpproaches, were were in fog with zero visibility at the time.


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## Steven Lamb

Back in the late 70's I was on a Bank boat with a single radar (Radiolocator)
About 3-days out from Frisco the syncro-controlled txmitter up in the ADU went u/s thus causing reverse rotation at a fast pace ! No spare available onboard so cabled ahead and 1 was waiting our arrival. Prior to it being fitted we had a visit from the USCG who wanted to see the radar operating !
Couldn't believe my eyes when they said they were happy with it's performance and thus ticked it off their checklist - despite it flying round 
anti-clockwise at a great rate of knots !


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## sparks69

Not quite a fault but I once spent hours trying to find out what the three big capacitors were for inside an AEI Auto Alarm. All covered in greasy dust and with no apparent connections.
Eventually hit (sorry tapped) one and it fell over. Three tins of very old (ship was a 1948 ish built tanker) Players ciggies, still sealed, but unsmokable.


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## Moulder

Oh I like it .......... that one beat the 'black gang' (Applause)

(Thumb)


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## Gareth Jones

sparks69 said:


> Not quite a fault but I once spent hours trying to find out what the three big capacitors were for inside an AEI Auto Alarm. All covered in greasy dust and with no apparent connections.
> Eventually hit (sorry tapped) one and it fell over. Three tins of very old (ship was a 1948 ish built tanker) Players ciggies, still sealed, but unsmokable.


 Beat a few Black gangs I should think !(Jester)

I was on a ship where there was a box of three castles (I think) cigs, which no-one would smoke - they had been there god only knows how long - quite unsmokeable - but the old man got rid of them by giving them as pressies to the various official cadgers in India !!!


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## Naytikos

One of my ships was going to discharge at Kakogawa which was newly built and we were scheduled to be the first ship to dock. The steel company advised that we were expected to throw a party on board for 50 of their staff.
With a view to creating a memorable impression I hid two cases of JW Black Label on top of the accomodation lift, just in case Japanese customs proved to be difficult (to show how efficient they were in the new port). One day out and somehow a Japanese flag ship was now going to beat us and be the first; party cancelled, great news. I left the whisky in situ but after eventually leaving the port completely forgot about it.

Six months later, the lift was giving a lot of trouble and a riding crew boarded to install a completely new control system. The first day they managed to run the lift up and crash it into the winch support framework at the top of the shaft; this shattered all the bottles allowing the whisky to pour through the escape hatch into the gondola which stank forever thereafter, mightily impressing every shore visitor/official from then on.


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## CrazySparks

Can't remember the ship, but I had two Decca radars, one of which produced no echos at all. Clutter was well down too. Aha! Says Sparky - it's the mixer Xtal in the waveguide. I promptly replaced the Xtal (pair?) and eagerly went back to the radar expecting full operation to have been restored. No such luck. And so, for three days, being a stubborn SOB, I pursued theories and tests of ever increasing complexity and diabolic difficulty, all to no avail. In the end, I resorted to swapping about great big module sets from the working radar. To no avail and Sparky's ever increasing frustration and fury. So eventually we arrived in port and the old man agreed to call a technician. In my years at sea, I only called for help twice and resented my failure as much as a pissed priest can resent his wife's infidelity. And so the technician arrives and inspects the radar.
Aha! Says the technician - it's the mixer crystals.
Yawn! Says Sparks - first thing I tried.
And so our technician walks over to the waveguide, pulls out a mixer Xtal and peers at it curiously. Then he puts it back in and goes back to the radar, turning toward a somewhat puzzled and apprehensive Sparks with a gentle, pitying smile on his face. 
Sparks, he says - you were right the first time - but you put the xtal in the wrong way 'round!
I could still scream! But there again - I learned a valuable lesson!


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## Varley

Similar happened to me with inverter - easily traced failure to relay. Replaced relay with new (not 'used but good'). Not until expensive spare onboard and technician on way to airport did I eventually twig that coil voltage of relay was wrong. Plant used two types, indentical in appearance, some 110V and some 24V - what a prat.

I was initially mystified by finding Globespan continuously key down - first watch of the day. After much metering and puzzling over drawings the fault cleared.

The Globespan had a high impedance keying circuit. There had been an AC failure some short time before I went on watch. The consequential condensation of humid air hitting anything formerly air condition provided enough conductivity to 'hold' it key down. 

AC only off for an hour or so and as soon as it returned everything started to dry out again and fault 'evaporated' - literally.

David V


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## Ron Stringer

What luxury, what bliss! A Globespan _*and *_air-conditioning.


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## Moulder

R651400 said:


> Give me any equipment any time as long as I've looked out of radio room port hole/window just after sending.... .
> 
> QTP Kobe.


.... Ah now you're talking - Club Blue Sky here I come.....(Pint)

(Thumb)


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## trotterdotpom

I remember "Blue Sky" too but thought it was in Yokohama. My Foster- Seeley discriminator let me down there?

John T


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## Troppo

The Windjammer in Yokohama was good...from memory...


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## trotterdotpom

You're probably right, R651400, but in my mind coupling in the ACB Bar at Moji was always more interesting than de-coupling in an Oceanspan, even though I'm sure we all did out best. I still remember those interminable 3 AM boiler feed pump diagrams on beer mats ... I'm off to the TR thread.

John T


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## Naytikos

No! Not even in a flat calm.

In that vein: The Atalanta Rx had a couple of Jones sockets which were presumably for some sort of fault-finding or metering but I never encountered anything which might have been meant to plug in to them.


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## Troppo

The Lifeguard N had a really comprehensive metering system.

That was a well designed bit of kit.

The later models were a step backward, as they had no BFO, so were not good as a watch rx.


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## gwzm

Hi Naytikos,

Yes, the Atalanta had a jones socket on the left hand side, if I remember correctly, that you could access when the receiver was partially pulled out of its case. There was a meter box on the end of a cable that could be plugged into the socket to measure various valves' currents & voltages. I only ever saw it when I was at college. Maybe it was intended only for use by Marconi shore staff?
'Twas all a very long time ago.
Happy days,
GWZM


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## Ron Stringer

Troppo said:


> The Lifeguard N had a really comprehensive metering system.
> 
> That was a well designed bit of kit.
> 
> The later models were a step backward, as they had no BFO, so were not good as a watch rx.


Designed for the Norsk Marconi Kompani, Oslo by their engineer John Schefloe, as was the Autokey N (the N suffix indicated an NMK designed product). 

The reason for the lack of BFO was that on 500 kHz you were only supposed to use MCW, not CW, so a BFO was not required. I know, I know, many people did use CW there, but they were in breach of the ITU regulations and the UK authorities frowned on providing features that might encourage such abuse. UK designers were, understandably, not keen on antagonising their type approval authorities.


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## Troppo

Yes, the "N" models were great. Mr. Schefloe did a 1st class job.

Interesting re the BFO - thanks for the info.


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## charles henry

Forget the ship but was one of four passengers on my way back to Canada. With nothing to do got interested in the radar which hadnt worked for two years. (And non of the shore wallas had been able to find the fault).

I eventually started dismantelling the waveguide in the chartroom......there was a halfpenny stuck in it diagonally. A nasty piece of sabotage by some previous crew member.

The old man gave me free bar for the remainder of the voyage to New York.

Chas


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## cajef

Sailing from NY to Cornerbrook Newfoundland to load newsprint in the winter of 67/68 in the Nicholas Bowater, we had entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence with sea icing over and a call to the Canadian ice breaker to meet us to take us into Cornerbrook, the weather was pretty foul with icing on the deck and the temperature about -10c when the old man called me to the bridge.

The Decca radar scanner had stopped turning, after the usual checks of fuses, supply to scanner motor it was obvious the it had to be in the scanner itself. No belts up there so motor brushes were favourite, the third mate volunteered to climb the mast with me to help so armed with spare brushes and tools and well wrapped up we went to have a look.

I can honestly say I have never been as cold in my life neither before or after, fingers stuck to the metal casing of the motor when I took my gloves off, the brushes were down to the pigtails, somehow managed to get new ones in and back down to be met by the old man brandishing a bottle of rum, boy that drink was good and the scanner was now turning.


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## Varley

cajef said:


> Sailing from NY to Cornerbrook Newfoundland....met by the old man brandishing a bottle of rum, boy that drink was good and the scanner was now turning.


Gunger Din! - you would not have found me up there.


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