# What happened to all the old radio gear?



## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

What happened to the radio gear when the last R/O signed off, did it stay behind gathering dust or did some of it find it's way onto the surplus market, and if so, where?

I have a lovely Redifon R551 here which I luckily stumbled across many years ago, it's in regular use in my ham station and still gives the modern gear a run for it's money in terms of performance, but would love to find an Apollo, Nebula or anything like that too, and even an old Oceanspan to restore and modify for a couple of ham bands and park next to my Racal RA-117 but the stuff seems to have literally vanished. 

Anybody know where this old gear can be had?

Adrian


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Mostly dumped or removed by bonded scrap merchants, Adrian.
It was usually tax/duty free when fitted so had to be disposed of in a way to avoid having to pay back the tax as applied to the kit when new.
I tried to buy an ex-trawler Span that was sitting outside Marconi's back door in the Lord Line building but met the blank wall from them and the scrapper (Draper's of Hull).
The only stuff around is mostly from colleges.
Better join the queue looking for an Oceanspan. I've been looking for 30 years and all I've got so far is a badge. (Sad)
Cheers
Kris


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

I'm still looking for a radio room clock!. At GKA the Racal receivers were sold off to the staff. Not sure of the model number but I think it was 1218. They were very good I know that. A lot of the gear , old teleprinters etc ended up in the skip. I have a large transformer I recovered which works my model railway. As for ships gear, I think it just must have been scrapped. I have a friend with an Atalanta RX but acquisition of an Oceanspan has even defeated him. He is a regular scrounger. I have seen pieces of marine gear
in TV programmes used as props in sci fi films or perhaps even the older versions of Dr Who.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Dr Who regularly operated MkIV radars and Raymarcs. I remember seeing a Hermes in one programme.
An Atalanta sold recently on ebay for £205 which is over double what I paid.
Morse keys come up quite regularly but the prices can go quite wild sometimes.
There's a radio room clock for sale on ebay at the moment but its a repro. 
Whoever heard of a radio room clock with Roman numerals. (EEK)
They come up quite regularly as well.

Kris


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## mikeg (Aug 24, 2006)

Marconi Sahib said:


> Whoever heard of a radio room clock with Roman numerals. (EEK)
> They come up quite regularly as well.
> 
> Kris


Designed for the 'R/O MAN' perhaps? It's a greek to me (Jester)


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## Shipbuilder (Jun 30, 2005)

I am sure a lot of you will recall the once pouplar Hi de Hi TV series. I was always amused to see Ruth Madoc (I think that was her name), putting out calls on the Public Address system, because it was actually an Oceanspan!

From time to time, I see old receivers on the big Tuesday and Thursday giant car boot sale on the big covered markets in Preston Lancs. I have seen a couple of CR100s, going for about £15 each. But on trying to pick one up, it was rather too heavy for me to get it to the car, so I left it. I did get an R1155 Lancaster bomber receiver several years ago for £15 and restored it to full working order and refurbished the outside as well.

I think you will find anything you want on the Preston markets if you wait long enough.

Bob


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

I was going to suggest Sewills of Liverpool for a Radio Room clock, but their website doesn't mention them. I inherited one from GKZ at QTP. It was provided by BT because the digital clock wasn't always easy to read in terms of 'time' Just numbers on a strip.

David
+


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

There are quite a few plastic looking radio room clocks on ebay and every so often a genuine job comes up.
I got mine off there but its a Copes of Nottingham rather than a Sestrel and off a Grimsby trawler.


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Actually a radio room clock could be very useful indeed, perhaps I could train my wife to observe the silence periods !!!


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi de Hi, I knew I had seen an Oceanspan somewhere!.


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## mikeg (Aug 24, 2006)

Graham P Powell said:


> Hi de Hi, I knew I had seen an Oceanspan somewhere!.


I remember seeing a website dealing with props for film and TV production that had a large collection of vintage marine radio and D/F equipment. I've been googling but haven't come across the site yet, will post when/if I find it.

Mike


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## mikeg (Aug 24, 2006)

Here's one but its not it... http://www.technology-props.co.uk/


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## jimg0nxx (Sep 1, 2005)

I purchased a Radio Room Clock new a couple of years ago. It is a modern radio controlled job and looks just like the real thing. There is a choice of various models.

Try this web page:-
http://seldecpublishing.co.uk/page8.html

Jim


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## Shipbuilder (Jun 30, 2005)

Just remembered,
I saw a Decca Navigator of the boot sale not long ago. It looked in excellent condition and they wanted £20 for it. As it would have been no earthly use to me, left it, but it was interesting to see it.
Bob


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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

Graham P Powell said:


> I'm still looking for a radio room clock!. At GKA the Racal receivers were sold off to the staff. Not sure of the model number but I think it was 1218. They were very good I know that. A lot of the gear , old teleprinters etc ended up in the skip. I have a large transformer I recovered which works my model railway. As for ships gear, I think it just must have been scrapped. I have a friend with an Atalanta RX but acquisition of an Oceanspan has even defeated him. He is a regular scrounger. I have seen pieces of marine gear
> in TV programmes used as props in sci fi films or perhaps even the older versions of Dr Who.


RA1217 receivers: I've ended up with two of them!


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

RA1217 receivers. Thats them. Very narrow front panel. Mhz on one knob,
Khz on another. I thought they were a very good receiver . The later ones at GKA were also Racal but they were front panels which tuned a receiver
at Somerton which was about 20 miles away via a micro wave link on the Mendip TV transmitter mast. They were good receivers but I always thought they had a bit too much "hiss" with them. All gone now to the great radio station in the Sky. One or two guys have CR150's were preceeded the RA1217.


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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

Graham P Powell said:


> RA1217 receivers. Thats them. Very narrow front panel. Mhz on one knob,
> Khz on another. I thought they were a very good receiver . The later ones at GKA were also Racal but they were front panels which tuned a receiver
> at Somerton which was about 20 miles away via a micro wave link on the Mendip TV transmitter mast. They were good receivers but I always thought they had a bit too much "hiss" with them. All gone now to the great radio station in the Sky. One or two guys have CR150's were preceeded the RA1217.


I think the receivers at Somerton were remote control versions of the RA1772 - although never having seen them, I'm relying on hearsay. I'm guessing this was before the RA1792s were fitted at GKA?

I also managed to acquire a pair of RA1772s from GND. They were capable of ISB operation and we used them initially on the oil rig ISB barge channel (3252/3666kHz), where the upper sideband was a 12-channel Autospec telex system for the rigs' private dedicated telex channel and the lower sideband was a speech channel (the only example I knew of maritime LSB R/T). Later, they were used as a monitor receiver for testing the telex channels in the event of any problems, and finally (when the private telex channels were discontinued and the public telex channels stolen by - sri - transferred to GKA for their automatic services) we used them to monitor 500 kHz at GND - they were better than the EC958/Nebula receivers.

Anyone else got any interesting ex-maritime etc receivers?


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Thanks guys for some very interesting posts, it's good to hear that some of the old gear survived and is still in use today, especially the gear with historical links such as the ex GKA RA-1217s (drool). I think they had recently been installed when I visited GKA in the mid 1970s.
My main station radio here is a Yaesu FT-2000, it's very current in terms of the latest DSP technology and the performance is often stunning, but nothing beats the dose of nostalgia I get from using the Redifon R551, its performance is still perfectly adequate, rock stable, good filters and agc, and will probably outlast the fancy modern stuff despite its current age.
I heard of one r/o who took the ships Apollo rx home with him when the w/t installation became redundant, but I guess taking the Conqueror home would have been an entirely different proposition, need an even bigger suitcase for that, however I'm still confident I'll come across a dusty old Oceanspan or something similar parked in the corner of a garage somewhere, I have a box of 807s here just waiting for the day 

= Adrian +


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

Has anyone got the Marconi radio Gear off the Duke Of Lancaster yet????
Located at Mostyn Dock, North Wales.
Maybe an Oceanspan or Reliance on there.

Graham have a look under pictures of FORT PERCH ROCK by freddythefrog, we have quite a bit of ex ships radio gear there in a museum.
cheers ftf


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## sven-olof (Jul 12, 2008)

*Abandoned marconi gear*

Someone has been there in the abandoned radio room with marconi gear

http://www.techiehq.net/media-workshop/urban-exploration-ship-duke-lancaster-38410.html


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Amazing that picture of the Duke of Lancaster's radio room. I can recognise some of it. I think the later rx's at GKA were RA1792. Terrible how your memory goes but I think you could punch in the frequencies on a key pad and you also had manual turning. I have a picture of me with RTT on one screen, PC for access to database, and PC for taking down messages but it does not show the RX very well.We also had a few RX's which were of another pattern by Racal. They had single knob tuning and digital readout using nixie tubes. Also in my picture is a GKA morse key (£300 on eBay).
They were excellent having been made in the engineering workshops at Rugby.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

.....almost forgot, one thing I did purchase from BT was a Ferrograph tape recorder for £10. I think it was used to do the call bands at one stage.
It was blooming heavy I know that.....


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Graham P Powell said:


> Also in my picture is a GKA morse key (£300 on eBay).
> They were excellent having been made in the engineering workshops at Rugby.


My ex-GKZ key looks to be an investment then !!

David
+


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Yes, the ex GKA/Rugby morse keys are worth serious money.
I have one stashed away along with a Vibroplex. One of the guys had a US signal corp bug key made by model train maker Lionel. Because of the link to a toy company its worth more than the GKA ones. Unable to get it out his greasy mitts unfortunately.....


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## Hugh Wilson (Aug 18, 2005)

There is a watch/clock repairers shop in Preston, who last week had a Radio Room clock, complete with winding up key, for sale at 85.00. I can't remember the name of the street or the shop, but it is off Fishergate and the shop is directly opposite one of the entrances to St. Georges Shopping Centre. The clock was on display in the front window.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

An ex GKA morse key was up to £280 on ebay yesterday with four hours to go. ....


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## greektoon (Oct 17, 2008)

I still see a lot of old gear in radio rooms. Will keep an eye out in future. The radio room clock remains valid in these GMDSS days.


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## 31552 (Oct 25, 2008)

Graham P Powell said:


> An ex GKA morse key was up to £280 on ebay yesterday with four hours to go. ....


sold finally for £631 (not to me) but a marvelous piece of kit. 

Made to last...

Peter


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## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

Still in place


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

surfaceblow said:


> Still in place


Lookit all that Sailor kit.
Far too modern. (Sad)


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

surfaceblow
What happened to the 2 original receivers?? looks like they been changed over!! It was pretty good kit. if not in use---get it off and keep it.
cheers ftf


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## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

freddythefrog said:


> surfaceblow
> What happened to the 2 original receivers?? looks like they been changed over!! It was pretty good kit. if not in use---get it off and keep it.
> cheers ftf


The 2 original receivers replaced prior of me joining the ship in December 2000. You have to wait for an act of congress to remove old equipment on a government owned vessel.


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

surfaceblow said:


> Still in place


and the laptop - a computer in a radio room - Huh !


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## mikeg (Aug 24, 2006)

andysk said:


> and the laptop - a computer in a radio room - Huh !


Probably used to decode the morse (==D)
(if they could actually find any morse transmissions to decode that is (EEK) )


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

freddythefrog said:


> surfaceblow
> What happened to the 2 original receivers?? looks like they been changed over!! It was pretty good kit. if not in use---get it off and keep it.
> cheers ftf


Replacements look like Icom R-71's, vintage mid 80's.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Well, I can dream can't I? (?HUH)


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Marconi Sahib said:


> There are quite a few plastic looking radio room clocks on ebay and every so often a genuine job comes up.
> I got mine off there but its a Copes of Nottingham rather than a Sestrel and off a Grimsby trawler.



This is the Sewills one. Sadly, though, note the absence of a wind up hole. I once saw a Radio Room clock in an antique shop but it was minus the 4-second dash red stripes. The dealer was not impressed when I put him right.

David
+


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

Marconi Sahib said:


> Well, I can dream can't I? (?HUH)


Oh Dear !


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## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

andysk said:


> and the laptop - a computer in a radio room - Huh !


The laptop is used to type and decode messages. On the other bulkhead there are two more desktop computers. One is attached to the LAN and the satellite modem to send e-mails the Captains and Chief Engineers Office computers are also setup to start the e-mail transfer. The other computer is a stand alone encryption message computer.


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

Marconi Sahib said:


> Well, I can dream can't I? (?HUH)



That looks like a karaoke machine!!


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## Klaatu83 (Jan 22, 2009)

The majority of the old radio equipment probably ends up in India, where most of the old ships are being scrapped these days. 

I was at sea with E-Ships (formerly Farrell Lines) in February 1999 when the new GMDSS rules went into effect. All the old radio equipment remained in place, in the ships' radio shacks, after the ROs retired. I presume it will continue to remain in place until the ships are finally scrapped.

I also sailed a good deal for Lykes Lines. As late as 1990 their freighters had no Comsat, Satnav, GPS, or ARPA; and their ROs were still communicating via CW. I have no idea how the company managed to get away with that state of affairs for so long.


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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

Klaatu83 said:


> The majority of the old radio equipment probably ends up in India, where most of the old ships are being scrapped these days.
> 
> I was at sea with E-Ships (formerly Farrell Lines) in February 1999 when the new GMDSS rules went into effect. All the old radio equipment remained in place, in the ships' radio shacks, after the ROs retired. I presume it will continue to remain in place until the ships are finally scrapped.
> 
> I also sailed a good deal for Lykes Lines. As late as 1990 their freighters had no Comsat, Satnav, GPS, or ARPA; and their ROs were still communicating via CW. I have no idea how the company managed to get away with that state of affairs for so long.


I guess they were just lucky....


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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

GTZM-sahib:

Oceanspan VIII?......never knew there was a solid-state one...


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Mimcoman said:


> GTZM-sahib:
> 
> Oceanspan VIII?......never knew there was a solid-state one...


Secret project in my garden shed.
Just testing out the prototype. (Thumb)
Another 50 years to market because of current EEC Regs. (Sad)


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Peter, is that right £631?. Unbelievable. There is no doubt that they are a superb key but never worth that money. Well, not in my opinion anyway.
I remember once having to get hold of a ferry which ran in Norway somewhere.
I think it was called the Prince Harald. The person I spoke to at Rogaland told me it had a fully equipped radio room. full satellite station and all it ever used was a European cellnet telephone.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Marconi 365EZ keys are usually £100 to £200 on ebay with 365B keys making £150 to £350 regularly.
Prices have been a bit depressed because of the current financial situation but are starting to climb again.
It all depends on condition and who spots it. There are some serious collectors about.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Having sailed with Siemens, Marconi and EB keys I have to say that the GKA one was the finest of the lot. Beautifully made in the Rugby Post Office workshops. The central pivot was on roller bearings and it was all beautifully balanced. Another one I used for a while was a Post Office double current one off the inland telegraph network.
That was very good as well but not sure what happened to it. Must admit it
does seem like a lot of money for what is a very simple device.


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

> Well, I can dream can't I?


That cute little flightless bird in the foreground suggests to me that that Oceanspan is running Linux. 
That'll make it the most stable Oceanspan ever produced !!


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

The little flightless bird, when switched on, says -
"Just smile and wave, boys" or "Progress report" 
whenever you pick it up or put it down.
A present from my daughter who knows of my liking for nonsensical cartoon characters.

I found Linux too much like hard work. Especially since it was about 25 years since I'd done any Unix programming. (Sad)
So, unfortunately my machine has it's little foibles just the same as a DC Span on a 50s cargo/passenger boat.
Makes for an interesting life. (Thumb)


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## 31552 (Oct 25, 2008)

Graham P Powell said:


> Peter, is that right £631?. Unbelievable. There is no doubt that they are a superb key but never worth that money. Well, not in my opinion anyway.


Yes £631 plus postage.. crazy? but then its probably a one-off

How can you price nostalgia?

I use a GPO pattern 1036A which is the smoothest key I have ever tried; and they go for peanuts on e-bay when they crop up.

I was never impressed with the 365 series. Mind you, the ones at Leith Nautical in the 70's were hard done by and "adjusted" so often its no wonder they felt as if they were full of sand.

Now; a pristine one with one "careful" owner.... that might be a whole different ball-game. Not for £150 though...any freebies out there 

Peter 31552


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

ANDY CHOFF
Thanks info re replacement Sailor rx's. regards ftf


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## Ned Collins (Apr 24, 2008)

Hi All,

Marconi must have scrapped almost every Oceanspan made. It's probably one of the most sought after items by collectors. 

I do know an amateur radio op who has a complete Globespan in his shack. He operates it occasionally on 80/40m.

I did see a Commandant TX on Ebay some time last year. Originally from a radio college in Belfast. It was in good condition and would have looked very impressive in my radio shack. However common sense prevailed and I gave it a miss.

Marconi Atlanta RX appear from time to time on E-bay and some of the radio buy and sell sites. Check Junksale.co.uk and G3CWI Fleamarket sites. However after spending years in front of one searching for GKA I would prefer a Nebula or maybe even an Apollo. At least with the later RX's you knew you were listening in the right spot!

Marine keys are much sought after. A recent auction on Ebay for a GKA key reached over £600! I can see many ex GKA Op's searching their attics for one of those keys. 

I sold my Marconi 365EZ for over £200 on E-bay. Difficult decision but after spending most of it's life at the bottom of a drawer I think it deserved a better home. 

Radio room clocks are also another collectors items. If you have one in good condition let me know. I am not interested in any reproductions!

Good luck with keeping alive those memories of old RX's and TX's. There are some excellent Websites of collecors that feature all marine radio equiptment including complete stations. 

My option is to keep a picture of one of those stations as a background picture on my PC! 

73's de Ned/EI5DS

Ex R/O & E/O 1970/77


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Moving on to Valves ! I don't remember what the PA valves on my last AEI T50MH were like. I expect they would be colectors items on Ebay these days. This one is a GPO CV1630 PA1 from the old DSB mainstay W5 transmitter. At nearly 12ins tall it looks a bit like R2D2 I think. 

David
+


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

I have an ex Portishead transmitting valve and an extremely large tuning condenser which is about the size of a dinner plate in diameter and six inches in depth. I cant tell you much about the valve. At the moment my son is using my shed as a stores for his business and its buried down there somewhere. One day I will get the shed back.
I was discussing the GKA keys with two fellow ops this afternoon. The one sold recently on eBay was supposed to be ex GKA/GKZ/GNI. I'm not saying it could'nt have happened but we found it hard to believe as the keys were never moved around and nobody was issued with their own personal one.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

I think this one might be ok !!

Graham

Yes, I agree. I doubt they ever moved around. I have one from GKZ. The later Ericson ones weren't a patch on the PO ones.

David
+


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

NED COLLINS
We have the Commandant HS at Fort Perch Rock ex Belfast Radio college!!
Had it in our possession some 5 or 6 years now thanks to Stan Rowlinson---so unless they had 2 at the college or unless there were 2 colleges in Belfast
I think somebody may be kidding someone!! cheers ftf
PS I used to have a full main and emergency SAILOR station in use in my garage a few years ago---fully working on all bands----last call on it was to 
Portishead radio just before they closed down-----using marine freqs just to say goodbye and thanks for being a great station over all the years!!
Was a naughty boy--only once though! LOL!!
Sadly its space was lost to a SPIN dryer---could not get that to tune up HI-HI.regards ftf


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi David. You may remember John Lamb and Mike Pearson. I was talking to them yesterday. I think you were OIC at GKZ. We had a valve (similar to yours) and part of a tuning condenser in a display case in the corridor. It was put there to commemorate the RN operators who worked at GKA. I wonder where it went?. Its a long time since I looked at my valve so cannot remember now what it looks like. I offered it to a museum but was told it may be needed for a display on the old GKA site which is just down the road.
By the way, its called Mulholland Park......!. I leave you to figure out where the name came from.


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Graham

The valve in question was taken to the BT archives in London, together with other (small) bits of equipement and boxloads of written archives/photographs. I presume all the items are still in storage somewhere, but many of the do***ents have now been filed and can be searched for on the BT archives website.

First I've heard re the 'display on the old GKA site' - tell me more! All gone very quiet of late, especially re the radio station memorial obelisk....

73

Larry


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

I do have a larger valve. It is one of the two final stage of the W5 transmitter. I don't remember the CV number (1627 ?) but think it was a beamed tetrode.

GKZ is still standing albeit forlorn and neglected. It was bought locally for caravan park development, but nothing has happened yet

David
+


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## Shannoner (Feb 6, 2008)

freddythefrog said:


> NED COLLINS
> We have the Commandant HS at Fort Perch Rock ex Belfast Radio college!!
> Had it in our possession some 5 or 6 years now thanks to Stan Rowlinson---so unless they had 2 at the college or unless there were 2 colleges in Belfast
> I think somebody may be kidding someone!! cheers ftf
> ftf


As an ex student of Stan Rowlinson at the then Polytechnic at Jordanstown in Belfast, I can confirm that you are right Freddy. 1 Commandant in the college and 1 college in Belfast.

Mick


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi David, Only one I've been in was Portpatrick which was still standing a couple of years ago. To my great regret I did not nick the sign off the wall. GIL is an arts centre and covered in graffitti. GKA... well least said about that the better.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Hi Graham

Something else I managed to 'salvage' - this one was the opening day December 1927 sign by the gate

David
+


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

Mick Shannoner
many thanks info re Belfast College and Commandant situation.
cheers and 73's de ftf


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi David, Marvellous. I still kick myself not nicking the GPK sign. We had a small museum in the foyer of GKA. I think the contents ended up with Phil Lewis. The Portisheadradio sign was too big for me to carry home otherwise I would have had that as well. Still, lots of wonderful memories of a great bunch of blokes.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Graham,

now you are a man who will know. When I left prior to the closure, I left a request to have some of the ship pictures etc around the station. Needless to say it never happened and one I had loaned vanished as well. Any ideas who walked away with them all? Just to cheer you up in UK it is raining down here in Spain!
As for our old site I had a look a few weeks ago at the abominations they call houses that have been built there!

Brgds
Neville - Hawkey01


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Neville....

The pictures that adorned the walls were apparently distributed amongst the remaining staff just before the station closed. However it must have been done in secret as those of us who worked in the Inmarsat office were not included! Methinks some of the better pictures 'disappeared' overnight.......

Shame really as I would have loved a couple of them, including one which was presented to me by one of the round-the-world yacht crews. There were also a few signed photos of the Virgin round-the-world balloon, as well as some other desirable aircraft pictures, signed by the various crews too, if I recall.

At least I got a morse key.....


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi Neville, Lovely warm day here to. I got two pictures. One the aerial view of Soton docks during the seamans strike and one of an RML ship converted into a car carrier. Don't know what happened to the rest. What happened to the picture of the Queen or the radio room of the Queen Elizabeth?. I got my pictures legitimately . I seem to remember some sort of draw but I could be wrong.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Larry, Graham,

thanks for the replies. Yes another GKA mystery, like the vanishing keys. There were always rumours who had those but I am sure we will never know
the truth. We will have to keep our eyes peeled on Ebay!

The sun has returned! 

Neville - Hawkey01


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi Neville, Keys: they had a shelf full of them in the engineers workshop. As points were taken out of use, the keys etc were removed. One of the engineers I was pally with gave me mine. By the way Martin Holder ( engineer with a beard) committed suicide some years ago. Quite a shock.
Marvellous day here today. Warm and sunny.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Graham,

that is sad to hear - took me a few minutes to conjure up his face. Always a helpful and pleasant chap. Terribly sad that someone can get so depressed to take their life.

Neville


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

david.hopcroft said:


> I think this one might be ok !!
> 
> +


I see you haven't lost the knack of keeping things all bright and shiny then Dave !!


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Hi Bob

I hope I look as shiny as that after 82 years !!!!

Dave
+


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## John Earley (Sep 23, 2009)

there are some excellent communication equipment on ebay from time to time but what a price !

There is an extremely rare WW2 military set on there at the moment with a £100 starting price. 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-VALVE-MILITARY-WW2-COMMUNICATIONS-RECEIVER_W0QQitemZ150376132580QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ConsumerElectronics_SpecialistRadioEquipment_SM?hash=item23031dafe4&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Some 15 years back The MOD were I believe dismantling part of the base at Portland.

I was working at Dorchester at the time and frequently rummaged in the scrap metal bins on the Granby Ind Est for electronic circuit boards and equipment from the local electronics companies.

One day to my utter amazement I saw approx 20+ Eddystone 840C receivers in a skip. !They had just been serviced and stamped and had obviously been loveingly placed in the skip by someone who thought a lot of them.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rare-EDDYSTONE-COMMUNICATIONS-RECEIVER-MODEL-840C_W0QQitemZ160365811694QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ConsumerElectronics_SpecialistRadioEquipment_SM?hash=item25568c17ee&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I managed to persuade the scrap man to sell me one there and then and he promised to let me have a rummage after work at all the other equipment bulging from two large skips.

By the time I returned after work the two skips had gone .Always wonder what happened to them.

My Eddystone ? still in the loft with a manual and schematics awaiting my retirement.


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## IMRCoSparks (Aug 22, 2008)

*Eddystone 840c*

This Eddystone receiver was situated in the HF operating bay on Queen Mary in 1961. It looked too small & flimsy to be in such an exalted position but it sure worked beautifully. No drifting and great selectivity. 
QM had a real dogs breakfast of receivers. Old Mackay TRF receivers for MF, IMR54's and a super Hammarlund SP600 for the R/T WOO traffic.


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## Dahdedah (Nov 19, 2009)

*Ships Radio Equipment and Manuals*


If your interested in radio room equipment then this URL might be of interest www.marconimanuals.com .Take a look in the gallery to see equipment saved by a wise old colleague of mine,
Dave


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## Bob Murdoch (Dec 11, 2004)

a bit late in the day, but just saw a Marconi CR300 in an episode of Primeval.
Cheers Bob


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

I followed the link provided in post 75 by Dahdedah but must be missing something as I can't see the point of the web-site. It seems to be just a list of Marconi manuals; I was expecting/hoping to be able to actually read them (perhaps in pdf format).
So, can anyone explain what it's about?


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Not a lot as far as I can make out.
There are some pictures of old kit in the gallery.
I also thought I could buy a manual from them but got no reply to a message sent and can't find any commitment to selling the actual manual.
Kris


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Seasons greetings to one and all.

http://bama.edebris.com/manuals is a pretty good source for old manuals online.

= Adrian +


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Unfortunately no Oceanspan manual there, Adrian. (Sad)
Season's Greeting reciprocated and extended to one and all. (Thumb)


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Oceanspan manual? 
Have you forgotten how to program it? 
The Bama site is more for ham related gear I guess, but there are bits of Marconi / Redifon etc info there too .. 
One possibility might be finding somebody who still has their old college schematics, I still have my Apollo, Crusader etc ones (if anybody needs them), or if you're passing through the area then a 2nd hand book shop near Alang might have a copy 
Are you restoring one to originality or perhaps converting it for amateur band use?

= Adrian +


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Just for nostalgia sake, Adrian.
I wish i could get hold of a 'Span just like everyone else.
Apollo and Crusader notes from college. (EEK)
When I did mine they didn't even teach us about transistors. (Whaaa)
The only description was concerned with the new fangled lifeboat Tx that apparently had the beasts inside but we weren't likely to see it for a few years yet. [=P]
Cheers
Kris


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

At Plymouth Tech. we had to buy copies of the Mimco manuals for Oceanspan VI, Atalanta, Reliance, Alert and the new-fangled Lifeguard, but for some strange reason the college had enough Radiolocator Mk 4 manuals for everyone who made it onto the radar course. Unfortunately I gave all mine away to a new student before leaving.
Niarchos sent me on a Crusader course to Maldon and, like a fool, I took both of the freebie manuals to sea. Two years later, when the time came to leave that ship, I posted them to myself (with some other books) as I ran out of suitcase space. That was from Mossamedes. They never arrived.
However, the story is not all doom and gloom as I discovered that all japanese new-buildings, from IHI yards at least, had nicely bound photo-copies of every manual for every piece of equipment on the ship. I have, therefore, a nice collection of literature for all sorts of esoteric instruments, some of which I only ever met once: Shackle-meter; draught indicator; turn-rate indicator; several sorts of log; several echo-sounders; two gyros; two auto-pilots; multi-station hailer; master-clock; ullage-indicator (that never worked properly even when new); Kockums Lodicator (analogue version); etc, etc.


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## Tai Pan (Mar 24, 2006)

Should be able to draw oceanspan from memory. At Princess Road there was a permenant drawing on the wall and we had to draw this out at least twice a week from memory. however my memory is now in cold store so cant help.


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## keith ratcliffe (Oct 5, 2005)

I've just had a good rummage and found my old copies of my Marconi Marine manuals for the "Oceanspan VI" and the Atalanta Type 2207C together with the HMSO Electrical and Radio Notes for Wireless Operators. Do not know what to do with them?


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## freddythefrog (Dec 15, 2007)

Hello keith
If you do not need the manuals we would be pleased to accept them as a donation to fort perch rock marine radio museum new Brighton Wirral
where they can be kept together with other manuals we have collected of ships radio gear. Regards ftf


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Most Aussie ships had a standard 70's vintage Marconi station of Apollo, Lifeguard N, Sentinel, Salvor 3 and Conqueror/Commandant.

Many of them are still there. The antennas and main fuses were disconnected when the ship converted to GMDSS.

I know for a fact that one of my old ships Nivosa/VJNV still has a lovely 1980's Marconi station (including the last generation Conqueror with the LED freq readout) intact.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

> I know for a fact that one of my old ships Nivosa/VJNV still has a lovely 1980's Marconi station (including the last generation Conqueror with the LED freq readout) intact.


"lovely" and "Marconi" in the same sentence?????(LOL)


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Naytikos said:


> "lovely" and "Marconi" in the same sentence?????(LOL)


Only the earlier stuff. [=P]


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

The last generation stuff wasn't too bad....it was crap compared with JRC, though....

The best W/T station of all was the last generation Sait - it used 2 Skanti TRP8750's.


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