# Any interest or info?



## Wook (Aug 2, 2016)

Hi guys, I saved an old Marine Radio yesterday from a house clearence.
Is it of interest to anyone or could anyone put a date on it.
Not sure how I can post a pic, but it's Yellow, with headphones, mic and 'lead weight' attachment.
Ron thinks it might be a 'Solas'
Any interest? Looks all there to me, Wook


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## OLD STRAWBERRY (Jan 20, 2006)

Possibly a Lifeboat Radio?.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

A picture would be handy. 

One of the Macaroni lifeboat transmitters had RT facility but only transmit, I think. Does it say anything about "Clifford and Snell" on it?

The "lead weight attachment" would be the aerial earthing thingo - you chucked it into the sea.

Wonder what it was doing in someone's house? Knocking one of them off would be up there with the dockers knocking off lifeboat rations during the war!

John T


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

""The "lead weight attachment" would be the aerial earthing thingo - you chucked it into the sea.""

JT - One DID NOT chuck it in the Sea - one lowered it otherwise the lead weight would become detached !


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## Andy Lavies (Feb 12, 2006)

If a lifeboat radio it probably has a hand cranked power generator - or does that date ME!
Andy Lavies


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Talking of 'chucking it in the sea'.......

I don't remember the name, but Mimco had a lifeboat transmitter shaped like a 5-gallon paint bucket; there was a cranking handle each side and a water-tight cover over the knobs. It was quite heavy; took two people to move it around.

One of my few British-flag ships was at anchor for a few days off a nice quiet tropical port so the lifeboats were given a run and I was asked if I cared to take the radio out and rig it in one of them. Two deck apprentices were assigned to carry the thing from the radio room to the deck and then lower it down to the boat. There was a long small diameter rope attached presumably just for the purpose.

No prizes for guessing the outcome: the apprentices allowed the rope to slide through their hands, which burnt so they let it go; the radio bounced off the gunwhale of the lifeboat, severing one of the handles, landed in the water and sank.


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## slick (Mar 31, 2006)

All,
There is the story of the Radio Officer who assumed that the Lifeboat radio 'floated", he was attached to same and went overboard to his fate, no that can't be true.......

yours aye,

slick


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

sparks69 said:


> ""The "lead weight attachment" would be the aerial earthing thingo - you chucked it into the sea.""
> 
> JT - One DID NOT chuck it in the Sea - one lowered it otherwise the lead weight would become detached !


I always was a bit rough.

John T


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Naytikos said:


> I don't remember the name, but Mimco had a lifeboat transmitter shaped like a 5-gallon paint bucket; there was a cranking handle each side and a water-tight cover over the knobs.


That would be the _Salvita_ portable lifeboat equipment (PLE).


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Surely the Survivor was rectangular and the lightest of these contraptions, Ron?

It sounds more like the Salvitta to me although dustbin would suit it more than paint tin.

(There was also some other foreign built Lifeboat set with an insane instruction leaflet showing how to operate it whilst in the water, attached by some complicated webbing I don't know where I would have sen that if not the Salvitta I don't think I sailed R/O with anything but the Survivor after Tilapa - where we tried, unsuccessfully, to raise Niton on the Salvitta whilst anchored in sight of their aerial farm).


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Varley said:


> Surely the Survivor was rectangular and the lightest of these contraptions, Ron?
> 
> It sounds more like the Salvitta to me although dustbin would suit it more than paint tin.


You are totally correct - another (ever more frequent) brainfart from me. I will correct my posting to say Salvita. I never sailed with anything else so there is no excuse at all for my error.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Salvita picture to be seen at http://jproc.ca/britishmarconi/salvita.html


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

I have placed a photo in the picture gallery. It was taken in 1945 and may be of interest.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Thanks, Varley, for the link; yes that's the thing. It looks even bigger than I remember, so perhaps a ten-gallon paint bucket would be closer!

Thanks also to Ian for the photograph; however I'm not sure how you were calibrating the ship's D.F. from a lifeboat.


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

Naytikos said:


> Thanks, Varley, for the link; yes that's the thing. It looks even bigger than I remember, so perhaps a ten-gallon paint bucket would be closer!
> 
> Thanks also to Ian for the photograph; however I'm not sure how you were calibrating the ship's D.F. from a lifeboat.


Quoted from my book LIFE ABOARD A WARTIME LIBERTY SHIP, published by Amberley and still available in both print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

"The calibration was done by me transmitting continuous signals while those on board took bearings on the boat by both ship's compass and DF as it proceeded slowly round the ship. Differences between the accurate compass bearings and those of the DF were noted and would in future be taken into account when the DF was used."

Regards 

Ian


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Does that mean you transmitted on 500kc/s all the time during the exercise?


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## Basil (Feb 4, 2006)

Not, perchance a 'Gibson Girl' (Place between the thighs and grind until exhausted' (Thumb) )


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Naytikos said:


> Does that mean you transmitted on 500kc/s all the time during the exercise?


We produced a modified version of the Survivor 3 solid state portable lifeboat transceiver for use when calibrating ships' direction finders. This radiated on 410 kHz rather than 500 kHz and had a 12V battery pack associated with it. 

The shore technician took it in a boat (often a pilot boat) or tug and sailed around the ship to allow those on board to calibrate their ship's DF installation.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Ron Stringer said:


> We produced a modified version of the Survivor 3 solid state portable lifeboat transceiver for use when calibrating ships' direction finders. This radiated on 410 kHz rather than 500 kHz and had a 12V battery pack associated with it.
> 
> The shore technician took it in a boat (often a pilot boat) or tug and sailed around the ship to allow those on board to calibrate their ship's DF installation.


I think I would question the accuracy of that. Would the aspect presented to the observer (not a point) smaller than a conventional beacon on the horizon (much more like a point)? I know we're not talking survey accuracy anyway but that may be a good reason to be as tight as possible of the 'visual'.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Varley said:


> I think I would question the accuracy of that. Would the aspect presented to the observer (not a point) smaller than a conventional beacon on the horizon (much more like a point)? I know we're not talking survey accuracy anyway but that may be a good reason to be as tight as possible of the 'visual'.


Dunno David, we only sold the portable 'beacons' - I didn't use them. 

Having said that, I never carried out a DF calibration with a beacon "on the horizon". Nearly all those I did were on ships leaving the Tyne, using the beacon at Souter Point, when the ship was just a one or two miles off shore. Couldn't go too far, we had to get back ashore on the pilot boat.

The portable beacons would only be used at locations where there was no alternative and I can't remember if they carried any warning about distance to be observed between the ship and the calibration beacon. I would have thought that anything over half a mile would be acceptable. But it is too long ago to recall such details.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Thanks Ron, never heard of that one. I note you said 'solid state' so whatever Ian M used it wasn't that model; perhaps there was an earlier version.


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