# Question: Possible to tap or hack into wireless?



## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

Hello:

I'm an occasional visitor to this site who is working on a novel set in the early 1920s, about a Hawaii-bound tramp freighter that's taken over by pirates.

I was wondering if there was any way for the good guys to tap into or hack the ship's wireless in order to send an SOS? Where might I find such information?

Thank you much!

Thomas Burchfield


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

At that period it's not so much 'hacking' as putting someone in the radio room to operate the equipment i.e. switch it on and tap out the distress (and presumably give the position.)

Best thing the bad guys could do would be to destroy the equipment if they could not operate it, in which case they wouldn't have to guard it. Also kill the sparks on the assumption he was only one who could operate or repair it. 

Alastair Maclean usually bumped off the sparks in a few of his stories to avoid complications.

Personally if I was a bad guy I'd destroy the equipment, because deck officers are trained to know Morse Code at least, and might have figured out how to fire it up assuming the pirates chose not to at least guard it.

Of course it might seem I'm sort of rooting for the bad guys here, I'm not really, but stupid bad guys aren't very good bad guys. :sweat:


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

Thanks for that, Bob. My bad guys need to keep the wireless going as they intend to rendezvous with another ship.

Interesting your point about Alistair MacLean. In my story so far, all the deck officers are wiped out, except for one (the third mate).

At the risk of spoilers, my chief bad guy is a very experienced sailor. But his grip on his command may be shaky, so that may be where my solution lies.

Thanks again!

Thomas B.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

No problem. 

If the bad guys want to keep the radio station going I'm assuming they have someone who can operate it. That would be the best course. In theory they could put a gun to the sparks head and make him send the rendezvous positioning details, but without knowing what he's sending there's a danger there.

Most sparkies I've ever met were batsh1t crazy to start with … :sweat: (I'm joking here a bit, but only a bit) and I'm not sure with a barrel of a gun stuck in your ear how you might tap that Morse key, … as a bad guy I wouldn't let my plan rest on it. (Jester)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

#2 . "...Alastair Maclean usually bumped off the sparks in a few of his stories to avoid complications."

From what I gather, during WW2, the U Boats used to try and shoot out the bridge/radio room area for the same reason. They had "Funkerfobia".

John T


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

BobClay said:


> No problem.
> 
> If the bad guys want to keep the radio station going I'm assuming they have someone who can operate it. That would be the best course. In theory they could put a gun to the sparks head and make him send the rendezvous positioning details, but without knowing what he's sending there's a danger there.
> 
> Most sparkies I've ever met were batsh1t crazy to start with … :sweat: (I'm joking here a bit, but only a bit) and I'm not sure with a barrel of a gun stuck in your ear how you might tap that Morse key, … as a bad guy I wouldn't let my plan rest on it. (Jester)


I presume, as in all these yarns, there's a good looking bimbo hostage with hardly any gear on ... maybe a Nigella Lawson lookalike. If I was the Sparks, I'd join the baddies and do whatever they wanted then I'd tell Nigella I could rescue her, maybe somewhere along the line she would lose some more clothes after she'd hung them on the main aerial to dry and they'd blown away, or somat like that. Then I'd ... sorry gotta go!

John T


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

.............he's out of bed again,nurse!!!!!!


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I think John T has had to go for a cold shower ….(Jester)


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## Binnacle (Jul 22, 2005)

Question: Possible to tap or hack into wireless?

Not much much help with your book but it answers your question.
During WW2 thanks to the skills of British Post Office engineers and US built transmitter "Aspidistra", when German broadcast stations ceased transmitting on the approach of bombers the listeners were completely unaware of any interruption and that they were now listening to a British station which had hacked in, much to the annoyance of Nazi officials. .


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

What Bob! Don't tell me you tow that line of others against our brethren "mad, queer or alcoholic by the age of 30"?

I don't think having a gun to my temple would have improved my already questionable Morse. It would certainly have upped my alcohol consumption (already somewhat more prizewinning than the Morse).


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I can only report what I've observed :sweat: … of course none of these things apply to me, although I can't deny my Morse is a bit ropey as recent events with the ROA have demonstrated 

I'd agree with you a gun in your ear doesn't exactly enhance your operating skills. Thinking about this tells me I need a drink … (Pint)


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Once, many years ago, the ship I was sparks on was anchored in Lyme Bay where we had a visitation from some locals who landed in a helicopter. Their advice on pirates and hijacking was when they said "jump" the reply was to be "how high". This was to avoid any future unpleasantness.


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## DickGraham (Oct 2, 2017)

I'd do it for a case of beer and for a bottle of Gin I would show them how to work the kit - It's not my ship and I'm just a poorly paid Marconi sahib - I'd make a really good bad guy! (Smoke)


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

Thomas, as you are writing about early 1920's here's a picture of a radio room http://newsm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/25-wireless-shipboard.jpg 

I think only an experienced wireless operator would know where to start hacking. Even the guys on this site might be a bit hesitant about tuning up and sending a message without reading the manual first. 
73
Andrew


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

…… but ? …… but ? …. where's the keyboard. How can you do a bit of hacking without a keyboard ? (Whaaa)(Jester)


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

That's an odd radio room clock. One silence period but with four second sectors? When did the autoalarm come on the scene?


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

Hi Guys: Thanks for all your replies! I especially appreciated Andrew's photo of the radio room.

I think I figured a way out of my dilemma. Let me know how this works on the credibility scale.

Given this ship is a cargo freighter, there might well be a shipment of radio equipment onboard (bound for Chinese shipyards). So what if my good guys--there would be a least a couple of experts--were to break it out and set it up as an alternative mode of communication under the noses of the bad guys.

One followup question is what would they use as power source? Would they use the ship's generator or could it have its own battery?

Thanks!

Thomas

PS: Yes, there will be at least one naked damsel.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Depends on where they're going to set it up. One thing you will need, is an antenna, particularly important if you're going to transmit. 

But if the equipment they're carrying as cargo is similar to that in the photo, well this isn't exactly portable.

I'm looking at that rotary device behind the chair and wondering if that's a power converter of some kind, but some of these other lads might know better. (They're old enough to remember such stuff …. (Jester))


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Well, Bob, I admire the attempt to stopper the replies lest respondents invite ageist comments!

Many of us are surely old enough to remember rotary converters (Valve kit run from the 24V Reserve/Emergency battery(s) - Reliance, Salvor for two instances. On DC ships a rotary converter or two were ubiquitous (a special commutator vertically mounted before anyone asks). 

Not many of us would remember the use of a motor driven alternator to generate 'HF' or a rotary discharger.

And no more do I!


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Fair enough … :sweat:

I did sail on the Weybank, a DC ship with a standard Marconi Atalanta/Oceanspan/Salvor etc with noisy rotary converters secreted away in the station's guts.

You have to understand age is a one way street, and I have to take advantage of position on that while it lasts. (Jester)


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

I might have been a late starter at sea, Bob. 20. But in 1965 I was 14.

Advantage Varley?


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Mmmm … (ponders position.) (Smoke)

Clearly, you've had a hard life … :sweat:

… But as Uncle Albert said …. it's all relative. (==D)


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

thomburchfield said:


> ...One followup question is what would they use as power source?


 Full chapter, paragraph or sentence before your novel nose-dives Thomas?


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## majoco (Oct 15, 2008)

If you're looking for the 'great escape' at the end when all seems lost......

I joined a tanker in Rotterdam that was in the process of having the ownership transferred from Maersk to SafMarCo. I forget the Maersk name but the new name was the "Allamanda". A beaut radio room right behind the bridge on the port side and my cabin was on the stbd side, all nice Pedersen gear. Had a couple of weeks to sort things out but one thing I noticed that was strange was some antennas from aft that I couldn't see what they were for. Exploring in the aft accommodation I found another radio room! Just a small cabin, more of a locker really, but with an MF transmitter, a receiver and an auto keyer! I suppose if the ship broke in two the aft cabin was still useable, but what if the sparks was up in the mid section? Mind you, I did spend most of the time down aft, the mess was down there with the bar and the swimming pool....


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

majoco said:


> If you're looking for the 'great escape' at the end when all seems lost......
> 
> I joined a tanker in Rotterdam that was in the process of having the ownership transferred from Maersk to SafMarCo. I forget the Maersk name but the new name was the "Allamanda". A beaut radio room right behind the bridge on the port side and my cabin was on the stbd side, all nice Pedersen gear. Had a couple of weeks to sort things out but one thing I noticed that was strange was some antennas from aft that I couldn't see what they were for. Exploring in the aft accommodation I found another radio room! Just a small cabin, more of a locker really, but with an MF transmitter, a receiver and an auto keyer! I suppose if the ship broke in two the aft cabin was still useable, but what if the sparks was up in the mid section? Mind you, I did spend most of the time down aft, the mess was down there with the bar and the swimming pool....



I've never heard of that before … but it is an interesting idea !!

I was going to suggest to Thomas using the Lifeboat Radio but then I remembered it's set in 1920's and I'm presuming there were no such things then.


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## aussiesparks (Nov 11, 2009)

*20's radio equipment*

the big question is what sort of radio equipment would have been installed on a cargo ship in the 20's, would it still have been the old "spark" equipment and what difference would that make. I sailed in the 60's and shipowners even then were reluctant to put expensive equipment on their ships. i.e mv Scorton (Chapman and Willis I think) 
only fitted with a MF transmitter, I had to plead for a lot of help going around the world and especially across the Pacific.


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

Thomas
In the 1920s Radio Amateurs were using much more advanced equipment than ship's commercial gear. They were using Valve (Tube) transmitters and superheterodyne receivers.

In 1923/24 the ARRL shipped radio gear to the UK for Transatlantic radio tests. http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST/T...4/MARINARO.pdf Last May's RSGB Radcom has an even better article with good pictures. 

How about your hero being a Radio Amateur on his way to Hawaii to conduct Transpacific radio tests? Here's some nice pictures.https://www.radioblvd.com/WirelessPhoto.htm

73, Andrew ex r/o
PS I never call Radio Amateurs Hams, don't have Antennas, only Aerials, and have Vintage radio gear but only going back to 1940. Picture on QRZ.


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## Victor J. Croasdale (Nov 28, 2016)

*1920 radio gear*

Thomas,

In the 1920's the power supply for a radio would have been batteries, because of the difficulties in rectification and smoothing. Ashore, people who had radios would usually have two sets of batteries, they would take one set to the local radio shop for charging.

I would expect that the ship's power would have been DC, AC didn't really come in until the early 50s.

My father was a radio guy in the RAF in WWII. From what he told me, they were using batteries then, not just on the planes but on ground based radios as well.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

May I quote my 1955 Leith Nautical College theory instructor Harry Watson who was a RO in the 1920's..
His first on watch duty was to turn on the steam pipe valve that provided the power source for the radio room/equipment.
Hack that!


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

#23 ,

Denholm's also took on a vessel (can't now remember which, Transpetrol?) which had a second radio room with outfitted with an emergency station. In the forecastle if I remember correctly.

A State specific requirement? Scandinavian?


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

R651400 said:


> May I quote my 1955 Leith Nautical College theory instructor Harry Watson who was a RO in the 1920's..
> His first on watch duty was to turn on the steam pipe valve that provided the power source for the radio room/equipment.
> Hack that!


Steam powered wireless - Love it!:sweat:


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Automatic drains in those days? Perhaps he was pulling your leg.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Reminds me of my sixth form physics teacher who had been a marine engineer on the Murmansk convoys during WW2.
"It was so cold there was ice forming around the boiler main stop valve".

Bob


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Varley said:


> #23 ,
> 
> Denholm's also took on a vessel (can't now remember which, Transpetrol?) which had a second radio room with outfitted with an emergency station. In the forecastle if I remember correctly.
> 
> A State specific requirement? Scandinavian?


I'm sure I heard that RFA ships have two radio rooms. One for commercial and one for secret squirrel stuff. Am I imagining that?

John T


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Mad Landsman said:


> Steam powered wireless - Love it!:sweat:


The Indian crews used to refer to anything that wasn't manually operated as "eesteam".

John T


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> I'm sure I heard that RFA ships have two radio rooms. One for commercial and one for secret squirrel stuff. Am I imagining that?
> 
> John T


In 1982 we loaded fresh water in Rio to take down to Port Stanley just after the fighting had finished. We were to discharge it into our sister ship which had been originally chartered for the task force as a fresh water carrier.

We went alongside the Fort Toronto and needless to say being of the same company there was much socialising. The sparks on the Fort Toronto took me up to the radio room, which was exactly the same as mine, but .. had the full MOD fit put onboard from the beginning.

Those chemical tankers had quite a big radio room, with all our standard kit stuck at one end. The MOD fit had taken up the rest of the room. When the sparks took me up to have a look I was examining the naval gear when the naval rating who was stationed on board came in (the Toronto's sparks was pretty much shunted to his end of the room and _'tolerated.'_)

This rating nearly had a bloody heart attack when he saw a stranger examining his kit which as far as I could tell was a teleprinter connected to fairly serious looking receiver (encryption involved I think) and was only placated when I told him I was the sparks off the ship next door, same company, identical vessel (although he didn't laugh at the KGB joke I cracked .. humourless f****** these naval types. :sweat


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

#35 . "This rating nearly had a bloody heart attack when he saw a stranger examining his kit which as far as I could tell was a teleprinter connected to fairly serious looking receiver (encryption involved I think) and was only placated when I told him I was the sparks off the ship next door, same company, identical vessel (although he didn't laugh at the KGB joke I cracked .. humourless f****** these naval types. )"

Maybe that receiver looking thingo was actually a groanometer, Bob.

Pity you never went into BA to pick up the water instead of Rio, that would have been a laugh.

John T


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Mad Landsman said:


> Steam powered wireless - Love it!...


I'm sure I read recently in an article to RO (the late) John Tuke (GM3BST) saying he performed the exact same steam "switch-on" duty to power the radio room generator of one ship he sailed on. 
.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

BobClay said:


> In 1982 we loaded fresh water in Rio to take down to Port S...I told him I was the sparks off the ship next door, same company, identical vessel (although he didn't laugh at the KGB joke I cracked .. humourless f****** these naval types. :sweat


It's all the morse they have to copy, Bob!


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Mad Landsman said:


> Steam powered wireless - Love it!...


I'm sure I read recently in an article to RO (the late) John Tuke (GM3BST) saying he performed the exact same steam "switch-on" duty to power the radio room generator of one ship he sailed.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> #35 .
> 
> Pity you never went into BA to pick up the water instead of Rio, that would have been a laugh.
> 
> John T


Ironically I paid off a CP Ships bulker the _W.C. Van Horne_ in BA just a year before in the summer of 81, having just bought in coal from Gladstone via Cape Horn (an incredibly lonely bit of Ocean crossing the Pacific that way.) 

Less than a year later they were all shooting the sh1t out of each other.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

R651400 said:


> I'm sure I read recently in an article to RO (the late) John Tuke (GM3BST) saying he performed the exact same steam "switch-on" duty to power the radio room generator of one ship he sailed.


Obviously I would in no way seek to dispute the idea - It was just that the overall concept tickled my sensibilities of 'Steam Radio'. 

Developing on - I am assuming that the radio room had its own dedicated power supply, separate from the rest of the ship (?). 
Do you know where the generator would be sited? I am wondering about noise being a problem. 
Type of steam motor, type of generator. - You've got me thinking now (yes I know that is a novelty).


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Radio regs right through my time decreed the radio room/equipment had to be when necessary (emergency) capable of running entirely independent of the ship mains.
I wouldn't dare to speculate and HW didn't elaborate except remarking it wasn't much fun tending or coaxing his steam powered arrangement in bad wx so I assume it was external to the radio room. 
Spark transmitters require HT in kv so I assume the steam engine drove an alternator whose output would then be transformed to the necessary kv in the radio room.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

#41 
Thanks for that, I can see that it would all be entirely logical, at that time.


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## Samsette (Sep 3, 2005)

Was the steam engine coal or oil fired?


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## spacetracker (Jun 17, 2008)

trotterdotpom said:


> The Indian crews used to refer to anything that wasn't manually operated as "eesteam".
> 
> John T


The AC mains was referred to as "up-and-down steam" to differentiate from the normal DC the crews were used to on older Clan Line boats.


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## tugger (Nov 28, 2006)

Hi Bob.
I just read this post and was waiting to see if anyone would say something about the lifeboat radio, being it is set in the twenties; as you say there may not have been one in them then, but some of the books i have read it seems to make no difference what they put in as the only ones who would notice are seamen.
Varley, In 64 I was two years off finishing at sea after 16 years you young whipper snipper you.
Tugger


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Samsette said:


> Was the steam engine coal or oil fired?


That would depend on the ship. I understood it to be a steam line all same ship's cargo winches on my first deep-sea Bluey.


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## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Samsette said:


> Was the steam engine coal or oil fired?


That would depend on the ship. I understood it to be a steam line all same powering the cargo winches on my first deep-sea (1923 built) Bluey.


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## Troppo2 (Jun 25, 2018)

thomburchfield said:


> Hello:
> 
> I'm an occasional visitor to this site who is working on a novel set in the early 1920s, about a Hawaii-bound tramp freighter that's taken over by pirates.
> 
> ...


Hello Thomas

As others have said - the equipment in the 1920's was very manual - you needed a skilled operator to drive it.

Couple of scenarios:

1. Use the current Radio Officer under duress (i.e. gun to head) - problem with this is that the baddies have to be able to read morse, as the Radio Officer could send anything....

2. Bring their own Radio Officer with them....


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

tugger said:


> Hi Bob.
> I just read this post and was waiting to see if anyone would say something about the lifeboat radio, being it is set in the twenties; as you say there may not have been one in them then, but some of the books i have read it seems to make no difference what they put in as the only ones who would notice are seamen.
> Varley, In 64 I was two years off finishing at sea after 16 years you young whipper snipper you.
> Tugger


Wow, I was thinking more about avoiding ageist against me rather than making them myself. I see I don't have anything to worry about here just yet.

("...an awkward old party were she. She'd seen Queen Victoria's Jubl'ee and 'er marriage to Albert 'the good' but got quite upset when young Albert asked 'er 'ow she'd got on in the Flood.")


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

spacetracker said:


> The AC mains was referred to as "up-and-down steam" to differentiate from the normal DC the crews were used to on older Clan Line boats.


They were dark horses, those Lascars. Obviously too many sine waves in those soggy Kama Sutras they pored over.

John T


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

_" Bring their own Radio Officer with them......... "_
who could be a extremely glam young lady who the R/O could fall in love with and get her to help him defeat the pirates.......

god I'm good at this !!


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## Roger Bentley (Nov 15, 2005)

When I was 3rd RO of the Bibby Liner Cheshire in 1951 we did have a lifeboat transmitter -it was a spark transmitter permanently fitted in one of the lifeboats. I can still remember the smell of burnt brilliantine when my head touched the aerial during testing. Cheshire was built in 1927, she had spent some time as an armed merchant cruiser and there was a small second radio room which was used as a storeroom during my time with no equipment in it. So there is possibility for the ship in the proposed novel to have a lifeboat transmitter. Unless this had been part of the RN fitting. Cheers, Roger


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Roger Bentley said:


> When I was 3rd RO of the Bibby Liner Cheshire in 1951 we did have a lifeboat transmitter -it was a spark transmitter permanently fitted in one of the lifeboats. I can still remember the smell of burnt brilliantine when my head touched the aerial during testing. Cheshire was built in 1927, she had spent some time as an armed merchant cruiser and there was a small second radio room which was used as a storeroom during my time with no equipment in it. So there is possibility for the ship in the proposed novel to have a lifeboat transmitter. Unless this had been part of the RN fitting. Cheers, Roger


That sounds good to me … given you have to be allowed a bit of artistic licence Thomas, Roger's answer looks like a goer.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

BobClay said:


> That sounds good to me … given you have to be allowed a bit of artistic licence Thomas, Roger's answer looks like a goer.


Maybe in the story they could use that former wireless room to stash Nigella behind a wall of condensed milk. During the night I ... er ... someone could sneak down and give her a gash kromeski a la russe nicked from the saloon. I bet Nigella would do anything for a kromeski! Maybe she would have got one of the cans of conny onnie opened and spilled it down her chin ... that's it, gotta go for a minute ...

John T


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

That's it men .... 

BREAK OUT THE COLD WATER HOSE AGAIN …. (Jester)


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

Thanks everyone! (excuse my infrequent appearances, as cir***stances take me away for long periods).

I'm thinking that the Marconi equipment is being shipped in crates in its component parts, including the antenna. I think my good guys, over a period of time, could smuggle the equipment out of the hold and set it up in say, the fo'c's'le or somewhere else, maybe in the hold itself. (It wouldn't be hard to fashion an expert or two among my characters.)

FYI: my bad guys are short-staffed. They planned to take over the ship for only a very short time, but cir***stances force them to strike much sooner than they expected.

Bob: I like the lifeboat radio idea, but you're right. None of the accounts from that era that I've read indicate such a practice was even thought of!

Cheers . . . .


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## Roger Bentley (Nov 15, 2005)

*Wow!*



thomburchfield said:


> Thanks everyone! (excuse my infrequent appearances, as cir***stances take me away for long periods).
> 
> I'm thinking that the Marconi equipment is being shipped in crates in its component parts, including the antenna. I think my good guys, over a period of time, could smuggle the equipment out of the hold and set it up in say, the fo'c's'le or somewhere else, maybe in the hold itself. (It wouldn't be hard to fashion an expert or two among my characters.)
> 
> ...


So your good guys get access to the cargo plan uncover the right hold and gain access to the equipment connect it up rig a length of copper antenna wire and transmit on the correct frequency.  In the words of an irate tennis player I DO NOT BELIEVE IT! 
Cheers, Roger


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Oh I don't know !!

What was it 'The Martian' said ? :

_"I'm going to science the hell out of it."_ :sweatThumb)


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## Roger Bentley (Nov 15, 2005)

*Yep*



BobClay said:


> Oh I don't know !!
> 
> What was it 'The Martian' said ? :
> 
> _"I'm going to science the hell out of it."_ :sweatThumb)


Bob, Oscar Koko - (==D) Regards, Roger


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

I don't believe it either. I could believe the steering gear suffered a mysterious failure and the wireless operator was ordered by the pirates to send a message to their accomplices ashore. As they couldn't read Morse he was brave enough to send CQD and a false message. The Mates would hoist flags upside down, and raise black balls to indicate distress as the ship went round in circles.

Meanwhile the radio amateur passenger (disliked by the professional because of his great knowledge of radio and extreme skill at telegraphy) with his modern valve transmitter and receiver already in his cabin only had to run a wire to the boat deck washing line to be able to send a message to hundreds of listeners on short wave. 

73, Andrew


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

GW3OQK said:


> I don't believe it either. I could believe the steering gear suffered a mysterious failure and the wireless operator was ordered by the pirates to send a message to their accomplices ashore. As they couldn't read Morse he was brave enough to send CQD and a false message. The Mates would hoist flags upside down, and raise black balls to indicate distress as the ship went round in circles.
> 
> Meanwhile the radio amateur passenger (disliked by the professional because of his great knowledge of radio and extreme skill at telegraphy) with his modern valve transmitter and receiver already in his cabin only had to run a wire to the boat deck washing line to be able to send a message to hundreds of listeners on short wave.
> 
> 73, Andrew


Clearly not a student of Alastair MacLean. Kill the sparky right off (his jokes are rubbish anyway.) (Jester)


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

It's called "_The willing suspension of disbelief_" according to my dear wife who reads books.
No need to bisect German Gentleman. (Split hairs ?)


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

Bob, I've obviously watched too many genteel Poirots or Taggarts. Pirates from Japan, China, Pillipines etc were the most murderous ever found. Sparks, captain and most crew would have been shot, or like happened a few years ago all tied to a chain cable and pushed overboard. Forget about wireless.
Andrew 
PS What's happened to the Random Ship Pictures at the top of the page?


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

GW3OQK said:


> Bob, I've obviously watched too many genteel Poirots or Taggarts. Pirates from Japan, China, Pillipines etc were the most murderous ever found. Sparks, captain and most crew would have been shot, or like happened a few years ago all tied to a chain cable and pushed overboard. Forget about wireless.
> Andrew
> PS What's happened to the Random Ship Pictures at the top of the page?


Yes they're not exactly like old Robert Newton and his parrot Cap'n Flint. :sweat:

I was watching a couple of Youtubes a few weeks back showing how the Russians dealt with the Somali pirates (and I hope they were pirates because they were sh1t out of luck if they weren't) which seems to be immense firepower .. end of story.


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## Kumzar (Mar 7, 2015)

trotterdotpom said:


> The Indian crews used to refer to anything that wasn't manually operated as "eesteam".
> 
> John T


Sorry, deviation from the main W/T story topic but, on the steam theme, on Indian crew ships one could hear aircraft showing contrails referred to as "steam chickens".


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

I knew the phrase and still use it. As to its origins, that sounds not to far-fetched.

(And, for heaven's sake. If the author promises not to finish me off in any of the ways suggested by my Nostalgiamates, I'll send the bloody messages. Surreptitious insulating of the foremast stays (if not already insulated - as a Japanese vessel mistaking the rules around DF sets might have). Source of conductor - strip deck socket circuits (for clusters etc.). Passable spark set should be knock-up-able from kit around. Condenser might prove difficult but not sure we would need one. Should raise another vessel close by. Don't think we could manage a receiver unless someone happened to be carrying a bit of quartz (are there gemstones that could be used as a detector?).


Why only wireless? - if close to naval base, Morse by hammer on hull below water line might alert passing submarine or picket boat. Also effective if in bum boat port - they wouldn't want to miss a sale (or sale of a miss, of course).


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

The random pictures are lost in the 'cloud'. along with a large number of gallery photos. We need a good meteorologist to retrieve them !

David
+


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## Victor J. Croasdale (Nov 28, 2016)

Mad Landsman said:


> Steam powered wireless - Love it!:sweat:


Steam powered radio, here it is for real!
https://www.royalsignals.org.uk/photos/steam.htm


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## Searcher2004 (May 3, 2012)

Victor J. Croasdale said:


> Steam powered radio, here it is for real!
> https://www.royalsignals.org.uk/photos/steam.htm


In 1968 I was working for the Diplomatic Wireless Service in the wilds of Buckinghamshire and they had a clear-out of older kit which was offered to staff at knock-down prices. 

A radio amateur colleague bought one of those steam gennies, brand new and never fired. We ran it up in his Dad's garden using the goldfish pond for the water supply. I went for the much lighter 2-stroke petrol genny, powered by a JAP motor, IIRC. They also flogged off some nice HRO 5T receivers with all the accessories, I had one of them too!

Happy days,

Roger


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

When I was a kid one Xmas I got one of those Mamod steam engines. You might remember them, shiny brass boiler and piston flywheel assembly attached to it's side. It had a small paraffin burner for the fire and also a whistle .. :sweat:

I got it going in the kitchen one day and found using my Old Man's blowlamp I could get it to go like the clappers !! … at least until the piston assembly blew off the side of the boiler and penetrated a glass window on one of those vertically standing kitchen cabinets and took out some cups and saucers.

My Old Dear informed me steam engineering practices were to be withdrawn from the kitchen for the duration. (Only she said it in more Irish terms which involved lots of _Effings_ and other swear words I'd never heard before.)


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

Here's Chris MW0LUK with his Mamod. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJfUyPLme8

Hope this link works, if not go to you tube and look for a Mamod Steamroller. A


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

I always wondered if you could communicate by keying the echo sounder.
Anybody ever try it ?
I won't confess to doing it though.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

..One ping Vitaly...


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

sparks69 said:


> I always wondered if you could communicate by keying the echo sounder.
> Anybody ever try it ?
> I won't confess to doing it though.


If you managed to send a message via the echo sounder wouldn't you just get your own message back? Either that or an eventual reply sent C.O.D.

John T


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## seaman38 (Mar 16, 2016)

trotterdotpom said:


> If you managed to send a message via the echo sounder wouldn't you just get your own message back? John T


You did! everytime!

(except on deep water trawlers when looking for fish shoals)


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> ……. Either that or an eventual reply sent C.O.D.
> 
> John T



...and I thought my jokes were bad …..


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Don't worry Bob. You are both very much ahead of the 'also rans'. We just can't see at this distance who is in pipping who at the moment.


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

2018 Piracy map here https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

GW3OQK said:


> 2018 Piracy map here https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map


There doesn't appear to be a big cross to mark where Flint's treasure is buried … :sweat:


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## schris (May 25, 2012)

BobClay said:


> There doesn't appear to be a big cross to mark where Flint's treasure is buried … :sweat:



I think "Flint's treasure" is known as VAT these days . . .


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

*Apologies and thank you!*

Sorry I haven't responded to everyone's excellent comments and insights (Among other activities, I've been buying a house.). You've helped quite a bit!

Here's a new question: what might be the broadcast range of wireless set of that time?

Giving away a little of the plot: the ship on which my story is set might be called "the Worst Ship in the World"; a floating village of crime and other nefarious activity. A former passenger freighter and troopship, it's owned by a Chinese Tong member, high up the ladder, who's using it to smuggle arms etc. to warlords, et al.

In addition, I have two gangs of pirates fighting to wrest control: one a group of idealistic but mostly amateurish band of Bolshies trying to get to Russia to join the revolution. The other is a group of ex-German raiders trying to restore and relive their glory days during WWI--they are true professionals and yes, they have a Sparks. You may know about WWI in the Pacific: there are three books I've read about it.

As Bob Clay has noticed, the book is more in the line of Alistair MacLean and, especially, Eric Ambler, with perhaps, the flair of Sabatini.

The rest of the crew and passengers are caught in the middle of all. For a clue to my hero, I encourage you to check out my novel BUTCHERTOWN, a more landlubbing 1920s gangster tale.

Thanks again, everyone. I'll be back!

https://www.amazon.com/Butchertown-Thomas-Burchfield/dp/0984775544/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533233444&sr=1-1


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

If it is after Alistair MacLean just don't tell us who now appears to be the good guy. He'll turn out the criminal/traitor/murderer/swindler.

Perhaps Judge Dee should be amongst the passengers, accompanying Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey - an incognito Mahjong party perhaps.

If you have Chinese aboard then you MUST have 24 hours Mahjong on tap. Without the endless click click of the tiles from the crew quarters there could be no authenticity at all.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

How about an undercover Hong Kong policewoman who got signed on as the cook, she would have a magnificent head of black hair, smouldering brown eyes and wear tight checked pants and a wet teeshirt covered in greasy handprints. She would also lick her fingers a lot. Realising her identity had been uncovered by the Red Dragon Tong because she couldn't cook foreign muck, the handsome Sparks would attract the attention of a passing junk by switching the mast light on and off spelling SOS. Probably her tee shirt would get torn off when she was sneaking aboard the junk .... nnnng nnnng nnnng!

John T


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> How about an undercover Hong Kong policewoman who got signed on as the cook, she would have a magnificent head of black hair, smouldering brown eyes and wear tight checked pants and a wet teeshirt covered in greasy handprints. She would also lick her fingers a lot. Realising her identity had been uncovered by the Red Dragon Tong because she couldn't cook foreign muck, the handsome Sparks would attract the attention of a passing junk by switching the mast light on and off spelling SOS. Probably her tee shirt would get torn off when she was sneaking aboard the junk .... nnnng nnnng nnnng!
> 
> John T


It's cold shower time again. (Jester)


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