# Lightship radio beacon



## Jan the lightship man (May 25, 2008)

Hi, it's me again: trying to re-construct the radio room of my 1959 lightship.

The lightship used to have a beacon radio. I thought it would be a Marconi, similar to the original SSB telephony transceiver. But I was told Marconi never made one.

So I am trying to figure out what it could have been!
I know most of you never seen one (they obviously weren't installed on merchant ships) but hope one of you might be able to help.
Of course the radio beacons were (and still are) installed at most lighthouses as well.

Anyway, any help is welcome!

Cheers
Jan


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Hello Jan. I operated a DF Radio Beacon on the Nab Tower lighthouse in Spithead, off the Isle of Wight. The beacon was only switched on during fog periods or when booked for ships to calibrate their DF receivers. I remember turning it on for the old Queen Mary to calibrate her DF on what turned out to be her final "liner" crossing of the Atlantic. Other lighthouses and lightships had beacons which transmitted continuously or at certain fixed periods.

The transmitter was quite large, being fully valve operated, and was quite simple to operate - an on/off switch as far as I recall. It operated on a frequency in the low 400 kc/s range I think. It broadcast a signal consisting of a two letter ID (sent in morse), followed by a couple of long dashes. It was not SSB as only morse was used. SSB was a thing of the future then anyway.

I can't remember the name of the manufacturer, but Trinity House may be able to help with some technical details. Have they still got their maintenance depot at Blackwall in London? I think there may be a museum there.

Where was your lightship stationed? The frequency and characteristics of the signal would have been published in the Admiralty List of Radio Signals Volume 4 (I think), also the ITU List of Radiodetermination Stations (or something like that).

Hope this helps a little. Good luck with your project.

John T.


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## Larry Kezner (11 mo ago)

Jan the lightship man said:


> Hi, it's me again: trying to re-construct the radio room of my 1959 lightship.
> 
> The lightship used to have a beacon radio. I thought it would be a Marconi, similar to the original SSB telephony transceiver. But I was told Marconi never made one.
> 
> ...


Hi Jan, 
I can get the name brand of the beacon transmitters on the lightships. I took inventory on the Swiftsure some 15 years ago. May take a bit but I have it.

There was a radio antenna strung between the masts on the lightship. It was an unusual antenna because it was made up of cage shape of 5 wires. It was called a squirrel cage antenna. An ordinary single wire antenna would get de-tuned as the lightship rolled at anchor. The multi-wire squirrel cage antenna was a early 1918 or so broad banding effort to mitigate the de-tuning effect due to the lightship rolling. Imagine....they were thinking about broad banding as far back as 1918.

The ships approaching the lightship could telegraph a message and request that the (288 kHz Swiftsure) (304 kHz Columbia River) beacon be turned on so that the ship could take a bearing on the lightship. If the ships RDF (radio direction finder) was inoperative the ship could request that the lightship take a bearing on ships 500 kHz signal. All of this was sent by radio telegraph Morse code. The radio operators on board the light ship and approaching vessel were called 'SPARKS’ . In 1963 and in 1967 to 1970 I was proud to answer to…. hey SPARKS.

Larry Kezner
[email protected]


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## Larry Kezner (11 mo ago)

Jan the lightship man said:


> Hi, it's me again: trying to re-construct the radio room of my 1959 lightship.
> 
> The lightship used to have a beacon radio. I thought it would be a Marconi, similar to the original SSB telephony transceiver. But I was told Marconi never made one.
> 
> ...


Hello Jan,
The beacon transmitter on light ships was the Halicrafters TB-142 made in Chicago. This was a 100 watt A2 emission which was a carrier with a modulating tone.
Regards
Larry Kezner
[email protected]


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