# What Radar?



## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

Can anyone tell me what type (apart from being a broken one) of radar this is? On the British Robin 1966.
Note the screwdriver in the gateswitch!


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## bpsparks (Nov 27, 2019)

spaarks said:


> Can anyone tell me what type (apart from being a broken one) of radar this is? On the British Robin 1966.
> Note the screwdriver in the gateswitch!
> 
> 
> View attachment 688925


cant help with this one although it has a certain Marconi look to it , on the BP ships I sailed on we had AEI 651 escorts which were a bit fragile and had modulator transformers that could catch fire!!! nearly sailed with a 14year old Cossor on the Gunner but thankfully it had been replaced by a 651 just before I joined, the Cossor repair log book had some hilarious comments written by the previous RO who must have had a good sense of humour,I think he would have needed it keeping the Cossor going, I enjoyed slinging all the Cossor spares over the wall,happy days long ago


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## Dave Woods (Apr 9, 2006)

Denis, Looking rather young there, I can tell you it is *not* a Mk4 or Quo Vardis.

Do you know where Charlie Mac is these days.

Dave Woods.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Is it a BTH (British Thomson-Houston) product? They were referred to as Big Thick and Heavy but it was a long time ago and I don't remember any details.
BP replaced a lot of their old radars in the late 1960s by AEI Escort radars. I fitted several on the Tyne in 1966/67.


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## bpsparks (Nov 27, 2019)

Ron Stringer said:


> Is it a BTH (British Thomson-Houston) product? They were referred to as Big Thick and Heavy but it was a long time ago and I don't remember any details.
> BP replaced a lot of their old radars in the late 1960s by AEI Escort radars. I fitted several on the Tyne in 1966/67.


we had a BTH 1A on the Ambassador,maybe it is still onboard with fish swimming around the scanner unit,I dont remember it looking like the one on the Robin, the third mate was helpless with laughter when chief sparks put his hand into the transceiver unit and his cheapo wrist watch attached itself to the rather large magnetron magnet,it didnt do it a lot of good


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## John Cassels (Sep 29, 2005)

Decca Mk.4 , very common in the '50's and '60's.


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

Ahhh, thanks. The pic was taken in 1967.
Did it have the tx and preamp below the scanner?
I recall fond memories of being up the mast in the Baltic in winter (where we damaged the bows and prop in ice), and the smell of burnt selenium rectifiers. They were little discs envlosed in long brown bakelite tubes. And the scanner gearbox oil had to be changed at intervals.


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

Dave Woods said:


> Denis, Looking rather young there, I can tell you it is *not* a Mk4 or Quo Vardis.
> 
> Do you know where Charlie Mac is these days.
> 
> Dave Woods.


 Yeah, I was!!


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

bpsparks said:


> we had a BTH 1A on the Ambassador,maybe it is still onboard with fish swimming around the scanner unit,I dont remember it looking like the one on the Robin, the third mate was helpless with laughter when chief sparks put his hand into the transceiver unit and his cheapo wrist watch attached itself to the rather large magnetron magnet,it didnt do it a lot of good


I don't think I ever sailed with a BTH radar....but there's quite a bit I don't remember!


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

spaarks said:


> I don't think I ever sailed with a BTH radar....but there's quite a bit I don't remember!


Charlie Mac ?


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

spaarks said:


> Ahhh, thanks. The pic was taken in 1967.
> Did it have the tx and preamp below the scanner?
> I recall fond memories of being up the mast in the Baltic in winter (where we damaged the bows and prop in ice), and the smell of burnt selenium rectifiers. They were little discs envlosed in long brown bakelite tubes. And the scanner gearbox oil had to be changed at intervals.


Or could it have been a Mk12. Seems to ring a bell, but probably a bit old, it dates back to the '50s.


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

spaarks said:


> Or could it have been a Mk12. Seems to ring a bell, but probably a bit old, it dates back to the '50s.


There is an entry for the Mk12 in radiomuseum.org, even has a circuit diagram for the RF head.



spaarks said:


> Charlie Mac ?


Oh, Charlie MacNeilly? Last I spoke to him was in the mid-90's when he was R/O on a C&W ship (probably Cable Enterprise). He was still with Marconi then. I was an ROV Pilot by then.
Think he came from the country, outside Randalstown.


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

spaarks said:


> There is an entry for the Mk12 in radiomuseum.org, even has a circuit diagram for the RF head.
> 
> 
> Oh, Charlie MacNeilly? Last I spoke to him was in the mid-90's when he was R/O on a C&W ship (probably Cable Enterprise). He was still with Marconi then. I was an ROV Pilot by then.
> Think he came from the country, outside Randalstown.


Charlie wanted to join C&W, but the vacancy he filled was only temporary.


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## Dave Woods (Apr 9, 2006)

spaarks said:


> There is an entry for the Mk12 in radiomuseum.org, even has a circuit diagram for the RF head.
> 
> 
> Oh, Charlie MacNeilly? Last I spoke to him was in the mid-90's when he was R/O on a C&W ship (probably Cable Enterprise). He was still with Marconi then. I was an ROV Pilot by then.
> Think he came from the country, outside Randalstown.


Denis, that is the last time I saw him, Subic Bay on Enterprise, I did talk to him a couple of years later when he was on a Dredger off West Africa being looked after by a bevvy of Russian stewardesses. I was thinking about him last week and wondering how he is.


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## spaarks (May 1, 2009)

He was known to us at Radio College by his middle name Duncan. I did an internet search for Charles Duncan MacNeilly and McNeilly, but nothing found. Maybe he ended up in Russia!!


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