Hallicrafters RBK-13
This Hallicrafters UHF receiver was built in 1945 for the US Navy. It is model RBK-13 and was also used by the US Army where it is called the BC-787 and in civilian guise the S-36A. It weighs about 50lbs, so its not surprising that these sorts of sets are called "boatanchors". The set covers 28 - 140 Mhz in AM/FM/CW modes and cost $415 when new. Despite its 50 years age it still performs well on the FM Broadcast band, which wasn't used in Australia until the mid-1970s.
Radio Room - HMCS Haida
The picture shows the restored main radio room on the museum ship HMCS Haida located in Toronto, Canada. Click on the link to visit her excellent web site, where the radio room restoration work was supervised by Gerry Proc. There are few WWII destoyers remaining these days.
Eddystone 850/2
This receiver was made from 1962 to 1969 and is an all valve set. Coverage was low frequency only and went from 10 khz to 600 khz in 6 bands. Its major use was in submarines which of course rely heavily on LF communications. There is an active Eddystone user group in the UK who have acquired all the spares for the older rigs from the factory.
Collins TCS-12
The TCS-12 was a WWII US Navy transmitter and receiver installed in small craft such as Landing Craft and PT Boats. It was built by Collins and was their first military radio. The outfit has AM & CW options and can put out up to 40 watts. Frequency coverage was 1.5 - 12 Mhz.
The set was popular with amateurs and a number were advertised for sale in Radio & Hobbies around 1960. Indeed Collins advertised them during the war in ham magazines, though only to indicate what they were doing for the war effort rather than as ham gear!
USS Salem - Radio Rooms
The 17,000 ton cruiser USS Salem, CA139, can be seen at Quincy near Boston. She was commissioned in 1949 and used to be the flagship of the US 6th Fleet in the 1950s. She was put into reserve in 1959 and in 1995 returned to Quincy where she was originally built and is now a museum ship. For many years she had an active ham club on board, K1USN, who maintained most of the ship's original radio and electronic equipment. Unfortunately the club had to move out in August 2005 following a disagreement with management. For the club's obituary visit the K1USN web site.
SS Kawatiri (ZMKX) - Radio Room
This picture was taken in 1957 when Iain, ZL2BJC, was R/O on the Union Company Trans-Tasman freighter "KAWATIRI". It shows the AWA Emergency Transmitter (100W) and 2 AWA HF Receivers, whilst on the bulkhead there is the Redifon Automatic Keying Device (12 4sec dashes etc and complete with key to wind it up!) and a Marconi Aerial Switching Unit. Out of shot: to the left and just showing the door handle was the AWA Main Transmitter (MF only) and off to the right was located the Marconi "Alert" Auto Alarm. Picture courtesy Iain, ZL2BJC.
Eddystone 1002/2
The 1002 is a broadcast receiver of the 1970 period that covers 500hz to 30mhz plus FM broadcast band. This particular set is believed to originate from the RAN (the NATO and RAN serial numbers plate is visible in the bottom centre of the set) and was probably used in mess spaces. The model illustrated runs on 110/240 volts but other models in the 1002 series could be run on batteries. The 1001 range, of similar appearance, had CW/SSB facilities and could be described as communcations receivers.
Racal RA117
The Racal RA17 and its derivatives such as this RA117 were top class communications receivers of the 1960s period. The first units were produced in the UK for the RN and later over 10,000 were made for the services, government and professional use. The set has 26 valves and is an excellent H/F set, even today. Coverage is 0 - 30 mhz and can resolve SSB with its accurate BFO. The tuning dial is effectively 145 ft long and although analogue, it can resolve frequencies to an accuracy of better than 500hz! If you have an interest in classic top class radios, this one is a must.
Radio Room Clock
Many will recognise these Kelvin Hughes clocks which were common in merchant ship's radio rooms. Operators will remember that the red sectors indicate the silent periods to hear 500 khz distress messages and the green those for 2182 khz. Note that some of these clocks run for 5 - 6 days not the more usual 8 days. The reason for this is that they were intended to be wound daily and the extra days were to use the best accuracy occurring at the top of the spring tension and also to give some latitude if someone forgot to wind it!
HMS Cavalier
Britain's last remaining WWII destroyer, HMS Cavalier, is now a museum ship in Chatham Dockyard. Regular guided tours of her take place and include the various radio and radar rooms, which still contain the equipment she had on de-commissioning. The Dockyard, now a museum, is well worth a visit if you are in the area and other ships open include HMS Gannet and the submarine HMS Ocelot. The rope works is still operating and most interesting to see.
Page maintained by Simon Buxton VK2UA. Created: 5/12/98 Updated: 9/08/2008