[Boatanchors] 1940's radio communication

[William L Howard]

I received this mjessage and sent the below reply. Would anyone care to
add to my comments, correct any of them or add to this?
Thanks

Bill Howard

Subject: Re: 1940's radio communication
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2004 9:53 AM


> Would some kind soul care to give an opinion on the state of
radio/wireless
> communication between warships in 1940/1941?
>
> I get the impression that R/T (radio-telephony) wasn't around in those
> days, and didn't come into general use until 1944/45 with the
introduction
> (into the RN anyway) of the TBS and Type 86M (?).
>
> That leaves W/T, lamp, semaphore and flag hoists.
>
> By the same token, how did FAA/USN aircraft of that period communicate
with
> their carrier other than by W/T? Was that a function of the T/AG
> (Telegraphist/Air Gunner)?
>  yours aye, Bob Nicholls

Bob,

Wireless is generally accepted as Morse code or CW and has a much
greater range than voice. Hence I would assume that communication
between ships at sea and Fleet Hq somewhere on land would be in Morse
code. Also has the capability for encoding/decoding which voice
communication does not provide. As to the main ship transmitters and
receivers, I can not quickly come up with the numbers/nomenclature.

In the early 1930s the main aircraft radio set was the SCR 183 set
consisting of receiver, transmitter, control boxes, spare coils,
dynamotor and associated cables. This was replaced by the SCR 274N set.
(No extra plug in coils). Currently a complete SCR 274N set sells for
$1200.00.

Army aircraft used the SCR 274N sets for plane to plane communication
and is referred to as "the command sets". The BC 375 transmitter and
ground version , the BC 191 were the long range sets and were referred
to as the liaison sets. The companion receiver was the BC 348 with
versions A through J. Still a popular radio set with HAM operators.
Currently sell for about $150.00. There are also a whole series called
ARC 5.

The TBY sets were for ship to shore use by naval landing parties. TBY 1
through TBY 8 sets exist. Assumption is they got better as more R&D was
done. The TBS sets were a bit more powerful and were powered by hand
crank generators. Some of the early sets were knocked off frequency if
the antenna brushed against a tree!

Emerson also made the RBS set , sometimes called "The beachmasters
radio" which was a battery powered receiver only. Special sets were also
made and dropped to the resistance units in France.

AM sets had greater range than FM sets but FM sets had greater clarity
for voice operations. Tank units used FM for most of their radios but
the Armored Divisions Intel Sections and recon units used AM sets for
the greater range. SCR 506 in the Morse mode had a range of 125 miles, 5
to 10 miles in voice mode.

As to lamp, semaphore and flag hoists, these are possibly more secure
means of sending messages as they can not be intercepted by an enemy
ship/ intercept station.

You can see examples of most of these radio sets by visiting my web
site, taking the museum tour and going to the WW II sections.

As to "state of the art", the Germans and the Japanese finalized their
radio designs in the mid 1930s and used regenerative receivers. The US
delayed until the war started and used super heterodyne sets which were
vastly superior sets. We also used metal tubes which I think came along
in 1936. Of interest is the fact that the Japanese copied them and used
them in their late war radio sets. German sets had metal tubes from the
early 1930s onward and their capacitors were also much better than ours.
Today, if you get a German radio set, chances are you can power it up
and it will work, as opposed to the Japanese sets which require almost
complete re building, replacement of all capacitors, rewinding the
interstage transformers, etc. a real nightmare. Most US radio sets of
the 1940s also require replacing all the capacitors.

I hope I have answered your questions. As you can probably "read between
the lines" my expertise is with Army radio sets and not Naval sets.

Bill Howard