[Boatanchors] News Flash! New On The Halli Web Site!

[Geoff Roberts]

Apologies to Duane, I inadvertently posted this to his email address instead
of the list address.


Hallicrafters was part of some significant moments in history.

During the dark days of the Blitz in England, Dr. R. V. Jones, of British
Scientific Intelligence, needed to determine if the suspected German beam
system, known as Knickebein,(Crooked Leg) was in fact operational and did in
fact reach important targets in England, as highly placed scientists didn't
believe the signals, in the 40Mhz band, could be received over such a
distance.  It is recorded that the Air Ministry quickly visited a Ham Radio
supplier in London and bought up the last pre war stocks of Hallicrafters
S27 receivers, the only ones in the UK capable of receiving the Knickebein
beam transmissions on the very high frequency (for 1940) of just over 30Mhz.
Hastily mounted in aircraft, one of the receivers did in fact confirm that
that a 'radio beam with Lorenz characteristics', around 400 yards wide,
modulated by a tone of 1150hz, on a frequency of 31.5Mhz, existed over the
Midlands, emanating from the beam station at Kleve.  Flying down the the
bearing took the aircraft directly over the Rolls Royce Aero Engine factory
in Derby, the only one that made Merlin engines for Spitfires, Hurricanes
and the Lancaster bomber.  An obvious military target. The cross beam from
the Stollberg station was also found and both beams converged on Derby.
This was the proof Jones needed to convince the doubters.

Knickebein was basically a high powered version of what is today called a
VHF Aural Range, or VAR, in which an area of dots on one side of the beam
and dashes on the other, as heard through a radio receiver, tell a pilot to
steer left or right to find the 'equitone' where the dots and dashes blend
into a single continuous tone - this was pioneered by Lorenz for a Blind
Landing System and the Germans simply increased the power of the
transmitters and the sensitivity of the receivers so that they would be able
to use the signal at extended range.  A cross beam from another station
signalled when the aircraft should drop its bombs. This system gave
sufficient accuracy for area bombing of an urban or industrial complex at
night, in all weathers and from high altitude. Transmitters were located at
Kleve (or Cleves - birthplace of Ann of Cleves, one of the wives of Henry
VIII) pretty much the most western point of Germany and Stollberg, near the
Norwegian border.  Another was later established at Lorrach, near the border
with France and Switzerland.

As a direct consequence of the location of the beams, jamming of the system
was commenced and Knickebein was essentially ineffective from that point on.

The BBC Production 'The Secret War' produced in the late 70's detailed this
incident.  The series was based on R. V. Jone's book, 'Most Secret War'
which gave a detailed explanation of the operations of British Scientific
Intelligence during WW2. Other German radio nav aids, X-Gerat and Y-Gerat
were also detected and jammed. Great read if you can find a copy.  The tv
series doesn't appear to have made it to official DVD format, but there are
digitised versions kicking around the internet that have been copied from
video tape sets that were sold in the late 70's and into the 80's.


Geoff


-----Original Message-----
From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Duane Fischer,
W8DBF
Sent: Friday, 21 October 2011 4:37 AM
To: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Boatanchors] News Flash! New On The Halli Web Site!



Hi All,

Please take a few minutes to visit the HHI (Halligan's Hallicrafters
International) web site. There is something brand new there! We can 'almost'
guarantee that you have NEVER seen one before!

Courtesy of my dear friend, and yours too, HB9RS, Dr. Max De Henseler of
Switzerland, is a high resolution scan of a quite rare stamp from Spain. It
was printed this year, but shows a 1941 Hallicrafters SX-28 receiver. I am
told by those who collect stamps seriously, that this one is both very rare
and costly! Obtaining one is everything but easy to do!

Take a look and enjoy this bit of radio history!

My thanks to our talented and hard working Web Master, W5JT, Jim Thayer, for
his efforts to get this rare stamp on the web site for all to see and enjoy.

Coming Soon - and I am not sure how 'SOON' that 'soon' is: Will be about 100
very special and unique stamps from fifty different countries. Each shows a
piece of Ham Radio, or military communications, gear. These will be taking
up permanent residence on the Hallicrafters web site in the forthcoming
"Worldwide Amateur Radio Stamp Gallery".

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to HB9RS, Dr. Max De Henseler of
Switzerland, for donating this fantastic Ham Radio stamp collection to the
Hallicrafters Web Site. You will definitely enjoy looking through these
colorful, artistic and historical rememberances of vintage Amateur Radio
pieces of equipment from around this world.

Now, IF any of YOU should happen to have anything that you would like to
share with Hallicrafters, as well as fans of all other flavors of vintage
radio gear, please contact the HHI Web Master. W5JT, Jim Thayer at:
webmaster at w9wze.net

If it happens to be vintage, but not Hallicrafters, contact Jim just the
same. We have a 'sort of' "Halli Wanna Be's" area especially intended for
such occasions!

Enjoy!



Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO
E-Mail: dfischer at usol.com
Hallicrafters web site: www.w9wze.net
HHRP web site: hhrp.w9wze.net


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