[GreenKeys] mystery equipment - AN/TGC-1 not

Fri Sep 8 16:59:45 EDT 2017

Nick & Duncan,
The British Creed company made a model 71 three head tape transmitter and there were other variants of it.
I used to have one in the museum but transferred it to the Scotland’s Secret Bunker museum in 2011 who had a desire to acquire one.
Many years ago in the late 70s, I had a model 74 that was similar. 
That one came with the control box containing a number of relays that detected a certain character that made it switch over to sending from one message head to another.
They were made by Creed under licence from Teletype as there was a small label on mine to that effect.
There is some stuff about them on http://www.baudot.net/creed.htm but unfortunately no pictures.
73, Alf G3WSD
From: Nick England 
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2017 5:15 PM
To: Duncan Brown 
Cc: Greenkeys 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] mystery equipment - AN/TGC-1 not

Not a TGC-1 - But it includes parts of a TGC-1? I think we are converging on an answer -

As Jerry pointed out it looks like the shelf above the triple TD has a M14 typing reperf which is what was used as the monitor (upper shelf) in a TGC-1. The shiny object to the right of the takeup tape reel may be the type basket of the reperf - it is hard to tell and I thought it was maybe a glass or metal cylinder. (Why is your coffee pot in the middle of the Fleet Broadcast rack?). However I now think it is probably reflection from the reel motor and/or "reading lamp" which is in the TGC-1 - Dave/Duncan - did this reading lamp swing around or was it fixed?

Here's a TGC-1 tape monitor shelf - many things match the "mystery shelf" - type basket on the right, take-up reel on the left....

http://www.navy-radio.com/tty/relay/PB040298.JPG

Note - This rack is NOT a normal tape relay device. It is for Fleet Broadcast which is a one-way long-distance radio teletype transmission from a shore station to a large area of the ocean where Navy ships may be operating. Ships did not acknowledge these messages - radio silence is important to staying hidden. Ships copied every message that was broadcast and extracted the ones directed to them (or to a group to which they belonged). Ships could tell if they missed a message by seeing the sequential message number that was missing. Then they could copy that message number when it came around again on a repeated or delayed broadcast. In some cases, ships could request a repeat of missing numbers. The upper panel of the mystery rack appears to be custom built for this particular application which certainly makes sense.

I don't know for sure if the original message numbering in a broadcast was done by a number tape or was manually inserted on each message. Certainly repeats needed to have the correct number, not simply a sequential one.

However, as Dave and Duncan point out, there is a small reel hanging below the leftmost TD head and that shows up in the TGC-1 photos as well - this was for supplying a number tape to TD #1.
http://www.navy-radio.com/tty/relay/PB040311.JPG

Thanks to all for the help - I think I will declare this mystery solved - it is a custom rack which includes the TD and monitor reperf shelves of a TGC-1. 

(and thanks to Bob K6OSM for the photos of his beautiful TGC-1)

Cheers,

Nick England K4NYW

www.navy-radio.com

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 9:35 AM, Duncan Brown <duncanancy at earthlink.net> wrote:

  Dave,
  You are right! Not a TGC-1, after all!
  The 3-headed tape reader, complete with channel # tape spool and the big indicator lamps on the top said AN/TGC-1 to me. But now as i look at it more closely, there is a large, blank, panel between the tape readers & the shelf above it, making the whole cabinet 1-2 feet taller than the TGC-1. Also, the lamps on the top are not quite the same as the TGC-1.

  A good piece of Navy mystery equipment!

  Thanks for keeping us calibrated!

  Duncan
  K2OEQ

  On 07-Sep-17 23:10, David F wrote:

    Nick, Duncan.... 

    Not an AN/TGC-1 at all. TGC-1s were much shorter (not so tall)
    and were specifically tape relay equipment, usually installed in
    banks or rows. This machine is neither.

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