[Milsurplus] Robertson ( Norway ) conversions of U.S. military surplus ?
Hubert Miller
Kargo_cult at msn.com
Sun Jun 11 18:18:40 EDT 2017
Was looking for info on the Heathkit IM-18 and the transistor replacement plugins for it, on this page,
http://www.heathkit.nu/heathkit_nu_Robertson.html
and encountered this:
"The activity was placed in the attic of the wool-factory Svanedal Ullvarefabrikk. In 1946 Thorleif bought about 3000 units of transmitters, of mainly two types, on the American surplus market. Thorleif and the approximately ten employees converted and modified the units to fulfill the demands of Telegrafstyret (the Norwegian Telegraph Service) to be installed in Norwegian fishing vessels. They came on the market as the Radio-Telephones 4601/461 and 4770/475. Robertson was the first to launch this kind of products on the market. "
There is a photo, but it is actually too distant and too low-res to be of any help. There "may" be units looking like TBW / GO-9 sections for maybe TU- plugins for the BC-191/ 375 stacked on their sides,
but very indistinct.
I looked for the Roberts marine radios mentioned above, but no further available.
Has anyone photos of these radios?
What U.S. equipments were they built from?
The U.S. sets, in this quantity, I assume purchased in Europe and not imported from U.S.A., I think the only set available in such quantity would be the
"Command Sets" SCR-274N and AN/ARC-5. 3000 of BC-375 / 191 type transmitter would be a huge mass to transport and store, and I don't know if there were anywhere near that number available
in surplus sales in Europe.
In the U.S.A. we have seen some companies in California that 'remanufactured' U.S. war surplus into radios for marine use, I think particularly the BC-191 and the Navy ARB receiver.
Some years back a Spanish member showed a photo of a 'mystery set', which I identified as a commercial conversion of a U.S., Western Electric small boat radio. ( I forget the W.E. model, but the
U.S. Coast Guard also acquired the radio as their TRC-109 ( non - AN/ nomenclature system ).
In my part of the country, there was a manufacturer in Bremerton, Washington state, that made substantial use of military surplus components such as 'Command Set' components for their boat
radios. This manufacturer was "Pan American Radio" ( PAR ) and only existed maybe 3 years.
-Hue
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