NAVY'S 15,000 RADIOS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 99, 2 September 1942, Page 4

NAVY'S 15,000 RADIOS

DO NOT . GIVE AWAY POSITIONS TO THE ENEMY Portable radio sets for ships' crews which do not give aw r ay positions to the enemy are now in use in Britain's Royal Navy. The Navy has received: more than 1 15,000 sets and £25,000 raised by voluntary subscriptions has been spent by the Admiralty in supplying them. Corvettes, minesweepers, sloops, submarines and torpedo-boats are among the small craft whose ship's companies can now listen in when off duty. As: the sets are screened," they do not re-radiate, and so do not disclose the ship's position to the enemy.

The manufacturers made several modifications in a standard: portable radio, giving it an exceptionally strong cabinet and fitting up the "chassis" so that the set woulid be able to stand up to the many hardi knocks likely to be received under Service conditions. It has roughly 800 separate parts.

No accumulator is necessary and the battery gives 240 hours' service. J The makers have been able to (issue fresh batteries at the rate of ! 1000 a week, and 10,000 valves have been sent out. in the last twelve [months. The Royal Air Force has been supplied with 5000 sets and the Army has had 8000. They arc being used in many remote districts of Britain as Avell as in Iceland and the Middle E^ist.. The manufacturers carried on producingl the sets 'throughout the blitz although their factory and workshops were actually razed to the ground and many essential parts and machine tools destroyed. Desspite these difficulties, they have been able to carry on, and there are now more than 100,000 of their sets in use.