Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Grimsby,(the Bad Lands) N.E.Lincs
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:06 am Post subject: Voice, Morse or both?
An ex/Bootneck friend of mine has come up with an interesting argument/disussion. It seems in the Times (someone must have either read it out or explained it to him!!) quite an argument is under way. The case in point is what is the difference between a Radio Operator and a Wireless Operator? Seeing that he belives I'm an expert(?) on all things radio he asked me what I thought? After a bit of pen-sucking I finally came up with my solution a) Radio is voice, Wireless is morse or b) ain't no difference. He seemed satisfied with that but after all, as I said, he is a ex-Bootneck! I'm sure that at least one of our learned friends on here could enlighten me/us? I await your answers with anticipation and so does he.
Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 293 Location: Ashington
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject:
Hello Brian,
The word wireless predates the word radio which is why 1 Wireless Regiment became 13 Signal Regiment (Radio) when all the Royal Signals units were retitled in 1959.
Tom
Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Grimsby,(the Bad Lands) N.E.Lincs
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject:
Hello there Tom,
Many thanks for your reply, I seem to remember that it was 1 Wireless Reg. during my time but not sure if you've answered my question or not. Must be having one of my many senior moments but 'fraid it doesn't tell me which is which i.e. whats the difference between a Radio Operator and a Wireless Operator? After reading your text should I conclude that there ain't any difference?
Thanks again......................Brian
Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 398 Location: Hanham, Bristol, England
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject:
Hi Brian, Your question deserves a bit more of a reply than Tom gave you, so I’ll chip in with the definitive answer. Back in the 50’s when even Paul C was young, my Mum and Dad always referred to the radio as the wireless, even although it was provided by Redifusion and the signal came via copper wire (a bit like cable TV today). They looked up their programmes in a thing called Radio Times which was the only newspaper allowed to carry the schedules. Way after everyone else on this site, I joined the Army and learned to operate a Radio, voice at first, then morse and teleprinters, but it was all over Radio. So there you have it; if you’ve run out of hair, it’s a wireless, if your hero’s were the Beatles then it's Radio. I should play safe with your ex-Marine friend, if he’s bigger than you, simply agree with him, and have another pint. All the best. Dave T _________________ Dave Thomas 2 Sqn 13 SR, '63-'66
Yes, I agree. "Wireless" means to me a mock-mahogany box about as big as a small suitcase that my Mum and Dad used to listen to ITMA on. It was full of valves that glowed, and was always being repaired. "Radio" means something about as big as a cigarette packet or smaller, probably made in China, never breaks down, and is so cheap that nobody would dream of trying to get it repaired even if it did.
Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Grimsby,(the Bad Lands) N.E.Lincs
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject:
Gordon and Dave T,
Many thanks for your replies. I also remember my Mum and Dads radio, as you say, big as a suite case. We once owned a bungalow (wooden shack) on the Lincolnsire coast and when we went for the whole of the summer holidays went our protable RADIO ('cept it wasn't) also. I believe it was bigger than the one at home!! There was a shop about two miles away and my cousin and I had to cart the batteries there to be charged, I believe they were called accumalator batteries. No 'lecky on site you see. I know they were bloody heavy and the very kind parents actually made us a kind of frame to lug these things to the said shop and then lug the spare re-charged ones back again!! Every Saturday morning!! Getting off the point but I shall info. my Bootie mate and see if it helps. Not as big as me actually but a dangerous type chappie when roused................!!
Brian.......................
You're rousing some very old memories! We thought ourselves a cut above households whose wirelesses ran off accumulators. Ours ran direct from the mains. My pal Ray who lived across the road had the chore of taking their accumulators to the garage to be charged every few days. I can see him now, and hear him, slamming the front gate to show his distaste at this chore. Looking back, I'm not surprised ours was always breaking down, since we stored old newspapers on top of it (and anything else for which we couldn't find parking space). It got so hot with all this insulation that it's a wonder it didn't burst into flames. "What did you listen to, Grandad?" "The News, naturally, Workers Playtime, Appointment with Fear, Arthur Askey... It was great". "And Grandad, what are all those tall poles in people's back gardens, with wires running to the houses?" "Those me lad were aerials. Our wirelesses wouldn't work without them". "You're having me on, aren't you Grandad?"
Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 398 Location: Hanham, Bristol, England
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:22 pm Post subject:
Hello Brian, George, Tom and All, I have to claim to be even more modern than Gordon, our radio was also mains, it had a lead which we plugged into a two way connector up in the centre rose of the light fitting, then the flex looped across the ceiling to the set which was high up in the corner. One of my eternal memories is the smell of warm dust and melting shellac when we turned it on to listen to “The Archers” and “Journey into Space”. One time when I got home from School dad was having difficulty getting the set to work, he tried all four stations (remember this was a Redifusion set) but could only get sombre music on one of them. It was Feb 6th 1952 and later we learned that King George Vl had died. Any other claims to fame? Dave T. _________________ Dave Thomas 2 Sqn 13 SR, '63-'66
"Warm dust and melting shellac". I love it! You've got it in a nutshell! It's a wonder we're here to tell the tale. The wireless wasn't the only device to be powered from the nearby 15-amp round pin socket outlet. Another cable went out of the kitchen window, looped its way past the wash-house to reach its destination in a garden shed, where it ran among other things a quarter-HP motor driving a Myford lathe. I can only think that a Divine Providence was saving me from electrocution so that I could eventually join that wonderful body of men (and NAAFI girls) at Langeleben and play my part in preserving Western civilization.
Joined: 21 Feb 2008 Posts: 11 Location: South Wales
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:
A SUNDAY NIGHT AT HOME 1946
Liverpool born and Liverpool bred,
Six in the house and two to a bed.
A sprint to the toilet
In the cold back yard,
When the snow was falling
Life sure was hard.
But never mind,
We`ve got the warm coal fire,
Though there`s not much heat
Through the fire-guard`s wire.
Whose turn now to throw on coal?
The fire`s dying-bless my soul!
Hey there you! with your knees all red,
If you won`t fetch coal then go to bed.
Get the loaf out, lets have toast.
The one who makes it has the most,
The fire now is really hot
As fast as you toast, they scoff the lot.
Never mind, I`ve got the crust,
And for curly hair they say it`s a must
Shush! The radios on.
Listen before the battery`s gone.
"We three from Happydrome,
Members of the BBC,
There`s Ramsbottom, Enoch, and me." _________________ Mike Webber, I Corps Langeleben 57/58
Discriminator B watch.
Birgelen 56/57
Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 398 Location: Hanham, Bristol, England
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject:
Hi Gordon, Now you’re just trying to make me jealous. Jealous because we didn’t have 15 amp power sockets, ours, like yours were two pin, but it was just 3 amps sufficient to run the lights, it wasn’t until the mid 60’s that we had SWEB in to install power throughout. Dad showed me how to push the two wires into the socket and keep them there with match sticks, I don’t’ recall ever repairing a fuse with silver paper or a nail, but I know some people did. The other reason I’m jealous is the Myford lathe, I’ve got a Record lathe and a converted pedal lathe now, which I use most weeks, but I’d kill for a Myford, All the best. Dave T. _________________ Dave Thomas 2 Sqn 13 SR, '63-'66
I kept the Myford until 2000, when we moved to a smaller house, and sadly it had to go. It went to the charity Tools for Self Reliance, and I trust is still giving good service somewhere in Africa. I too now have a Record, which I have mounted on retractable wheels so that I can move it to the end of the garage and get the car in as well.
Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 398 Location: Hanham, Bristol, England
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:50 am Post subject:
Hi Mike, I didn’t mean to ignore you, it’s just that I’d typed up my reply to Gordon, while you were slipping your poem in. Can one ask if this is a take over as site laureate from the Ugly One? Down south here even in 1946 we could afford coal for our fire, mostly because Dad worked on the Railways and part of the attraction was subsidised fuel. Every so often a wagon would arrive and dump half a dozen railway sleepers and a ton of coal, being the only boy in the family it was my job to shift it from the front garden into the coal hole. All the best. Dave T. _________________ Dave Thomas 2 Sqn 13 SR, '63-'66
We three were clearly hewn from the same rock! Enjoyed the poem greatly. It was my job too to shovel the latest delivery of coal and coke to the back of the coal cellar. Nothing like sawn and split (Great Western, mostly) railway sleepers to get the fire going. And when it was going, my! what a heat! Scrap lead could become molten and ready for pouring into animal moulds in a matter of minutes, though if I saw my grandsons doing any such thing unsupervised today I would probably have a heart attack. You see I too have become a victim of the current health and safety climate. I did actually spill molten lead into my leg on one occasion. You will not be surprised to learn that I never made that mistake again. It wasn't the lead that hurt; it was having to tell my Dad that I had been so stupid.
Joined: 21 Feb 2008 Posts: 11 Location: South Wales
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject:
Dave and Gordon,
The stories of the old wireless sets got the memories flooding back, listening to Happydrome in front of a roaring fire and making toast using an extending wire toasting fork. I can still taste it, hot toast, melting butter and homemade jam.
The poem seemed appropriate although not entirely accurate in my case, I'm Devon born and Devon bred (and as the inscription in Powerham Castle reads "Strong in thee arm and thick in thee 'ead" )..........strong in the arm is stretching it a bit these days.
What is the attraction of molten lead to young boys ? I used a bunsen burner for the process of making lead soldiers which were quickly despatched by airgun in the garden. The joy of adding water to Calcium Carbide in a tin, sealing the lid and waiting for the bang. And Flashpower offered several dangerous but exciting opportunities. Like you Gordon as a Parent and Grandparent I now cringe at the thought.
Regards to you both,
Mike. _________________ Mike Webber, I Corps Langeleben 57/58
Discriminator B watch.
Birgelen 56/57
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