1940-60's Freighter Pilothouse Radio

[mngermanshepherd]

Thanks for the info. This was a great, informative read. -Ryan

[wa8wuu]

Correct. Senior moment. I did mean the Daniel J Morell.

[Guest]

Could you mean the Daniel J. Morell?

No he did not. Ben Moreell (ii) was the ex-James MacNaughton and last sailed as Alastair Guthrie. Information is available in the BGSU database.

His post discussed the Moreell going down. Certainly he did mean the Morell.

[TWilush]

Could you mean the Daniel J. Morell?

No he did not. Ben Moreell (ii) was the ex-James MacNaughton and last sailed as Alastair Guthrie. Information is available in the BGSU database.

[Guest II]

Could you mean the Daniel J. Morell?

[wa8wuu]

The "radio" shown in two of the pictures is only the subset or control unit, probably from a LORAIN LC150/10 or 10A. Earlier radios had 100 watt transmitters and 8 channels. Later units were 150 watts and had 10 channels. The actual radio transceiver was in a metal cabinet almost the size of a desk. A few of the steamers still have these cabinets but they have been gutted and shelves installed for storage of misc. items. Most were in the chart room or built into the bulkhead dividing the pilot house from the chart room. There were up to three susbsets or control units. One was hear the front window, one in the chart room and the third was in the Captain's office. In the late sixties through the mid seventies there was also a much smaller single channel battery powered emergency AM radiotelephone on Ch-51 (2182 KHz) which was required after the Ben Moreel went down. These were later replaced with VHF radios, generally Harris RF-457 12 channel VHF's.

[Guest]

The set in this photo was reportedly from the Arthur M. Anderson.

[BigRiver]

That's the radio I remember from being a tour guide on the Valley Camp years ago.

[Guest]

Something like this?

[pcolachap]

With regard to pilot house radios from this era, what I remember doesn't really correspond to the posted pictures. It seems to me the radios which were AM were in the form of a black rectangle, taller than wider that had buttons on them for the working channels. Channel 51 was the hailing and distress channel and I believe there were 8 or so working channels. There was a "black telephone" receiver / speaker that went with the unit. Does anyone else recall this set up? Mike

[Chief1911]

Thanks for the help CanalJim. This gives me a direction in which to search. Hope to find one on E-Bay.

Chief1911

[canaljim]

Unfortunately most all of the old radios from that era got scrapped. I have a collection of AM marine radios from the 60's I have put on the Ham Radio bands. I have seen some stuff appear on E-Bay, found a manual for a Bendix radio we had on my relative's car ferry in 1957, don't have the radio though. You might want to search all the antique radio sites on the internet, this is an interesting one for Inland Marine Radio
http://www.imradioha.org/index.htm

[Chief1911]

I am looking to purchase a circa 1940-50's, early 1960's marine radio as would be found in the pilothouse of a Great Lakes freighter. If you know where one is available or have one your willing to sell, please let me know. It will be used in a museum exhibit.

Thank You,

Chief1911