Guardians of SOLAS – In the romanticized world of maritime radio, we often focus on the powerful signals and long-distance contacts. But for a Radio Officer, the most critical duty often involved absolute silence. This was the practice of the “Silent Periods” on 2182 kHz (MF) and 500 kHz (HF)—the core of SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) in the pre-satellite era.
The Indestructible Beep – In our previous posts, we talked about the “Heavy Iron” and the complex math of SSB. But if you strip away the power amplifiers and the sideband filters, you are left with the purest form of communication ever devised: The Continuous Wave (CW).
Tools of the Trade – In our previous posts, we talked about the physics of the sky and the math of the signal. But on the bridge of a Merchant Navy vessel, physics and math had to be housed in steel.
As a Radio Officer, your gear was your lifeline. If you were sailing with Marconi or JRC (Japan Radio Co.), you weren’t just using a radio; you were commanding a masterpiece of industrial engineering.
The SSB Revolution – In the era of traditional AM (DSB) radio, we were effectively “shouting” into the ether with a lot of wasted breath. When you transmitted in DSB, you were sending a massive carrier wave and two identical sidebands
In our first post, we met the architects of radio. But for a Radio Officer at sea or an operator in the cockpit, the most important “part” of the radio system wasn’t even on the ship. It was 100 to 400km above our heads.
Welcome to the Ionosphere.
Heritage Spotlight – Welcome to the first installment of our Heritage Spotlight series at Parts-Ring.com. Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of modern electronics, we must pay our respects to the men who didn’t just discover radio—they willed it into existence.
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