r-T-! T T l--r i" t*i i- COIVI UNICATOR

I r' i I I t 1 t I b ,''IIl',),L..f.

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ROYTIL NAVY'S COMMUNICATIONS BRANCII .END THE ROYAL NAVg,t AM.IITEUR RADIO SOCIETY Ihgmo'fu $"-.*^.,1'copying rnachines prorLuce copies fi'onr an origi'al the perfectiS'clrv u'a-v.No messv fluicls. No mcss\'fingcrs. Onlr-elcctlic one-step cop;'ing will cleiiver a good clean copy of :r long, tabulateci signal in foul seconds flat. In stone and at sea, tlie Thermo-Fax "Secle{alr-" is just the job fbr the hard-plesserl Cornmunications l)epartnrent. \Vhatevcr the lush of tr.alTic, rvhatever thc ri'atcli. u'helever vou are, thc "Secrotar.-v" u-ill hclp you cope. It speeds communic:r,tions, :ind tlre clr

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Mokers of Transformers for the Electonic ond Electricol lndustry THE COMMUNICATOR The Mogazine of the Communicotions Bronch,Royol Novy ond the Royal Navol Amoteur Rodio Society SUMMER I96I VOL. 15. No. 2 CONTENIS page page Eottonrlr ... 60 FnoNr Pl,cr Cs.lLLeNcE 79 D.S.D. Rrpnes ro "Arl Moo. CoN." 60 SIcNn DrsrRrBUTIoN ovsn rnr Yrlns 81 Usrn RrqurnEMENTs AND Tnrnr-s SrcrtoN 6t Hoiur Frerr 83 Wr, rnxr oFF ouR HATS To 62 CounuNrcaron's Qurmrs 91 Sarv.rcr, 63 T,q.pr RrL,{v Pnocrounr ... 93 Clnnrrns 64 Rloln nNo run Blrrlr or rne Arr,{Nrrc 93 A Scoorrn rRrp INTo RoNte,-SparN... 67 TnrNcs atN':r wol rHEY usED To BE ... 9s F.rn Elsr ... 68 Tnn StcNnl Scnool Cnsst 97 R.N. Arur.rnun Rloro Socrnrv 72 SpenrtNc tN rnn R.A.F 99 MrorrrnnnNEaN ... 74 GorNc rne RouNos rN "Mencunv" ... 107 Ppnsowaurrns LEAVING rgn Srnvrcr 78 CovvuNrcnrroNs Gazsrrr 109 Coyer: Ships of the 108th Minesweeping Squadron in Msida Creek, Malta.

Editor: Lieutenant Cornmander L. R. D. M-AcKINrosH, R.N Art Editor: Sub-Lieutenant N. G. Krue, n.N. Treasurer: Lieutenant D. W. CoccrsHALL, D.s.M., R.N. Editorial Stalf: Instructor Lt. Commander H. S. O'NeIll, B.sc., R.N. Lieutenant A. V. SarrEn, n.N. Secretary: Wren M. S. Br,lnvqN Business, Production and Advertisement Manager : Mn. Eocnn Srncounr, 2 Station Hiil, Farnham, Surrey. CONTRIBUTIONS All MSS., photographs and cartoons should be sent to the Editor at H.M.S. "Mercury", as below. These will be returned to the senders only if asked ior, and responsibility for them cannot be accepted by the Editor. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE CHRISTMAS 1961 EDITION MUST BE IN THE EDITOR'S HANDS BY OCTOBER 31st. BULK ORDERS BY DECEMBER lst.

Subscription Rates are as follows For the whole year 7/6 post free For each issue 2/8 post free BULK ORDERS from commands, ships or establishments,2l6 per copy, post free. The Magazine is pubiished at Easter, Summer and Christmas. Some back numbers are available and those more than 2 years old can be obtained for l/- post free.

Cheques and/or postal orders should be made payable and sent to: The Editor, Tnr Corr.muNrcAToR, H.M.S. "MrncunY", East Meon, near Petersfield, Hampshirc. PUBLISHED AT H.M.S. "MERCURY''

z 60 THE COMMUNICATOR

EDITORIAL e.g. a guided missile ship can work witir ships fitted with guns, a new comnrunications s)stern Being new to the Editorial desk I hope I shall be is normally no good unless fitted in all ships of welcomed with a continuous bombardment of a force. is always room for more cartoons, material. There (c) Thirdly and as a result of (b) above, the ability photographs and special feature articles. drawings, to use a new communications system requires If you know that someone has talent or has been a long and expensive ship fitting programme interesting, get to involved in something on to him spread over quite a number of years. send a contribution. To try and get a balanced gist variety of items jn an issue I must have plenty of The of this is that something is indeed being effect won't be felt for some time yet. volume to pick fron-r. done but its This I know is the "jam tomortow" answer and you Do not wait till the deadline to send in material. want "jam today". A programme of interim im- the Editorial The next deadline is 3lst October but provements is therefore under consideration at in staff (who never close) will welcome entries present and will, we hope, be starting in the not too September. Finaily, double line spacing with an future. Unfortunately, the planned fitting great distant inch margin either side is a help. dates cannot be given in an Unclassified magazine Looking forward to hearing from you. like this. So much for the broad programme of new equip- n-rent. What about the simpler matters which make D.S.D. REPLIES TO so much difference to the Operator, such as the ..ALL layout of bays in a wireless office and the facilities MOD. CON." lor a tactical operator on the bridge or flag deck ? by CaptainW. J. Parker, O.B.E., D.S.C.' R.N. There is no doubt that, as a Branch, we have fallen behind the times in this respect, largely due to the In Searchlight in your Easter edition, "Ex Leading historical fact that the Trials Section of the old Tel." asks some very pertinent questions, and in Signal School grew into a large establishment of its particular "Is the W/T Branch a forgotten Branch" own, namely H.M.S. Mercury /1 or A.S.W.E. and "Are we thought of by Their Lordships, especi- Portsdown. Inevitably, as the years have gone past ally at Naval Estimates time". they have, in their growth, drawn further and further First, it is necessary to say that we fully under- away from purely communication matters, and in stand and sympathize with these questions, and if it particular the user aspects. This is no reflection on is any consolation, these sort of questions have been, A.S.W.E., who have been doing their o*'n job; the and will continue to be, considered within rather it has been an error on the part of our Branch, Admiralty. However, it must be appreciated that which we have not, until recently. fulll appreciated. the Board of Admiralty have sin-rilar cries from every Now we have, as you may knos. set up a User side; for example, as the speed of aircraft increases, Trials and Developn-rent Section in H.\1.S. Mercury the need for faster naval planes and better radars which, amongst other things. plans or vets layouts is raised. So too, with the advent of the nuclear of communication offices on beiralf of Signal , for better and better A/S detection Division in the Admiraltl . tiom the &.tel point of pleas devices and weapons, not to mention similar view. guided for improved gunnery in the form of weapons. Again, because of the rime it takes to produce With a limited budget only so much can be done at drawings, get A's and A's approved and then taken a time and it should be appreciated that the Board on at refits, the dffects of shat this Section are doing good of Admiralty do the best possible for the of will only begin to be felt gradually. However, you the Navy as a whole, within this very large can rest assured that the) are already having a very restriction. significant effect. Having said so much I can already hear you saying To summarize then; first, the Communication "He is just going to tell us the same old story all Branch as a *hole is by no means a forgotten over again, no money for communications, so we Branch: secondll . large and expensive programmes are after all a forgotten Branch". In fact, this is not are in train to rectifl the problems of today and we the case; after very strong representations a few hope for tomorro\\. and possibly the day after years ago, a large and expensive programme of tomorro\\': and. shortly, we are now taking the user improvement in communications has been requirements much more into account in our approved, but there are three factors which have to planning. and any ideas you have for such improve- be taken into account: ments should be fed into the User Trials and (a) First, the development of equipment takes a Development Section at H.M.S. Mercury, who will very long time and so a programme put in always *elcome visitors. hand some time ago won't be seen for a little Last. but by no means least, those sitting in while yet. positions to advise the Board have only too recently (b) Secondly that, unlike any other equipment suffered the problems "Ex Leading Tel." referred to which can be useful and operate on its own, and are doing their best to modify them. Until the THE COMMUNiCATOR 6l

€ffects of the programmes now underway or being that we get those ideas. With the best will in the planned can be feit, it is appreciated that you are world, our efforts will bear little fruit unless we can being asked to deal with communication problems say "This is a 'User Requirement'." not envisaged when the equipment you have was Senior Ratings returning Io Mercury from other designed. However, I feel sure that, despite this billets are invited to visit "X" Section if they can handicap, you will still shine in relation to other give us the benefit of their experience in their recent Nations by devoting that extra time and effort to jobs. Any rating witl-r an idea which might bring your task, which has always been the halln-rark of about improvement in design or layout is equally the R.N. Communicator. invited to corne along and air his views. Remember. no one should criticise unless he is prepared to suggest a better way. For years, Com- USER REQUIREMENTS municators have had no means of trying out "better AND TRIALS ways". Now in "X" Section, there Is that means. SECTION We would nuch rather work on a suggestion from For those who have never heard of it, this section, a Comm rnicator than from anyone else. more commonly known as "X" Section, has its (See what D.S. D. says on another page.__Eo.). offices near the main gate ol Mercury, almosl So, if your "Runyon Dorg Ridiculator" looked opposite the guard room. good enough to replace the present equipment in If you have ever had a bright idea about im- your MSO if your Grandmother's rnethod of proving the layout of your Wireless Office-if you hanging up bunches of herbs was just