"Biz WDØHCO" wrote in message
...
in article ,
Frank
Dresser at wrote on 3/26/04 2:09 AM:

You are right - but we were talking about the North Atlantic sub
activity -
45 to 55 deg lat. Very few lightning strikes within this region - it's
quiet
most evenings even in the dead of summer. A dead carrier, even a weak one
is
easy to find with the BFO just barely audible and the AGC turned off.

And a big storm can be heard for hundreds, if not thousands of miles,
especially at Long Wave.


You must remember that LF "Huff-Duff" was pretty advanced at the time. LF
airport beacons were the primary form of Aircraft and coastal ship
navigation. (They still exist to this day but I doubt few pilots even know
how to use them.). Almost every ship and plane had one of those funny loop
antennas and if you look at old pictures - you'll see that German subs had
them too. Even though there were very few Nav beacons in Europe during the
war. !!??!!


I'll assume they were capable of getting a fix on thier location using the
known locations of broadcast stations in the US and Europe.



You might be right about the range but NAVY was concerned enough to give
large RCVR contracts to Scott. The ARMY didn't care and they got Echophone
EC-6's and Halli RE-1 Sky Courier's. GI's could carry (later drag) their
own
radios and many did. T.O.s were the most popular with officers. Poor
solders
had the "Gillette Blue Blade" special. ;^)


The Germans may have let rumors spread about their advanced direction
finding capability. Such rumors would give some cover to other successful
intelligence gathering.



Some Salvagers came across a sunken German Sub just off the New Jersey
coast. Clearly they were parked several miles offshore watching for the
start of a convoy. Somehow they signaled the German High Command which
ordered the wolf pack to form a sub screen (straight line of subs 100
miles
apart) and wait for the convoy to pass. Top speed for those concrete
"Victory" ships was about 6 knots so, for the most part, they were sitting
ducks once spotted.


That brings up another couple of questions. Did the merchant marine have
receivers as good as the US Navy had? Were the Merchant radiomen as well
trained as the Navy radiomen?



Historically very little has been written about the bravery of merchant
seamen. If your ship was hit and went down - You would watch convoy ships
pass by because they were under orders not to stop. You would have an hour
or two splashing in the water till the end. If you could find a life
boat -
you would be 1500 to 2500 miles or more from land. A slim chance at best.


The survival rate of German submariners wasn't particularly high as the war
came to a close, either.


Long Range Flying boats patrolling the North Atlantic and improved Sonar
technology finally ended the Nazi sub terror.


I'll also mention code breaking in the anti-sub war.


So you see, there is a little bit of history in every old radio ... :^)



- Biz WDØHCO


Frank Dresser