Quote:
Originally Posted by crackle
KB had the contract for the supply of radio apparatus to the 3 liners Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and the Caronia.
I cant be sure but they may have used the Rejectostat system for the aerial distribution. Or they may have used a system of "piped" radio stations on a 100v line speaker distribution system with a station selection switch, I am not sure.
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That’s an interesting question. Unfortunately the WW article on the Queen Mary’s radio system did not mention broadcast receiving arrangements.
Queen Mary's Wireless WW 19360529.pdf
Possibly in 1936 only a minority of cabins (perhaps just the staterooms and suites) might have been equipped with aerial outlets for personal cabin radio receivers. In that case something like a land-based radio relay system (65-volt line?) might have been used for the majority. The attached WW 1950 February article on shipboard communal aerial systems suggests that it was a fairly new idea at the time. The later WW article on the Marconi systems (attached to post #5) indicated that the widespread use of cabin receivers was essentially a post-WWII phenomenon. (For example the Eddystone 670 marine cabin receiver was one of its early post-WWII products.)
Marine Communal Aerials WW 195002.pdf
The Caronia was evidently the first vessel to be equipped with an HF SSB radiotelephone system for passenger telephone calls, although by 1954 the practice was said to be widespread. (The Caronia installation was 20-something years before HF SSB was adopted for “official” marine radiotelephony.)
WW 194903 Caronia SSB.pdf
Cheers,