[CW] LI2B Kon Tiki

Mon Feb 10 12:03:30 EST 2014

Several messages from another list I passed this message to.  Raff all the
way down as this message was a paste of a few de N1EA

Besides the 7W tx thay had a WW2 SOE suitcase set as a reserve.
6W 6L6 output, TRF Rx.   Antenna held aloft with kite or balloon, both
Knut Haugland and Torstein Raaby were clandestine radio operators
during the war, and Torstein Raaby was the man who sent back the reports
which led to the sinking of the Tirpitz.

--
Cheers and 73,
Stan Barr G0CLV GQRP-3369 FISTS-667  g0clv at dsl.pipex.com

Dave ...

[Much snipping...]

That had me thinking...I know this subject was discussed at
length on the boatanchors newsgroup some years back and I was
trying to remember.

Anyway, digging out the book I found the following:

Page 202: "This would never do.  The transmitter was given up,
and a little sabotage transmitter from war-time tried again."

That would imply the main Tx was built to operate with the
National Rx.

Wikipedia suggests three single-band Txs were used.
It also says the backup set was a German one, other sources
give it as a SOE set, which the operators would have been more
familiar with.

More info:
Poking around on this computer, which has stuff going back over
20 years, I found the following:

I am the builder of the radio equipment used on the RA-I and
RA-II Expeditions from Safi, Morocco to the West Indies, near
the Barbados.

While working for SIGNAL/ONE ... Division of Electronics
Communications Inc. located in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A.
back in 1969/1970, I was given this assignment by Dick Erhorn,
W4ETO ... who later established ETO Technologies.

The equipment used a Heathkit 20 Meter transceiver
modified with four fixed frequency crystal channels plus
the use of the VFO.  The transceiver was constructed to near
Military Standards using up graded components and
weather proofing of the printed circuit boards (PCBs).

The transceivers front panel an enclosure was stripped and
repainted using a gray military paint.  Even the control
knobs were replaced with military standards.

This transceiver included a Heathkit 12VDC power supply built
to the same standards.  Once all tests were performed on the
communications equipment, I added a cooling fan to the top
of the transceiver for added protection due to the hot
weather conditions expected.

The complete communications equipment was then permanently
mounted in a gray color water proof military standard
enclosure/container which included the Instruction Manual
(which I wrote for ease of operation to be used by non technical),
microphone, speaker, spare parts (tubes), and finally a
20 Meter dipole antenna tuned to the low end of the 20
Meter voice frequencies.  This was designed to be mounted
from the top of the mast of the papus reed raft to the
stern.

The radio communications set once completed was final tested
on the air with great results.  Before shipping to Dr. Thor
HEYERDAHL, the radio was connected to a Dummy Load and
burned in under load for seven days continuance without
any failure(s).

The same communications equipment was used twice in the
two RA voyages without any failure.  After completion of
the RA-II Expedition the radio equipment was returned to
Signal/One and donated to the Smithsonian Museum in
Washington, DC. ... I assume it is still there.Best Regards,

James C. Smith  W4ONO
Homosassa Springs, Florida, U.S.A.

And:

Hi!
I finally tracked down the articles written in 'QST' about the
expedition.
The main transmitters were made by hams at National Co.,
namely W1CTW and W1EHT, after articles in QST magazine.
These used 2E30 tubes in all stages, running about 10W input.
The bands used were 7, 14, 28 and 50Mc.
The energy problem was well considered, and it was decided that
no lead-acid batteries could be used due to the risk of spillage of
acid and damaging of e.g. the ropes holding the raft together.
Therefore dry cells were used, in addition to hand generators.
The main receiver at LI2B was the NC173 from National Corp. in Malden,
Mass.
It also used dry batteries as the power source (a 13 tube AC receiver
originally, if it was modified to use directly heated battery tubes the
article doesn't say)
In any case it must have been a very power-hungry receiver for
batteries!
The article tells about their problems with the dry batteries. Their 'A'
batteries
quickly ran down, and when their spares were exhausted they had to tear
some 'B'
batteries apart and connect the cells in parallel to power the tube
heaters.
As back-up rigs a 'Gibson Girl' lifeboat transmitter and a VHF set for
contacting aircraft, were given to them by the US War Dept.
They also had two Brit made 3mkII (B2) suitcase sets from the war with
them
(both Torstein Raaby and Knut Haugland were radio agents from WWII,
but, as many don't know,Thor Heyerdahl himself also was a radio operator
during the war)
Interesting reading!

Stein
LA9QV

I think that clears things up.
 On Feb 10, 2014 8:06 AM, "la5he at otterstad.dk" <la5he at otterstad.dk> wrote:

> Here is the last photo of Torstein Raaby.
>
> We were together on NorthPole expedition i 1964. Torstein died in the tent
> at the basecamp
>
>
> https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=8446596494&set=t.732886494&type=3&th
> eater
>
> 73  Rag  LA5HE
>
> Original email:
> -----------------
> From: D.J.J. Ring, Jr. n1ea at arrl.net
> Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 00:31:29 -0500
> To: bcarling at cfl.rr.com, cw at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [CW] Reading Kon Tiki
>
>
> Someone gave me the great big blue book with Kon Tiki on it.  It seemed too
> big to read at first, and it had all these technicalities about set and
> drift and meetings with all these people, that I put it down for a while.
>  But it was big.  I wasn't all that interested in the sea and ships.  But
> one day I noticed LI2B and that they had a 7 watt Morse CW transmitter. Now
> that is interesting.
>
> The boo was boring in spots - but it picked up amazingly whenever there
> were spots talking about the radio.  Those were too small in length for me.
>
> I rejoiced when they were able to contact Rangatouia, Or some place near
> that spelling, they were off the north of French Polynesia and were headed
> to the more numerous spelling.  I could never figure out from the
> discription if they were using a hand crank to power the 7 watt ham radio
> set or if they were using a 500 kc/s SOS transmitter to call SOS.
>
> In any event if they had called SOS on the life boat radio set, it would
> have been an amazing distance because the nearest location might have been
> New Zealand that they could have contacted.
>
> 73
>
>
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