LINKS 4

DECEMBER 2002

MV Cheetah 2. Home of Radio Mercur of the Danish coast in 1958. Europe's first offshore radiostation.

E mail from site viewers, our international service in English, German

and Dutch.

Van: "Bob Price" <bob.j.price@btinternet.com>
Aan: "Paul de Haan" <p.dehaan@castel.nl>
Onderwerp: Veronica
Datum: woensdag 23 oktober 2002 22:40

Great photo's!

Looking at the old photo of the "Paul J Muller" it seems that they removed the whole of the centre section e.g. bridge, superstructure and the engine room. Then joined the two ends back together. The Norderney looks a lot shorter as a radioship.

What a perfect design a lower centre of gravity, no massive radio mast to sway about, she must have rode the waves well. She was kept in suberb condition, and looked very homely, puts our offshore radioships to shame. 

Well done, yet again.

Bob Price, Sunderland, England

Indeed Bob, the Norderney looks shorter compared to her original design as a trawler. Up until  now

i haven't found anyone who can explain this.

Van: "G. Ulsamer" <dl1bfe@emsnet.de>
Aan: "Paul de Haan" <p.dehaan@castel.nl>
Onderwerp: Re: site
Datum: woensdag 23 oktober 2002 18:13

Hallo Paul,
von meinem Rechner von zuhause aus klappt es. Die site ist echt gut! Es sind viele interessante infos für mich dabei.

Ergänzung zu deinen Fotos:
FS BF4, die zweite Glocke ist vom FS BF2, Baujahr 1902.
Die "erste" (linke) Glocke ist ein Ersatz der originalen Glocke des FS BF4, welche gestohlen wurde.

zum Foto mit dem Titel "In 1925 ..": Die Laterne des Turmes (das heisst, der ganze obere Kopf mit den Fensterscheiben) steht im Deutschen Museum (für Technikgeschichte) in Muenchen. Die frueher darin befindliche Fresnel-Leuchte befindet sich in Emden im Museumsfeuerschiff "Amrumbank/ DEUTSCHE BUCHT".

Welche Senderöhren wurden eigentlich in den Endstufen der Rundfunksender auf Veronica verwendet?

hartelijke groeten
Gregor

Hartelijk dank Gregor voor de aanvullende info omtrent de Borkum Riff 3.

Van: "Harke De Groot" <harkedegroot@wanadoo.nl>
Aan: <p.dehaan@castel.nl>
Onderwerp: Klein detail
Datum: woensdag 23 oktober 2002 16:07

Geachte heer de Haan,

Mischien is het volgende leuk om te weten: Bij een van de foto's op uw pagina van de Norderney staat namelijk dat het schip wat er naast ligt, nog steeds in de haven van Zoutkamp ligt. Dit heeft er inderdaad nog heel lang gelegen. Toen ik echter enkele maanden terug in de haven van Lauwersoog was zag ik dit schip daar in dok liggen. Ik moet me echt raar vergissen als dit niet hetzelfde schip was wat daar in Zoutkamp lag weg te "rotten". Voor de zekerheid ben ik toen nog maar even doorgereden naar Zoutkamp. Daar was de boot inderdaad verdwenen.. Wie nu de huidige eigenaar van die boot is weet ik niet, tot voor voor kort was hij (volgens een van de voormalige uitbaters van de Norderney in Leeuwarden) nog van dezelfde persoon als de Norderney nl. Dhr. Groeneveld.

Verder een hele leuke pagina met mooie foto's! Keep up the good work!!!

Groet
Harke de Groot
Waaxens

Het schip is inderdaad verdwenen uit Zoutkamp, heb het weergezien in een droogdok in de haven

van Lauwersoog. Waar ligt Waaxens ook al weer in Friesland?

And this is from Ron O' Quinn:
>
> I felt the need to respond to some comments that I read at Paul's website.
>
> In the U.S. we call what Paul wrote, "damning with faint praise." I do
agree that foreign owned businesses should indeed be managed by locals. I
also believe that Don Pierson was responsible for a lot of the failings of
SRE and Britain Radio. Don seemed to have "an axe to grind" with Big L. Don
knew absolutely nothing about running a radio station, but he insisted on
imposing his will on my programming. As he was fond of saying to me "it is
MY money." Actually, as I later found out .... it was not his money. It was
the money of other investors. Good people like Bill Vick.....a true
gentleman. Don had the ability to sell people on what he was going to do,
but usually he changed his mind about halfway through the project. For
instance: The ridiculous Swingin' Radio England party at the Hilton.(which
has never been paid for) We needed equipment to be able to do what needed to
be done. We needed promotional money for write in contests and we need
monies to hire British jocks. Instead we get a party and totally without
consulting me, or anyone else (including Bill Vick) we get a group of new
American jocks. Unbelievable! Don was also the person who hired the Public
Relations firm that claimed to be a "sales team." That group could not have
sold prostitutes in a Mining Camp much less advertising.
>
> Paul de Haan is absolutely correct in his assertion that we needed things
to talk about. We did the best we could under the circumstance. We had the
poorest "on board" facilities of any of the "pirates", but we also made huge
gains in listeners in a short while.
>
> The picture of the original jocks in the Radio England control room was
taken only a couple of days after the ship arrived off Frinton. When I first
saw the Olga Patricia in Miami I asked Don where the turntables and cart
machines were. He said that we couldn't use turntables because of the rough
seas. I told him that we had to have at least two even if we were going to
use reel to reels for our music. Obviously, we would have to have a way to
record the songs onto tape. I also told him that we could not use Carousel
units in the control room with a live show because of the noise the units
make. He then allowed me to order cart machines. I also asked for Collins
control boards because of their reputation for rejecting RF. When some of
the air personnel from Big L and Caroline applied for jobs with us I then
found out that of course they used turntables.
>
> When the ship arrived off Frinton the new equipment arrived within a few
days. Rick Randall and I installed the boards, echo, turntables, etc.
Neither of us were licensed engineers, but I knew how I wanted it to
perform. We encountered a lot of problems with R/F which caused us much
grief. The R/F problem manifested itself in many ways. One of those ways
really affected the programming sound of the station. The R/F would make the
cart machines "run through" the cue tones. The R/F also made the cart
machines ignore the start button sometimes. So if you called on a cart
machine it may or may not start and it may or may not end. Try running an
intelligent show with that anchor around your neck.
>
> I really feel that UK radio progressed at an unbelievably fast pace
because of offshore radio, and that includes SRE and Britain Radio.
>
> I am always amazed that people 36 years later still remember the names of
the jocks from SRE and Britain Radio. As I have said many times. It was just
a job. Other people worked in garages, dug ditches, farmed, fished, etc.
while I, and others, worked on the radio. I never set out to be remembered
...... I merely worked for a living doing something that I enjoyed doing.
When I quit enjoying it I simply changed what I do for a living.
>
> I am happy that I started Johnnie Walker and Roger Day in their careers. I
tried to teach them what little I knew in a short time. I hope that some of
it has been of use to them in their respective careers.
>
> By the way the picture showing "Larry Dean opening the transmitter door"
is not Larry. The guy looks familiar, but I can't put a name with him.
Sorry.
>its Dave Mackey from Radio 355
> >
> Best regards,
>
> Ron O'Quinn

REMEMBER 1984-1985

LASER 558

THE COMMUNICATOR IN STORMY WEATHER.

PHOTO  THEO DENCKER, DONATED BY HANS -JOACHIM BACKHUS

THIS PHOTO SHOWS THE AERIAL SYSTEM LASER 558 USED.

ph Theo Dencker arch Hans- Joachim Backhus

LIGHTVESSEL 18.

photos Hans- Joachim Backhus

THE FORMER LIGHTVESSEL AND NOW RADIOSHIP LV18 1 MILE OFF THE COAST OF HOLLAND ON SEA , ESSEX UK DURING A 30 DAYS BROADCAST AS RADIO NORTH SEA INTERNATIONAL IN AUGUST 1999.

THE 1 WATT, WHAT, ONE WATT, YES INDEED 1 WATT MW TRANSMITTER. REMEMBER THE ORIGINAL RNI FROM THE MEBO IN THE 70S USED 105000 WATTS OF AM POWER.

THE CENTRE ANCHOR OF THE LIGHTSHIP.

BRIDGE AND LIGHTTOWER.

AERIAL MAST ON THE FORMER HELICOPTERDECK OF THE VESSEL

STUDIO ONBOARD THE LV 18. COLLINS MIXER, NO PROBLEMS WITH RF.

A TRUE OFFSHORE MARINE BROADCASTER BRINGING BACK THE RNI SPIRIT OF THE 70S

MV KING DAVID CAPITAL RADIO 1970