DAILY DIARY
14 RADIO DETACHMENT - TORBAY (ST.JOHN'S), NEWFOUNDLAND.
September 1, 1943 to November 25, 1943
1 Sep 43
Weather - Rainy and cold. Station inoperational due to failure in field coils of the 3 HP turning motor. Signalled for new motor. No. 2 installation crew, from No. 1 Maintenance Unit, Scoudouc, NB, worked on resetting aerial frames which had been improperly installed.
2 Sep 43
Cloudy and cool. Inoperational due to motor failure and party working on aerials. Replaced the two unserviceable field coils with two similar coils, taken from the motor of No. 17 Detachment, but were unable to make the motor function.
3 Sep 43
Weather - Cloudy and cool. Still inoperational. Scoudouc party continued work on aerials. Mechanics and operators were started on building a box around the feeder lines from the operations buildings to the gantry.
4 Sep 43
Weather - Clear and cool. Continued with same work as on previous day. An audio transformer in the Thyratron unit was found to be defective from overheating in the unit. Removed part and signalled for a new one.
5 Sep 43
Weather - Clear and fair. Installation crew finished resetting frames. The covering box for transmission line also completed.
6 Sep 43
Weather - Clear and fair. Rotated the receiver 90º clockwise in order to give more room for servicing behind the set. The new alignment also gives better ventilation for the operators. The plotting table and recorders desk were interchanged so that these units are now all in line. The new motor was received and installation commenced.
7 Sep 43
Weather - Fair. Returned to air upon completion of installation of the new motor. Could turn aerial array in one direction only due to unserviceable transformer in Thyratron unit.
8 Sep 43
Weather - Cloudy and mild. Installation party worked in phasing and matching aerials. Work completed with a standing wave ratio of 1:1.06. The crew left the station and moved on to No. 17 Detachment. 1750 hrs - Resumed normal operations.
6 Oct 43
Weather - Cold, fog and rain. Overhaul party working on equipment. Very little activity during time the station was on the air. A meeting of the NCO's was held in the evening. F/O Peter from No. 19 Detachment discussed the importance of a thorough daily maintenance and advised on units which required particular observation.
7 Oct 43
Weather - Clear, cool and high winds. Inoperational all day due to the transmitter and receiver spark gaps removed by the overhaul crew for inspection, and replacing of half wave trombone loops by quarter wave loops. No. 17 Detachment started to report to filter room by RT on the same frequency as this detachment. They are to fill in as a CHL station whenever No. 14 is off the air for maintenance or breakdown.
8 Oct 43
Weather - Clear, cold and windy. Inoperational all day because of work done on the spark gaps.
9 Oct 43
Weather - Cold with gales. Overhaul work continued. Very little activity because of high winds.
10 Oct 43
Weather - Light snow and sleet in the morning. Cleared in afternoon. Operational all day, good results obtained on tracks plotted.
11 Oct 43
Weather - Clear and cool, very windy. Quarterly overhaul party attempted to calibrate the Receiver but were unable to obtain satisfactory results from the Test Set No. 24. Off air during this period. A test flight with a Ventura aircraft was flown at 180º true, 10,000 Ft. Reception good for this azimuth. Carried to 79 miles out and picked up at 75 miles on return leg. Found lower array gave better reception between 30-40 miles. Sgt. Telford arrived from No. 1 Maintenance Unit to inspect a reported growling in No. 3 Diesel.
12 Oct 43
Weather - Clear and cool. An ASV set was installed in the aerial hut. This set enables the operator to pick up IFF outside the frequency range of the RDF receiver. Reception good. No. 3 Diesel was taken apart. A cracked bearing on the generator shaft was found to be the source of trouble. A new bearing was ordered by signal from the manufacturers in Montreal since nothing could be found locally.
7 Nov 43
Weather - Overcast and cold. Average temperature 33 degrees. Another fuse blew in the diesel distribution panel.
8 Nov 43
Weather - Overcast with snow flurries. The carpenters completed the floor in the kitchen and built a storm door for the same building. The phase anti-phase and height finding switches would not operate the relays in the aerial hut. There is some trouble in the coupling unit. The final returns for the Fifth Victory Loan show that 81.2% of this Detachment's personnel contributed $4300.00
9 Nov 43
Weather - Fair. Temperature dropped to 23 degrees during the night. The carpenters were employed in building a house around the feeder lines and Andrew's Cable leading into the receiver room. Two operators were used all day in painting outside woodwork of the Operations building, and two mechanics worked on the painting of the tower. There is a fault in the coupling unit but we did not want to go off the air as there was considerable flying being done. Fifty three aircraft tracks were plotted. The SMO of Torbay Station, S/L Douglas visited the Detachment and inspected the septic tank, ventilation and well. A sample of the well water was taken for analysis.
10 Nov 43
Broken clouds, very windy. Advantage was taken of the poor flying weather to remove the coupling unit. Two leads were found to be shorting, causing arcing between the others. The whole unit was thoroughly checked and cleaned. After being replaced, all switches were checked and everything found to be operating properly. No. 1 Group requested us to change our R/T frequency from 4470 Kc to 2974 Kc. This was done, but Group could not be contacted as they had not changed their receivers so we returned to the original frequency.
11 Nov 43
Weather - Clear and cool. P/O Shaw from No. 1 Group visited the Detachment to check on R/T communications. Changed frequency to 2974 Kc. The thyratron control potentiometer lost control over the striking of the thyratron valves. Three valves V1-6N7, V2-6V66, and V10-6L7 were replaced. The fault has cleared some, but is still not fully corrected. The carpenters started to build a storm porch for the main entrance to the operations building. Fair activity during the day. Forty-six aircraft tracks plotted.
12 Nov 43
Weather - Foggy most of the day. Very little plotting. On signalled instructions from No. 1 Group we discontinued using tracing paper on the plotting table. Plots are now marked directly on the glass using china-graph pencil. The "spotted dog" is to be made from the recorders' log. The mechanics finished red-leading the tower steel work.
19 Nov 43
Weather - Clear and cold. After daily maintenance it was found that the potentiometer on the PPI desk had no control over the aerials and that they would rotate as soon as the H/T was applied to the thyratrons. Investigation found that the ground lead on valve V6 in the control unit was unsoldered. It was resoldered and the unit is working satisfactorily. The PPI HT circuit breaker tripped at 1830 hours. Investigation showed that the 6000V rectifier valve V1-2V36 was unserviceable. It was replaced.
20 Nov 43
Weather - Clear, light winds. W/C SC Martin from AFHQ visited the Detachment. He expressed himself as being satisfied with the technical condition of the equipment. However, he considered the interference on the HR and PPI tube from No. 17 Detachment transmitter was seriously hindering accurate plotting. Advised that a modicfication would come through shortly to eliminate this interference. No. 1 Group advised that a party would come from Scoudouc to re-check the phasing and matching of the aerials. The new bearing for No. 3 diesel was received. Work was started to put this diesel in operation again.
21 Nov 43
Weather - Clear, light south wind. Replaced blown fuse in primary HT transformer in the transmitter. Not much activity, 34 aircraft tracks. Average range 58 miles. Finished painting the outside woodwork on all buildings in the compound.
22 Nov 43
Weather - Cloudy and mild, some fog. Very little flying so only 22 tracks plotted for the day.
23 Nov 43
Weather - Heavy fog and rain. No flying. Requested Filter Room for permission to do monthly maintenance on AT3 transmitter. Permission granted so the set was taken down and fully serviced.
24 Nov 43
Weather - Fog and rain. Placed a .5 ufd condenser between prong 3 and 8 of valve V8 in the thyratron chassis. This shorts the RF pick up from the AT3 to ground and eliminates the trouble we have experienced due to the AT3 firing these tubes. No. 3 diesel was put back into service and is working well. Phase inverter valve V8 was replaced in the thryratron control rack. It had an internal short.
25 Nov 43
Weather - Cloudy, cold. Little activity, twenty five aircraft tracks plotted during the day. At 1400 hours received a message from the Torbay Station DAPM "A limited number of enemy are supposed to have landed in Trinity Bay. Supposed to be wearing service uniforms. Observe necessary precaution." Double guards were posted at the Detachment. This duty being handled by the radar mechanics and operators. All the sten guns and rifles were fired to see that they were in good operating condition. Every man carried his gun beside him where he was working. Nothing of a suspicious nature occurred.
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Updated: April 3, 2003