The View From The Bench - 06 August 2022

We're in what I'll call the 'post-Field Day, mid-summer ham radio doldrums', and for weeks now there's not been much ham radio stuff to report on. Down here in Gawga the weather has been hot, mostly dry, and buggy. Real buggy. So buggy that it's limited my outdoor operating activities. Then the XYL and I contracted COVID. While it didn't feel much worse than a mild cold, it did knock us back for almost two weeks, and we're still dealing with some lingering symptoms like congestion and coughing. Parallel to that, we launched on a major landscaping project to finally make our backyard habitable. What was supposed to be a little over a week job turned into a month-plus slog as the landscaper dealt with weather, material shortages and other demands on his time (he's a one-man show, so he works slow). Then a visit to the orthopedist for some nagging back issues threw me for a loop. What I hoped would be some simple muscle pain has turned out to be scoliosis, arthritis and a pinched nerve. That led to a canceled camping trip that we had both been looking forward to.

Slow progress, but progress

Getting old sucks.

So on to sunnier topics...

iPads 

Where I work (aka 'The World's Busiest Airport') senior management made a long overdue decision to go with a new maintenance management system. Part of this adoption will require provisioning the field crews with tablets that they'll use to respond to work orders and do inspections. The tablet of choice, and the one we steered them to, is the iPad. The software developer's apps just seem to work better on iOS devices. I'm not an Apple guy, but the XYL is. In fact, she's got a stack of old iPads sitting in a closet. Most of them were still perfectly serviceable, so I thought I'd grab one or two of the newest, update them, and use them to test and train on the new software. No such luck. The app requires at least iOS 15. The most current OS that could be loaded on any of these old iPads was iOS 14.x. The app wouldn't run. Damn. I needed to replicate exactly what the field crews were seeing on their devices so I could help train and troubleshoot, so an Android tablet wouldn't do. I needed an iPad, and I needed one fast. Double damn. After a few days of hunting around for the best deal, I settled on a new iPad Air. I found I could buy one on-line from the Army and Air Force Exchange System (AAFES) - one of the benefits of being an Army retiree - at a $200 discount and no sales tax.

Of course - of course! - the iPad got ham radio apps loaded on it. In fact, this is what the XYL suspected I really wanted it for. No honey, it's not. I had better uses for that money, plus I'm an Android and Windows guy (I love my Surface Pro). But I figure that as long as I've got the thing, why not try out some ham radio apps. My good friend Joe, KI4ASK, a long time Mac and iOS  addict/partisan/evangelist, has been singing the praises of a new iOS app for the Icom IC-705 (and IC-7610 and 9700) called SDR-Control for iOS. The app is written by Marcus Roskosch, who apparently designed the software interface for Flex radios, and a number of other highly regarded applications. I guess he knows what he's doing. I'm still in the learning stages with this app, but I have to agree with Joe, it's slick. While I can't say I'll ever use it for La-Z-Boy QSOs, I was sitting in said chair a few nights ago and just doing some SWL scanning while connected to my IC-705 via wi-fi . Lots of fun. I may have more on this at a later date, but for now I'll let Josh at Ham Radio Crash Course give you the rundown:

Antennas

I make no secret of the fact that I'm a Chameleon Antenna fanboy. What they make works, is rugged as hell, is well documented, and the company stands behind their products. A man has to have a vice, and since I don't smoke or drink (much), I decided my vice will be Chameleon antennas. Last  year Chameleon came out with their Tactical Delta Loop (TDL) and it caught my interest. The TDL was an immediate hit and Chameleon has had trouble keeping it in stock, but recently I found that the Atlanta HRO store had one available, so I grabbed it. I've used Chameleon's vertical antenna systems for years, but I was looking for a portable system that was quick to set up, didn't require ground radials, had more gain than a vertical, and could be rotated to take advantage of the improved gain. The TDL is an odd looking contraption - two 17' telescoping whip antennas set in a 'V' configuration (think giant TV rabbit ears) with a section of wire running between them. The antenna is fed at the base using one of Chameleon's standard matching transformers. The antenna kit comes with a ground spike to support it, but I've chosen to use my surveyor tripod, which gets the whole antenna setup further off the ground (improving the take-off angle a bit) and makes it easier to rotate. I've only tested it a few times, and only with my Elecraft KX2, but it seems to work quite well on 10 - 40 meters. The tuner in the KX2 easily finds matches on those bands, and can usually find a match on 75 meters, but it's a struggle. My real goal is to set this up with my IC-705 and test it with Winlink and JS8CALL. I think it has a lot of potential as an EMCOMM antenna.

Chameleon TDL set up for a local 10 meter net

Well that's it for now. I need to get back to my daily routine of fighting COVID, doing back stretches and praying for rain. I've been running the sprinklers so much on my new sod that I'm afraid to open my water bill. So c'mon Mother Nature, how's about a few days of light but steady rain? Pleeeze!

W8BYH out

A Metaphor Of Sorts

Yesterday I stumbled on a YouTube video discussing a new vehicle that's coming to market, the INEOS Grenadier. The concept for the Grenadier was born of serious off-road enthusiast frustration with the lack of purpose built 4x4 vehicles that offered great performance with little fluff and at reasonable cost. I understand the turning point was the 2020 re-introduction of the Land Rover Defender, which is just an uptown 'lifestyle' schlepper better suited to the Kardashians than Katmandu. Land Rover devotees were disgusted with the new Defender concept and turned away in droves.

Not long after the Defender was announced, Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of INEOS and an adventure enthusiast, sat down with some buddies at the Grenadier Pub near London and sketched out the requirements for a true off-road vehicle. The result was the INEOS Grenadier. Based on what I read on-line and find posted on YouTube, the vehicle is getting very strong positive reviews, especially from the Australians, who take their off-roading seriously. According to reviews the Grenadier gets just about everything right:

• A design that emphasizes ruggedness, off road mobility, reliability and survivability
• Only a very minimum of 'bells and whistles'
• Powertrains optimized for rugged off-road performance
• A conscious selection of lower tech options (ex: coil spring suspension vs suspension air bags) to better fit the vehicle's mission requirements of reliability, mobility and survivability
• Virtually zero accommodation for 'lifestyle' options: entertainment systems, built-in wi-fi, seat-back entertainment systems, etc.
• An easily modifiable design
• A serious effort to keep the whole package reasonably affordable

In the Grenadier's latter development stages, INEOS directly solicited public input by shipping pre-production examples around the world and demonstrating them to off-roading enthusiasts and the automotive press, something that's almost never done in the automobile industry

The INOS Grenadier. When Land Rover screwed up, INEOS stepped up

So what's all this have to do with ham radio? A lot, actually.

How much money have you spent on Icom, Yaesu or Kenwood products over the years? If you are like me, the answer is 'thousands'. Have you ever been contacted by a rep from any of these companies and asked about the features you'd like to see in a new radio? Have you ever offered your input at hamfests and had it seriously considered? Has a manufacturer's rep ever asked for your contact information so they could get back to you for more input? I'm guessing... no.

If you are an outdoor enthusiast, and like to play radio on a mountaintop rather in your ham shack, how many IP67, or even just IPX3 HF radios do you own? How many carry a MILSPEC ratings for ruggedness? Sure, today we can buy small portable HF radios like the IC-705, the Yaesu FT-818, or the Elecraft KX2 or KX3, but how many would survive a light rain shower or a short fall from a park bench?

The feature laden Icom IC-705 is the ham radio equivalent of the 2020 Land Rover Defender. Very capable but packed full of fluff, sporting awkward ergonomics, and so expensive that many owners are afraid to take it outdoors.

How about a radio built with user input, that leaves out all the fluff, delivers top notch voice and digital performance in an all-in-one package, and can take a licking and keep on ticking? 

What ham radio needs is its own version of the INEOS Grenadier.

W8BYH out

ARES Southeastern US Situational Awareness Map

This is a bit of a coming out party. So, noisemakers and party hats all around!

Last month I put up a post about the Situational Awareness Map, highlighting some changes I had made, and some future plans. Well I'm happy to announce that the map is now out of beta development and is available for general use. A lot of the changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary. But the changes and improvements are significant enough that a quick overview is warranted.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the map is now focused on the entire southeastern US, not just Georgia. I've talked with key users of this map for some time and the thought is that a regional focus makes more sense; weather systems and radio signals don't respect political boundaries, and we are often called on to support our fellow ARES members in adjacent states. But how do we define 'southeastern US'? Well, the most logical way is to follow FEMA, and use FEMA Region 4 as the definition. This makes a lot of sense since organizations like SHARES, DHS, CISA, NOAA, the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies structure their disaster response frameworks in relation to FEMA regions. So FEMA Region 4 it is!

Other key improvements come in how the map (data) layers are structured in the map. Data structure is tightly focused around individual states. This give each state the ability to focus/display only the data pertinent to their states. There is a lot of regional/national data in the map, but that's only for map layers that by design must span the region. The best example is NOAA weather radar. This is a national-level data feed and it is impossible to segregate it out by state.

Another serious issue that is starting to push to the forefront is map performance. At this time there are over 45 separate data layers in the map, everything from severe thunderstorm warning polygons to PSAP 911 service areas. Every data layer, even if it's turned off, imposes a performance penalty in the map. Let's use the HIFLD fire/EMS station dataset as an example. This is a national-level dataset with tens of thousands of point (station locations). Before the map can display just fire stations in state of Florida it must first pull across the entire dataset, apply a dynamic filter against the data to select just fire stations that fall inside of Florida, apply a complex symbology rule against those points and then dynamically display them in the map so the fire station symbols remain the same size regardless of the zoom level the user selects. That's a lot of work to ask a web browser to handle. Multiply this one example by 45 or so data layers and you start to understand why map performance is an issue that must be carefully managed. This map is starting to push the performance limits of what Chrome, Firefox and Edge can reasonably handle. For that reason I've imposed some rules that users need to be aware of:

• With the exception of the Severe Thunderstorm Warning and Tornado Warning polygons (provided by NOAA) all other data in the map is turned off by default. When the map opens, it opens to a blank screen that shows just the state and county outlines. It's up to the individual user to tailor the map to his/her needs by turning on the data layers they want. Therefore it's very important that you review the available map layers and practice turning layers on/off
• Requests to add new data layers will require some serious justification from the requester. You will have to provide a compelling operational need for the data layer you are requesting. Remember, every data layer imposes a performance penalty. During real-world events like hurricane disaster response I'll add whatever data is needed without too many questions, but for non-operational use I'll have to be very selective about what gets added
• Data layers that don't get used will get dropped. I can track individual data layer requests, and if I see a particular data layer just isn't getting used, especially if it's a national or regional layer, it'll get deleted from the map

A few days ago I held the first training/familiarization presentation on this new map, and using Google Meet's new recording functionality I was able to save the presentation to YouTube. Although the video is long (about an hour and eight minutes - sorry, I like to ramble), it provides a good overview of most of the features in the map. I encourage you to view it, and feel free to use it as a presentation for your own ARES and EMCOMM meetings.

 W8BYH out

If The Big One Hits, Be In Syracuse!

Last month the Antique Wireless Museum released a 1951-era industrial movie made by General Electric that highlights how the city of Syracuse, NY used mobile radio for disaster response after a nuclear strike. Conveniently, General Electric's mobile radio division was headquartered in Syracuse, so this is really an early version of an infomercial. But it's a well done infomercial, and actually tells a useful story about how to create what we call today an emergency operations center, or EOC.

I'm surprised at how little has changed in terms of EOC operations between 1951 and today. Today we have fancier communications systems, software, computers, the internet, smartphones, and better looking firefighter helmets 😄, but most of the basic roles and functions we have in an EOC today were there in 1951. From that perspective the movie is quite interesting.

What I particularly liked was the use of  an early 'GIS' (geographical information system) - a map table with push-pins around which all coordinating activity revolved. Today we have fancy computer-based GIS systems, but paper maps and pushpins are still in wide use. It's still a very effective way to maintain situational awareness. 

I was also really struck by the emphasis the movie places on Amateur Radio as an integral part of any emergency communications system, and an integral part of EOC operations. Quite impressive, really.

So have a seat, strap on your way-back goggles, and enjoy EOC operations as they were over 70 years ago!

W8BYH out

Something Interesting From Yaesu

Everyone else is jumping on the prognostication bandwagon, so why not me?

Yesterday the word came out that Yaesu is releasing a new HF rig in August. Called the FT-710, it appears to be about the size of the Yaesu FT-991A, but it's HF only (no UHF/VHF capability). Now, the 991A is no diminutive little mobile rig, and the 710, based on the announced specs, is actually just a smidge bigger all around, so this isn't a SOTA rig by any measure. Some have observed that this is likely Yaesu's newest 'entry level' SDR rig, and is likely designed to go head to head with the Icom IC-7300. That sounds about right to me, because the radio incorporates Yaesu's newest SDR technology (which is getting great reviews). What little we know of the feature set so far looks good:

• High resolution touchscreen interface
• Build-in tuner
• A DVI port on the back (for out-boarding the digital interface)
• Two USB ports. 
• SD card slot 

What's NOT been released yet is any mention of a built-in soundcard interface. However, Yaesu makes mention of a 'Preset' mode for things like FT8, and since you need a soundcard to run FT8 I'm guessing the soundcard interface is there.

The things I don't see but would like, beyond the soundcard interface, are:

• Built-in GPS, and a GPS synched internal clock
• Some level of industry standard environmental protection such as IPX5
• A set of factory rack handles (a-la the IC-7200) would be nice, but if not I'm sure Portable Zero will be right along with a set
• Yaesu traditionally 'gets it' when it comes to back-lit buttons (Icom? Icom? Icom?). Let's see if they continue the tradition

So far no power consumption numbers. I don't expect this thing to sip juice like the FT-817. After all there's a (relatively) power hungry digital interface in the mix. But Icom has proven with the IC-705 that digital interfaces and low power consumption are not incompatible concepts. Maybe Yaesu has incorporated some clever power management protocols and options into the radio. We'll have to wait and see.

The last thing I would ask for would be for Yaesu to please, for the love of God, clean up your awful configuration and settings interface. And please, don't make the dumbass mistake you made with the FT-891, and not provide an easy way to quickly switch between LSB and USB.

W8BYH out

Chip Shortages - Still?!

 Thomas Witherspoon posted this a few days ago on his (excellent) SWLing Post blog:

Silly me. I thought we were about out of the Great COVID And Fire-Induced Chip Shortage Of 2020 - 2022, but I was wrong. I guess if the current administration can blame everything else on Putin (Putin's Price Hike, Putin's Inflation, Putin's Food Shortage, Putin's Baby Formula Shortage, ad nauseam), we can blame this current round of chip shortages on him, too. And actually, according to Thomas, there may actually be something behind blaming Putin for our current and ongoing chip shortage issues. It seems Russia and the Ukraine are the primary sources for several strategic minerals used in chip production. So we'll call this Putin's Chip Shortage.

I've got a wide assortment of shortwave receivers. Heck, just about every Amateur Radio HF transceiver I own is a top-notch shortwave receiver. But I'm of the age and stage where dedicated shortwave receivers are still fun to collect and play around with. Down through the years I've had some pretty good ones. The collection starts with a 1950's era Grundig tabletop model with the dial gloriously laid out not just with frequencies, but with the names of the exotic location where signal originate from - London, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo. Spinning the dial was a trip around the world. And the collection reaches all the way to the present era, with the diminutive and remarkably good C.Crane Skywave SSB.

The one portable receiver I had that always brings back memories is the Sangean ATS-909 (also sold by Radio Shack as the DX-398). 

Based on reviews of the radio in publications like Passport to World Band Radio (sadly out of print, and badly missed), I picked up an ATS-909 just before heading back to Germany in 1998 for my second tour of duty there. At the time Central Europe was still a 'shortwave rich' environment, with powerhouse broadcasters like Voice of Russia (the old Radio Moscow), Deutsche Welle, and the BBC still pumping out content on shortwave. Additionally, I knew that many of the German FM broadcasters were switching to RDS, making the ATS-909's RDS decode capability a neat and useful feature.

While I can't say that the ATS-909 was a stellar performer on shortwave - most outlets rated its performance as just good to very good - the radio's build quality was outstanding and the ergonomics were excellent. Plus, it's performance on FM was considered best-in-class. That radio served me well in Germany, going along on a number of field exercises so my Soldiers could listen in on American Forces Network (AFN) broadcasts, local German stations, and the occasional radio show from the BBC. After the factory radio was stolen from our Volvo V70, the Sangean ended up doing service as an ersatz car radio. It slid perfectly into the gaping hole left in the center console where the Volvo radio used to be, and served well until I could get another radio installed. The ATS-909 eventually just gave up the ghost, too much time spent being rattled around in the car and sitting in the Georgia summer heat. I regretfully tossed it after the alkaline batteries belched up their contents in the battery compartment. I also kicked myself for not picking up one or two when Radio Shack closed them out a few years later.

For the past year or so I've been following the story of Sangean's replacement for the ATS-909, the ATS-909X and the 909X2. The ATS-909X was considered something of a disappointment - a bit deaf on shortwave reception when using the whip antenna (but a strong performer when using an external antenna), and some problems with AM sensitivity. The ATX-909X offered Sangean's usual excellent build quality and ergonomics, but with strong competition from lower cost mainland Chinese manufacturers like Tecsun, Sangean knew they needed to clean up the 909X's shortcomings (Sangean is a Taiwanese, not a Chinese manufacturer - there is a difference). So Sangean tweaked the ATS-909X's performance and renamed it the ATS-909X2 - just in time for chip shortages and COVID to hit. Talk about timing.

Reviewers really liked the improvements in the 909X2, but production was slow and prices for the radio, if you could find one, were high, with some retailers asking over $500. In the past six months production has increased, and the radio's price has settled down to about the $250 US level. Amazon now has regular stock of the radio and can deliver in a day or two.

But what about the lingering chip shortages? Some manufacturers like Icom have been very frank in their discussions about the impacts of the shortages. Production goes to the high demand/high volume customers like computer, military and commercial communications systems and automobile manufacturers. Low volume customers like ham radio and shortwave receiver manufacturers get low priority. This means the price and availability of the any radio - Sangean, Tecsun, Icom, Yaesu, Eton, Panasonc, etc. is in question. With this in mind I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the Sangean, and I placed an order with Amazon a few days ago.

A side-by-side comparison with the ATS-909X2's competition will have to wait. I've got several portable shortwave receivers to test against - the C. Crane Skywave, the Skywave SSB, the Tecsun PL-880, the Tecsun PL-310 and maybe one or two others hiding away. I'm particularly interested in seeing how well the Sangean performs on SSB compared to the PL-880 and the Skywave SSB, two radios that get high marks for sideband reception.

One thing became abundantly clear to me in the few hours I've used this radio so far - the ergonomics and build quality are outstanding. Anyone who's spent any time with a portable SW receiver will find the controls clearly marked and well laid out. You don't need a manual to get up and running with this radio (but if you do, the manual is excellent).

Sangean includes an external wire antenna, ear buds, and something few other manufacturers provide - a 'wall wart' power cube. The radio runs off of four AA batteries and can use alkaline, NiMH and NiCad chemistry types.

A word about external antennas. Many manufacturers, including Sangean, include an external antenna with their radios. Many folks feel that a portable radio shouldn't need an external antenna. For commercial FM and AM broadcast reception, I agree. But for shortwave and ham radio reception, an external long wire antenna is absolutely necessary. You wouldn't expect your expensive Amateur Radio HF rig to operate well on 80 meters using a 3' whip antenna. Why would you expect a consumer-grade receiver to do better?  Be realistic. If you buy a portable SW/HF receiver also pick up (or make) an external antenna to use with it.

OK, let's wrap this up. Over the next few seeks I'll be doing a side-by-side comparison of these radio on the Amateur Radio bands, focusing on 75 and 40 meter sideband reception. I'll be looking at overall performance, ergonomics and form factor. All the evaluations will be done using the factory supplied long wire antennas. Will a clear winner emerge? Stay tuned!

W8BYH out

Message Center Clocks

I love clocks and watches, and I've written about this in the past. I also love to research and read about the history of radio, particularly radio operations involving two way communications (as opposed to broadcast radio, which is one-way only). It's clear that radio and time are inseparable. Just about everything in radio revolves around time. Our formal nets start and end at defined times. Much of our software like WSJTX and JS8CALL is tightly time dependent. Modern military and, increasingly, commercial transceivers are dependent on accurate time signals to synchronize things like frequency hopping, automatic link establishment, and automated digital messaging operations. Time is everywhere in radio. Has been since Guglielmo Marconi first thought about commercializing his 'invention' back around 1900.

My earlier post was about radio room clocks, particularly those that call out the mandatory quiet periods at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. These clocks were designed specifically for maritime radio room use - a reminder to the operator to cease transmission for a 3-minute period and just listen on 500 kHz for any distress calls.

But there was another use for clocks in conjunction with radios, a use that was somewhat more utilitarian but just as important - in military message centers.

First, let's define what a message center is. A message center is nothing more than one or more radios dedicated to transmitting and receiving message traffic. If you were in the military for any length of time, particularly if you worked a job that involved coordinating activities at a brigade or higher headquarters, you'll have heard the terms 'comms (communications) center' and 'message center'. A comms center is an over-arching communications environment that handles both direct voice communications and message traffic, while a message center is dedicated to handling just digital or voice message traffic - orders, reports, etc. When a commander wants to talk by voice to one of his subordinate commanders he goes to a comms center. When he needs to send a report to his higher headquarters he goes to a message center. The difference between the two was often very fuzzy, particularly at the lower battalion and company levels, where one or two radios were handling ALL voice communications and message traffic duties. But at higher command levels, with steadily increasing volumes of message traffic, a dedicated message center was usually required. 

And, of course, message centers needed clocks. Everything was coordinated by time. Radio message traffic needed to be time-stamped and logged with the time received or sent. Operators needed to know when to switch frequencies to handle message traffic on different nets. They needed to time-track when physical messages (paper copies) were received or handed off. Basically, everything in a message center revolved around time.

It was during WWII that the concept of a purpose-built message center clock took hold. There may be earlier designs, but if there are I have not seen them. My my guess is that prior to the WWII era militaries just used whatever cased clocks they could procure. But starting with the run-up to WWII (which, remember, started in Europe in 1938 - a full 3 years before the the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor), a few militaries like the US and Germany started specifying designs for message center clocks. Let's start with the US. The Army took the smart and easy path, and asked manufacturers like Chelsea, Hamilton, and Lowe to make a variation of the maritime 'deck clocks' they had been making for years. The first clocks were brass cased, later switched to a phenolic (Bakelite?) housing to conserve a strategic metal that was in short supply. The movements in these clocks were fairly rugged, simple to service, and were already in volume production. All the US Army had to do to make them 'army' was to have the words 'Clock Message Center M1 (or M2)' stenciled on the face. The M1 models had 4" faces, the M2 models had 6" faces, and most seem to have come with a secondary 'zulu time' hour hand. The Army had them mounted in a clever flip-open wooden box, which made them easy to transport and set up.

Clock Message Center M1 (4" face) in a brass case. Brass was a strategic metal during
WWII and clock cases were quickly switched to a phenolic (Bakelite?) case

The far more common M2 message center clock (6" face) in a phenolic housing. 
The red hand is the 'zulu' or second time zone hand

These clocks were a commodity item, produced in the thousands. If they appear in period photos at all it's because the photographer was taking a picture of something else and the clock just happened to be in the shot. Here's one of the best known (and clearest) photos of a message center clock in use. This photo is interesting because it looks like the radio is being used in an early M2 or M3 Scout Car. Note the telegraph key strapped to the operator's leg, and the home made speaker box. I'd guess that this picture was taken either pre-war, or immediately after the US entered WWII. This is a great example of what a 'message center' looked like in small units during the war - a single radio, a single operator, a clipboard with some standard message forms, and a clock.

Some have asked, why not rely on wrist watches? A good question. We have to remember that prior to WWII a good quality wrist watch was a fairly expensive consumer item. Not everyone owned one. This was almost half a century before the arrival of cheap but accurate quartz watches. In the 1930's and 40's all watches were hand assembled mechanical units that could cost a working man's weekly wage, or more. Plus, the US military can not compel soldiers to use their personal property for official purposes - which means they can't compel you to buy and use a wrist watch as part of your Army job. If your job requires a watch, they'll issue you one. However, it's cheaper to provide a single clock that's available for all to reference than hand out a bunch of wrist watches. Then there's the issue of time synchronization. All activity in a message center had to be referenced to a single time source. If everyone is using their own wrist watches, and each watch is off a minute or two in either direction (very common with mechanical watches) then how are you sure that Message A arrived before Message B? In wartime this matters, a lot.

The German Army took a similar approach. Called a 'funkuhren' (radio operator clock), it was a standardized clock specifically designed to be used in message and communications centers. However, their clocks were a bit different - they appear to be large pocket watch movements in a modified case with a larger mainspring, giving an 8-day runtime. The whole thing is mounted in a wooden case, and the movement can swing out for winding via a  knurled knob or stem on the rear. Actually a pretty good arrangement. since it doesn't require a winding key like the American clocks do. 

Evidently this design was so good that the Germans kept it in production after the war for issue to the new Bundeswehr communications units. I can't help but wonder if there's a warehouse full of these things somewhere in Germany, in unissued condition, waiting to be dumped out onto the collector market at reasonable prices. One can only hope...

Note the 'funkuhren' on the table in the lower left. This German soldier is running a Hellschreiber unit.
 You can still run Hellschreiber using digital mode software like Fldigi, and it's a lot of fun!

Note the 'funkuhren' on the table between the two radios

So we've looked at US and German message center clocks from WWII. What about the British, French, Japanese, Russians, Canadians, etc? Honestly, I don't know. I've never seen any write-ups or on-line discussions of message center or radio room clocks in use by other countries involved in the war. I can only guess each country had some sort of standardized timepiece they adopted.

Now let's push forward to today. As a MARS and SHARES member I run a small message center. So I need a message center clock, right? OK, it's just for looks and tradition, but to me it's important. I'm always trying to connect the past to the present, so we don't forget.

Chelsea, the US company that made the majority of message center clocks in WWII, is still making pretty good reproductions. Not exact replicas, but considering the cost of a good working Army surplus M1 or M2 clock, they are good enough. In a nod to modern times and cost, these clocks use battery powered quartz movements. They also still use the same phenolic cases that Chelsea started using in WWII, but now they are made of a more up-to-date glass reinforced plastic. Overall they are pretty good clocks, and have a place in even the most modern of ham radio shacks.

A modern (quartz) interpretation of the classic US Navy deck clock, which was adopted
by the US Army as 'Clock Message Center M2'

A modern Chelsea 'radio room' clock. I like this one for it's accurate quartz movement and 'zulu'
or second time zone hand

But I have to think that the Germans did a better job of it, particularly for smaller setups. The Chelsea M2-style clocks are big. Six inches may not sound like a lot, but when the clock is sitting only a few feet from your face, it's a bit imposing. The smaller 4" M1 message center clocks would be a better option, but nobody makes a replica, and originals are very hard to find. The smaller German 'funkuhren' clocks seem like they were better suited to small setups. Sadly, nobody makes a 'funkuhren' replica, and good working examples go for silly high prices. But the idea that a large(er) pocket watch format can serve as an ersatz message center clock has me intrigued. 

My grandfather's Illinois Bunn Special pocket watch in front of a 6" Chelsea radio room clock

And I think I've spied my solution, courtesy of Seiko. It's the Seiko SNE370 wrist watch. It's not as large as a pocket watch, but at 43mm it's it's plenty big enough. It's got a clean, uncluttered face with a 24 hour inner ring, and it's got an accurate quartz movement. I can do without the day/date readout, and I'd love a second hour hand (a 'zulu' hand or, as it's called in the watch world, a GMT hand), but you can't have everything. One problem though... it's out of production. Aaarrrgggghhhh! I can't catch a break.

Seiko SNE370 Solar.
Do me a favor - keep your eye out for one!

W8BYH out