US Army Landfill in cornwall.· Page 3

jagman
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12 years ago

A few weeks after the end of the war Britain was liable to pay for all Lend Lease equipment still in our possession.
As much as possible needed to be disposed of or it had to be paid for.

Whilst much hardware from the USA was valuable we didn't have the money to pay for it.
As far as I remember France etc were not liable for the same bill.
At the same time much of that equipment was on the verge of becoming obsolete, with Centurion coming into service the like of Sherman's were of little value, the jet age made many piston driven fighter aircraft worthless.
We had a huge Navy we couldn't pay for and much of the ships were worn out. Thousands of aircraft we couldn't afford to pay for and whole divisions of armour that was actually pretty crap

It was much cheaper for Britain to chop up and dispose of as much equipment as possible otherwise we had to pay for it.
Vast quantities of equipment were dumped at sea or carved up for scrap.
I have seen second world war stuff underground but nothing you would want to go very close too.

NickPeak
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12 years ago

#42

There was a recent news item (last year?) concerning buried low-level radioactive waste which was due to luminous dials from old flight instruments. Can't remember where it was.

Tamarmole
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12 years ago

#43

"NickPeak" wrote:
There was a recent news item (last year?) concerning buried low-level radioactive waste which was due to luminous dials from old flight instruments. Can't remember where it was.

A few years ago I was lent a geiger counter - with the geiger counter came an altimeter from a USAF Liberator "to check that the geiger counter was working" (luminous paint). When we ran the probe over the altimeter the geiger counter went off the scale.

stuey
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12 years ago

#44

I gather some of the old radium based runway lights were chucked in various tips. "low level" is not a term I would use to describe the stuff. Put it this way, if you get yourself a Cm cubed of radium, it tends to be around the 450 degrees C mark temperature wise, due to the huge amount of radiation it is emitting....can't remember what the half life is, but long enough to still be glowy!

I think this is something to do with the other thread about nuclear stuff being chucked in a mine.

ttxela
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12 years ago

#45

It's rumoured that the flooded quarry behind the TA centre in Cambridge was used to dump surplus supplies at the end of the war, similarly the Grounds of Hinxton Hall are said to contain buried motorcycles etc.

I've yet to hear of anyone actuially extracting anything useful from either though .

The woods behind the estate where I grew up did contain the remains of a helicopter - one of those ones with the big glass bubble at the front (Bell?) I went back for a look a few years ago and theres not much left of it now.

jagman
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12 years ago

#46

"NickPeak" wrote:
There was a recent news item (last year?) concerning buried low-level radioactive waste which was due to luminous dials from old flight instruments. Can't remember where it was.

RAF 14MU at Carlisle and RNSD Eaglescliffe had large quatities of topsoil removed to Drigg when they closed
Both due to radiation from second world war aircraft intruments
In the case of Carlisle they also burnt all the instrumentation from Christmas Island there too

lozz
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12 years ago

#47

Lots of radium on instrument dials, many still survive.
A lot of the radio comms stuff was sold on the surplus market, I have many examples which I managed to fix and are still working and in use.

If you find any new and crated up down a mine shaft or buried then you will make the news and you will have no problem selling them.

Lozz.

Roy Morton
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12 years ago

#48

Wow Lozz, I remember and have used the AR88 and the 1155. Great sets but doorstops by today's standards. My 88 had seen better days and the bfo would drift as it warmed up. Changed a lot of the caps and that cured it. I sold it for double the price I paid for it. All I have now is some vhf/UHF tx rx, and an old 1926 Marconi RX with a wall nut cabinet and chassis. Needs repair though.
OOPS! off topic 😞 😉

"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"

NickPeak
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12 years ago

#49

aditnow.co.uk - the forum for railway enthusiasts and radio amateurs! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Wormster
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12 years ago

#50

"NickPeak" wrote:
aditnow.co.uk - the forum for railway enthusiasts and radio amateurs! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Ah ha!! but we're on page three of this topic, so, internet rule 26* applies!

*"Any topic can easily be turned into something unrelated." :smartass:

Better to regret something you have done - than to regret something you have not done.

exspelio
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12 years ago

#51

Many years ago I remember a bloke giving a demonstration of a very efficient home made cloud chamber, he used the tip of the hour hand from a WW2 pilots wrist watch for the radiation source.

Always remember, nature is in charge, get it wrong and it is you who suffers!.

stuey
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12 years ago

#52

Wicked. We made them at school. I don't imagine that would be allowed now. They had radium sources too.

lozz
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12 years ago

#53

My slight digression was just to give a quick oversite as to what radio comms. was available at the end of the war should any be found buried or dumped down shafts, just as various bikes, vehicles, ammo etc has been talked about, boys toys and all that. So so far as my digression went I would not say that it was extreme.
If any one wants to talk radios that's fine by me but subject to the moderators wishes, it might be a bit of a complex subject for some, so maybe not...
Needless to say for underground communications for the average set up then PMR would work for a limited distance, leaking feeder systems for a greater distance. There are other systems I believe but they would have to be homebrew or a more expensive purchase.

Lozz.

Wormster
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12 years ago

#54

"lozz" wrote:
There are other systems I believe but they would have to be homebrew or a more expensive purchase.

Ah you mean Molephones and Grunterphones then? I've used both of them in differing situations - Molephone for Underground to surface comms (rescue senario) and Grunterphone for radio location (triangulation)

All good fun, especially when you've lugged the damm thing down a hole, set it up and it only goes and frickin works - amazing witchcraft this electrickery stuff!

Better to regret something you have done - than to regret something you have not done.

lozz
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12 years ago

#55

"Wormster" wrote:

"lozz" wrote:
There are other systems I believe but they would have to be homebrew or a more expensive purchase.

Ah you mean Molephones and Grunterphones then? I've used both of them in differing situations - Molephone for Underground to surface comms (rescue senario) and Grunterphone for radio location (triangulation)

All good fun, especially when you've lugged the damm thing down a hole, set it up and it only goes and frickin works - amazing witchcraft this electrickery stuff!

Yes, that's the kind of thing, Heyphone? as well.
PMR should work but it's range will be somewhat limited and will not compare with clear line of site topside performance, there are PMR's and PMR's cheapie and less cheapie etc. If you can drag a mobile CB rig down then it might go a bit further as they have a higher transmission power, but anything other than line of site is generally not expected, electromagnetic radio waves do not "go round" corners unless some external physical element is introduced.
ie: the combining and seperating/ironization of different atmospheric layers due to solar radiation/night time etc etc That's how long distance terrestial radio communications work on certain frequencies but not VHF, VHF can occasionaly go great distance due to weather related troposheric conditions but those are rare and usually very directional. VHF can be taken as line of site, that's why aircraft switch from VHF to Shortwave on trans oceanic flights ie: Shanwick and Gander radio as certain Shortwave frequencies are highly reliable unlike poss. failure of sattelites/GPS etc which can be damaged by "cosmic" radiation, mainly earth directed solar events.

Lozz.

Roy Morton
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12 years ago

#56

Heyphones work a treat as a rule apart from the 'Galloping Horses' QRM from the Loran transmitters.
Heyphones work down on 75kHz SSB and are very stable. Transmissions through rock vary with rock type and the level of water saturation.
We field tested them in Cligga with the inventor John Hey who is a thoroughly good bloke to talk to.
A test was also tried in a mine near Baldhu (lots of pyrite) and there was no deterioration on the signal.
Some very early tests using long wave were conducted in the Wheal Maid decline by an engineer/ham in the employ of Carnon, with some success. The clarity of the heyphone could range from fully quietening Q5 to noisy hash Q0.
There was a set called the Nicola, French origin I believe and wasn't there an early one called the Ogophone? I think it was Cambridge Uni Had a lot to do with the R&D on that one.
The future is one of digital comms using voice and or a laptop with qwerty access. I think the bandwidth may prove to be a little tricky at those frequencies and any pictures will be pretty slow to show. The ultimate aim is so that direct comms can be made between u/g and surface and patchability to other digital comms such as mobile phones.
I don't think I'd like to try an 1154/5 underground, not with that sort of HT 😮
Never tried 2M handies underground though !

"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"

exspelio
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12 years ago

#57

I have heard radio 2 on a cheap transistor set a few hundred feet underground and over half mile in, the secret? a lot of det. wire wrapped round the set at one end and round the water pipe at the other, the pipe carries the signal down and the wire carries it to the ferrite antenna in the set.

Always remember, nature is in charge, get it wrong and it is you who suffers!.

Roy Morton
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12 years ago

#58

That just reminded me, The guy that drove the sub decline winch at Crofty had a radio set running all the time...Funny how you can forget things like that.

"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"

Alasdair Neill
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12 years ago

#59

15 years ago on an early Nicolaphone managed to get comms from Camp II in the Gouffre Berger (-800m approx) to someone's mum in Chudleigh.

Re army stuff according to the daughter of a farmer at Mulberry a large amount of US equipment was sealed up in an adfit there.

Mr.C
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12 years ago

#60

"Wormster" wrote:

"NickPeak" wrote:
aditnow.co.uk - the forum for railway enthusiasts and radio amateurs! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Got rid of my 348 a couple of years back but still got an old Halicrafters waiting for time to restore it
Still run some more modern stuff, mainly on 160

73 de
G8NYZ
:thumbup:
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