After writing about related topics, including in Offshore Echos, I am now prepared to state that I am now as certain as possible that the spare/spares 10kW Continental 306B transmitter that came on board the Mi Amigo, after it returned to sea in 1972, was serial number 32. It was stored under the transmitter room stairs and went down with the vessel in 1980. However, I am happy to receive comments.
Let’s start at the beginning. The first design of this series of 10kW Continental transmitter was in the late 1950s and designated 316. 10 were built with six going to AFRS (AFN) Germany at Kaiserslautern, Nürnberg, Berlin, Grafenwöhr, Stuttgart and Bremerhaven.
This was followed by the 316B with 39 built between late 1959 and late 1963. They were given production (not serial) numbers 11 to 49, with no gaps. The first nine production numbers, from 11 to 19, were all for Canada. They were almost certainly ordered from late 1959 into 1960 and they were probably installed up to 1961. It is known that production number 20 was installed at KCBS San Francisco in 1961.
The orders for the two 316B transmitters for Radio Nord were processed by Continental Electronics on 25 July 1960, with serial numbers 32 and 37, a significant gap in the numbers. But curiously they were not given production numbers until the end of 1963.
When the production run of the 316B came to an end, this was replaced in 1964 by the 316C which was different both in electronic design and cosmetically. Two (production numbers 57 and 58) went to Radio Veronica’s new ship Norderney via Meister and Bollier.
In late 1963 the last four 316B production numbers 46, 47, 48 and 49 were assigned to “Radio Caroline”. Two were the Radio Nord 316B transmitters, which had been removed from the vessel on arrival in Galveston in 1963. Those transmitters were refurbished at the Continental Electronics factory late in 1963 and given retrospective production numbers 46 and 47. Meanwhile production numbers 48 to 49, the final 316B transmitters built, were those ordered for Radio Caroline on the Fredericia/Caroline. They were given serial numbers 77 and 79.
The refurbished serial numbers 32 and 37 served on board the Mi Amigo for Radio Atlanta and Radio Caroline South until the grounding in January 1966. Serial number 32 was transferred the Cheeta II for the stand-in service. Serial number 37 was moved to the port side of the transmitter hall of the Mi Amigo, facing the stairs, to allow space for the large 50 kW 317C to be installed at sea, following ship repairs, improvements and mast extension.
When serial number 32 was removed from the Cheeta II, it found its way by tender to the Fredericia/Caroline off the Isle of Man, where it was stored in the hold. This sparked a rumour that it was a 50 kW, something Don Allen believed at least as late as 1973 (he spoke about it on the Mebo II, when I was there).
Some time after the sale of the vessels in 1972, serial number 32 was more easily liberated from the Federicia/Caroline, prior to scrapping, than serial numbers 77 and 79, which were bolted down and wired in. Eventually serial number 32 arrived on the Mi Amigo.
David Parr