Marconi Apollo Marine receiver
Alberto
I have the opportunity to buy one, but first would like to know
its reputation as an LF and HF radio.
It takes a fairly large amount of space on the table, which I'm willing
to dedicate to it only if it deserves it :-)
Thanks for any suggestions/opinions/pros/cons
Alberto
Mark S. Holden
It's on Page 270 of the book "Shortwave Receivers past and present" by Fred Osterman.
It was made from 1970-1982.
Every commercial marine radio I've had the pleasure of checking out was very well made, and offered good performance. Marconi is a respected brand.
But you'll need to decide for yourself if this is the right kind of radio for you. You can get smaller more modern radios with more bells and whistles that are likely to perform just as well - maybe even a little better.
But if I was looking, and stumbled onto one of these and the price was right, I'd probably buy it.
WShoots1
Marconi provided the operators, too. That's all history now. (Sigh...)
They work about as good as any receiver, except they are over-designed,
mechanically and electrically. Repairing them is a real challenge.
Is it working okay? And how much is asked for it? I assume it operates on
220vac.
Bill, K5BY
Alberto
thanks for your replies and opinions.
The radio is in good shape and seems to work ok, and yes, it operates from
the 220V mains. I know that modern receivers can be better in some aspects,
but I already have a couple of them, and this Marconi Apollo exercise on me
a sort of sex-appeal.... but I still have to make up my mind.
The price requested is on the order of 300 Euro, which in USD means approx.
$345. I haven't seen quotations of this radio, so I cannot judge how fair
this price is.
TNX
Alberto
WShoots1
good working unit.
One thing about a valve (tube) radio, if it's working like new, is that when a
band is "open," there will be no noise except for any lightning and stations
themselves. Without either, an open band will sound like a dead receiver!
Careful when using a headset! <G> Offset the 'phones to the upper parts of your
ears.
<< this Marconi Apollo exercise on me
a sort of sex-appeal. >>
That I can understand. <G> By the way... A matching exciter, for the companion
transmitter, was made, too.
73,
Bill, K5BY
Mark S. Holden
Hi Bill
Osterman says the Apollo is a solid state receiver with a digital display.
Perhaps you're thinking of an earlier model?
WShoots1
display. Perhaps you're thinking of an earlier model? >>
Apparently I was. I'd worked on several renditions of many manufacturers. Most
of the Marconis were tube/valve models. But it's been between 15-25 years ago
since I had.
Marconi gave celestial names to at least a couple of generations of shipboard
radio stations. Therefore, the receiver, exciter, amplifier, and the rest of
the station package had the same respective name. Each unit had a unique model
number, too.
Thinking hard, I believe the tube/valve series was the Argosy. It had a Nixie
tube/valve digital display.
Bill, K5BY
Alberto
thanks again for your replies. I am pretty sure the Apollo was the first
solid state marine receiver produced by Marconi, being the Atalanta
the last which used valves. I have found this picture of the Apollo :
http://home.t-online.de/home/busys/apollo.htm
and this for the Atalanta
http://home.t-online.de/home/busys/atala.htm
They are both fascinating radios, I will try to negotiate a bit the price
with the seller, but probably the Apollo will have a new home in the
next weeks :-)
Thanks also for the private messages regarding the fairness of the price
> In some respects, buying a radio like this is like buying a same era
> luxury car. While it won't have the latest bells and whistles, it'll
> still perform well, and it'll still have the look and feel of something
> that was hand crafted.
Yes, that's precisely the main reason why I like it. Maybe it won't be
rock stable as a modern TCXO-controlled rig, but it wouldn't either have
its plastic feeling...
Alberto
WShoots1
(Thanks, Alberto!) didn't have a photo of anything in that era. "Argosy" still
sticks in my mind, and I'll continue to wonder if it wasn't an Atalanta chassis
in an Apollo case -- sort of. Maybe the Argosy was a Marconi radar. Or a VHF.
I saw a lot of familiar "faces" at that site. I worked for ITT Mackay
throughout the 1980s. We serviced everything, antiques to cutting edge.
Now I'll have to check out the ships listed. Sadly, my knowledge of German is
sparse, mostly technical of what I do know.
Bill, K5BY
robert....@gmail.com
Spent 10 years with these fantastic receivers.
Inland Sea of Japan via Portishead Radio UK
12Mhz - R/T. (not duplex though)
Don't worry about 110/220/380 single or 3 Phase.
I'm sure you will figure it out.
dnyn...@yahoo.com
Do you want to sell the marconi Apollo receiver? I am an ex radio officer and i am interested in buying it.
Regards
John
Reinhard Zwirner
SCNR
Reinhard
dnyn...@yahoo.com
Michael Black
> who knows... maybe Alberto stored the set somewhere and he still has it.
>
>
he still has it, he likely won't see the message. Don't forget, most
posters are drive-by posters, they come here to ask one specific thing,
and may not even stick around for the answers.
Note that Alberto didn't say he had one, he had the chance to buy one, and
wanted information.
His post didn't make it clear if he was collecting, or just wanted a "good
receiver" and wasn't sure if this was it. The price was kind of high for
a relatively unknown receiver, and not many details came up. So chances
are good he didn't buy it.
Now, some fool feels a need to reply 11 years later, telling Alberto that
the receiver was okay, but not really much detail. I'm sure the receiver
that ALberto was tempted by is long gone, if nothing else it was tossed
out since nobody bought.
And then like a jackal someone sees the resurrected thread, doesn't look
at the date, and decides it's a chance to get ahold of this receiver
probably cheap. It's bad enough people reply to old messages, but to many
of them are like this, hoping to make a buck (or save a buck).
Michael
Oregonian Haruspex
After all, if your goal is to reduce off-topic or pointless posts you
should take your own medicine, right?
robert....@gmail.com
I have the room for one, but the problem would be, now, of the NIXIE Display
was lost- the RX would not be much use. At Sea every station was logged, and
written in a book - and left for the next r/o.
I very much doubt spares would be obtainable.
Same goes for the Marconi Conqueror HD/HS TX's.
The guy ,who invented GMDSS- had it installed on the bridge-put us all out of a job.
I read somewhere , that now- 500Khz is used for the Ham Radio Guys.
Do you remember, the old days frequencies under this were used for D.F.
Four class A bearings in each quadrant?
Keep the Radio Surveyor happy-
Just wondered, GTZM made so many Apollo/Nebula receivers.
Where did they all go?
malte...@gmail.com
I know its a shot in the dark really. But I know that quite a few Atalanta receivers are still around with radio hams. I had the opportunity to visit a radio Ham club and they still operate an Atalanta receiver. Its a lovely piece of gear. It still works perfect and in a very good condition.
I have an Electra. This and the Apollo went in pairs on shipboard installations. Generally one main and the other auxiliary. The sets were generally installed one on top of the other. I am talking late 70s now. Lizzard Radio (GLD - later known as lands-end-radio) has a museum with all the old gear still working. It is worth a visit if you ever around that part of the world. GLD was the famous southernmost UK coast radio station which is famously known for relaying RMS Titanic messages in the north atlantic. Iceberg warnings from ships in the north atlantic was sent to GLD and they were relayed to other ships. Titanic received these warnings from the SS Baltic and YES they were 2 days old before the Titanic 2nd officer was handed the icebeg nav warning (at the time it was broadcasted as a Pan Pan Pan for R/t and as a T T T for W/T on MF.
I also know of an existing very first Marconi Lifeboat radio transeiver. It is privately owned.
Regards
maltesejohn
kate.money%...@gtempaccount.com
kate.money%...@gtempaccount.com
steve....@gmail.com
owenlh...@gmail.com
> Hi, do you still have the Atalanta or Apollo available ? Thanks Steve
Vassilis Spiliopoulos
> This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
> http://www.avg.com
>
E2K is a complete joke xD
hugh...@gmail.com
I operated the Apollo main rx with the Conqueror main tx on a number of ships, they were both fantastic pieces of kit. Mainly solid state with NIXI tube frequency displays. Always came up bang on frequency.
One ship I was hit by lightning while taking a message from Amaganset USA, and the lightning jumped accross radio shack from antena selector high on the bulk head. The apollo shut down for 3 minutes and came back to life without a problem.
The solid state parts of both the Apollo and the conqueror were awful to work on as each stage was issolated into its own screened box - this was to make sure there was no radiation detectable locally from the frequency synthersizer in the rx and the crystal unit in the tx.
Hope this is informative
VA