".....don't want to stick a finger up and say 'Here I am, come and sink me!'
That was Dönitz's big mistake in the Battle of the Atlantic! "


It is hard to make general statements about the technology in the Battle of the Atlantic, since to a large part it was a technological battle, and the balance between the relative capabilities of different technologies altered - sometimes on a monthly basis or less!

RDF was well understood by the Axis powers, and they were required to keep their messages short to avoid a fix. For a mechanically rotated aerial, which the Germans used, getting a fix required a fair bit of time, and getting an accurate fix could take a minute or more. Shore stations then had to transmit the information to interested parties, and so a U-Boat was fairly safe if it sent occasional short messages and kept moving.

I believe that the Royal Navy responded with the Huff-Duff dual loop antenna which you will find on
most RN ships of the period, feeding into a CRT PPI indicator. This could give immediate accurate directions, sufficient for an attack to be mounted directly down the bearing. Though, of course, this could also be used to tempt a corvette off station to enable another boat to attack. It had originally been developed to track lightning strikes...

Lütjens, of course, sent a famous long message enabling precise identification of the Bismark, but the British then made a plotting error and sent their Task Force in the wrong direction for a while....

Of course the alternative these days to meet that guy's 'Parallel parking' requirement is to use the TX mixing facilities or a hardware mixer. Such as the Action Electronics P94 from Component shop. (Out of stock at the moment ☹️)

https://www.componentshop.co.uk/p94-dual-esc-and-mixer-2-x-20-amps.html

Looks like not - though that site has a lot of useful other 'how-tos'. See link.

I wouldn't convert a Tx by carving the existing sticks away anyway - I would make a new unit with plugs to go into the existing radio. I just found that site on a web search, and put it out to show that this was what some people were doing...

http://wmunderway.mysite.com/cont/cont.htm

"27Mhz / 40Mhz systems are sought after by submariners..."
You betcha DG 👍
The higher the frequency the less it penetrates water. At 2.4Gigs it just bounces off.
Doesn't like getting it's feet wet 😁 I still use my old Graupner MC-10 40Meg set for my U25.
Never actually needed a twin-stick on one mount but I seem to remember there is (or was?) also a mod kit for the MC range available.

Real subs use VLF KHz frequencies around 8-10 for underwater COMMS reception (TX antenna on land km's long!), or they send up an antenna buoy to use higher bands. Receive only of course, don't want to stick a finger up and say 'Here I am, come and sink me!'
That was Dönitz's big mistake in the Battle of the Atlantic!
Cheers, Doug 😎
PS Good link👍 Krick is one of my favourite suppliers here.

Dodgy - thanks for that - might just sell the Ace on Ebay - buy a cheap 2.4 and convert that. Was the article continued or not ? Noticed the make of the converted transmitter is not given .

This article might be helpful...

http://wmunderway.mysite.com/cont/twinstick/twinstick.html

Twin stick systems are much sought after by scale boat enthusiasts - and command a high price everywhere.

27Mhz / 40Mhz systems are sought after by submariners...

I have not needed a twin-stick, but I have thought that if I ever did I would simply make one. Much cheaper! The pots don't need complicated self-centering, they just need mounting sideways and having a stick joined to each, with perhaps a friction pad. You can buy commercial dual sticks of course - at a high price - but I suspect that anyone with a lathe could make ones equally as good.

And then you could have a cheap 2.4Ghz Tx with a unique fitting...

https://www.krickshop.de/Electronics-Motors/R-C-Sets-and-accessories/RC-Sets/Acc

The real benefit of this radio is the twin sticks - dont find those too often. Only one I know of is the very expensive German F14 transmitter .

No market for this here - be different in UK

Only one fellow in SA repairs radios that I know of , so will try and contact him if no joy via the forum. Electronics engineer friend who could have handled conversion now living in the land of Oz! If I tried there would be big fat smoke signals.............

It might be a shame to alter the innards of such a radio - vintage radios like this make a lot of money if sold in original condition. See

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2980389-ACE-Nautical-Commander-7-

have an old Ace "Nautical Commander" 5 channel on 27mhz. Crystal change a real pain as you have to open up the set and use pliers to change. Still works and its a great radio with dual sticks for twin motor operation. Been reading about the conversions to 2.4ghz - wondered if it would be possible on this radio - suffers from a lot of interference here. Don't know if it's FM or AM , would not know how to check. Can anyone help ?