Anyone remember the channel shortage on Jez buoys in the mid-70s? Always flew with a full complement of buoys but the plea from ISR not to drop some channels as they were in short supply?
PN,
Jez' buoys were bought in 31 channel sets and therein lay the root of the problem. Channel usage had to be monitored in order to ensure that adequate stocks of each channel were maintained. NODs/NEVs could have been a bit difficult otherwise!
Channel 15 was rarely in short supply, but I always wondered if the ones on the aircraft would have worked as they were always being loaded/unloaded.
Note for the non maritime reader:
Sono channel 15 was the SAR datum marker buoy. The one you put in just before you ditched yourself or used to mark located survivors. As far as possible a channel 15 buoy with an 8 hour setting was always kept loaded in one of the pressurised launchers. When you used a channel 15 buoy for normal purposes you tried to restrict it to a short life setting.
The increase to 99 channels on the MR2, closely followed by the introduction of channel selectable buoys made it all a thing of the past.
YS