John McGauchie , former Decca employee reminisces. "I joined Decca in
1965, after training in Brixham I spent a tour in the Persian Gulf (a fine
place) at the Master North station at Bandar-e-Deylam in Iran. We were
running Mk 5 equipment there powered by Lister diesels. That place was
so desolate, hot and dusty. We were friendly with a couple of Iranian Army
doctors who were assigned to this remote village to provide medical services
to the locals. They would take us out on their rounds to the surrounded
villages. We were introduced a visiting doctors so the villagers would
accept us being there during the clinics. Our social life there was very
minimal, just socializing with the doctors and their staff. This was back
in the reign of the Shah, I would not care to have been there after he
was deposed.
After about 6 months I moved to the station about 26 clicks outside
of Doha in Qatar (Red South). More than once we had to chase camels out
of the field, we were worried that they would try to scratch their butts
on the antenna. The locals would demand a high price for a demised camel".
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| A map of the Persian Gulf chains. (Graphic courtesy of Decca Navigator
News, June 1973. Modified by Jerry Proc) |
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
(later became Ras Zubayyah)
All photos of the trasmitter site were provided by David Jones, a former
Decca employee.David Jones
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1974
Station: Purple
Equipment: Control room, 820 control racks, looking north. Shown left
to right, three control racks with RASME on the right. Control rack shows
clock unit at the top with receiver controls below in the mid-section.
Lower panel has oscillator controls at the top with the five output channels
below. Each output section has an adjustable phase control dial on the
right side.
RASME unit contains run time logs and minor alarm indicators on the
top. Center section has control rack service and alarm status indicators
plus changeover selection switches. Lower section has output stage relay
indicators and lamp display showing transmission pattern.
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1974
Station: Purple
Equipment: Control room. 820 control racks are on the left, ahead is
the main electrical switchboard. To the right of the switchboard is the
UPS. Directly ahead is the station control desk with the rubidium oscillator
control units behind. Shown on the right is the transmitter room with glass
panels.
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1974
Station: Purple
Equipment: Control room, 820 equipment. Transmitter room is seen through
the glass windows. Directly ahead are the control units and chart logs
for the rubidium oscillators, used to take over station phase control at
night.
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1974
Station: Purple
Equipment: Control room, 820 equipment looking south. Control racks
and RASME are on the right. Rubidium control units are in the foreground.
Right rear is an auxiliary electrical switchboard. Left rear shows one
of the transmitter tank units. These units housed four circuits, two in
the top and two in the lower section. The station had a spare transmitter
and tank unit for it's own frequency. Hence three tank units and six transmitter
racks were fitted.
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| Decca transmitting station Ras Zubayyah (Purple), United Arab Emirates
as seen in 1981. It was so remote that the landscape resembled that of
the planet Mars. (Photo by David Jones) |
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| Ras Zubayyah buildings as seen from one of the towers. Click on image
to enlarge. (Photo by Alan Rogers) |
David Jones relates this story about Ras al Zubayya. "I was recently
reminded of a story that was told to me a few years ago by an ex-Decca
colleague Andy Morgan. He worked for OPD and in the mid-‘80’s did a spell
at Ras al Zubayya, the Purple slave of the Southern Persian Gulf chain,
about 1½ - 2hrs drive along the coast and across the sands from
Abu Dhabi. I knew the station well since it was the first place that I
went to upon joining Decca’s Chain Implementation group in June 1974.
Remember that the Zubayya station was located near a small coastal waterway
and surrounded on all sides by miles of featureless sand. It generated
its own electricity and distilled seawater to keep the staff alive. The
drive from Abu Dhabi to the station took about two hours and started with
mile upon mile of flat, straight highway, empty save for the occasional
truck. Along the way there were no buildings or junctions, just rolling
dunes and the occasional broken down truck pulled off to the side. Often
as not, as you passed you would glimpse the figure of the driver hunched
underneath the chassis, perhaps awaiting help; from whom we had no idea.
After perhaps an hour’s drive we would look for a marker denoting the turn-off
to the station. This took the form of a rusty oil drum with a wooden post
loosely attached, painted with markings to a long-abandoned exploration
camp. When this faded marker was seen, we would turn off the road and straight
onto the sand, following the numerous tire marks as they lead away. The
sand was variously soft or firm and would often hide a large pothole that
could almost swallow an unsuspecting car. At several places the trail crossed
hard rock with a ridged surface; the result being that for a few minutes
the whole vehicle violently rattled, all the way to your teeth. After about
thirty minutes of driving across this blank landscape, the station mast
would be seen in the distance. Home was near. No radios or phones were
available so a breakdown would have been serious for everybody.
Anyway, this site, like all the others was powered by four large diesel
generator sets that ran in continuous rotation, 24 hours a day in a separate
building away from the main quarters. In addition to the two Decca engineers
normally based at the station, there was a contracted Indian cook/cleaner
and a diesel mechanic, both of whom lived in. Due to the load of the relay
and valve based station transmitters, plus the air conditioners required
to make life bearable, the system load was in the order of 70 KVA. The
mechanics duties involved the routine care of the generators, oil changes
and fluid top-off. A mechanic named Ansari was there during my visit in
1974 and like most, he was a conscientious employee, resigned to living
miles from his family for years at a time.
