Heres some recollections from a member of the Royal Observer Corps, about his Observer duties.
While serving in a ROC Post during the Cold War. We must remember that the Corps were
part-timers, much like the British Territorial Army, who lived at home and persued civilian
occupations. Only attending Corps duties at weekends and during training camps.
Question: How long were you expected to stay down there during a shift?
Well, that all depended on a few different things. Basically it worked like this... On receiving the call-out
from Sector Control, initially as many members of the Post as possible would turn up on-site. We would
then set rotating shifts, according to how many people were available, the basic rule being that
three Observers were needed to man the Post at all times.
Upon entering the ROC Post, we would ensure that all equipment is working properly. Sector HQ would
send a confidence signal to the most important equipment, the WB1400 receiver, to ensure its working ok.
WB1400 Confidence signal:http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/tick1400.mp3 This was in the period known as Transition to War (TTW). The premise of which was that there
would be a longish build up to actual "war", rather than a "bolt from the blue".
If Sector HQ wanted to send us an important message or give us the 'heads up' to a likely attack,
then the call signal alert message would be heard.
WB1400 - call signal alert message:http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/call1400.mp3Essentially this meant it was like a game of Russian Roulette. You could never be sure if you were
the crew that was going to be down there when the WB1400 gave the Attack Warning Red, at
which point it was time to close the Post hatch and wait.
Attack Warining Red message:http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/alert1400.mp3 At the same time Sector HQ would send out a general alert warning signal to all WB1400 and older
WB400 receivers located in Police stations, fire stations, post offices, pubs, council offices, etc.
Here the recipients would ( in most cases ) alert the public using air raid sirens.
The public alarm system during the Cold War:http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/distrib.htmGeneral attack warning signal:http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/attackwarn.mp3 Finally once the danger had passed - Sector HQ would send the 'all clear signal' to all
WB1400 receivers including the ROC posts.
All Clear signal message:http://www.ringbell.co.uk/ukwmo/allclear.mp3Another question: From what I've read about ROC, it seems that communications
were via normal telephone lines, and many bunkers do have telegraph poles.
Each Post was part of a "cluster" of three, one of these Posts was known as a Master Post,
and they would have had a Radio to ensure communication with Group in the event of the loss
of land-line communication. You can tell which Posts were Master Posts as they have what was
known as a "Top-Hat" on the small louvred ventilation shaft. This covered the co-axial link to
the pneumatic aerial and the the link to the pump that raised and lowered said aerial, as well
as a connection point for the petrol-electric set (a generator) that charged the batteries
down in the Post.
Some Posts had exposed telephone lines, others were buried. The idea being that those that
had exposed land-lines would have had them "mole trenched" in the Transition to War period,
but I'm not sure that would have actually happened.
