PNH-201
Sealed button at the ship’s entrance: a person from shore uses it to announce their arrival. The model used in the installation, still available; IP44-rated.
Quantity: 1 at the gangway
Completed projectLogistics and transportShipowner
Calling the duty officer to the gangway through a metal hull — 12 years in service
Calling the duty officer to the gangway on ships with metal hulls: radio at the entrance, a cable through the structure and a transmitter on every level. After 12 years in salt-laden air the system was still working reliably.
- 12 yearsin service in salt-laden air
- 3ship sizes: small, medium, large
- 1button at the ship’s entrance
01 / Investment context
What problem had to be solved?
A ship in port receives people from shore, and only an authorised person may let them aboard. The duty officer who has to do it does not stand at the gangway: they may be anywhere on the vessel, on any of its levels. The shipowner operates small, medium and large ships, so the distances and the number of levels vary.
The hull is metal, and metal is an obstacle to radio waves: the signal from a button at the gangway does not reliably reach the inside of the ship or pass between levels. Yet the message that someone is waiting at the entrance has to reach every place where the duty officer might be — in salt-laden, humid air that is hard on electronics and connectors.
The investor’s goal: The duty officer knows they must go to the gangway wherever they are on the ship — from the pager or from the lamp on their level.
What was designed?
At the ship’s entrance there is a sealed radio button (PNH-201). On deck, at a spot with good reception, a digital-line amplifier (WLC-201) picks up its signal and, instead of fighting the hull, passes it on by cable — through the metal structure to each level of the ship.
On each level a digital-line receiver (RSU-K01/LC) applies power to a stationary transmitter (NRP-102), which then sends a radio signal on its level. The duty officers’ pagers receive it, and — if the shipowner wishes — so does an optical signal unit. From the pager or the lamp the duty officer knows to go to the gangway.
Carefully installed — with well-protected antenna sockets and cable glands — the system was still working reliably after 12 years in salt-laden air. The OBI-3SH pagers it used now have a successor, the OBI-4SH pager, and today’s signal unit of the BSO-2 family is the BSO-2H2. The button, the digital-line amplifier and the level transmitter are still available. The digital-line receiver from the installation has been discontinued, so GORKE selects a receiver that works with the WLC-201 at the design stage.
02 / Operating principle
From signal to action.
A button at the gangway calls the duty officer: the signal passes by cable through the metal hull and reaches the pager by radio.
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01 / Signal source
PNH-201 Button at the ship’s entranceA person from shore uses it to announce their arrival.
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02 / Transmission
WLC-201 Digital-line amplifierPicks up the signal on deck and distributes it by cable to the levels.
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03 / Notification
Duty officer On every level of the ship Pager + LampThe level transmitter sends the call by radio to the pagers and the lamp.
The duty officer knows to go to the gangway, wherever they are. The call reaches every level, and after 12 years in salt-laden air the system was still working reliably.
A simplified functional diagram.
03 / Installation components
The installation’s devices and their equivalents today
The models used in the project, with their equivalents in the current range.
WLC-201
Digital-line amplifier on deck: picks up the button’s signal where reception is good and passes it by cable through the metal structure, up to 200 m. The model from the installation, still available.
Quantity: 1 per ship
Archived model
RSU-K01/LC
Digital-line receiver on each level: uses its relay to start the level transmitter. The model used in the installation, now discontinued — GORKE selects a receiver that works with the WLC-201 at the design stage.
Quantity: 1 per level
NRP-102
Stationary transmitter on a ship’s level: it transmits when the digital-line receiver applies power, and its signal reaches the pagers and the lamp. The model from the installation, still available.
Quantity: 1 per level
OBI-4SH
Duty officer’s pager: the gangway call reaches them wherever they happen to be, on any level of the ship. Successor to the OBI-3SH model used in the installation.
Quantity: 1 per duty officer
BSO-2H2
Optical signal unit on a level, if the shipowner wishes: shows the gangway call to anyone without a pager as well. Today’s model of the BSO-2 family used in the installation.
Quantity: optional
Installation component
12 V DC power supply
Power from the ship’s supply for the amplifier, the digital-line receivers, the level transmitters and the signal units — all of them run on 12 V DC.
Quantity: per number of levels
Catalogue figures describe a device under stated conditions, usually in open terrain, and are not a guaranteed range in every installation. Device quantities in the examples are indicative.
04 / Value for the investor
What does this solution give you?
Proven over 12 years
Carefully installed, the system was still working reliably after 12 years in salt-laden, humid air — one of the harshest environments for electronics.
Through a metal hull
Where radio cannot pass through metal, the signal goes by cable, and on each level by radio again — to the pagers and lamps.
The duty officer can be anywhere
They need not wait at the gangway: the call reaches the pager on any level of the ship, so the duty officer can work instead of guarding the entrance.
05 / Before installation
What needs to be settled for a similar investment?
Before devices are chosen, what matters is the site’s conditions and how the system ties into the final installation.
Requirements to verify
- Salt-laden air calls for careful protection of the antenna sockets and cable glands on every device.
- The number of levels on the ship, where the duty officers may be, and the route of the digital-line cable — up to 200 m from the amplifier.
- Choosing today’s digital-line receiver for the WLC-201: the model from the installation has been discontinued, so GORKE determines its counterpart at the design stage.
- The number of duty officers on board — as many pagers are needed as there are people who may be called to the gangway.
Source: an archived GORKE description of the installation. For a new investment we choose current models.
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