by AF4K
Like a lot of young boys growing up in Britain in the 1960s and 1950s, I had a great interest in anything to do with radio, music, TV. Any kind of entertainment would help to ease the boredom and make our world more colourful and exciting. This was the world that we inherited from our fathers; aworld in which the SIGNAL CORPS was a vital factor in the survival of western democracy and morality against a world of mechanized Nazism and destruction.The armed forces of the USA and Great Britain had procured such a VAST array of radio and electronic equipment, parts, tubes etc. for World War Two era, that the surplus STILL exists today as I write this 50 years later, in October 1997, and one can still purchase these items in shops, at radio rallies, hamfests, on the internet etc.
The following are memories of the activities that some were privileged to enjoy as members of the COMBINED CADET FORCE (CCF) radio network, which was operated in the 5mhz range.
We later did some tube building together and I did most of the work to make a 6AG7 - 5B254M transmitter. We also fired up a WS19 set with 10 watts of awful sounding AM!!
My friend Allan at school later became G3WUW. He taught me the morse code with a one transistor phase shift oscillator on the steps of our school at the "County High School for Boys" as it was then, during lunch breaks etc.! He lived in OVER, and I lived in Cottenham. I made trips to his house in OVER on my bike, and also to Willingham to the SWL shack of my friend David Gyp.
With Allan's help, I built some equipment for the 5 MHz CCF Net in those days, (Combined Cadet Force) in conjunction with some of his pals at the Lys School in Cambridge, using a 6AG7s and a 5B254 (British 807). Our callsign was WHISKEY LIMA. Or was that the "CALLUP signal" used like a CQ to contact other stations? I forget!I can remember hearing him BELLOW "WHISKEY LIMA, SIGNALS!!" into a carbon microphone on the old 19 set at the County High School after school one day. With HT+ of about 800 volts on the anode of the poor old ceramic base 807 valve glowing red hot! Oh and the power was from a dynamotor! The homebrew 5B254 (=807) rig came later. I did most of the construction on the darn thing, and the best that I can remember, it DID actually work!
The following are memories of the OTHER stations that we used to contact in those days, and most of whom we never actually MET in person!
These then, are the memories of the CCF by radio amateurs who were around in the 1960s. Most of the following took place on the Newsgroup: uk.radio.amateur and via e-mails.
Bry, G3XLQ (ex-A4941 SWL callsign!)
E-mail: af4k@earthlink.net
JAN, 1997
From: Richard Hankins = Richard.Hankins.3310463@nt.comI am 42 - funny how we are all (so far) too young to remember the serious pre-transistor age........
In my teens I joined the school army cadet force (cos you had to) and after much marching about, I and few others were one day shown a pile of crates and told to start a Signals Section (cos we were into electronics). These crates turned out to be largely WWII vintage military comms gear used by the UK and some allied forces, the likes of WS19, etc. This stuff was brand new in its original packing - amazing now to think what some would pay for all that stuff ! Over a year or so me and the mates built up an HF radio station from this gear and used it daily on the ACF net, which comprised similar stations all over UK. We used to get amazing results from 5W of AM on about 5MHz.........After I left school, I became a professional RF engineer, and didn't play with another "radio set" - new or old - until a few years ago.
After that brief history, it will make sense when I say that I am now into collecting/restoring/operating old military equipment. Have no interest in old broadcast sets - though I get the impression that is the majority interest of the posters here - no harm in a mix though, as the valve circuit techniques are equally applicable to both. I find the simplicity and differentness of valves pleasing after dealing with the complexities of digital comms, 100K+ transistor chips, etc, etc. I have an amateur licence - G7RVI - but really only use it for getting old gear on the air - legally.
I will not start listing my collection of sets - suffice to say I do not have a WS19 - this is the set all the military collectors seem to want. Having done it to death at school - I'm now into more esoteric stuff. One set I particularly like is the WS36, a transmitter dating from WWII used for anti-aircraft battery comms and the like. It covers 10 - 60 MHz AM, which I find surprising for this era. I didn't think there much serious use of VHF frequencies by anyone at this time. Needless to say the companion Rx, R208, has a pretty wide IF bandwidth to cope with the oscillator drift at both ends! A nice thing about it is the WS36 looks "old" - it is housed in two large wooden cases, each weighing around 100lbs. It also has absolutely dreadful drift and harmonic output......not ideal for use on 50MHz unless you want to wipe out all the local Band II broadcast reception......!
As for wants - I am looking out for fellow collectors in Herefordshire/Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire - i.e. someone local-ish who might be interested in testing sets on 6m. And I am always interested in the bits that go with old military gear - you know the sort of stuff that people seem to chuck cos they don't know what it is - headsets, mics, antennas, cables with weird plugs on - these are usually harder to get than the actual set - I guess thats one problem you broadcast collectors don't need to worry about ..........
Enough woffle. Who else is going to lift the veil.....?
Richard Hankins
G7RVI, in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
From: woodtown@mail.zynet.co.uk (Angus Graham) Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 ] G3VKM wrote: ] Isn't Echo Charlie a reference to the old Cadet Force (CCF) frequency ] codes? I was never in the CCF but a mate (G3VPW) was and I remember him ] operating a station (19 Set + high power unit! I think) from the back of ] a Land Rover at Redhill nr Nottingham. Their CQ call was the frequency ] code repeated over and over, think Whiskey Lima was their "calling freq" ] somewhere around 4 Megs and Charlie Papa was, IIRC, 3810 kc/s. ] Roger Basford, G3VKM How interesting! I sent in a posting some weeks ago looking for news of ex-CCF operators like myself, (most of those that I knew from years ago have disappeared from the callbook) and I only got one reply -- from Martin Lynch -- himself -- who suggested that we were probably all dead!!! From the 'Whiskey Lima' days there was a frequency for voice (and probably still is!) just below 7mHz and another a good bit below 8mHz, which was for CW only. The NIS used to change daily or weekly in the late 60s, but neither of these freqencies in the old, old days, before this 'security measure' was introduced (!!) were known as 'CE' -- to my knowledge. It's very old hat now, but at the time where else could you operate nationally, legally, on voice or CW, without supervision, (or wearing a bleedin' great pair of boots) and have a good time? It seemed to make learning CW a doddle! 73 Angus Graham, G3TXL, aka 40C at school 32!! E-mail: woodtown@mail.zynet.co.ukNote: Visit the G3LYW Network here!
From: woodtown@mail.zynet.co.uk (Angus Graham) Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 woodtown@mail.zynet.co.uk (Angus Graham) wrote: ] where else could you operate ] nationally, legally, on voice or CW, Whoops! I meant legally, without a licence. . . Sorry, Angus Graham
From: Pete Morgan-Lucas = pjml@mail.nerc-swindon.ac.uk Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 Angus Graham wrote: ] From the 'Whiskey Lima' days there was a frequency for voice (and probably ] still is!) just below 7mHz and another a good bit below 8mHz, which was ] for CW only. The NIS used to change daily or weekly in the late 60s, but ] neither of these freqencies in the old, old days, before this 'security ] measure' was introduced (!!) were known as 'CE' -- to my knowledge. Yes... can't remember whether it was 5.33 or 5.53MHz... WL I used to run a C12 feeding an end-fed 70-foot length of D10 for a while, then we put up a dipole, which meant we immediately increased our effective signal-strength and broke through on the intercom between the headmaster's office and the secretary. This was deemed "High naughtiness"! I used to look at the C11/R210 setup in the regional HQ with unreserved envy. ] It's very old hat now, but at the time where else could you operate ] nationally, legally, on voice or CW, without supervision, (or wearing a ] bleedin' great pair of boots) and have a good time? It seemed to make ] learning CW a doddle! Never did bother with the CW side of things... ] Angus Graham, G3TXL, aka 40C at school 32!! Hmmm... I was school 73 back in the mid/late 70's.... and we operated "portable" from Shorncliffe, Nescliffe, Jurby, Cubert, Otterburn, Warcop camps on occasions.... "Portable" in those days meant a stack of steel-cased lead-acid cells strapped together in series to get the 24volts, and a pair of "Charging set 300 Watt No.1"'s ticking over in the background. Peter Morgan-Lucas
Date: 1 Feb, 1997 From: Bry, G3XLQ / AF4K =af4k@earthlink.net Roger and Angus - THIS IS GREAT TO SEE! I have reminisced many times with the fellows about the old CCF operations on about 6-7 MHz in the old days of about 1962-65 in England using 19 sets!! I even did a write up of my experiences at: http://home.earthlink.net/~af4k/hamfiles.htm Seeing G3WUW simply BELLOWING: "Whiskey Lima SIGNALS!!" into the mike at the top of his lungs, is ETCHED In my mind now! The poor old 19 set was STRAINING to stay intact while pushed well beyond its limits using extra HT voltage, he he! I think we were about 13-14 years old at the time! Regards - Bry, G3XLQ / AF4K
From: Mike B. = Mike@orack.demon.co.uk Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Date: Wed, 29 Jan 97 Roger Basford (Basford@g3vkm.demon.co.uk) wrote: Philip Mellor = bik@cix.compulink.co.uk writes ]] "Whiskey Lima" is an example of part of a "netting call" and was repeated ]] for about 1 minute while other stations tuned their receivers onto your ]] transmission...perhaps a bit like a CQ but frequency-specific. Then there ]] was a further period (1 minute??) while everybody tuned up their ]] transmitters and antennas. WL was 4030 and DO 5330, IIRC, as it's been a ]] long time! ]] Phil (ex 38C: WS52 transmitter and Eddystone 730/4 receiver into an end ]] fed antenna) ] WS52 - Now that's what a I call a REAL TX! Wot about the WS53....two smokin' 813's! Free standing and in a delicate pastel shade of battleship grey with an audible "bong" when switched to transmit. Prevents the house swayin' in force nine gales. Mike.
From: jclefever@aol.com Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Date: 30 Jan 1997 Rallies!! Talking of Rallies; why are there so many other non-related stands selling peculiar things like kitchen pots and pans, cigar lighters, toys and those terrible electric doggy things that go around and around in a hoop thing wagging their tails. Also wind up teddy bears etc. In the good 'ol days it was just the stands full of 19 sets and the then new KW2000. The Japanese stuff was Summakamp, Poor old KW. Ahhhhhh the gool old days. Jerry Lefever (GM4CAZ) Edinburgh
From: jclefever@aol.com Date: 30 Jan 1997 Flashback, flashback......... The year 1966. I have a RSGB bulletin (the old Radcomic for the the younger readers) in front of me, Looking at the ads, whatever happened to.... Amateur Radio (Chas Young Ltd) It says G3VFV, G3LAY, G3VFV in the ad. Are these guys still alive? CSE Ltd, (Contactor Switchgear Electronics); they made a 160m AM tx type 2A10, has anyone still got one in the loft? G.W. Smith & Co. Selling Codar and Lafayette stuff. Ahhhh...... Codar. Whatever happened to Codar??? That terrible Rx called a CR70A. They did make the AT5, which was a good AM rig for 160m. Thats it 'till next time children, when us oldies will revive a forty-five from another edition of 'G3LYW, 160m and the good 'ol days. Jerry Lefever (GM4CAZ) Edinburgh
From: John Rabson = rd.factory@zetnet.co.uk Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 jclefever@aol.com writes: ]CSE Ltd, (Contactor Switchgear Electronics); they made a 160m AM tx type ] 2A10, has anyone still got one in the loft? Yes, but I haven't used it for 30 yrs. 73 de G3PAI
From: Roger Basford = Basford@g3vkm.demon.co.uk Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Philip Mellor, bik@cix.compulink.co.uk writes (Roger Basford) wrote: ]] That's right, didn't the PSU need about 60 Amps @ 12 Volts to run it as ]] well? & IIRC, the whole lot - TX, RX, PSU and tuner in the carrying ]] frame weighed about half a ton, Real Radio! ] I built a mains PSU to power the TX so managed to avoid the official ] DC-powered one. The filament supply was 5 volts at 10 amps, HT around 1200 ] volts, and I believe it was supposed to give about 60 watts RF out (didn't ] have any means of measuring it) but it seemed to get around the UK quite ] effectively. My PSU was built on an open metal chassis with LOTS of ] exposed high voltage bits! Hi Phil, Sounds similar to the set-up I made for mine with mercury-vapour rectifiers, built it on the transit lid of an R107 RX. I recall that the metering circuits were commoned with the receiver panel meter, which caused quite a lot of smoke until I got the wiring right!
Didn't the TX have some kind of break-in keying with a ginormous relay? Happy days! 73 Roger G3VKM e-mail: Basford@g3vkm.demon.co.uk (A later not on the R-107, added 19 May, 1998): From: "Richard Hankins" (E-mail: Richard.Hankins.3310463@nt.com) Subject: Re: Mega Boatanchor R107 ? From: Vintage Radio Mail List (uk-vintage-radio@webaware.co.uk) The R107 is certainly a fine boatanchor Rx of wartime vintage. It was used well into the 50s (possible later still in some quarters). I had one in my army cadet station in 1972 on loan from the army! It was used in a number of vehicles with Txs such as the WS12, WS33 and WS53. You will see various muting and side tone sockets on the LHS of the front panel for Tx interconnect. It covered frequencies of 1.2 to 17.4 Mc/s, single superhet design, with an IF of465 kc/s. The IF is all LC filtering, with variable selectivity - 6 and 15Kc/s I believe. Supplies are 12V DC or 100-250V AC mains. Valve line-up is RF amp (ARP34), LO (AR21), Mixer, (ARP34), Ist and 2nd IFs (ARP34x2). BFO (AR21), AF amp (AR21), AF output (AR21), rectifer (6X5G). Its certainly a monster, and I am sorry to have missed another one at this rally - I keep looking out for them but never seem to be in the right place with 70ukp or so in my pocket - hi! Jim, G4XWD, often says on the MWARS 80m net that the R107 is his favourite Rx for 80m operation - I presume he means AM operation here - rather than SSB/CW. I would expect the RA-17L to be the better performer, though it would be very interesting to see just how great the difference is say, on 80m. 73s - Richard, G7RVI
From: jclefever@aol.com (Jclefever) Date: 2 Feb 1997 12:47:11 GMT RE: 1966 Bulletin Electroniques (part of STC) and their coilpacks. TW Electronics and their TW Communicator. (3-10 in the PA) They dont make'em like that these days. Jerry Jerry Lefever (GM4CAZ) Edinburgh
Date sent: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 From: Roger Basford = Basford@g3vkm.demon.co.uk Subject: Re: G3LYW, 160m, The good 'ol days! Brian Carling G3XLQ/AF4K = af4k@earthlink.net writes ] This is wonderful. Brian, I read your piece on the CCF days on your Web site and found it facsinating. Did you do any more pieces for the valve group? If so I'd be interested to read them. Like you, we played around with 38, 19 and later 62 Sets and I really don't think I have ever enjoyed the hobby quite so much since. Still find it hard to resist gear like that when visiting rallies and museums. As I said in my posting about the CCF I was never a member (my 2ndary school wasn't "posh" enough to have a CCF unit!) but several of the guys at the Nottingham club were members and had access to radio gear. My first proper RX was the Canadian Marconi 52 set and using that with a DX40 and RF26 unit as a 21/28 MHz convertor I worked all over the US (and all the local TVs!) on ten metres AM. Nowadays the only MIL gear I own is a AN/GRC-9 Korean war vintage rig that is fully working but on loan to a military museum in North Norfolk. Happy Days! Hope this thread keeps up a while longer, 73 Roger Basford G3VKM (nr Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk) e-mail: Basford@g3vkm.demon.co.uk
From: walt@dial.pipex.com (Walt Davidson) G3NYY in Tewkesbury
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1997
(Brian Carling G3XLQ/AF4K) wrote:
] Sounds like a marvellous piece of gear
By coincidence, I worked DJ5DI on 80m CW yesterday afternoon. He was
using a "GRC9 Set", which apparently is an ex-German-military portable
transceiver (all valves) about 50 years old. Does anyone know anything
about it? He said he was running 10 watts output, using battery power,
and his signal was 599 with a slight chirp but otherwise very stable.
I am wondering if it was the German equivalent of the British B2 "spy"
transceiver.
I mentioned the 19 Set to him and he knew all about it ... including the
fact that there were 3 different types of 19 Set (Mk 1 - Mk 3).
73 de G3NYY
Walt Davidson E-mail: walt@dial.pipex.com
walt@enterprise.net
