by AF4K
I trust you will enjoy reading them!
From: Brian Carling Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 Subject: Net.wav To: Richard Castle (Email: rcc@soton.ac.uk ) How did you like the way that I broke the first sample file 71.wav into four smaller pieces? Yes, Richard, well the second file you sent - Net.wav is pretty awful sounding. I realize that that was the kind of conditions we had to often deal with back then. I am not sure whether that is one I should put up on the web site or not. There just isn't much signal - mostly noise (grin!) Have you got any others that will be coming my way? This seems to have been a pretty popular project so far!! Bry, G3XLQ
Date sent: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 From: Richard Castle (Email: rcc@soton.ac.uk ) To: af4k@earthlink.net Hi Brian OK, I will check out the remaing bits and see if I can dig out a couple of decent recordings. I am afraid that there was always a fair bit of QRM/QRN at my QTH. Richard
Bry wrote: To: Richard Castle & the CCF Gang Sorry if I am wearing out my welcome with any of you chaps. I will try to keep these mailings to a minimum, but... For those who have been asking, the full explanation for the 19 Set sound clips is now available at: http://www.oocities.org/CapeCanaveral/Hall/8701/ham/ccf8.htm#sounds Thanks to Richard Castle for his latest notes. One question that WASN'T answered though, Richard - what YEAR (approx) was the recording made? Anyone got any more pictures or sounds from the CCF days? Even a picture of your school might help!
Date sent: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 From: Richard Castle Subject: CCF Web Page News!! Hi ALL The year of recording was either 1969 or early 1970. I will try to dig out a mor accurate date by checking the tape to see waht else was recorded on it. I will also see if there are any other interesting bits hidden on some 100 hours of tape. Richard Castle
Date sent: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 From: Howard Aspinall ( Email: 100646.144@compuserve.com ) Subject: CCF etc I recently spent a fascinating and enjoyable hour browsing through your CCF web pages. My school had a cadet force, though for some reason unknown to me, despite my known interest in radio, I was allocated to the armoury. Still we had 19, 18 and 38 sets, but these were almost invariably used for school cadet activities, cross country runs etc etc. Maybe the lack of a signals officer contributed to this limited use. I remember beefing up an 18 set to run off a dynamotor, so on tx the filament of the poor old o/p valve glowed brighter when ht was applied. Surprisingly it survived, and the set knocked spots off conventional ones. In fact, contacts were obtained (naughty) all over the country with this set on some er.. obscure freqency! Equally interesting was the local availability of 17 sets (those in a wooden case intended I think for wartime coms between searchlight batteries). A few of the lads at school had these, for coms between houses/dorms. Unknown to us though they played havoc with the science master's band one tv set, and it wasn't long before they were all confiscated until the end of term. Although neither he nor the boss (headmaster) weren't initially amused, they did come round eventually UNTIL yours truly got a bargain at a local junk shop....a hand cranked magneto, which worked just fine with its o/p strapped to the metal handle on the study door, and frame to the central heating radiator (we did have them). Needless to say after many successful practical jokes on other lads, one day footsteps were heard, so I cranked the magneto handle. The door handle moved, then stopped. "Aspinall...what the h*ll are you doing???" Oops...it was the boss! Nuff said. The bright side of this was a "blind eye" was turned to a pal and I learning morse, by sending it to each other (quietly) at the back of class during French lessons!!! Ok, I passed the morse test, but failed the French exam. 73..Howard/G3RXH P.S. I always thought G3LYW was a leading qrp op!(Note from Bry - I think Allan, G3WUW can fill you in on him!)
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 From: Howard Aspinall ( Email: 100646.144@compuserve.com ) Subject: Re: CCF etc Hi Bri ... feel free to let others enjoy/hate (as appropriate) my little anecdotes. I'm not too sure I should go into any further detail about the err..."obscure" frequencies or not, but those times were great fun. But then so was the era of open warfare between yours truly and the radio authorities (were they out to get me!!!) etc etc., operating mobile with a spark transmitter, having a topband qso with Humber Radio, being told to qsy by Amsterdam Radio, impersonating an RIS bloke and closing a station down/confiscating his gear (that WAS fun), 4 Kv power supplies built in a wooden box in a damp shed et al. Lucky to be alive maybe!! Happy days. Memoirs called for maybe!!! More seriously though, maybe my eyes are closed, but looking about these days, people seem so very serious and dull. Guess it's a manifestation of the times, the fact people have to work harder now, and thus become obedient servants of the all pervading "system". I'm one of these odd folk who operates AM on 3.625 Mc/s on Saturday mornings at 0930, and sometimes during weekday early afternoons, re-living some of the fruits of mispent youth. Vy 73 Howard/G3RXH
From: Paul Dent ( Email: paul@rtp.ericsson.se )
Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998
Subject: 1155's and 38 sets
Like you, I am brit, now living in NC since 1991.
It was fascinating to read your web page as it sounded just like
me.
I used to operate 1155's/1154's in the ATC CW net on 5.28MHz in
the 50's as a teenager.
My first receiver was an 1155, which I still have, together with
a 38-set that still works. In fact, I just got my son to send me
some spare ARP12's from england.
I just rewired my 1155 for 12v, and it's running off solar cells
with a ex 19-set dynamotor!
I see you got your 1155 picture from schmaus@ee.ualberta.com
too!
Best regards,
Paul Dent
(NOTE - Paul, what IS an 'ARP-12' please ??? - Bry)
Date: Sun, 02 Mar 1997 From: Steve c/o Joyce DePrato (E-mail: joyd@travelin.com) Reply-To: joyd@travelin.com I read your radio history with great interest. I also started in radio about 1960 and remember well "communicating" with 18 sets over vast distances (about 300 yds before we lost the signal). Also have lots of happy memories using 19 sets and later r1155/ar88 rxs.Got my licence in 1965 (G8AJB) when class b first became availiable.(Iwas never into morse code).I moved here (rhode island) in 1982 and have recently got back in to the hobby (still with no code !) Thanks for the great web-page and keep up the good work. regards Steve N1VQA
I have been hearing from a Matthew Tidball in the U.K. about
his Signal Corps-related web pages.
You may want to take a look too.
From: Paul Dent ( Email: paul@rtp.ericsson.se ) Date sent: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 Subject: 19-set It is 40 years since I took the case off a 19-set, but I think I am right in saying your picture of the inside (spot the 807) is a mirror image! Paul Dent ( I am not sure I remember that well myself - I didn't make those pictures myself though so I have no idea! By the way Paul, do you know SM5GNN who works for Ericsson??? He is a great valve enthusiast and homebrewer!! - radios, not beer! - Bry, G3XLQ / AF4K)
And NOW: An excellent new article on "OLD MEMORIES" from our mate Paul Beaumont, G7VAK!! From: Paul Beaumont ( Email: p.beaumont@ic.ac.uk ) Subject: Old memories! Date sent: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 I have just read your web pages from one end to the other with much interest and mixed feelings. The pictures of the 19 set. I had owned 3, all bought for 49/6d. Southern Radio Supplies also sold me 3 WS38 sets.(100/- lot) There were two versions available, the AFV which was twinned to the 19 set, along with its combined amplifier and vibrator based power supply. The other was an Infantry set and was powered by a composite battery. (That battery was conveniently available at a shop near to the tube station in Lisle street as was the connecting cable). Both sets used the ATP4 and ARP7 as well as smaller valves, the numbers of which I now forget. The '88' used a line up of 1R5's and 1T4's. My first homebrew used two 1T4's. ( I brought a midget valve receiver, with the same valves in back from Aden with me. That used a 67.5/1.5v battery and was MW only. That was stolen from me). We had a network operating, on the council estate where I lived, at night. I remember slipping out into the bicycle shed where the '38' was kept to call up the other 2 or 3 members. We used proper operating procedures and were never troubled by 'The Authorities '. I also purchased a R107 from Tom Huggett,in Thornton Heath, for 7-10-00d on the basis that it had a fault on it.( I took it home on the 'bus!). It worked fine...ZL stations no problem. The big problem was that the table that I had put it on collapsed. My poor Mum nearly died with the sound of it crashing to the floor. I must admit that my concern was more with the possible demise of the receiver than my Mum's health. Her moan about her health changed tack when she saw the gouged plaster and torn wallpaper!!!! (The wireless carried on working fine). I also purchased an 18 set from Huggetts as well. That worked fine and I made a mains psu for it. I seem to remember using a 5Z4 and a rather large 'Parmeko' transformer. The chassis was a roasting tin that was handily left inside the oven. I suffered on Sunday when it was realised that the roast was not going in that tin! Other sets that I have used were the 88 set; this did play havoc with BBC TV. The 62 set, I still use the roller coaster out of it today, as well as the two large variable capacitors. R1155 and T1154 combination. The R1155 was a fair receiver and I used mine in conjunction with an old Creed 4B Teleprinter and a Naval Terminal unit. The T1154 was a good noise generator. I used it at an ATC unit where I was the radio officer and found out that not only was the fundemental a good whacking signal but that all harmonics, well into 2M and beyond were of greater amplitude. A better receiver was the 1475 with its 'slide rule' tuning scale. I still possess my two valve, cascoded triodes, homebrew receiver with all its coils - 80 kc/s upto 35 Mc/s ( or was that Hz ?). It receives SSB and CW no sweat. I enjoyed making that one. I think it cost around 8 quid. Those were the good old days; where for the outlay of not more than 3 quid a working radio station could be had. Todays youth, IF they have any interest expect to lash out mega lucre for a piece of equipment that was manufactured for the American market, but which fetches its dollar price in pounds. True the sixpences and shillings spent then appear to be a trivial amount of cash in todays terms, but how many people earned much more than ten pounds a week to keep a family on? With paper rounds paying only 10/- a week, if you were lucky, you really had to save hard to get your desire. The surplus sets brought greater satisfaction for that reason. 73 Paul Beaumont G7VAK RSARS 1132 (Note from Bry, G3XLQ - I got MY 38 sets from the same source for 7/6 each back in about 1964!)
From Bry (G3XLQ / AF4K ) - Did anyone else see the pictures of INSIDE the 19 set? Where did I get that? I am not sure if that was on here at the CCF RADIO Web Site or over on the newsgroup: alt.binaries.pictures.radio!
Date sent: Wed, 6 May 1998 From: Richard Castle ( Email: 106625.1160@compuserve.com ) Subject: Audio Files and X Files! Hi Brian Just looking at page 9 whilst recording tapes of a top-band qso taking place in 1967 (possibly September) and I saw an e-mail from Howard Aspinal (G3RXH). Guess what, I was recording him at the time!!!!!!!!!!. He was having a qso with GM3SVK. Now is that spooky or what? Oh, by the way, if I carry on at the rate I am going, you should have a tape full of CCF/HAM qso's in about a month. This project is taking a lot longer than I imagined. Richard Castle
Date sent: Thu, 7 May 1998 From: Richard Castle ( Email: rcc@soton.ac.uk ) Subject: ARP12 Hi Brian Just in case no-one told you, an ARP12 is a battery valve used in war department portable sets. It had a 2 volt heater and I still have a few of them in their boxes. They are still availiable today for a few quid. Also, does anyone out there remember the CR150, the one that covered from 2 to 50 Mcs, and was made by Marconi in 1947? Am I the only person who has one, or are there hundreds of the damn things out there just rotting away in garden sheds. Richard Castle
Date sent: Fri, 15 May 1998 From: Andy Jackson ( Email: ajackson@cellnet.co.uk ) Subject: "WS42" on page 7 Brian; Just spent a happy half hour wading thru your pages; on page 7 the claimed photo of a WS42 isn't! it's a Larkspur C42 transceiver with it's power supply vibratory No 12 - quite a different animal and a good 15 years younger than a WS42. Cheers! Andy G8JAC
From: WSNO19 ( Email: WSNO19@aol.com )
Date sent: Sun, 17 May 1998
Subject: ACF Royal Signals
Dear Bry,
Nice on what you have done for the CCF (ACF?)
"Home Page". I sure appreciate reading other peoples experiences
of what I had ALMOST given up on ever talking about again.
As it "seemed" that the ACF ( ARMY CADET FORCE ) was a little
under- represented, I thought I must write. All rivalries apart,
the ACF was very active ( and still is? ) in the 50's and early
'60's when I was "in". ( 1956-1958 )
As this is read, if there are any former members of 'D' Coy.,
10th Batt. Royal Warwickshire Regt. (ACF), Tennal Grange
barracks-harborne-Nr Birmingham...give me a shout.
I was Royal Signals badged and performed field operations and
maintenance on our (then) current Infantry wirelesses ( yes..it
was wireless back then! ) These wirelesses were W.S.
No.38Mk11's, No.18 Mk111's and No.46's. Our Company Commander
was (then) First Left tenant (just kidding) Brian Leonard who
had just come back from Cyprus and just completed OTS. When I
visited the Company in 1987, he was still there. ( now a Captain
) He had been a real "trooper". Thirty plus years of continuous
volunteer service.
As the Company "maneouvered" 4-5 times a year, I was busy as a
school-kid, working with a "real" Signaller keeping the radios
working. I found out that you could generally throw all the
ARP-12's and the ATP-4 away and, if you replaced them...most
times the Wireless would work again. ( unless one of Her
Majesty's batteries was flat! )
Summer camps were either at Morpeth, various Welsh locations on
the coast or Kinver Edge ( Worcs.) at the old U.S. 12th Corps
encampment. Great times falling off lorries while trying to hold
onto a BREN and strapped with a W.S. No.18.!!
Weekend were spent maneouvering with various ACF or CCF units
e.g. King Edwards High School CCF. They were always the
"attackers" and us ACF "erks" were the defenders! ( why?)
Typicall we would guard a railway fixture i.e. tunnel, bridge
etc. on a generally "slow" railway line. We usually chose the
line from Longbridge ( now non-existant ) Austin Motors to
Halesowen-Worcs. This line ran out into the country, past the
Blue Bird Toffee factory at Hunnington and thence to Halesowen.
At Hunnington was a railway viaduct which was a graet place to
"defend" and try to communicate vback to HQ in Harborne. ( about
10 radio- miles).......sometimes it worked. Most times we sat on
the freezing rails and I tuned in Radio Luxembourg and we passed
the "ciggies" and the spare headset around!! The CCF often
didn't "show up"!
Word to the wise: Don't attempt a bayonet charge with a W.S. No.
38 strapped on. If the aerial rods hit a low over hang ( such a
branch or railway tunnel ) you will go A@s over t#t and bend
something!
Afetr the ACF days..I headed to "mans service" AND joined that
notorious band of "J-Banders" on 3.1 Mhz.( using a 19 set)
Thanks for the opportunity to pass on some personal highlights.
Great Times!!!!
Tony Grogan-Ex "Brummie" WA4MRR/ Army MARS
AAR4LJ.
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 From: Richard Castle ( Email: rcc@soton.ac.uk ) Subject: wav Hi Brian I will be sending you the sound and pics within the week. Some of the (.wav files) are hi quality and take a fair bit of disk space, do you want me to convert them to 8 bit so that they take up less space or can you handle that? Finally, this will arive on cd in a RS Components transport case, so don't stick it in the bin as junk mail, Hi Hi. Richard Castle
From: Forwyn ( Email: Forwyn@aol.com ) Date sent: Tue, 26 May 1998 Subject: CCF nets Hi, Bry ! Just spent an interesting few mins.looking thru the pages & Richard's CCf articles in partic., I quite agree that around 5 megs was really great, at least in the '60s, for low power reliable comms & I used to radio wx reports to Bracknell without fail from Ellesmere College, Shropshire, every morning, usually on a 19 set to save stoking up the 12 tx. We also went on the Sunday morning nets (Queen Easy ?) which were good fun & we could even work on those with 18 sets sometimes ! We had a 12 tx / R107 setup, plus 2 or 3 19 sets, a 22, loads of 18s and 38s (the Mk IIIs of these seemed very good, almost as good as 18s which always worked well and were good fun) but the Mk I 38s were dreadful things, probably due to old age mainly. We also had a few 88 sets but these weren't very good as regards range, not a patch on 18 sets & being vhf were more or less line of sight. Better for taking on bicycles, though ! 73 Anthony, GW4RYK
From: Forwyn@aol.com Date sent: Wed, 27 May 1998 Subject: Military Radio Hi Bry, Thanks for your quick response although none expected really but yes, by all means print my comments on your pages. I'll try and recall a few more for later, when time permits ! I still have a 19MkII set plus an 18 and a 68, the 19 is used quite frequently on the MWARS net (or what was!), it's now got its own internal psu so is quite a handy size for the desktop in the shack. The 18 & 68 are restoration projects, but not a great deal wrong with either. Also collect Eddystones, the slide rule dial type valve models of the 50s & 60s, plus the smaller solidstate variants such as the EC10 of similar age. Note your gear, all good stuff ! 73 Anthony, GW4RYK
Date sent: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 From: Howard Aspinall ( Email: 100646.144@compuserve.com ) Subject: Re: 19 SETS - PRICES Etc Hi Bry, 19 sets bring back nostalgic memories of my pirate days!!!!! Blissful innocence until the man from the ministry knocked on the door!!!! But enough of this! At one time, I guess anyone who did import such stuff from the States, Canada or wherever might have made a killing, but the feel I get now is that the bottom has been knocked out of much of the UK marke in this field. Entirely the fault of some dealers of course...people might accept paying slightly over the odds, but prices have got ridiculous and the military vehicle buyers are not endless. It must be an expression of that enterprise culture which Mrs Thatcher thought so much of!!! However, never mind 19 sets....do you come across any complete 52 sets (Canadian)? I guess they are so heavy/bulky, it'd be uneconomical to ship them over. I went to the local radio club tonight, and there was the guy who gave me my first ever licensed qso, on 160m back in 1963. Not seen him for years. Naturally we got reminiscing (he's in his 80s now, and a real character).... he was a Bomber Command airborne radio op in WW2 using 1155/1154 stuff. Proving that everyone isn't a blood sucking bastard, he offered me a couple of unused TT21 pa valves. I had to twist his arm to take anything for them. Only last year, another old codger (approaching his 90s) gave me a complete TCS12 tx/rx, and flatly refused any cash. I think he was just happy it would be appreciated and used, knowing I wouldn't just sell it on and make a nice profit. [snip] TTFN..Howard/G3RXH
Date sent: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 From: Charles B Brookson ( Email: cbrookson@iee.org ) Send reply to: cbrookson@iee.org Subject: CCF Like the site ! Used to be C/S 6 at Bradfield College 1972-6. Cheers Charles Brookson G4GBA http://www.zeata.demon.co.uk
Date sent: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 From: Bill Griffith ( Email: bgriff@develcon.com ) Subject: Re: Great job! Hello Bry, Thanks for your kind words about my web-page ! I've neglected it since March, spending most of my "hobby" time experimenting with regens and restoring my 19 set and Morrow MBR-5. I've also been negotiating with my better half about purchasing a scanner or digital camera to add more pictures to my webpage, and post some more construction projects (my last try at doing schematics with the MSWord drawing utilities discouraged me from further similar attempts). Maybe for Chistmas ... I want to expand my boatanchors page soon - add more links, info on the boatanchors list server, more pages on specific radios, etc., and I'll also try to link into the BA webring (although I've found it maddeningly slow the last few times I've tried following it). And I'll also make the link to your page more noticeable ! :-) Thanks again for the use of your 19set background - it really adds class to the overall presentation, don't you think ? I have fond memories of the 19set - in my high-school years, I belonged to the Ontario Regiment, an armoured militia (primary reserve) unit, and we had them in our Shermans. The 19sets were long in the tooth even then, and we had to maintain and repair them ourselves, since our District regular force RCEME support group had long since refused to even try to fix them for lack of spares (our local army surplus store was better stocked!). Sometimes at lunch I'd bicycle up to the airport and con our Transport Officer into bringing a few duff sets back to the school in a truck or jeep, and I'd fix them in the electronics shop after school. Those were great times. BTW some of my old crew help out at the Oshawa Military Museum restoring and maintaining AFVs and other military vehicles. They have a webpage at : http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/8716/index.html if you're interested. 73, Bill VE3WGX (WaveGuide, Xband) bgriff@develcon.com griffith@idirect.com (Bill & Kathy Griffith)
From: "Frank" ( Email: mereditf@cadvision.com ) Subject: G3LYW and Stuff Date sent: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 Hi Bry: Don't believe that we have ever talked, but I check out your web page from time to time. I remember getting into some kind of news groups (which I can no longer find) that was concerned with the CCF and talking about the old days on 160M; in particular G3LYW, although there was very little information on LYW. My call is VE6CB in Calgary. I was also VE2BEZ in Montreal for many years. Before that (from 1958 to 1966) I was GW3NAM, and very active on 160 M, so I know many of the guys that are in some way linked to your web page; in particular G3LYW, G3MBN, G3OIT and G3NYY. What may be of interest to you is that I have a half dozen photographs that have somehow survived over the last, almost 40 years, and are of some of the most active and prominent 160 m operators of those days. Details of the photographs follow: Cheltenham mobile rally 1959 - John Lewis (G3MYI), SWL Martin (G6903), Brian Gibbs (G3MBN), John Weston (G3LYW), and me, Frank Meredith (GW3NAM). Outside SWL Mike's in Chippenham (I think about 1960) - John (G3LYW), me, SWL Pauline (of Bath), and SWL Mike. Same day as above, at Longleat mobile rally - G3MBN, G3LYW, Pauline, me and Lawrence (G3LWF). The shack of G3NDG '59 or '60 - Dennis (G3MGI), me, Bruce Fleming (G3NDG, now KI7VR in Vancouver WA). G3NDG's shack with Bruce in picture - probably early 59. Larger shot of G3NDG's rig (two 19 sets and other junk!). If you have any interest in any of the above photographs I will be very happy to scan them and send them to you. I have Paint Shop Pro and can compress them any way you like and also zip them. I can scan at up 300 dpi, although I find with 150 dpi and using JPEG compression, then zipping them, they come out pretty good. Also sending this to Rob Manion of Practical Wireless in case he feels that some of his old timer readers may be interested. I think I have a slight problem with my return address, so just in case it is not clear the address should be as follows: mereditf@cadvision.com 73, Frank Meredith
From: "Frank" ( Email: mereditf@cadvision.com )
Subject: Re: G3LYW and Stuff
Date sent: Mon, 3 Aug 1998
Hi Bry:
Be a pleasure to send them to you. The details of each photo are described in my first E mail, but will copy it here to help with identification. I hope you can handle zipped files, if not let me know and will re-send them as straight JPEGs.
The photos of G3NDG and G3NDG's shack are self explanitory and were probably taken in late '58 or early '59. The 19 sets certainly go along with your BA links.
The other photos are as follows:
Don't know Martin's last name, possibly he has a real call these days.
Outside SWL Mike's in Chippenham before John drove us to the Longleate mobile rally (I think it was 1960) - left to right, John (G3LYW), Frank (GW3NAM), SWL Pauline Dowden (of Bath), and SWL Mike. Again don't know Mike's last name, possibly Tom G3OLB remembers it since they were friends.
Same day as above, at Longleat mobile rally - G3MBN, G3LYW, Pauline, Frank and Lawrence Franklin (G3LWF).
73, Frank
Date sent: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 To: af4k@earthlink.net From: Bill Griffith ( Email: bgriff@develcon.com ) Subject: Great days Hello Bry, [ I certainly wish I had one. For now though, I can get by with [ a page scanner that was very inexpensive and you can scan the pictures [ in from the photo prints with one of those. The flat-bed page scanners have come down quite a bit in price, and I hear that the image quality is very good. I was undecided between a page scanner and one of those small cameras that connect between your keyboard and PC (uses the keyboard port to acquire the image), but I've seen ads at the local photo developer's where they will convert some of your photos to JPG format on disk for a nominal fee - worth investigating, since I'd probably use the flat-bed scanner more than the camera. [ I bet! What a blast you must have had! Young people today just [ do NOT know what they are missing out on, do they! Sadly true, but cadets and reserves are still popular in Ontario, and unfortunately, some units have waiting lists - the gov't hasn't the money to support a larger reserve force. Today, though, you'd need to be very capable (or brave) to tackle the repair of one of the new AN/VRC sets! In the late 60's we were issued C42 sets to replace our 19sets. There were no "spare valve" kits for the C42, and schematics weren't available. I don't think the reliability of the C42 was any worse, but every duff set had to be sent to District RCEME for repair, and the delay often meant that I could only provide radios for half of our vehicles for exercises. As I recall, there were 10 or 12 socket-head cap screws in recessed holes that needed to be removed to open the set, and one of the holes was always plugged with a black metal cap (covering the screw) to deter tampering. With some careful drilling and using modified long-nosed pliers, it wasn't too difficult to extract the cap, and then you could swap tubes between sets and try to get two or three working out of four or five duff sets. One day, though, I went a bit too far, and must have returned a set to RCEME that had four or five swapped-in dead tubes, plus the original electrical fault. When I got it back, there was a black metal plug in EVERY hole! (Subtle buggers, eh? :-). [ When I first came to the USA someone sold me a tuning unit out [ of a BC-610 anmd I used it to make a small xtal controlled [ transmitter for the medium wave (AM Broadcast) band, and played [ records in my neighbourhood down in Georgia. What fun! That must have been great fun! I hope you had a good-sized audience! [ Do you mind if I post your remarks on the CCF Radio Web Pages [ at: [ http://www.oocities.org/CapeCanaveral/Hall/8701/ham/ccfradio.htm Not at all, if you think they'd be of interest to anyone. I hope you'll forgive my rambling, but these old BAs do stir up some fond memories - I guess that's why I enjoy fiddling with them. Thanks and 73, Bill VE3WGX
From: "Frank" ( Email: mereditf@cadvision.com ) Subject: G3LYW Date sent: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 Hi Guys: Check out the following web site, if you knew John that is: "http://www.dmiller2.force9.co.uk/g3lyw.htm". Just made a search on Alta Vista using "G3LYW" as the search criteria, and it came up with a web page by G4JHI and it referenced something called the "G3LYW network". There are all kinds of pictures, links, and even a recording of John. It seems that he also has an e mail address as follows, so drop him a line: "g3lyw@woodtown.dircon.co.uk". Keith, just got your other e mail, and will respond soon. 73, Frank
Date sent: 7 Sep 1998 From: "Richard Hankins" ( Email: Richard.Hankins.3310463@nt.com ) Subject: Yellow 'T' on 1940s/50's Military Radios Martin, I think you will find it stands for "Tropicalised". Reading from my Wireless for the Warrier, Vol.2 on the WS19, it says: "WS No.19 MkIII/T is similar to the standard Mk.III set but was given a tropical finish by using selected componenets.e.g. all decoupling capacitors being exchanged for sealed types, PVC wiring and by treating exposed parts with fungicide. Tropicalised No.19 sets and Supply Units No.1 Mk.III can easily be recognised by the addition of the suffic T to the normal type number and large (yellow or pink) painted letter T on the front panel. Later tropicalised versions had the suffix /1 e.g. Supply Unit No.1 Mk.III/1." About the WS18, it says much the same, but also had "luminised tuning dials" and "connector plugs made of a larger Bakelite type". Also many mechanical parts had a tropicalised finish including a different type of meter. They even added a Xtal control facility - presumably anticipating far worse frequency stability under conditions of high temp and humidity. I wonder how much testing they were able to do in those days. Getting a closely controlled humid evironment is not easy, even in these days of microprocessor control, and the tests are fraught with difficulty (says he having spent many a day both doing the tests, trying to understand the results and then fix the problems in whatever widget I was designing at the time!). 73s Richard G7RVI
From: "Hankins, Richard ( Email: richard.hankins.trh01@nortel.co.uk ) Subject: RE: 19Set on the mains Date sent: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 George and others, its a small world! I met up with Alan Morriss, G4GEN, (yesterday at the NEC), who tells me that he placed this request for the WS19 mains PSU with his friend George, because he has no email facilities himself. It further turns out that Alan is searching on behalf of Tony Stevenson, G3YNT, who is a good friend of mine, living only some 5 miles away! I am quite familiar with Tony's WS19, which he has been heroically restoring for some months. I say 'heroically', as he is getting on in years, and his eyesight gives him problems with identifying parts, and checking wiring, etc. He has however succeeded to the point of getting the said WS19 on 80m on several occasions. He struggles with getting enough 12V power into the ordinary DC PSU, hence his request for a mains PSU. As Chris has referred us to the Wireless for the Warrior tome, I will give you a run-down on what it says on the subject of these mains PSUs. Firstly it is called the 'Supply Unit Rectifier No.1 Canadian'. It is interchangeable with the Supply Units No.1 MkIII and the No.2, and has the 12 way socket to connect to the MkIII set. A 12 to 6 way connector is required to connect to the Mk1 and MkII sets. There were first produced in 1944 by Electronics Labororatories Inc of Indianapolis, and a second batch by RCA in 1950. The circuit is entirely standard and only a 110V AC version is noted. Annoyingly, WWfW does tell us what they were produced for, so I guess workshop repairs - as below - is as good a guess as any. As a personal aside, I note that I have worked for two of the companies that produced the WS19, firstly Pye in Cambridge (back in the late 70s), and currently for Nortel, previously known as Northern Telecom, and much more previously known as 'Northern Electric Company' when they were banging out the WS19 in the 40s. 73s Richard G7RVI
NEW! Hear GM3SVK from G3RXH on 160 metres! (260 KB file!)
