info
 

The radio museum at Kurrajong NSW has some film taken at the AWA factory on Parramatta RD during the 39-45 period if it,s of some use. Mum worked there for several years but kept mum about it right up till about 12 months before her death, 23 years ago.

I got this Remote Unit A off Oz ebay. The build year is 1943 and the serial # is 17876. It was still in the original wrapping so was never issued and was likely one of the last ones made.
The general consensus was that Australian 11 sets were made into 1942 but this seems to stretch that by another year. 2 Unit A's were used per 11 set so there were enough of them for about 9000 radios. The Unit A's were used in ground stations and radio trucks but not in AFV's so we could probably add 5000 or so more radios in the 2 1/2 years of production. This would make for around 14000 Oz 11 sets. This seems rather high.
The remote unit is ZA7533 which is the British number so the Australians never redesigned them or most of the accessories.
This is being shipped by sea mail and expected delivery time is 4 to 6 months. They must be putting it in a rowboat!!

The remote units would be a lot faster to manufacture than the sets and the contracts were probably completed (or not cancelled in time) when the WS11 was declared obsolete and production ceased. Also, some remote units would be needed for training purposes, replacements, et cetera.

The great thing about your unopened unit is that you have all the ancillaries - which are very hard to find. (And people still insist that the shoulder strap with pouch is for a Very pistol, despite cast-iron evidence to the contrary.)

Chris.

remote
 

It is unusual to find a unissued remote unit like that one is .

If you read the instruction plate under the lid, these remote units are actually to be used with wireless sets No. 1 and 11 .

The No. 1 set was a pre war 1930's British set , a handful of these sets were shipped out here pre war . At least one survives in NZ . There is a surviving pre war militia signal veteran, living in Adelaide , well into his 90's . He used the No. 1 sets .

This pic is of a No. 1 set in use in Tasmania of all places

The grainy pic depicts Woodside barracks, Adelaide and a No. 1 set in use with militia troops

The last pic is taken from the No. 1 set manual ..looks like a 11 set remote doesn't it

The remote unit A was also used with the NZ ZC1 as indicated in the picture.
I also picked up a counterpoise for the 11 set.

good find
 

That's a rare find. Never seen a counterpoise before .Is it of Canadian origin ?

I have a ZC1 , its over the other side of the Tasman waiting to be shipped . I'm not in a hurry , been waiting 5 years so far. I did have a CW-morse contact with a ZC1 in NZ many years ago .

The counterpoise is a "multi purpose part" and was issued with a lot of radio sets that could be used as ground stations. It certainly appears in the WS19 Truck and Ground Station and the WS62 working instructions.

It's ZA.2784 Leads, Counterpoise, No.2 Mk.II

There are versions with bakelite (black) bobbins on the end, brown (ebonite) ones, and a later version with conical rubber ones moulded on, presumably to prevent snagging on things when being reeled back in.

Chris.

On the "erection of 11 set" video the bobbins are all missing and the wires are all a dark colour. This one mustn't have been used much to have shiny wires like that.
On ebay there are some from the Falklands war that have more and longer wires but are basically the same type thing.

According to Wireless for the Warrior Volume 2 (the appendices) there are Leads, Counterpoise, No.2, No.2A, and No.2 Mk.II so at some point there must have been a Mk.I, probably replacing the "earth mats" on early sets.

The Falklands era counterpoise has 8 radial wires and two cables with slotted lug connectors. This was issued with the "Larkspur" era kit (e.g. C11/R210) for use with the remote ATU; the longer cable would connect to the ATU earth terminal, the shorter cable to a "Pins, Earth, Small" - yes, still in use after 50+ years (though they cheapened the design a bit) -at the base of the 27-ft mast, and the 8 radials would be fanned out around it.

A later version still was issued with Clansman; this still has two lugged cables but the 8 radials end in heat shrunk sleeving and have short lengths of para cord so they can be pegged down easily.

Chris.

Here's a few pages from the Special Pattern Vehicles manual. It says those grounding cables were only used on the 8 cwt vehicles. I wonder how much difference they actually made.

That's not a counterpoise, it's electrically bonding all the vehicle metalwork together to reduce electricalnoise from static charge buildup. (They use tinned copper braid for it.)

Chris.

bonding
 

The drawing shows a 11 set mounting frame in that F8 . Maybe when the drawing was drawn, the 11 set was to be the set intended for use in the F8 and C8 vehicles . The Canadian made 11 sets maybe were used mainly for training .

I think the 11 set was the only one they used in the 8 cwt trucks. They were pretty well obsolete by the end of 1941.
That's why I posted them on this thread.

ebay
 

I did see some Canadian 11 set power units on ebay a few years back , in Canada . They were painted a green colour on the front , like the set itself . I saved the pics of the units for sale , but its not much use to you right now :confused

I have a Canadian low output power unit I got off ebay several years ago for around $50. That's the only one I've seen.

Isn't Kevin Powels 11 set a Canadian set? I have trouble searching this forum!
He has posted pictures of it and I'm sure it has a green front?

On the subject of vehicle bonding to eliminate Wireless interference. I fitted the kit as supplied to my Willys Jeep. There was about 20 or so of those flat braided strips in various shapes and lengths for just about every thing metal. Even the choke cable and oil gauge pipe are earthed. Ron

stuff
 

This is the stuff that was on ebay in Canada a few years ago

I have three 8cwt cabs and they all have some of the grounding straps. There should be enough to end up with a complete set for the one I'm restoring. The spare chassis has the long ones that run to the back of the frame.

Charging Switchboard
 

I was checking out the charging switchboard and I assume I'll have to fabricate one. I got quite a bit of info out of the manual. I'll have to come up with some appropriate gauges and switches. Does anybody have any better pictures or more information? or some gauges or switches?

I was looking on ebay for gauges and the like and I came up with this. It was buy it now so I did! If anyone recognizes these on ebay they go for a fair bit of money. If anyone needs a case like this I have a spare now.

yes
 

Thats about all the information we have . At least we have a circuit to copy .

I think Rory in the UK made one for his PU, he guessed the dimensions but the results look good .

meter
 

that is a 11 set test meter . nice find. was it in Aust. ?

The meter is in the UK. I've seen a few on ebay and they went for double what I paid
They give the dimensions in the manual. 12 5/8 long, 16 1/4 high and 4 1/2 deep and all metal

I wanted to get some measurements so I opened the pic in Photoshop and cropped it and made the unit's width 12.625". I found the image height then went back to the full image and made it that height. I then cropped out these four images to post here. If you download these images and print them with something like Photoshop that doesn't change the image size then you can cut them up and have a full size picture to take measurements from. Neat, eh?
The box is square and the gauges are 2 1/4" diameter.

Some years ago, I mocked up a plywood 'Switchboard' cabinet for my PU. But I would certainly like to get a more accurate metal cabinet made. We have the measurements, and I have blown up this picture of the front with closed doors. You can make out the spring closing clips top and bottom.
Anyone got a better picture? Ron

charging box
 

So who is going to make one of the charging panels ? And the switch box .

I wonder what they actually used in the C8 and F8 ? I've never seen a box fitted on the Canadian charging panel, they do show the light on the panel in some of the pics .

meters
 

The meters should be easy to find . Close enough will do .

I wonder how many of thoseswitch boxes were chucked out ?

This is either a C8 or F8 and there's the mounting lug for the charging switchboard.

I thought these were standard British Army wireless Voltmeters and suitable for a whole range of radios, not specifically the WS11.

What makes it just for the WS11 please?

I have the case... looking for the meter.

Thanks

Tim

Those volt meters were made for the 11 set but their use likely continued after the 11 set wasn't used any more. The one I bought says 1943 and the 11 set had been long discontinued in the UK by then.
I got the counterpoise in the mail today. It's quite a bit smaller than I thought it was. The wires are insulated too so how does that do any grounding? You must have to push the grey end of the bobbins into the dirt.
The remote unit serial numbers go to about 18000. I'm starting to think this includes ones from the various countries since they all have the same ZA number. The remotes just went in wireless trucks and not AFVs. This means around 9000 trucks of various makes and all would likely have had charging switchboards. Does my reasoning make sense?
On the bonding straps topic they stopped a lot of static on the radio. Also, when they were using the truck itself for the aerial ground, would they not ensure better aerial functioning?