Remote control
 

Why are there so many Remote Control No 1 (Canadian) sets showing up on ebay?

Possibly because people have seen the ridiculous prices being asked and think they actually have a cat in hell's chance of someone paying them that much for one?

There's a lot of stupidly high priced kit on there at the moment, some of which has been there for years, and will still be there in years to come.

Chris.

I have seen a number of them in the last year or so being flogged as ‘Commando Radios’ with the price jacked up a few more quid to go with that, but I cannot fathom where that name for them came from.

I also see one currently on eeePay with the Date ‘1945’ on the front of it being used as the ‘Serial Number’.

I would slap my forehead but I am holding two drinks at the moment...


David

Dave Dave Dave. Longstanding rules of the game are that if you put 'airborne' or 'commando' on it it's worth at least triple. Gets the world of warcraft couch commandos all a'blather and their e-transfers all a'humming.

My favourite marketing trick is 'Jungle Carbine' to identify a British No.5 Mk.1 rifle. The No.5 was a late war lighter, shorter replacement for the No.4 and was not intended particularly for jungle use. So how did the name 'Jungle Carbine' come about? It seems some surplus dealer in California in the 1960's wanted to move a batch and made the jungle connection much as we are seeing with 'commando' now. It worked, so well in fact the name has stuck to this day. I refuse to use it.

On a more serious note, do these remotes even have serial numbers? If so where because I can't find it.

Hi Bruce.

They actually all were stamped with a serial number by all three manufacturers; sadly, they all used the same method, which was crap for long-term survival. I never found a readable one on a Northern Electric product but found several with LOTS of TLC on R.C.A. and Dominion Electrohome Industries ones:

RCA

1942: C 03061, C 05661

1943: C 25113

1944: C 33237


DEI

1945: C 60633, C 62404 and C 65020

The ‘C’ and the Number were stamped separately with as much as one half inch of gap between them using a mechanical number stamp. The type offices used to have years ago with an attached ink stamp and a choice of sequential, or repetitive numbering functions. The problem was they used a very thin white paint that you can see through very easily when dried. The Stamps were ¼-inch Roman Style Font.

With the paint being so thin to start with, left exposed for any length of time, it simply oxidized over time and rubs off. If it gets over painted, it is protected, if you know it might be there and are very, very careful. I used to rub back with extremely fine emery paper, or 0000 steel wool and finer, using a water dampened cloth to clear off the dust. As soon as you start to see white marks, REALLY slow down and take your time.


I am not certain, but DEI might have been the only manufacturer by 1945.


David

Thanks Dave, so it would have been after the 'No. ' on these Dominion Electrohome Industries 1945 examples?

Example of the serial shamelessly stolen off worthpoint.

As per Rob’s Post, Bruce, yes.

The first character in Rob’s photo is the ‘C’. The stamping can be anywhere from right behind the ‘No.’ To as far away as under the ‘LIMITED’.

I will try and find the photo I took years ago and post it this weekend.

David

Prices
 

Yes the asking prices for this military communications stuff on Epay is generally inflated to the point of being ridiculous. In many cases the seller has little idea of what the item is, it's green, it has wires and leads and sockets so it must be worth zillions. The ebay dealers are also asking exhorbitant prices for No. 19 set accessories. I believe a large stash of surplus NOS 19 set stuff has literally been dug up in Italy, back in the 1960s the stuff was buried in an old quarry or similar.

Those remote units were also manufactured in Australia, I can't recall the specific maker but it may have been AWA, I did have one at one stage.

The Australian remote unit is more likely to have been a locally built Wireless Remote Control Unit 'E', which itself was a modification of the earlier 'B' unit (for the WS2, 3 and 9 (I think)) to allow it to be used with the WS19. A large number of 'B' units were converted (and retained their original ID plates).

The British "E Mk.1" had a wooden outer case, the subsequent Mk.2 was steel.

For further amusement, consider item 353517254336 on eBay UK, which is a Larkspur-era 27-ft telescopic mast (Racal MA 638) with no accessories and an obvious "clamp-on" repair piece to the top section and some corrosion, offered at the bargain price of 275 GBP. Alternatively there's item 274916183837 that is an incomplete Aerial Base No.28 (Larkspur VHF base) at a bargain price of 79 GBP - at least the seller has changed the description from "WW2, Aerial base for Wireless Set No.19 / WS 19 / WS 21 /WS22" after I pointed that out... (The last NOS one of those I bought cost 7 pounds, and I recently got a bagful of mixed bases for 20 pounds (mainly because it had a Base No.8 in amongst all the Larkspur ones).)

:doh:

P.T.Barnum was right (or at least some of the sellers think he was).

Chris.

Here is the RCA Unit I had years ago. Pretty much at the opposite end of the spectrum quality control wise from the one Rob posted, which just adds to the challenge of finding them today.

David

I just had a real close look at my two 1945 DIL made ones. There's not even a ghostly hint of a serial after the 'No.' Whatever ink/paint they used completely disappeared. Disappearing ink on RCUs....it must have confused the crap out the the Hun.

both of mine are RCA although the unit on the left looks like a post war refurb.
that s/n is C07126 so maybe 1942/3 and the right unit is 55628 (no C) dated 1945.

:yappy: good one, Bruce.

That stuff does indeed seem to rub away easily once it ages. I thought of clear coating the numbers I had but not knowing what the ink/paint was, decided against trying. I should have put all the RCU’s I had under my Black Light back then to see what that revealed.

In fairness though, I doubt any of the designers or manufacturers expected them to last 80 years and if I think about it, these items in particular do not seem to hold up well in damp conditions. The wooden boxes just fall apart.

David

Hello Mr. MacMillan.

Nice to know you are doing well in Borisville!

That left one does look like a postwar NATO repaint. I had a couple of those I could still see the original paint markings through and was able to uncover the Serial Numbers, with a lot of careful work. Sadly much of those NATO paint jobs were preceded by excessive sanding that destroyed anything original.

David

Yes, a post war repaint with the shiny dark green. I swear the entire post war Canadian army must have been tasked with painting every piece of kit from trucks to binoculars, and yes communications equipment (that had perfectly good original paint) with that goo then stenciling what was there before in rough white letters. It leaves people like me wondering if it's worth the effort taking these items back to original, especially if you can see the original paint and markings right there under the green.

[QUOTE=David Dunlop;282302]Hello Mr. MacMillan.

Nice to know you are doing well in Borisville!

That left one does........

David, When I first started reading, I thought you were going to make a political comment. :doh:

Life is starting to normalize here other than getting petrol. I was at an event last week and met and received a handshake from HRH Princess Anne. No social distancing and no one wearing masks. This means there is hope that our military shows and events will be happening soon. :no4: