Wireless serendipity

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

I went on a road trip last weekend to Toronto and Montreal to recover a few radio sets.

I had been after a Wireless No.29 A set for many (many many) years and had given up hope, satisfying myself with the bits for a 29 I did have. Next was a Wireless No.1 which, given that they only made 1800 of them just prior to WW2, not many survived much less Canadian issued ones. Last (well, there were a few more actually but those aren't relevant to my purpose here) was a British Wireless No.88 'Mortar' version that was in development at the end of the war but wasn't issued until 1947.

So here goes. First pic is the No.1 which is probably the only wireless set in Canadian service in 1939 at the start of the war (No.11's came out in 1938 but under the circumstances the Brits were probably reluctant to ship any to Canada at the time and Canadian made ones weren't available until 1941) and the No.29 which is the last radio Canada developed at the very end of the war. The first and the last. Oh, and should anyone out there want to start their own personal quest to complete a 29 set I can start them off with a B set and a power supply unit that are now surplus to my needs.

Second pic is a tribute to Louis Meulstee's "Wireless for the Warrior Volume 1, Wireless Sets No.1 - 88". In the pic is his book together with a Wireless Set No.1 and a Wireless Set No.88. The first and the last. And no, I shan't try to assemble all 88 for a grand family pic.