The "C" Prefix on Canadian Wireless Equipment

[Bruce MacMillan]

I had two WS11s made by Canadian Marconi. Both s/n's began with "C".

[David Dunlop]

Jon:

That production had crossed my mind but when I checked my set, found they kept the "C" with the model and the serials were delightfully numeric.

Bruce:

Intereesting. Any indications that RCA might have been involved with their production at any time?


David

[Bruce MacMillan]

The WS11s were dated 1941. I believe this was the last year these sets were made. There's no indication of RCA involvement.

One thought crossed my mind was that Northern Electric, Marconi & RCA were big into manufacturing comm equipment before the war. Addison Industries (WS58) and Rogers-Majestic (WS27) built only home entertainment radios.

Documentation I have between Ottawa & the Canadian Army Overseas HQ in London refers to the WS19 as "Wireless Set C-19). Perhaps the three manufacturers made note of this and put the "C" in front of the S/N.

[servicepub (RIP)]

Admission - I am not a radio expert.
That said, the 'C' prefix was normally applied to items that were made for Canadian use - not necessarily in Canada, and not everything in Canada was made for Canadians as we manufactured to supply many allies.
In addition, the Canadian Army had a policy known as 'Continuing Canadian Supply' which identified Canadian-made goods which were for the use of the Canadian Army. This list included uniforms, insignia, helmets, small arms and vehicles. Other items were wholly dependent on both the London and Washington Munitions Allocation Boards (LMAB and WMAB). These groups would re-direct munitions and materiel to whatever part of the globe needed them the most. As radios (and many other items) were not subject to the 'CCS' policy, Canada could be equipped with radios from anywhere.
Finally, at times a 'Canadian' serial number would be applied at the factory but the item was actually shipped elsewhere.
Clear as mud?
Clive

[Johnny Canuck]

Yes clear as mud!
It always amuses me to look at the acronym for Canadian Army Overseas is.......... CAOS.

Geoff

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Bruce MacMillan

The WS11s were dated 1941. I believe this was the last year these sets were made. There's no indication of RCA involvement.

One thought crossed my mind was that Northern Electric, Marconi & RCA were big into manufacturing comm equipment before the war. Addison Industries (WS58) and Rogers-Majestic (WS27) built only home entertainment radios.

Documentation I have between Ottawa & the Canadian Army Overseas HQ in London refers to the WS19 as "Wireless Set C-19). Perhaps the three manufacturers made note of this and put the "C" in front of the S/N.

I think the "C" prefix was to distinguish the Canadian built sets from the British ones, simply because of internal component differences that meant spare parts from one country would not fit sets built in another (although the complete unit would be interchangeable). The WS11 was built in the UK and Canada, Australia was (I think) supplied from the UK. The Canadian redesigned Wireless Set No.9 was very considerably different from the British one (it used sensible valves for a start), and eventually got redesignated as WS52.

All the WS19 variants are different (in various ways) and there's a manual of which parts are interchangeable between UK, US and Canadian built sets, plus modifications needed (different bias resistor if E1148 is used in the 'B' set instead of DET24/CV6), etc.

The VAOS prefix was also changed, with various permutations of ZA, ZA/C, ZA/CAN, ZA/US/BR and ZAA (the latter being Australia).

Chris.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

The WS11 was built in the UK and Canada, Australia was (I think) supplied from the UK.

Chris.

Actually the 11 set was built here , AWA made around 6000 of them . Quite a few of these have been seen in the UK recently , these sets are recent imports by collectors . The AWA set was not suitable for jungle use , the cotton wiring looms were a disaster in the tropics with fungal growth problems .
When the war finished the Govt. surplus them very quickly , many were never issued but kept in storage because of its unsuitable design for tropical areas.

The sets are fairly common here . The other problem with them was they used very low quality zinc based castings for the power supply genemotor frames , these frames crack and distort badly . Mike