15-CWT, 2K1, WIRE 5 Body Details

[David Dunlop]

Back in the late 1970's and early 1980's, when I was tracking down missing parts for my own 2K1 Wireless Body, I had the great good fortune of being able to study over 50 examples of this body the local Princess Auto dealer conveniently had sitting about their property and from which they were more than happy to sell off any parts I needed and could remove. Happy Days!!!

One bit of these bodies puzzled me back then, and still puzzles me today, so if anyone can shed some light on it, it would be most appreciated.

On the left side of the body, directly below the rear window (Cypher Clerk's Window), midway up the body, is a small rectangular compartment. The cover has a finger tab on it and hinges down when pulled open. Inside are a pair of heavy duty, threaded, electrical posts with wing nuts, mounted horizontally on a quarter inch thick plate of brown circuit board. If memory serves, a '+' and '-' sign are engraved into the board and filled with white paint beside these two terminals. Clearly, this access is intended to connect an external power supply of some type. The puzzle comes on the inside. On all of these bodies in the Princess yard, not one showed any signs of ever having had anything connected to it on the inside. In fact, this terminal box is totally isolated from any of the 12-Volt or 110-Volt systems inside the body and does not even show up on the body wiring diagram. If something was connected to it on the inside, the connection would be quite close to the Cypher Clerks knees when he was seated at his small table, which could prove rather disturbing, if contact was made.

Has anybody ever found any documentation explaining what equipment this terminal is intend for? One of the Generator Trailers is a possibility, external to the Wireless truck, but what was connected on the inside?

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

I think that was for the grounding spike.

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Back in the late 1970's and early 1980's, when I was tracking down missing parts for my own 2K1 Wireless Body, I had the great good fortune of being able to study over 50 examples of this body the local Princess Auto dealer conveniently had sitting about their property and from which they were more than happy to sell off any parts I needed and could remove. Happy Days!!!

One bit of these bodies puzzled me back then, and still puzzles me today, so if anyone can shed some light on it, it would be most appreciated.

On the left side of the body, directly below the rear window (Cypher Clerk's Window), midway up the body, is a small rectangular compartment. The cover has a finger tab on it and hinges down when pulled open. Inside are a pair of heavy duty, threaded, electrical posts with wing nuts, mounted horizontally on a quarter inch thick plate of brown circuit board. If memory serves, a '+' and '-' sign are engraved into the board and filled with white paint beside these two terminals. Clearly, this access is intended to connect an external power supply of some type. The puzzle comes on the inside. On all of these bodies in the Princess yard, not one showed any signs of ever having had anything connected to it on the inside. In fact, this terminal box is totally isolated from any of the 12-Volt or 110-Volt systems inside the body and does not even show up on the body wiring diagram. If something was connected to it on the inside, the connection would be quite close to the Cypher Clerks knees when he was seated at his small table, which could prove rather disturbing, if contact was made.

Has anybody ever found any documentation explaining what equipment this terminal is intend for? One of the Generator Trailers is a possibility, external to the Wireless truck, but what was connected on the inside?

David

[Robert Bergeron]

Bruce and David,

The connectors look to me like they were meant to power a 19 or other wireless set when it was set up outside the box in the penthouse tent . All you had to do is install a jumper cable from the batteries to the inside terminals.I have seen those connectors wired to the sets of batteries in the box. The Gibeau truck at the CWM and the truck at the Signals Museum in Kingston are set up that way.

Bruce i agree a ground spike would be a great idea especialy when using shortwave freq. and in thunder storms. Anyone else can chime in on that issue ?

Going back to the Onan. David , the shroud you were talking about. In my box the housing for said shroud remnant is present on the outside of the gen compatment just over the rifle mounts..wich could mean my box was set up for the Onan and the High Power version of the 19 . interesting discovery.

So the table goes outside under the Cipher clerk's window .

What is the tube for at the front of the box left side ( passenger ) just beside where the table would be stored ? It's like 5' -6' long and in a vertical plane near the corner ? My hypothesis is that it's for flexible or whip antennae.

Lastly ( for now, it is all the energy i have left for tonight ) , what are those lodgings or housings outside the box just over the rear door ?

Thanks a lot for the help and knowledge.



Robert

[David Dunlop]

Hello Bruce.

Interesting possibility for a grounding connection, though I do not recall this particular fixture making contact with the steel framework of the body at all, just the plywood interior wall.

Robert.

Terminals for feeding 12-Volt to an externally located wireless set makes sense, but I wonder about the logic of going to all the trouble of disconnecting a perfectly operational wireless from it's location on the table inside to grunt it out to a penthouse? Then again, in the Army, what the Sgt wants, he usually gets!

Just a detail regarding the Onan. In addition to the 110 Volt output routed through a dedicated heavy duty armour cable to the 110-Volt plug at the right side corner of the wireless table on the front wall, it also featured a 12-Volt DC feed that served as the fixed wireless battery charging station for the vehicle. This way, the operator still had two charging sets to work with between the wireless battery sets, and the 110 feed for whatever required it.

Not sure about the fittings you mention above the outside of the rear door. Post a pic and we will have a look. The only fittings usually present back there apart from the ladder are the 34 ' Mast brackets behind the ladder, top and bottom, the door catch on the lower section of the door and the door hook on the lower wall just to the left of the rear gen box ventilation hatch that engages the catch.

Oh, and before I forget, yes, the tube mounted along the left front edge of the box holds spare A-Set whip sections, easily accessed by Herbie when he is on the roof of the truck mucking about.


David

[Robert Bergeron]

David,

Fascinating .

So,

1- 20' mast up front top of outside of the box- horizontaly .
2 -34 ' mast verticaly behind the rear LADDER
3- Map/ work / wireless table stored outside the box at the front
4- A-set Antennae / aerial F and G in tube front of body in a vertical plane.

.. heads hurts...

5- Pioneer tools left front outside body ( shovel , pick axe )

6- Onan generator producing 110 V AC AND 12 DC fixed in lower generator compartment and a moveable Chorehorse in the upper position.

7- A shroud for the Onan lodged in a housing on the front of the generating compartment above the two No 4 rifles.

8- A 110 V outlet inside at the front of the box to the right of the radio table.

That is a lot of knowledge for one sitting my friends. Thanks.

Q. What goes on all those little shelves spread out in the box ? They have footman loops and canvas straps either side of them

How about telephone exchanges and remote radio / telephone sets ? . How were they set up ?

Enough for me tonight. Robert out . I am bushed .

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

7- A shroud for the Onan lodged in a housing on the front of the generating compartment above the two No 4 rifles.

What is this mysterious shroud you speak of and what is its purpose?

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

The exterior map table that hangs off the right side, when not in use, mounts on the forward face of the box on the driver's side. You should see an angle lip on the bottom for it. And I think you're right, the tube is for F and G aerial sections.

[Grant Bowker]

WRT the outside connectors and the idea of a ground spike - why would the terminals be marked + and - ?
To my mind, without any proof of how or why, the +/- markings only make sense for transfer of DC power (either in or out of the body).

[David Dunlop]

Bruce.

The shroud for the Onan was covered on page 2 of RichCam's thread, before Robert suggested we push this detail info to a separate thread. We have asked the Mod to move those posts over here to keep Rich's thread clean for his fascinating restoration project.

Best regards,

David

[Robert Bergeron]

Bruce my friend,

7- Shroud , Onan generator.

David suggested earlier that the Onan generator generated a lot of heat and that a special shroud was needed when in operation so as to not to burn out the wiring wich ran very close. That '' shroud '' would be stored when not in use in a special bracket afixed to the front outside generator cabinet over the rifle brackets.We had discussed earlier you and i in another thread the use of such bracket.

9- Tool compartments under body, front , either side. Q. Were they metal or wood ?

10- Numerous little shelves with footman loops and canvas straps inside box .

Q. What are they for ?

Do we have a consensus that the plus and minus terminals on the left of the box under the cipher clerck's window were for a 12 V DC power source ?

Over to you gents.

[Robert Bergeron]

David,

As for your earlier comment on the exterior 12 VDC on the left side of the box , here is my real life experience concerning that :

When a contemporary ( meaning 1980's - today ) Signals truck is used in the field in a command post position for example , you have a tent or group of tents forming a work station for the Brigade Staff to hang around and do what staff do. I don't want to go into specifics because that is not the subject.

The Signals personnel would workinside the tent , dismount what is dismountaeble in order to be with the Staff in the tent and be close to pass on orders over the net.

A 2K1 box is may be not a Brigade level equipment but at Battalion or even company level i would see the ''penthouse '' house a few officers including a CO or his 2ic with signals personnel. Signal trucks are too small to accomodate so the tent would add space away from the elements.

So it would be logical to have a No 19 set or smaller unit on the table outside the box in the tent.The 12 VDC outlet would supply current from the batteries inside.

The Signals Van of today work pretty much in the same manner.I am not a Signals officer but an end user . I work at Brigade Staff level in those situations.

I hope my hypothesis will help advance the discussion on the subject and that a signals officer or NCO can chime in and correct me if i am wrong.

[David Dunlop]

Robert.

Hope you had a good sleep.

One other detail about the 110-volt system came to mind. The plug mounted up by the wireless table is an almost square steel electrical box with a single round two prong socket centrally fitted in it. Above it, screwed to the front wall is a small brass plate advising the plug is 110-volt only.

With regards to all the shelving, that is still largely a mystery. I do know from seeing all the boxes at Princess Auto, the canvas straps were all originally khaki tan in colour. A few boxes showed OD green replacements, probably done in later military life. The tan often bleach out over time to look white, but not so.

I suspect the large shelving unit to the left of the rear door, held the leather aerial tool bag, the two canvas penthouse assemblies and probably the crew's personal kit. The Chorehorse and Onan tool chests were stored on the top shelf inside the gen box. Spare fuses for the power system were stored in a little compartment inside the power panel. To sort out all the other shelving, I think we would need to find official storage layout info for the wireless box. The only obvious bits are the headset brackets on the front wall above the wireless table and the paper bin over by the Cypher Clerks station.

I need breakfast!

David

[David Dunlop]

Robert

You're awake!!!

The bins under the box either side are standard metal Chev tool bins to hold all the vehicular tools. They look externally the same as Ford bins but the front face of the inside shelves differ between the two, one is straight and the other dips in the middle. Cannot remember which is which at the moment.

Robert.

If you have the bracket for the little Onan Exhaust shroud still mounted, look closely around it, below or to the left, for traces of the Instruction Sticker. As I recall, it was plain white paper with a glue backing, maybe 3 x 5 inches, vertical orientation. There was a red 16th inch border line around the edge and the printing was all red. I believe it actually referenced the Onan Model number installed in these vehicles. I have a slide picture of it from one of the Princess Trucks somewhere, but as Rob Fast can confirm, my photo organizational skills are not the best. If I find it I will definitely post it.

David

[Robert Bergeron]

Gents,moderators

I think this whole discussion is wireless oriented now and should be moved to that room as to not crowd Richard's excellent restoration thread.

Sincerlely.

Robert

[Robert Bergeron]

David,

Strange that they would use metal tool bins on an aluminium body that was devised to save weight ? But if they were standard on Chev trucks , standard goes a long way in production savings.

11- Blackout kill switch. On modern trucks there are kill switches that dim or shut off the interior lights when the access door is opened when in blackout mode . That was to prevent lighthing up the night and revealing your position to the ennemy .Was that in use in the 2K1 body ?

That pretty much sums it up for me. 2K1 bodies are pretty much the same i imagine as M-152 trucks of the 50's and CUCV radio trucks of the 70's and 80's for the routine of operation by personel. Shifts , maintenance, filling the generators, extending the aerials , telephone wire.

Then there is camouflage of the unit , remote antennae in order to prevent homing on the transmitter, command post , CO, and getting direct artillery hits.Sentinels, guard duty around the bivouac and shell trenches have to be dug.

I do not think that a single shovel and pick axe in the front of the body would be sufficent for those purposes . That is why i think that there was a lot of stuff carried on top of the box strapped to the rails. Camouflage nets ( a necessity in war ) , extra shovels , picks , buckets for water ( firefighting in the bivouac.)

You should see the amount of equipment carried by a modern signals unit to sustain itself in a campaign.

Q. What would our beloved canadian soldiers have used for heat in the box ?

There was winter in NWE during the 44-45 campaign.