WS 58 set

[Ron Pier]

Thanks for that Bruce. I'll take a look at what this guy has and report back.

Ron

[Johnny Canuck]

WS58
Have a couple of versions, WS58 Mk.1, WS58 Mk.1*, WS58 Mk.1*/T. I have three /T versions,
1. /T inline, hand stamped, shellaced,
2. /T slanted, below the line, shellaced,
3. /T inline, factory stamped before lacquer.

Mk.1 had a square case, all following versions had rounded edges on the cases.
At the Ottawa Tulip Festival, Whiskey Town Radio was there; Chris had a WS58 with no other numbers, looked pretty crude, Chris and Dave figure it is the prototype.
So we had 4 versions on display by the end of the weekend.
There were also 3 types of headset assemblies. WS58 assembly plugs into face, Mk.1 and on exterior plugin.(2 versions)
Will post some photos, think I have a manual(s) also.

Geoff

[Bruce MacMillan]

The first prototypes were made by SDRE and were almost proof of concept radios. I have a MK1/1*/T and two MK1 sets. The MK1's came with the vibrator power supplies and the battle battery box & webbing. Both of those were equipped with rod aerials and a telescoping aerial.

I didn't know about the various headsets. Mine are all identical. Interested to see some photos.

The manuals I have are Mk1* and Mk1*/T. Of the Mk1*/T I have two different printing dates. One is 1950 so it was either for the army cadets or the navy as they used them post war.

Reading through some docs I have from 1943 there is a reference to a WS58 Mk0. There were apparantly 600 sets shipped to England.

Waiting to see what info Ron reports back with.

[universalgrl]

So far I have acquired everything for a MK I except the case for the vibrator power supply, sectional antenna and the radio it self.
The manual is dated 1 April 1943

[Ron Pier]

Nice collection Roberta. So far I haven't heard from the bloke who wants to sell his. Someone gave him my number but he hasn't used it yet. I'll have to track him down. Ron

[David Dunlop]

Interesting about the backlog of these sets in England.

I bought mine from a dealer in England in the mid 1980's. Was rather surprised when it arrived that Canada Customs had not torn into it as the brown paper wrap on the box was untouched. When I peeled the paper off I was surprised to see a big, green, waxy, linen wrapped box underneath with an ID Label in the wax. Carefully opening it up, I discovered three more smaller, green boxes neatly wrapped inside, each with a 'Contents' label encased in the wax. So a complete 58-Set came in three boxes. One held the Vibrator Supply, the second the Battery Box and Canvas Cover and the third the 58-Set and the Signals Satchel. The Satchel was shipped empty. The headset and aerials were packed inside the battery box. The set itself, the VPU and the Battery Box all had Factory Inspection Tags handwritten and signed by the inspectors.

Interestingly, the telescopic Aerial and it's canvas case should have been packed in the Battery Box box, but were missing. Recently found the steel telescopic aerial, but still missing the canvas case for same.

I wondered at the time how such a complete set made it all those years unissued. Now I know. Thanks.


David

[Bruce MacMillan]

At the War & Peace show this week I saw a dealer there selling a WS58 still in the box. It came with VPU unit, battle battery box and headset. Like yours it was in three boxes, never been used. He said he had more.

He was asking a 1000 GBP for the set. Yikes!