Wireless of the Week - week 24

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Along with the No.11 set, The Wireless set No.9 was ubiquitous in the early war years. It was originally designed as a tank radio to which, given its size, I can only conclude the set’s designers never actually looked at the tiny Vickers and cruiser tanks in service at the time. As such, it was more typically used as a vehicle radio in wireless trucks or as a ground station.

The Wireless set No.9 was developed in the mid 1930s to replace the unsuccessful tank sets then in use. It was used throughout the early war years and was very reliable, though suffering from limited frequency range. Difficult to mass produce, British production ceased after 4000 sets were built. Canadian production continued until 1942 with an estimated number of less than 500 sets. Interestingly, the Canadians further developed the No.9 set into the No.9 Mk.1 in 1943, which itself was further developed into the very successful Wireless Set No.52 of 1944.

The No. 9 set featured here is a Canadian one manufactured in 1942. The receiver and power supply unit are Canadian Marconi Company products with wrinkle green finish and the sender was built by Northern Electric Company Limited with a gloss black face. I have seen a total of three Canadian No.9 sets and all of them were mismatched like this which may indicate Marconi got the contact for parts of the set, Northern Electric the rest, and the two companies never worked out a common finish.

The set consisted of a receiver on the left, a rotary transformer power unit in the centre and a sender on the right. The three units were held in an aluminum shock mounted carrier that had plugs to connect the units along its top back. Complete, it was 41” wide by 16” tall by 12” deep and weighed 192 lbs. It operated R/T (voice), CW and MCW (morse) and its AM frequency coverage was 1.875 to 5 MHz with a range of 10 miles (voice) up to 35 miles (CW) using a standard 6’ aerial. Different aerials could be used to increase range and these could be located some distance away from the set when an ‘Aerial Coupling Equipment B’ was used. Volt and ammeters were plug in so they could be easily replaced and access to the sender valves was through doors on the set’s face. The set could be tuned to and switched between two channels, A and B, coloured coded red and blue so the operator could keep track of them. Like the No.11 set, switching between ‘send’ and ‘receive’ was accomplished by manually moving a large plastic knob on the supply unit. Power to the set was 12 volts typically provided by pairs of 6 volt lead acid batteries.

[Mike Kelly]

Interesting set . I believe Ross Jowitt in NZ has one - probably a British made set. Never seen one here .

[Tim Bell]

Canadian WS9 in the back of my White Scout Car...



Need to find the correct power plug - anyone have one please?

Tim

[things_green]

can you post a close-up pic of the socket and dimensions Tim?

~strains his eyes~ same as the R107 240v input plug?

Brent,
NZ

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by things_green

can you post a close-up pic of the socket and dimensions Tim?

~strains his eyes~ same as the R107 240v input plug?

Brent,
NZ

Brent, Tim is probably talking about the power cable for his set like this one, a 'Connectors, Twin No.17'. It was used on the No.9, 9 Mk.1 (Tim's set) and 52 sets. They are hard to find and one of my projects is to cast new resin ones (I need two more and know about a dozen fellows who need them as well). The new 3D printers may be an option instead of resin.

Tim, what a great pic of your set. It's fantastic seeing them installed and in their element. Well done.

[things_green]

thankyou Bruce, your right, never seen the likes here ;-)

another superb offering for us to drool over Bruce and yes, brilliant seeing Tims' one installed.

[Tim Bell]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

Brent, Tim is probably talking about the power cable for his set like this one, a 'Connectors, Twin No.17'. It was used on the No.9, 9 Mk.1 (Tim's set) and 52 sets. They are hard to find and one of my projects is to cast new resin ones (I need two more and know about a dozen fellows who need them as well). The new 3D printers may be an option instead of resin.

Tim, what a great pic of your set. It's fantastic seeing them installed and in their element. Well done.

Yup- That's the Plug/Cable am looking for... happy to consider a repro if you make some.

Reasonably happy with the set installation - need to make brackets for the batteries sometime and fit them - and adjust the antenna mount.

Cheers

Tim

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

I found these on the camera, so for the record...

No.9 set carrier with the units removed and the face of the Aerial Coupling Equipment Unit B "Canadian", Canadian Marconi Company 1942 Serial C 40.

[Tim Bell]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Interesting set . I believe Ross Jowitt in NZ has one - probably a British made set. Never seen one here .

Ray Robinson has my old WS52... he's Sydney way.

[cletrac (RIP)]

Here's some pics of the Spare Parts Case No5A.
The contents in the one pic are for the 11 set but it gives the general idea. That notch in the one divider is obviously for the Brush, Sash Tool.