Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Ah, I was going to mail you some of those at one point. (Me being absent-minded as per usual, sorry.)

Z1/ZA.4444 Insulator - 3-link chain type. (RAF Type 9) PC21061 10B/1275 10BZA4444 5970-99-105-3234
Z1/ZA.4589 Insulator - 2-link chain link, SD/A21073 5970-99-102-7930
Z1/ZA.4386 Insulator, Link - single link, SD/A23659 5985-99-103-2102

The ones with the split rings are probably for the stay assemblies on the 34-ft steel vertical aerial, though it originally used 'D' shackles so could be repaired without tools. (The split rings were a cost-saving/economies of scale measure.)

If you watch the WS11 station setup film from the Australian War Memorial site you can see just how complicated that mast was to begin with!

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Chris.

Hopefully, you are not on call tonight.

Negotiations for aquisition of the final needed 3-link chain would be greatfully undertaken, if you run across one looking for a good home.

I will have to recheck my photos of a 4-Section Horizontal Aerial for the 52-Set, but I think the two outer insulators had the split links to connect to the aerial masts as you stated. The inner three insulator assemblies were plain 3-links, being permanently fitted to the copper aerial wire sections. It will be another interesting sub-project when I get to it, and in all likelihood, will result in a subsequent discovery of a crate of NOS 4-Section Aerials complete with Reels, sitting in a barn somewhere.

David

[David Dunlop]

At the very beginning of this project, I had identified the following three items from my bins of 19-Set odds and ends as also being common to the Wireless Set No. 52. I had given them all a cleaning and overhaul shortly thereafter and put them aside until needed in this project.


KEY AND PLUG ASSEMBLIES, Cdn, No. 9, Type 2 ZA/CAN 0715
MICROPHONES, Hand, No. C3 ZA/CAN 1759
RECEIVERS, HEAD GEAR, MC, Mk 1 ZA/CAN 1638


This last weekend, I realized I will be needing the Key and Plug Assemblies very soon, as I continue to work my way through the Operational Tests for the Sender, so I dug them all out and ran tests on them all to ensure they were all in good working order. They all passed nicely and I am quite pleased.


David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Hello Chris.

Hopefully, you are not on call tonight.

Hope's been abandoned - I'm on-call all week!

Negotiations for aquisition of the final needed 3-link chain would be greatfully undertaken, if you run across one looking for a good home.

I've got a couple of boxes of them. I think if I send you three then you won't need to try and pry the split-rings off some of yours.

I will have to recheck my photos of a 4-Section Horizontal Aerial for the 52-Set, but I think the two outer insulators had the split links to connect to the aerial masts as you stated. The inner three insulator assemblies were plain 3-links, being permanently fitted to the copper aerial wire sections. It will be another interesting sub-project when I get to it, and in all likelihood, will result in a subsequent discovery of a crate of NOS 4-Section Aerials complete with Reels, sitting in a barn somewhere.

David

Somewhere I have the whole thing on its reel. I also have a 6-section version that must have been intended to replace the "wooden board set" for the WS19, but some of the lengths are way off specification and it would probably be unusable on some frequencies. The 6-section one has short (single link) insulating sections, like the later Aerial, 100-ft, No.5.

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

There goes your Beauty Sleep for the week!

Three would be perfect, Chris. I would then set the AM version aside as an interesting oddity. In truth also, I had been pondering how 80 year old Bakelite links would behave with somebody suddenly trying to wrestle those spring steel links off of them and suspected there could be casualties. I wasn’t keen on cutting the links either.

Better scoot. I am on the patio at the moment overseeing Honey BBQ Chicken Breasts on the Grill with Garlic Butter Baked Potato’s and a chilled Ale.

Best regards,

David

[David Dunlop]

If you take a look at the photo I posted earlier of the three Insulators (Post #893), you will likely notice the middle link looks fatter than the two outer ones in each assembly.

I noticed this when I took the photo but simply chalked it up to the lighting and angle at the time I took the photo. This morning, I was finishing cleaning up the assembly I had started and when doing so, noticed the middle link was indeed a lot thicker than the other two, so dug out my callipers to confirm.

Sure enough, in all the Insulator assemblies I have, the outer links averaged 0.320 inches thick while the middle ones averaged 0.394 inches. Otherwise, they are all dimensionally identical. So why the more robust middle link I wonder?


David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

If you take a look at the photo I posted earlier of the three Insulators (Post #893), you will likely notice the middle link looks fatter than the two outer ones in each assembly.

I noticed this when I took the photo but simply chalked it up to the lighting and angle at the time I took the photo. This morning, I was finishing cleaning up the assembly I had started and when doing so, noticed the middle link was indeed a lot thicker than the other two, so dug out my callipers to confirm.

Sure enough, in all the Insulator assemblies I have, the outer links averaged 0.320 inches thick while the middle ones averaged 0.394 inches. Otherwise, they are all dimensionally identical. So why the more robust middle link I wonder?


David

The centre link is made in two pieces (with a peg and socket for location) and glued (I assume) together as required. I think it would be difficult to make the actual chain any other way, given the extreme pressure and baking required to produce the plastic. It also reduces the number of components to two: a complete link and a half link will cover production of the one, two and three link insulators.

Best regards,
Chris.