Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

This is an item I had reached the point with searching for that I had decided had to be replicated. Then, a few weeks ago, in casual conversations with a friend in Ontario, he turned one up in a cables bin full of bits and bobs.

You do find the occasional little gem tucked away. WS52 parts are extremely scarce in the UK, though the odd item turns up. The Netherlands had rather more equipment abandoned and sold as surplus than the UK.

There is no wear or signs of usage at all on this one and all indications are it was very early production of the 52-Set. The yellow ID sleeve identifies it as a “LEADS, AERIAL No. C6”, with “CMC 115-549” and temporary VAOS Number “ZA/C 00102” added for good measure. It eventually became known as “LEADS, Aerial 16-inch No. C1” with an assigned VAOS of “ZA/CAN 4266”.

That looks completely new and post-WW2 production, particularly with the shiny insulation and bright yellow printed ID sleeve instead of "yellow" varnished cambric. It's more like the 1950s "Larkspur" cables, and may have been ordered as a replacement using the original specification documents.

This, along with a number of other small cables/connectors for the 52-Set, were HT Cables that utilized a stranded, copper core wire, 7mm rubber sheathed automotive spark plug wire. When I first saw a photo of this item, I immediately thought the brown colour was to blend the cable in with the top of the Carriers No. 4, which was painted No. 2 Brown. My friend laughed and reminded me that early in the war, everything that was commercially available, and could be put to war production use was diverted to do so. Automotive ignition wire of the day came in black rubber, brown rubber and even a tan clothed loomed version, and probably other variations. Pure chance this brown cable ended up being used for early 52-Set items.

I have a set of aerials on the wooden board winders that have _white_ rubber insulation. Most of the UK rubber insulation was black rubber, though I've got a white aerial base spacer (as well as a green-painted plywood Canadian one with glued on cork gaskets, plus the later or postwar(?) stamped and seam-welded steel types). Anything that was available could get used.

A couple of other early features are evident on this cable also. The plug end of the cable uses the early pattern 1-inch long plug. In use, these proved to be too short for the Operators to safely insert into the Sender Socket, or the output socket on the Coils, Aerial Tuning No. 2 A, so a longer version plug was introduced partway through the 52-Set production run to solve that safety problem.

David

I suspect the longer knurled section was to provide a better grip when pulling it out with wet/muddy hands. (You wouldn't be touching it if the set was live!)

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

One other small detail has surfaced with the two slotted lugs shown in Posts 1188 and 1189 above. It shows on the collar of the lug in Post 1188 but is on the back side in Post 1189.

Some sort of marking is stamped in this location. It is centered down the collar starting from the end, going towards the slotted lug section and consists of three characters that are a bit hard to read: It is either, "S" "_ "Z", or perhaps "5" "_" "2".

Could this be a Manufacturers Code? The size of the font used on this mark is the same as was used to stamp the face of the slotted lug with the Amperage Rating for the lug.


David

[David Dunlop]

The two stencils have now been cut for the luminous paint pads to be applied to the front panel of the Coil, Aerial Tuning No. 2A. I am using plastic stencil sheeting for this part of the work. This will allow me to easily see the front panel to correctly place the stencils.

The next step will be to cut this sheet in half and trim the two stencils to fit above and below the reinforcing plate spot welded to the front panel to help stabilized the tuning dial assembly. For reference, the photos in Post 1171 illustrate where the two decals must go and the problem of needing to work around the reinforcing plate.


David

[David Dunlop]

Another nice arrival in today's mail was a complete example of this aerial.

The reel it is stored on is bent up a bit, but that is OK. The aerial itself is the really wonderful find. The feeder cable has the later issue 1.25-inch Plug fitted to the end going to the 52-Set.



David

[Chris Suslowicz]

From the condition of the wire, I'd say that was unissued - and the bent reel is from when it was thrown onto a skip for disposal.

(You're very lucky the scrap merchants didn't grab it for the copper wire!)

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Evening Chris.

Yes, I am very pleased with this Aerial. Geoff had mentioned it was likely used, as the factory cordage that tied it to the reel was missing and the condition of the reel. I had asked him if he could take a quick look to see if all five of the 3-Link Insulators were still present, assuming he would be able to see them all on the reel.

I was very surprised when he sent me a set of photos of the entire aerial carefully laid out in his Back Garden, confirming is was dusty, but all five linkages were present and in excellent shape, along with the two end clips and all three jumper fittings on the wire itself were all present and in good shape, along with the feeder cable, and there were no kinks anywhere in the wire. That took him a bit of time and a lot of care to do for me and was very much appreciated.

The other usage clue shows up when one takes a closer look at the two steel end clip loops. When I first saw some of these 50 odd years ago, my first thought was they were heavy duty spring steel. No spring at all it turns out but very heavy duty. A tough thing to open up and once opened and used, they typically stay open +/- 1/8-inch or so. As you can see in the attached photo, these have definitely been used at least once. I added an NOS 3-Link End Insulator for comparison.


David

[David Dunlop]

This morning I was able to mark the centrelines for the two paint pad stencils after they were trimmed to fit the front panel of the Coil assembly. I then applied a thin coat of Rubber Cement to the back of each stencil around the cutouts and got them aligned on the front panel.

The centreline markings re all in black White Board pen so will wipe off the peel jut fine when finished. The interesting part, however, is going to be how long it takes for the Rubber Cement to dry. I have only ever done this work before with manila sheet. this is th first time trying it with plastic stencil stock, so it should be interesting as to how long this step takes. The Rubber Cement has to dry before I can rub off any excess from the areas to be painted.


David