Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[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