Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

I will be pleasantly surprised, if I ever chance to run across one of these original Leads in complete, working condition, so I have moved on to the alternative idea of reproducing it, as best I can with available modern components.

The first step in this sub-project came about back in February of this year (Post #240) when I found the suitable single conductor cable. This sub-project also makes for a nice break from the rather tedious task of cleaning the front panel of the Sender, a task that is a tad hard on my pinkies these days.

The original end terminals for this lead assembly were a one-piece sleeve version of a Motorola Pin Connector. The central copper conductor fed through the pin and was soldered in place at the tip, essentially making the sleeve ‘hot’ during transmission. An extensive search of the Internet showed a lot of modern Motorola Pin Connectors available, catering to the various sized coax cables on the market. A number could be found with the required 7 mm inside diameter, but the outside diameters were all far too large to clear the guide holes and eyebolts across the upper front of the main 52-Set. I then started to think of the possibility of building the necessary Motorola Pin Connectors from suitable parts, if such could be found.

I started by searching for 7 mm inside diameter metal sleeves, which opened a staggering number of possibilities. While plodding through some online photos of possible metal sleeves one evening, I spotted a small, brass, ‘cord tip’ which was ¾-inch long (the required length) but basically shoelace sized. It came from a company identified as “ozbrassshop.com”, which I assumed was in Australia, so I headed to their site to have a closer look at their product line. Yikes! They listed over 10,000 items, nearly all in brass, catering to the craft and jewellery making market, and they were based in Istanbul, Turkey. Well, I had gone this far!

Yes, I spent the better part of two entire evenings going through the entire product listings for the ‘ozbrassshop’. 48 images at a time. It paid off.

Near the end of their listings (of course it was) I found what I was looking for: Item # ENC7 2402. It was a package of 20 pieces for $8.00 USF and free shipping, and the item was:

End Cap, brass 8 x 20 mm (7 mm inner) raw brass (4.5 mm top hole) cord tip ends, ribbon end.

I ordered them.

The attached three photos show the tip on its own, fitted over the 7mm cable and how nicely the tipped end will pass through the two eyebolts on the top of the Sender panel. The one fly in the ointment at this point: the eyebolt on the top of the Workshop 202 rebuilt Supply Unit has too small an inside diameter. Something else has now been added to the ‘To Do List” for this 52-Set Project.

More to come on this Leads, Aerial 25-3/4 inch Project shortly.

David