Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

One of the other parts I wanted to reinstall on the weekend was this one.

I have the original from the Sender and a second one, which is from a spare parts Coil Aerial Tuning Unit. Both of these, however, have had their mounting hardware over tightened when last mounted on their respective parts. The result of this, over time, is the pressure exerted by the hardware slowing pushes the material out from under the screw heads and to the left of the PLATES assembly. This has the effect of lifting the extreme left edge about 1/16-inch off the front panel face.

Both of these PLATES are dimensionally identical, but the similarities end there. The upper one in the photo is from the spare COILS, Aerial Tuning, and is identical to the one on the COILS, Aerial Tuning on my 52-Set (except that one lies perfectly flat). Both of these COILS units were rebuilt at some point post war. The original two luminous decals have been replaced with none luminous ones with white borders. It would not surprise me if these two PLATES were replacements as well. They may be prone to a lot of breakage, as they get older.

The lower PLATES is from the Sender and is very likely an original example of what CMC used on their production line.

All three are a sandwich assembly; a thick inner core with a very think white skin bonded either side. The similarities end there.

The original one is much more translucent than the other two, when they are held up to a light. The printed markings are a definite, dark black. The printing on the other two is a pale mid grey colour. The background of the original was probably a smooth clean white colour that has yellowed over time. The other two have a parchment paper kind of colour to them and although the surface is completely smooth to the touch, it has the look of very fine sandstone to it.

If anyone has a COILS, Aerial Tuning still with its original all black, luminous green decals, I would be curious to see what PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration is fitted to it.

David