Leads , aerial No 5 Canadian

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Robert Bergeron

Here is number 35 : Lead No 5 estimated as being 6 feet in length previously. Anybody who has had the chance of working / living in a defensive position knows that you don’t want a mast / aerial on top of your position . 20-30 feet away from the trench / command post / bunker is better whatever the tactical situation. The farther the better because the opposition used binos . Now the question remains : Coaxial or single wire ? There is nowhere to plug a Pye connector on the variometer to feed the antenna so single wire . As the list says : No 3 lead , single . Coaxial was only used to feed B set aerials , in this setup anyway except for the one feeding the A set variometer . Comments , remarks ?

For remote aerials there was a special kit (I saw the box for it on eBay last year but all the lid fittings had been removed). This was used with the WS22 and (British) WS19HP, and is fairly scarce. The kit contained a "Set Unit 'J'" with a couple of short leads to connect to the set aerial output and earth, and a Pye co-axial connector plus a movable link to select different capacitor values for better matching. The other (mast) end of the kit was "Aerial Unit 'J'" consisting of a variable inductor and a plug-in thermocouple meter plus other components. (The meter was selected from a range with different current ratings to match the set output power - they're quite fragile and burn out very quickly if overloaded.) Completing the kit were several lengths of coaxial cable with Pye connectors each end, and barrel connectors to link them together. I'm not sure of the number or length of the cables in the kit and have never seen a manual for it, but I'd guess they would allow 20 - 25 yards between set and mast.

There are photographs of some of this kit on Keith Watt's page:

https://www.royalsignals.org.uk/photos/ws22/index.htm

I'm gradually accumulating parts of that kit (unfortunately most of them have been heavily modified by radio amateurs or stripped of the silver wire by scrap dealers), and will eventually get myself a set that I can try out.

(The WS19HP (British) has co-axial output so does not require the 'Set Unit 'J'")

Best regards,
Chris.