Understanding Br/Cdn Div Sigs, circa 1944-45

[David Dunlop]

Hello Gary.

Sorry I cannot shed much light on this topic for you, but it is headed in a very interesting direction for me.

The Canadian Marconi Company was very involved in the production, design and development of the Wireless Set No. 9, from just before the start of World war 2 to the end of the war. Not much of their production documentation has survived, but from what has, one thing that is quite noticeable is how proactive they were in canvasing both the Canadian Army and British Army regarding things they could improve upon with the No. 9 Set throughout its production.

As early as late 1942, early 1943, CMC was aware of concerns from both armies that they were running out of frequency options for their growing wireless nets. At that point in time, the bulk of their communications fell in the 2.0 to 8.0 Mc range.

While designing the Wireless Set No. 9 Mk II Cdn (which would get renamed the Wireless Set No. 52 Cdn), Canadian Marconi factored that concern into their design and this set came with three frequency bands covering from 1.75 to 16.0 Mc.

What I am curious about now is whether or not the surviving documentation from 1944 and 1945, for either the Canadian, or British Armies, shows any evidence of them taking advantage of these newly available frequencies in their various wireless nets?


David